German Völkisch Freedom Party

The German Völkisch Freedom Party (, or DVFP) was an early far-right political party of Weimar Germany that took its name from the Völkisch movement, a right-wing populist and antisemitic movement focused on folklore and the German ''Volk''. Anti-communist, its criticism of capitalism reflected economic antisemitism rather than socialism. The DVFP was founded on 16 December 1922, when Wilhelm Henning, Reinhold Wulle, and Albrecht von Graefe broke from the German National People's Party (DNVP). Leading right-wing figures, such as Ernst Graf zu Reventlow, Artur Dinter, and Theodor Fritsch, joined the party on its foundation.

Many members of the ''Deutschvölkischer Schutz- und Trutzbund'' joined the DVFP after the former was banned. After the Nazi Party was banned in the wake of the Beer Hall Putsch, the DVFP entered into an electoral alliance with many Nazis to form the National Socialist Freedom Movement in early 1924, a move endorsed by Erich Ludendorff and encouraged by Graefe, who hoped to gain control of the far right as a whole. This alliance was not a success, plans for a full merger fell through in August 1924, and Graefe and Wulle re-formed the DVFP, now named the German Völkisch Freedom Movement, as a rival to the Nazi Party in February 1925. The revived party was banned along with other non-Nazi parties in 1933.

Ideology

The DVFP positioned itself with the NSDAP, recognized by historians as being in the extreme right of the Weimar party spectrum: the republic was to be overthrown in favor of a "völkisch dictatorship", the Reichstag was to be replaced by a professional parliament of the estates. Socialist attempts were to be prevented by exceptional courts and the Treaty of Versailles was to be annulled. The party blamed Jews and " Jewish Marxism" for Germany’s economic problems. Unlike the NSDAP, the DVFP urged for a return to aristocratic conservatism of the old system - for the restoration of the pre-war system without any changes or reforms. In contrast to the early days of the NSDAP, the DVFP, which had emerged from the conservative DNVP, initially relied on elections despite the rejection of parliamentarians, but also took part in coup attempts in the course of the process.

Antisemitism was a central component of the DVFP ideology. It was evident in many different places in the program: Jews were to be expropriated and their emancipation was reversed. The party blamed "Jewish Marxism" for the economic problems in Germany. In contrast to the DNVP, from which it had split, the DVFP gave itself a so-called "Aryan paragraph". With these provisions and the demands for the regulation of speculative capital, which was largely equated with Jewish interests, and for the preference of medium-sized companies over corporations, the party placed itself in the tradition of the anti-Semitic parties of the imperial era.

Alliance with NSDAP

At the end of February 1924, the bans on the DVFP in the Reich and Prussia were lifted. In the Reichstag elections in May 1924, the DVFP ran in a list association with substitute organizations of the still banned NSDAP around Alfred Rosenberg and Gregor Strasser under various names (including the Völkisch-soziale Block). This alliance achieved strong results in state elections held at the same time (19.3% in Mecklenburg-Schwerin. In the Reichstag elections, the alliance achieved 6.5% and thus 32 seats.

At Ludendorff's suggestion, the parliamentary group called itself the National Socialist Freedom Party, a concession to the National Socialists, although they provided only ten of the 32 deputies. Ludendorff appointed Albrecht von Graefe "as his confidant" as parliamentary group leader. When Ludendorff announced the merger of the parties that formed the NSFP into the National Socialists in May 1924, the North German National Socialists broke away. During this time, leaders of the NSDAP accused Graefe in letters of having often tried to disadvantage the NSDAP in the division of constituencies. Furthermore, he had misleadingly claimed that NSDAP associations should join the DVFP and that NSDAP members had to subordinate themselves to him on Ludendorff's orders. In a short time, more and more National Socialists left the NSFP. Rosenberg accused the DVFP of representing only a small upper class.

Ban and demise

The DVFB was finally banned by the law against the formation of new parties of 14 July 1933. In Mecklenburg, individual smaller völkisch groups were still active until the beginning of 1934. A report by the Reich Governor in Mecklenburg blamed the work of German nationalists for the comparatively high proportion of no votes in the so-called plebiscite in November 1933. While Graefe died of natural causes just a few months after the transfer of power to the National Socialists, Wulle was arrested by the Nazis in 1940 and held in the Sachsenhausen concentration camp.Weißbecker: ''Deutschvölkische Freiheitspartei'', S. 556.

See also

* Black Front
* Theodor Fritsch
* Reichshammerbund
* Thule Society
* Conservative Revolution
* Strasserism

References

1922 establishments in Germany
Banned far-right parties
Banned political parties in Germany
Far-right political parties in Germany
German nationalist political parties
Political parties established in 1922
Political parties in the Weimar Republic
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Political parties disestablished in 1933