German Christian Social People's Party (, DCVP, ) was an ethnic

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

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, ...

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...

, formed as a continuation from the Austrian Christian Social Party. It was founded in November 1919 in Prague. The party had good relations with its Czechoslovak brother party.

Giovanni Capoccia Giovanni Capoccia is Professor of Comparative Politics and Tutorial Fellow in Politics at Corpus Christi College, Oxford. Education and career He obtained his Doctorate in Political Science at the European University Institute of Florence, Italy ...

.
Defending Democracy: Reactions to Extremism in Interwar Europe
'.

Baltimore Baltimore is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the 30th-most populous U.S. city. The Baltimore metropolitan area is the 20th-large ...

: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2005. pp. 76–77 In the summer of 1919, a programme for the party was drafted. On September 28, 1919, the programme was approved by a

Bohemia Bohemia ( ; ; ) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. In a narrow, geographic sense, it roughly encompasses the territories of present-day Czechia that fall within the Elbe River's drainage basin, but historic ...

n party conference in

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

. On November 2, 1919, the program was adopted at a national party conference with delegates from Bohemia,

Moravia Moravia ( ; ) is a historical region in the eastern Czech Republic, roughly encompassing its territory within the Danube River's drainage basin. It is one of three historical Czech lands, with Bohemia and Czech Silesia. The medieval and early ...

and

Silesia Silesia (see names #Etymology, below) is a historical region of Central Europe that lies mostly within Poland, with small parts in the Czech Silesia, Czech Republic and Germany. Its area is approximately , and the population is estimated at 8, ...

. The party had an agrarian

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, ''Reichbauernbund'' (a name retained from the Austrian period), and a

trade union A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

centre, ''Deutsch-Christlicher Gewerbe- und Handwerkerbund''. In the 1920 election, the party won ten seats (3.6% of the nationwide vote).

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Defending Democracy: Reactions to Extremism in Interwar Europe
'.

Johns Hopkins University Press Johns Hopkins University Press (also referred to as JHU Press or JHUP) is the publishing division of Johns Hopkins University. It was founded in 1878 and is the oldest continuously running university press in the United States. The press publi ...

, 2005. p. 75 In the 1925 election, DCVP won 13 parliamentary seats (4.3% of the vote). After the election, the party joined the Czechoslovak national government, and DCVP politician Robert Mayr-Harting became Minister of Justice. In 1926 Gottlieb Pruscha succeeded Kirsch as general secretary of the party.Collegium Carolinum (Munich, Germany), and Karl Bosl.
Die erste Tschechoslowakische Republik als multinationaler Parteienstaat: Vorträge d. Tagungen d. Collegium Carolinum in Bad Wiessee vom 24.-27. November 1977 u. vom 20.-23. April 1978
'.

München Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

: Oldenbourg, 1979. p. 278 As of 1928, the party had around 38,000 members. Around 22,000 of them lived in Bohemia, 9,000 in Silesia and Northern Moravia and 7,000 in Central and Southern Moravia. In the 1929 election, the DCVP got 14 seats, having got 4.7% of the national vote. After the election, DCVP was excluded from the national government. In the 1935 election, DCVP gathered 2% of the national vote. The party got six parliamentary seats. After the election, the party supported the candidature of

Edvard Beneš Edvard Beneš (; 28 May 1884 – 3 September 1948) was a Czech politician and statesman who served as the president of Czechoslovakia from 1935 to 1938, and again from 1939 to 1948. During the first six years of his second stint, he led the Czec ...

for president of the republic. In 1936, DCVP was again included in the Czechoslovak government. DCVP member of parliament became Minister without portfolio.Collegium Carolinum (Munich, Germany), and Karl Bosl.
Die erste Tschechoslowakische Republik als multinationaler Parteienstaat: Vorträge d. Tagungen d. Collegium Carolinum in Bad Wiessee vom 24.-27. November 1977 u. vom 20.-23. April 1978
'.

: Oldenbourg, 1979. p. 287 After the ''

Anschluß The (, or , ), also known as the (, ), was the annexation of the Federal State of Austria into Nazi Germany on 12 March 1938. The idea of an (a united Austria and Germany that would form a " Greater Germany") arose after the 1871 unifica ...

'' of

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

, the rightwing tendencies inside DCVP were emboldened and took charge of the party. The DCVP members of parliament joined the

Sudeten German Party The Sudeten German Party (, SdP, ) was created by Konrad Henlein under the name ''Sudetendeutsche Heimatfront'' ("Front of the Sudeten German Homeland") on 1 October 1933, some months after the First Czechoslovak Republic had outlawed the Germ ...

(SdP). DCVP wasn't formally dissolved, but declared that the activities of the party were suspended. The German Christian trade unions that had been tied to DCVP also aligned with SdP.

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Defending Democracy: Reactions to Extremism in Interwar Europe
'.

: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2005. p. 89

Footnotes

References

* {{Authority control Interwar minority parties in Czechoslovakia Defunct Christian political parties German diaspora political parties Political parties established in 1919 1919 establishments in Czechoslovakia Catholic political parties Sudeten German people