German election, 1928
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The 1928, or 5th, federal election in Germany, which occurred on May 20, came one year after the ban on Adolf Hitler participating in political activities was officially lifted. As a result, the recently reformed Nazi Party was present in the elections[1]. However, as the table below shows, the NSDAP polled less than 3% of the vote and were consigned to just 12 seats in parliament. This was due to Hitler, who had been incarcerated in Landsberg prison for his involvement in the Beer Hall Putsch until Christmas 1924[2], concentrating on re-establishing himself as the leader of the party following his release, rather than its electability.
| Party | Vote percentage (change) | Seats (change) | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) | 29.8% | +3.8% | 153 | +22 |
| German National People's Party (DNVP) | 14.3% | -6.2% | 73 | -30 |
| Centre Party (Z) | 12.1% | -1.5% | 61 | -8 |
| Communist Party of Germany (KPD) | 10.6% | +1.7% | 54 | +9 |
| German People's Party (DVP) | 8.7% | -1.4% | 45 | -6 |
| German Democratic Party (DDP) | 4.8% | -1.5% | 25 | -7 |
| Reich Party of the German Middle Class (WP) | 4.5% | +2.2% | 23 | +11 |
| Bavarian People's Party (BVP) | 3.1% | -0.6% | 17 | -2 |
| National Socialist German Workers Party (NSDAP) | 2.6% | -0.4% | 12 | -2 |
| Christian-National Peasants' and Farmers' Party (CNBL) | 1.9% | - | 9 | - |
| Right-Wing People's Party | 1.6% | - | 2 | - |
| German Farmers' Party (DBP) | 1.6% | - | 8 | - |
| Agricultural League | 0.7% | -0.9% | 3 | -1 |
| German-Hanoverian Party (DHP) | 0.6% | -0.3% | 4 | +/-0 |
| Sächsische Landvolk | 0.4% | - | 2 | - |
| Other | 2.7% | -0.4% | 0 | +/-0 |
| Total | 100.0% | 491 | -2 | |
The only two parties to gain significantly were the Social Democrats (SPD) who polled almost a third of votes, and the Communist Party (KPD), completing a thorough victory of the left-wing. However, although the SPD now had 153, they still failed to gain a clear majority, resulting in another coalition government lead by Hermann Müller[3]. Following his appointment, Müller, who had already been Germany's Chancellor for 4 months in 1920, created a Grand Coalition of members of the SDP, DDP, Catholic Centre Party and DVP. The coalition though, was plagued by internal divisions right from the beginning, with each party more concerned with their self interest than the interest of the government and eventually Müller asked President Paul Von Hindenburg for emergency powers. When Hindenburg refused, Müller resigned, marking the end of the 'last genuinely democratic government of the Weimar Republic'[4] on 27 March 1930.
Despite the Nazi Party's poor overall result in 1928, their electability was actually increasing with the stirring of the Great Depression - in some rural areas, the first to be hit by the depression, the NSDAP polled over 10% of the vote[5], a trend which would continue until Hitler's consolidation of power in the early to mid 1930s.
[edit] References
- ^ D. Evans & J. Jenkins, Years of Weimar & the Third Reich, (London: Hodder & Stoughton Educational, 1999), 83.
- ^ M. Broszat, Hitler and the Collapse of Weimar Germany, (Oxford: Berg Publishers, Inc., 1987), 9.
- ^ D. Evans & J. Jenkins, Years of Weimar & the Third Reich, 83.
- ^ D. Evans & J. Jenkins, Years of Weimar & the Third Reich, 88.
- ^ 'Germany following the May 1928 election', http://www.blacks.veriovps.co.uk/content/3528.html (07 January 2008)
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