The German Socialist Labour Party of Poland (german: Deutsche Sozialistische Arbeitspartei Polens, abbreviated DSAP, pl, Niemiecka Socjalistyczna Partia Pracy w Polsce) 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 ideological or p ...

organizing

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

Social Democrats Social democracy is a political, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocating economic and social interventions to promote so ...

interbellum In the history of the 20th century, the interwar period lasted from 11 November 1918 to 1 September 1939 (20 years, 9 months, 21 days), the end of the First World War to the beginning of the Second World War. The interwar period was relative ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

. Nominally, the DSAP was founded at a conference in Chorzów on August 9, 1925, through the merger of the

Silesia Silesia (, also , ) is a historical region of Central Europe that lies mostly within Poland, with small parts in the Czech Republic and Germany. Its area is approximately , and the population is estimated at around 8,000,000. Silesia is split ...

West Prussia The Province of West Prussia (german: Provinz Westpreußen; csb, Zôpadné Prësë; pl, Prusy Zachodnie) was a province of Prussia from 1773 to 1829 and 1878 to 1920. West Prussia was established as a province of the Kingdom of Prussia in 177 ...

-based

German Social Democratic Party of Poland German Social Democratic Party (german: Deutsche Sozialdemokratische Partei, DSDP) was a political party in Poland, founded on March 26, 1922.Blachetta-Madajczyk, Petra. Klassenkampf oder Nation?: deutsche Sozialdemokratie in Polen 1918–1939. ...

(DSPP) and the

Łódź Łódź, also rendered in English as Lodz, is a city in central Poland and a former industrial centre. It is the capital of Łódź Voivodeship, and is located approximately south-west of Warsaw. The city's coat of arms is an example of cant ...

-based German Labour Party of Poland (DAP). The merger wasn't fully effective though, and in practice the two parties continued separate existences until the merger was finalized until 1929. An 'Executive of the DSAP' was formed after the nominal founding of the party, consisting of Siegmund Glücksmann,

Johann Kowoll Johann Kowoll (December 27, 1890 in Laurahütte – 1941) was a German socialist politician. In his young years, Kowoll had several jobs; as stenographer, office assistant, journalist, cottage worker and machine operator. In 1906 he joined th ...

, Buchwald, Kociolek, Ludwig Kuk, Klim,

Arthur Pankrantz Arthur is a common male given name of Brythonic origin. Its popularity derives from it being the name of the legendary hero King Arthur. The etymology is disputed. It may derive from the Celtic ''Artos'' meaning “Bear”. Another theory, more wi ...

and Emil Zerbe. ''

Kattowitzer Volkswille ''Kattowitzer Volkswille'' ('Kattowitz/Katowice People's Will'), generally called just ''Volkswille'', was a German-language Social Democratic newspaper published from Kattowitz (today Katowice). The newspaper was founded in 1916 by the Social Democ ...

'' was assigned as the central party organ. One of the first actions of the party executive was the publication of the 'Manifesto of the united 'DSAP''. DSAP became the second largest party in the 1927 Lodz city council election, trailing behind the

Polish Socialist Party The Polish Socialist Party ( pl, Polska Partia Socjalistyczna, PPS) is a socialist political party in Poland. It was one of the most important parties in Poland from its inception in 1892 until its merger with the communist Polish Workers' ...

(PPS). DSAP got 16,643 votes and seven seats in the council. In central Poland the municipal elections showed the strength of the party in the region; in total DSAP had 36 city councilors and 7 magistrate members in the area.Blachetta-Madajczyk, Petra.
Klassenkampf oder Nation?: deutsche Sozialdemokratie in Polen 1918–1939. Schriften des Bundesarchivs, 49
'.

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian language, Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second- ...

: Droste, 1997, p. 84 In 1928 the party claimed to have 8,406 members, out of whom 2,500 were women. The youth wing of the party had around 1,200 members, out of whom 480 were women. The party had an educational organization, ''

Bund für Arbeiterbildung ''Bund für Arbeiterbildung'' was a German educational organization in interbellum Poland. It was the educational association of the German Socialist Labour Party in Poland (DSAP). The organization had around 6,000 members.Labour and Socialist Inter ...

'' (6,000 members) and a children's organization, ''Kinderfreudegruppen'' (300 members). Labour and Socialist International.
Kongress-Protokolle der Sozialistischen Arbeiter-Internationale - B. 3.1 Brüssel 1928
'. Glashütten im Taunus: D. Auvermann, 1974. p. IV. 112 In June 1928 the Bydgoszcz branch of the party had broken away, forming a separate

. In Silesia, the situation was somewhat different from in central Poland. In

Upper Silesia Upper Silesia ( pl, Górny Śląsk; szl, Gůrny Ślůnsk, Gōrny Ślōnsk; cs, Horní Slezsko; german: Oberschlesien; Silesian German: ; la, Silesia Superior) is the southeastern part of the historical and geographical region of Silesia, locate ...

