The German People's Group in Czecho-Slovakia (, abbreviated DVG) was a German minority

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, ...

in the

Second Czechoslovak Republic The Second Czechoslovak Republic (Czech language, Czech and ), officially the Czecho-Slovak Republic (Czech and Slovak: ''Česko-Slovenská republika''), existed for 169 days, between 30 September 1938 and 15 March 1939. It was c ...

Formation

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) was banned by the Czechoslovak government on 15 September 1938, in the midst of the

Sudeten crisis The Munich Agreement was reached in Munich on 30 September 1938, by Nazi Germany, the United Kingdom, the French Republic, and the Kingdom of Italy. The agreement provided for the German annexation of part of Czechoslovakia called the Sudeten ...

. In areas that had remained in Czechoslovakia after the German annexation of

Sudetenland The Sudetenland ( , ; Czech and ) is a German name for the northern, southern, and western areas of former Czechoslovakia which were inhabited primarily by Sudeten Germans. These German speakers had predominated in the border districts of Bohe ...

its followers re-grouped as DVG. The party had a

National Socialist Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During Hitler's rise to power, it was frequen ...

profile and represented German state interests towards Czechoslovakia. In

Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...

, the movement had constituted itself as the German Party (''Deutsche Partei'') on October 8, 1938. DVG was launched on 30 October 1938. In Carpatho-Ukraine the movement worked under the name German People's Council (''Deutsche Volksrat''). was the leader of the party and in-charge (''Volksgruppeführer'') in Bohemia and Moravia,

Franz Karmasin Franz Karmasin (2 September 1901 – 25 June 1970) was an ethnic German politician in Czechoslovakia, who helped found the Carpathian German Party. During World War II he was state secretary of German affairs in the Slovak Republic, and rose to the ...

the leader of the German Party in Slovakia and Anton Ernst Oldofredi the leader of the German People's Council in Carpatho-Ukraine.

Press

Brno Brno ( , ; ) is a Statutory city (Czech Republic), city in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. Located at the confluence of the Svitava (river), Svitava and Svratka (river), Svratka rivers, Brno has about 403,000 inhabitants, making ...

the party published ''Tagesboten'', which was renamed as ''Volksdeutsche Zeitung'' in February 1939. ''Volksdeutsche Zeitung'' was published from

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 ...

and Brno.

National Assembly

After the annexation of Sudetenland, six of the SdP/KdP members of the

Chamber of Deputies The chamber of deputies is the lower house in many bicameral legislatures and the sole house in some unicameral legislatures. Description Historically, French Chamber of Deputies was the lower house of the French Parliament during the Bourb ...

and four of its

senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or Legislative chamber, chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the Ancient Rome, ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior ...

s had remained in Czechoslovakia. One of them, deputy , resigned from his seat on 5 November 1938. On 7 November 1938, the remaining five deputies formed the Club of German National Socialist Deputies as their new parliamentary faction. The club was chaired by Kundt. The four other members were

, Robert Mayr-Harting, and . On the same day the four senators formed the Club of German National Socialist Senators, chaired by Dr. . The three other Senators were , and .

In Slovakia

On December 18, 1938 the German Party got two deputies elected to the parliament of Slovakia on the Slovak unity list; Karmasin and Josef Steinhübl. The party published ''Grenzbote'' and ''Deutschen Stimmen'' from

Bratislava Bratislava (German: ''Pressburg'', Hungarian: ''Pozsony'') is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the Slovakia, Slovak Republic and the fourth largest of all List of cities and towns on the river Danube, cities on the river Danube. ...

. The German Party in Slovakia would continue to exist after the end of the Second Czechoslovak Republic.

In Carpatho-Ukraine

The German People's Council functioned as the National Socialist unity party amongst the German minority in the

Carpatho-Ukraine Carpatho-Ukraine or Carpathian Ukraine (, ) was an autonomous region, within the Second Czechoslovak Republic, created in December 1938 and renamed from Subcarpathian Rus', whose full administrative and political autonomy had been confirmed by ...

1938–1939. In the elections to the '' Soim'' (parliament of Carpatho-Ukraine) held on 12 February 1939, the party was able to get Oldofredi elected as its candidate on the unity list of (UNO).

References

{{Authority control German diaspora political parties Interwar minority parties in Czechoslovakia Nazi parties Political parties established in 1938 Political parties disestablished in 1939 1938 establishments in Czechoslovakia 1939 disestablishments in Czechoslovakia German nationalist political parties Czechoslovakia–Germany relations