The All-German People's Party (, GVP) was a minor

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

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

active between 1952 and 1957. It was a Christian, pacifist, centre-left party that opposed the re-armament of West Germany because it believed that the remilitarisation and

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

integration would make German reunification impossible, deepen the division of Europe and pose a danger to peace. Most members were dissidents from the Christian Democratic Union or German Centre Party who disagreed with the foreign and intra-German policy of

Konrad Adenauer Konrad Hermann Joseph Adenauer (5 January 1876 – 19 April 1967) was a German statesman and politician who served as the first Chancellor of Germany, chancellor of West Germany from 1949 to 1963. From 1946 to 1966, he was the first leader of th ...

's government. The party failed to win broader public support, only gaining 1.2% in the federal election. The party dissolved and many members joined the

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties Form ...

(SPD), with a number of former GVP activists rising to high-ranking positions, including two Presidents of Germany,

Gustav Heinemann Gustav Walter Heinemann (; 23 July 1899 – 7 July 1976) was a German politician who was President of West Germany from 1969 to 1974. He served as mayor of Essen from 1946 to 1949, West German Minister of the Interior from 1949 to 1950, and Mini ...

and

Johannes Rau Johannes Rau (; 16 January 193127 January 2006) was a German politician who served as President of Germany from 1999 to 2004. A member of the Social Democratic Party, he previously served as the Minister-President of North Rhine-Westphalia fro ...

Foundation and aims

The party was formed by a number of former CDU or German Centre Party members and former

Confessing Church The Confessing Church (, ) was a movement within German Protestantism in Nazi Germany that arose in opposition to government-sponsored efforts to unify all of the Protestant churches into a single pro-Nazi German Evangelical Church. See dro ...

supporters, who opposed the re-armament of Germany and a close co-operation with the Western powers. The forerunner of the party was the "Emergency Association for Peace in Europe" ''(Notgemeinschaft für den Frieden Europas)'', founded in November 1951 by

and Robert Scholl, the father of the resistance activist

Sophie Scholl Sophia Magdalena Scholl (9 May 1921 – 22 February 1943) was a German student and anti-Nazi political activist, active in the White Rose non-violent German resistance to Nazism, resistance group in Nazi Germany. Raised in a politically engag ...

. Heinemann was the president of the synod of the

Evangelical Church in Germany The Evangelical Church in Germany (, EKD), also known as the Protestant Church in Germany, is a federation of twenty Lutheranism, Lutheran, Continental Reformed Protestantism, Reformed, and united and uniting churches, United Protestantism in Ger ...

and had been a CDU member and minister of the interior in Adenauer's first cabinet from 1949 to 1950 before he resigned in protest against Adenauer's secret negotiations with the Americans about a West German contribution to a Western military alliance. Together with Helene Wessel, then chair of the Catholic Centre Party, and two other persons he formed the steering committee of the party which did not have a chairman. Heinemann and Wessel often appeared together in order to appeal to both Protestants and Catholics. The party believed in

détente ''Détente'' ( , ; for, fr, , relaxation, paren=left, ) is the relaxation of strained relations, especially political ones, through verbal communication. The diplomacy term originates from around 1912, when France and Germany tried unsucces ...

and favoured

plebiscite A referendum, plebiscite, or ballot measure is a direct vote by the electorate (rather than their representatives) on a proposal, law, or political issue. A referendum may be either binding (resulting in the adoption of a new policy) or adv ...

s. It refused to monopolise Christian faith for anticommunist positions and advocated to fight

antisemitism Antisemitism or Jew-hatred is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Whether antisemitism is considered a form of racism depends on the school of thought. Antisemi ...

and religious prejudice. On economic issues, the party refrained from taking a definite position given that its members' views were too diverse.

Elections and legacy

In the only

Bundestag The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet (assembly), Diet") is the lower house of the Germany, German Federalism in Germany, federal parliament. It is the only constitutional body of the federation directly elected by the German people. The Bundestag wa ...

election the party took part in, the 1953 election, they managed to obtain only 1.3% of votes (for the common list with the East German-funded '' Bund der Deutschen'' ("Alliance of Germans"). The only—moderate—electoral success of the GVP were the local elections in the state of

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia or North-Rhine/Westphalia, commonly shortened to NRW, is a States of Germany, state () in Old states of Germany, Western Germany. With more than 18 million inhabitants, it is the List of German states by population, most ...

(both Heinemann's and Wessel's home state) on October 28, 1956, where the party got 78 seats. After they could only win 1.6% in the

Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg ( ; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a states of Germany, German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million i ...

legislative election of 1956, the GVP was formally disbanded on May 19, 1957. The party recommended that members join the

Social Democratic Party of Germany The Social Democratic Party of Germany ( , SPD ) is a social democratic political party in Germany. It is one of the major parties of contemporary Germany. Saskia Esken has been the party's leader since the 2019 leadership election together w ...

. Some members had already left the GVP for the SPD. The Social Democrats had refused to adopt GVP members on their lists for the federal election of 1957 but granted good list positions to some former GVP members (among them Heinemann and Wessel). This helped SPD to open itself to parts of the Christian, especially Protestant, middle-class. A number of former GVP members had substantial careers in the Social Democratic party.

Erhard Eppler Erhard Eppler (9 December 1926 – 19 October 2019) was a German politician of the Social Democratic Party of Germany, Social Democratic Party (SPD) and founder of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ). He studied Englis ...

became federal minister on development aid, Jürgen Schmude on education and

Diether Posser Diether Posser (9 March 1922 in Essen – 9 January 2010 in Essen) was a German politician, representative of the Social Democratic Party. Life During his childhood in Essen he was influenced by the Lutheran church. After serving in the ...

state minister in North Rhine-Westphalia. Most noteworthy,

and

, two of the only three SPD

Presidents of Germany President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsidente ...

, had both been earlier GVP members.

References

{{Authority control Political parties established in 1952 Defunct Christian political parties Defunct political parties in Germany Centrist parties in Germany Christian democratic parties in Germany Christian pacifism Non-interventionist parties Pacifist parties Political parties disestablished in 1957 1952 establishments in West Germany 1957 disestablishments in West Germany

Foundation and aims

Elections and legacy

Further reading

References