, the party did not fare too well in municipal polls. In the 1929 city council election in Katowice, the party mustered to get two seats. In

Bielsko Bielsko (german: Bielitz, cs, Bílsko) was until 1950 an independent town situated in Cieszyn Silesia, Poland. In 1951 it was joined with Biała Krakowska to form the new town of Bielsko-Biała. Bielsko constitutes the western part of that to ...

, the result was better for the party in local elections. In the 1929 city council election the party won eight seats (in alliance with the PPS). On October 6–7, 1929, a conference was held in Lodz which completed the task of unification of the DSAP set up at Chorzów four years earlier. The conference finally decided to locate the DSAP headquarters to Lodz (an issue that had been a bone of contention for years). '' Lodzer Volkszeitung'' was declared as the central party organ. Several representatives of the Labour and Socialist International and socialist parties participated as guests to the Lodz conference, including the

SPD The Social Democratic Party of Germany (german: Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands, ; SPD, ) is a centre-left social democratic political party in Germany. It is one of the major parties of contemporary Germany. Saskia Esken has been t ...

leader

Johannes Stelling Johannes Stelling (12 May 1877 – 21/22 June 1933) was a German political activist who became a leading SPD politician during the Weimar years. He served between 1921 and 1924 as First Minister (''Ministerpräsident'') of Mecklenburg-Schwerin ...

, the PPS chairman

Herman Diamand Herman Diamand (30 March 1860 in Lviv – 26 February 1931 in Lviv) was a Polish lawyer and socialist politician of Jewish origin, cofounder of Workers' Party of Galicia. Member of the Austrian parliament then member of the Polish Parlement ti ...

, the leader of the

Jew Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""T ...

ish Bund

Henryk Ehrlich Henryk Ehrlich yi, הענריק ערליך), sometimes spelled ''Henryk Erlich''; 1882 – 15 May 1942) was an activist of the General Jewish Labour Bund in Poland, a Petrograd Soviet member, and a member of the executive committee of the Second ...

. In October 1930, DSAP suffered another split, as the leftist Heinrich Scheibler broke away and formed the

German Socialist Labour Party in Poland – Left The German Socialist Labour Party in Poland – Left (german: Deutsche Sozialistische Arbeitspartei in Polen – Linke, DSAP–Linke; pl, Niemiecka Socjalistyczna Partia Robotnicza w Polsce – Lewica) was a political party in the Second Pol ...

(DSAP-Linke). Scheibler was able to take parts of the party organization in the Łódź area with him. DSAP was fiercely opposed to the pro-

National Socialist 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 Na ...

Young German Party (JdP), which had its base in Bielsko. The rise in popularity of National Socialism amongst the Germans in Poland would prove disastrous for the DSAP. In Upper Silesia, support for the party rapidly eroded after the 1933 Machtübernahme. In September–October 1933 DSAP joined the call initiated by the Bund for boycott of goods from Germany, in protest of the Hitler regime. The boycott call became controversial within DSAP, and some members (such as Arthur Kronig, Otto Heike, Ludwig Kuk and Gustav Ewald) left the party as a result.Lakeberg, Beata.
Das Judenbild in den Presseorganen der deutschen Sozialisten in der Zweiten Polnischen Republik
' In 1932 the DSAP had 5,429 members in Upper Silesia. By 1937 the number had declined to 560. As of early 1936, the party had only three functioning branches in Upper Silesia, Katowice, Chorzów and Bielszowice. The Bielszowice branch went defunct before the end of the year, though. By March 1937, the remainder of the DSAP branch in Chorzów joined the PPS. On August 26, 1939, DSAP signed the joint statement of socialist parties in Poland, calling for the people to fight against Hitlerism (other signatories included the Bund).Marcus, Joseph.
Social and Political History of the Jews in Poland, 1919-1939
'.

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

: Mouton Publishers, 1983. p. 432 The party was a member of the Labour and Socialist International between 1923 and 1940.Kowalski, Werner.
Geschichte der sozialistischen arbeiter-internationale: 1923 - 19
'. Berlin: Dt. Verl. d. Wissenschaften, 1985. p. 319

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:German Socialist Labour Party Of Poland 1925 establishments in Poland Defunct social democratic parties in Poland Labour parties Members of the Labour and Socialist International Political parties established in 1925 German political parties in Poland Political parties with year of disestablishment missing