The National Socialist Freedom Movement (, NSFB) or National Socialist Freedom Party (, NSFP) was a

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 ...

Weimar Germany The Weimar Republic (german: link=no, Weimarer Republik ), officially named the German Reich, was the government of Germany from 1918 to 1933, during which it was a constitutional federal republic for the first time in history; hence it is als ...

created in April 1924 during the aftermath of the

Beer Hall Putsch The Beer Hall Putsch, also known as the Munich Putsch,Dan Moorhouse, ed schoolshistory.org.uk, accessed 2008-05-31.Known in German as the or was a failed coup d'état by Nazi Party ( or NSDAP) leader Adolf Hitler, Erich Ludendorff and othe ...

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...

and many

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

leaders were jailed after the failed coup attempt and the

Nazi Party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that crea ...

was outlawed in what came to be known as the Time of Struggle. The remaining Nazis formed the NSFB as a legal means of carrying on the party and its ideology. Included in this party was the similarly reformed and renamed

Frontbann The term Frontbann refers to a reorganized front organization of the ''Sturmabteilung'' or SA which was formed in April 1924. It was created to replace the SA which had been banned in the aftermath of the failed Munich Putsch. It was disbanded in Fe ...

, which was a legal alternative to the SA. Eugene Davidson notes that " e Far Right could not agree on much of anything for long, not even on who was the chief enemy", with NSFP Reichstag deputy Reinhold Wulle believing that the

Catholics The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

were a greater danger than the Jews. Wulle told a party gathering in January 1925 that Hitler would never again regain his former authority. Hitler himself had given up his leadership of the party during the duration of his imprisonment, telling people who came to see him that the grounds for his decision were that he was overworked writing a voluminous book. NSFP leaders

Albrecht von Graefe Albrecht von Graefe may refer to: * Albrecht von Graefe (ophthalmologist) (1828-1870), Prussian opthalmologist * Albrecht von Graefe (politician) Albrecht von Graefe (1 January 1868 – 18 April 1933) was a German landowner and right-wing ...

and

Erich Ludendorff Erich Friedrich Wilhelm Ludendorff (9 April 1865 – 20 December 1937) was a German general, politician and military theorist. He achieved fame during World War I for his central role in the German victories at Liège and Tannenberg in 1914. ...

both quit the NSFP in February 1925, only a little more than a year after it was founded. On 27 February 1925, the Nazi Party was reformed after the ban expired in January and Hitler had been released from prison in December 1924. The NSFB was then reabsorbed into the Nazi Party.

Election results

The NSFB formed an electoral alliance with Ludendorff's German Völkisch Freedom Party. In some districts, it was called the Völkisch-nationaler Block or Volksbloc. In the Bavarian elections of April 1924, the Volksbloc had been able to elect 23 of 129 deputies to the state legislature. In the May 1924 elections, the NSFB won 32 seats in the Reichstag. The eminent

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

General

and former SA head

Ernst Röhm Ernst Julius Günther Röhm (; 28 November 1887 – 1 July 1934) was a German military officer and an early member of the Nazi Party. As one of the members of its predecessor, the German Workers' Party, he was a close friend and early ally ...

and also

Theodor Fritsch Theodor Fritsch (born Emil Theodor Fritsche; 28 October 1852 – 8 September 1933), was a German publisher and journalist. His antisemitic writings did much to influence popular German opinion against Jews in the late 19th and early 20th c ...

Wilhelm Kube Wilhelm Kube (13 November 1887 – 22 September 1943) was a Nazi official and German politician. He was an important figure in the German Christian movement during the early years of Nazi rule. During the war he became a senior official in the o ...

Theodor Vahlen Karl Theodor Vahlen (30 June 1869 – 16 November 1945) was an Austrian-born mathematician and professor who was a member of the Nazi Party. He served as the first ''Gauleiter'' of Pomerania and was a member of both the SA and SS. Early ye ...

Ernst Graf zu Reventlow Ernst Christian Einar Ludvig Detlev, Graf zu Reventlow (18 August 1869 – 21 November 1943) was a German naval officer, journalist and Nazi politician. Early life Ernst Christian Einar Ludvig Detlev, Graf (Count) zu Reventlow was born at Husum, ...

and

Christian Mergenthaler Julius Christian Mergenthaler (8 November 1884 – 11 September 1980), was a Nazi German politician, member of the Reichstag and Württemberg Landtag, Ministerpräsident of Württemberg and Culture Minister. Early life Christian Mergentha ...

were among the winning candidates. However, in the December 1924 elections the party lost 18 of these seats. German Reichstag

References

German nationalist political parties Early Nazism (–1933) Nazi Party organizations Political parties in the Weimar Republic 1924 establishments in Germany Political parties disestablished in 1925 Political parties established in 1924 {{Germany-party-stub