German Christian Social People's Party (german: Deutsche Christlich-Soziale Volkspartei, DCVP, cs, Německá křesťansko sociální strana lidová) was an ethnic German political party in Czechoslovakia, formed as a continuation from the Austrian Christian Social Party. It was founded in November 1919 in Prague. The party had good relations with its Czechoslovak brother party.

Giovanni Capoccia Giovanni Capoccia is Professor of Comparative Politics and Tutorial Fellow in Politics at Corpus Christi College, Oxford. Education and career He obtained his Doctorate in Political Science at the European University Institute of Florence, Italy. ...

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Defending Democracy: Reactions to Extremism in Interwar Europe
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Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic, and the 30th most populous city in the United States with a population of 585,708 in 2020. Baltimore was d ...

: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2005. pp. 76–77 In the summer of 1919, a programme for the party was drafted. On September 28, 1919, the programme was approved by a

Bohemia Bohemia ( ; cs, Čechy ; ; hsb, Čěska; szl, Czechy) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. Bohemia can also refer to a wider area consisting of the historical Lands of the Bohemian Crown ruled by the Bohem ...

n party conference in Prague. On November 2, 1919, the program was adopted at a national party conference with delegates from Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia. The party had an agrarian

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, ''Reichbauernbund'' (a name retained from the Austrian period), and a trade union centre, ''Deutsch-Christlicher Gewerbe- und Handwerkerbund''. In the 1920 election, the party won ten seats (3.6% of the nationwide vote).

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Defending Democracy: Reactions to Extremism in Interwar Europe
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Johns Hopkins University Press The Johns Hopkins University Press (also referred to as JHU Press or JHUP) is the publishing division of Johns Hopkins University. It was founded in 1878 and is the oldest continuously running university press in the United States. The press publi ...

, 2005. p. 75 In the 1925 election, DCVP won 13 parliamentary seats (4.3% of the vote). After the election, the party joined the Czechoslovak national government, and DCVP politician Robert Mayr-Harting became Minister of Justice. In 1926 Gottlieb Pruscha succeeded Kirsch as general secretary of the party.Collegium Carolinum (Munich, Germany), and Karl Bosl.
Die erste Tschechoslowakische Republik als multinationaler Parteienstaat: Vorträge d. Tagungen d. Collegium Carolinum in Bad Wiessee vom 24.-27. November 1977 u. vom 20.-23. April 1978
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München Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...

: Oldenbourg, 1979. p. 278 As of 1928, the party had around 38,000 members. Around 22,000 of them lived in Bohemia, 9,000 in Silesia and Northern Moravia and 7,000 in Central and Southern Moravia. In the 1929 election, the DCVP got 14 seats, having got 4.7% of the national vote. After the election, DCVP was excluded from the national government. In the 1935 election, DCVP gathered 2% of the national vote. The party got six parliamentary seats. After the election, the party supported the candidature of Edvard Beneš for president of the republic. In 1936, DCVP was again included in the Czechoslovak government. DCVP member of parliament became Minister without portfolio.Collegium Carolinum (Munich, Germany), and Karl Bosl.
Die erste Tschechoslowakische Republik als multinationaler Parteienstaat: Vorträge d. Tagungen d. Collegium Carolinum in Bad Wiessee vom 24.-27. November 1977 u. vom 20.-23. April 1978
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: Oldenbourg, 1979. p. 287 After the ''

Anschluß The (, or , ), also known as the (, en, Annexation of Austria), was the annexation of the Federal State of Austria into the German Reich on 13 March 1938. The idea of an (a united Austria and Germany that would form a "Greater Germany") ...

'' of Austria, the rightwing tendencies inside DCVP were emboldened and took charge of the party. The DCVP members of parliament joined the Sudeten German Party (SdP). DCVP wasn't formally dissolved, but declared that the activities of the party were suspended. The German Christian trade unions that had been tied to DCVP also aligned with SdP.

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Defending Democracy: Reactions to Extremism in Interwar Europe
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: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2005. p. 89

Footnotes

References

* {{Authority control Interwar minority parties in Czechoslovakia Defunct Christian political parties German diaspora political parties Political parties established in 1919 1919 establishments in Czechoslovakia Catholic political parties