German Party

The German Party ("Deutsche Partei") is a name used by a number of German political parties in the country's history. The current incarnation is represented only at the local level in Germany. However, from 1949 to 1961, a German Party was part of the ruling coalition in the Bundestag (federal parliament). This right wing party was known for its strong stance against communism and socialism and drew much of its ideology from Christianity.

Historical German Parties

1866-1948

The German Party originated in the German-Hanoverian Party ("Deutsch-Hannoversche Partei") which was formed in 1866 after the annexation of Hanover by Prussia to agitate against the annexation. Since it supported the reinstatement of the Welf kings of Hanover, it was also known as the Welf Party. It consistently had representation in the parliament of Prussia and sometimes the Reichstag until the fall of the Weimar Republic in 1933.

The party was recreated as "Niedersächsische Landespartei" (Lower Saxony National Party) in 1945 but returned to being the German party the following year when Lower Saxony was created. It soon expanded into neighbouring Länder under the chairmanship of Heinrich Hellwege, working with parties such as the Deutsche Rechtspartei and the original National Democratic Party. It gained two seats in the first Lower Saxon Landtag.

1949-1960

In the 1949 federal election the party 4% of the vote to win 18 seats. As a result it became a coalition partner of the Christian Democrats (CDU), the Free Democrats (FDP) and the Christian Social Union (CSU) in the government of Konrad Adenauer. Their vote fell to 3.3% with 15 seats in the 1953 election, although they retained their coalition place and again in 1957 when they went back up to 17 seats with 3.4% of the vote. German party ministers in these governments were Heinrich Hellwege (1949-1955), Hans-Joachim von Merkatz (1955-1960) and Hans-Christoph Seebohm (1949-1960).

The party had been instrumental in setting an elected threshold of 5% for candidates and this led to problems when the CDU refused to allow German Party candidates a free run in some seats. With the party facing elimination from the Bundestag, nine of its 17 members left the party to join the CDU. As a result the German Party left government in 1960, a year before the elections, and severed its ties to the CDU.

1961-1980

Cut off from the conservative mainstream the German Party began to work closely with parties to the right of the CDU, notably the All-German Bloc/League of Expellees and Deprived of Rights, and in 1964 was one of the founding parts of the National Democratic Party (NPD), marking a temporary end to the German Party. Party activist Friedrich Thielen was chosen as the leader of the new party but was ousted in 1967 by Adolf von Thadden. Thielen left, as he felt von Thadden was too sympathetic to Nazism, and re-founded the German Party. However the new incarnation failed to become even a local force and ceased to operate as a political party in 1980 (although it continued as an association).

Current German Party

The German Party was reformed in Kassel in 1993 and has since worked with other right wing parties such as "Bund freier Bürger" and "Freiheitliche Deutsche Volkspartei" (a splinter group of the German People's Union in Saxony-Anhalt which it absorbed in 2003). The new party was led by Johannes Freiherr von Campenhausen until 2001 when Heiner Kappel took his place. Kappel was expelled in 2005 after attempting to agree an alliance with the Republicans and the German Social Union even though the membership had supported working with the German People's Union and the NPD. A joint leadership of Eberhard Lehmann, Claudia Wiechmann (former chair of the FDVP) and Ulrich Paetzold took over before Lehmann was sidelined in favour of a joint leadership. The party has been investigated in Thuringia and Bavaria as possibly extreme right, with the conclusion made that contacts exist but not enough to ban the party. The German party no longer has representation at any major level, having only a small number of local seats. It produces a monthly newspaper, the "Deutschland-Post". Some members have left to join the Republicans whilst co-operate with the far-right NPD.

Bibliography

*Horst W. Schmollinger, Kapitel "Deutsche Partei" in: "Parteien-Handbuch", Westdeutscher Verlag, Opladen, 1983.