| German People's Party Deutsche Volkspartei |
|
|---|---|
| Founded | 1918 |
| Dissolved | 1933 |
| Preceded by | National Liberal Party |
| Succeeded by | after 1945: Free Democratic Party, Christian Democratic Union (West Germany) Liberal Democratic Party, Christian Democratic Union (East Germany) |
| Newspaper | NA; supported by Kölnische Zeitung |
| Ideology | National liberalism, Monarchism, Economic liberalism,[1] Liberal conservatism,[2] Moderate nationalism |
| Political position | Centre-Right |
| International affiliation | None |
| Official colors | black-white-red (imperial colors) |
| Politics of Germany Political parties Elections |
|
The German People's Party (Deutsche Volkspartei, or DVP) was a national liberal party in Weimar Germany and a successor to the National Liberal Party of the German Empire.
Contents |
It was essentially the right wing of the old National Liberal Party, and was formed in the early days of the Weimar Republic, led by Gustav Stresemann. During the Weimar Republic, it was one of two large liberal parties in Germany, the other being the German Democratic Party.
The party was generally thought to represent the interests of the great German industrialists. Its platform stressed Christian family values, secular education, lower tariffs, opposition to welfare spending and agrarian subsides and hostility to "Marxism" (that is, the Communists, and also the Social Democrats). Due to its lukewarm acceptance of democracy, the party was initially part of the "national opposition" to the Weimar Coalition. However, Stresemann gradually led it into cooperation with the parties of the center and left. The party wielded an influence on German politics beyond its numbers, as Stresemann was the Weimar Republic's only statesman of international standing. He served as foreign minister continuously from 1923 until his death in 1929 in nine governments (one of which he briefly headed in 1923) ranging from the center-right to the center-left. After Stresemann's death, the DVP gradually moved back towards the right.
Although the party was considered a liberal party in the Weimar Republic, its policies would appear conservative, by modern European standards.
The party's dispute with the Social Democrats in 1930 over unemployment benefits toppled the Grand Coalition government of Hermann Müller. In the election of September 1930, the DVP was one of the biggest losers, losing 15 of its 45 parliamentary seats. The DVP abolished itself in March 1933 after the Nazis came to power in January 1933.
Former elements of the DVP were involved in the creation of the Free Democratic Party after the Second World War.
| Preceded by National Liberal Party (Germany) |
German liberal parties 1918–1933 |
Succeeded by Liberal Democratic Party of Germany |
| Succeeded by Free Democratic Party of Germany |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||