Memel Agricultural Party or MLP (german: Memelländische Landwirtschaftspartei) was the largest and most influential pro-German

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology ...

in the

Klaipėda Region The Klaipėda Region ( lt, Klaipėdos kraštas) or Memel Territory (german: Memelland or ''Memelgebiet'') was defined by the 1919 Treaty of Versailles in 1920 and refers to the northernmost part of the German province of East Prussia, when as ...

(Memel Territory) from 1925 to 1934. Leaders of the party were Heinrich Conrad, Konrad von Dressler and James Gubba. Together with the

Memel People's Party The Memel People's Party or MVP (german: Memelländische Volkspartei, lt, Klaipėdos krašto tautos partija) was a pro-German political party in the Klaipėda Region (Memel Territory), autonomous region of Lithuania, from 1925 to 1938. Together wit ...

, the party was established on June 13, 1925, by the Memel Cultural Union (''Memelländischer Kulturbund'') in preparation for the first elections to the local county councils and the

Parliament of the Klaipėda Region The Parliament of the Klaipėda Region (''Chamber of Representatives of the Memel Territory'', lt, Seimelis) was the parliament of the Klaipėda Region (Memel Territory), an autonomous region of Lithuania. The parliament was established by the ...

. The party represented farmers, war veterans, fishermen, and some clerks. It published ''Memel Rundschau'', '' Lietuviška ceitunga'', '' Memeler Dampfboot'' and controlled several agricultural and credit institutions, including ''Agraria'', ''Landschaftsbank'', ''Vereinsbank'', and ''Raiffeisenbank''. MLP was able to offer discounts to its members and thus gained significant influence in the region. In May 1926, the party won three seats (out of 85) in the

Third Seimas of Lithuania The Third Seimas of Lithuania was the third parliament (Seimas) democratically elected in Lithuania after it declared independence on February 16, 1918. The elections took place on May 8–10, 1926. For the first time the Lithuanian Christian ...

(August Mielbrecht, Johann Schuischel and Georg Waschkies). After the Nazi seizure of power in Germany in 1933, MLP became increasingly right-wing and encouraged its members to join the pro-Nazi Socialist National Community (''Sozialistische Volksgemeinschaft'' or SOVOG). For their anti-Lithuanian activities SOVOG and MLP were outlawed in 1934. Some of MLP members were arrested and tried in the

Neumann–Sass case The trial of Neumann and Sass ( lt, Noimano-Zaso teismo procesas; german: Neumann-Sass-Kriegsgerichtsprozess) was the first and largest mass trial of Nazis in the early 1930s. The trial resulted in the convictions of the leaders of regional Nazi ...

. The party ceased its activities; its former members ran in later elections under the unified German list (''Memelländische Einheitsliste'' in 1935 and ''Memeldeutsche Einheitsliste'' in 1938).

Election results

References

{{reflist, refs= {{cite encyclopedia, last=Gliožaitis , first=Algirdas Antanas , title=Landwirtschaftspartei , encyclopedia=Mažosios Lietuvos enciklopedija , publisher=Mokslo ir enciklopedijų leidybos institutas , location=Vilnius , year=2003 , volume=2 , pages=471–472 , isbn=5-420-01470-X, language=lt {{cite book , last=Žostautaitė , first=Petronėlė , title=Klaipėdos kraštas 1923–1939 , url=http://lietuvos.istorija.net/kleinlitauen/zostautaite.htm , location= Vilnius , publisher=Mokslas , year=1992 , pages=372–381 , isbn=978-5-420-00724-2, language=de Political parties in the Memel Territory Political parties established in 1925 Political parties disestablished in 1934 Banned secessionist parties