The German Reform Party (
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 ...
: ''Deutsche Reformpartei'' or DRP) was a
far-right political party active in the
German Empire. It had
antisemitism
Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism.
Antis ...
as its ideological basis.
The initial German Reform Party was established in 1880 by Alexander Pinkert, a
Saxony
Saxony (german: Sachsen ; Upper Saxon: ''Saggsn''; hsb, Sakska), officially the Free State of Saxony (german: Freistaat Sachsen, links=no ; Upper Saxon: ''Freischdaad Saggsn''; hsb, Swobodny stat Sakska, links=no), is a landlocked state of ...
-based antisemite, as a strongly antisemitic and
palingenetic party, advocating the elimination of the Jews and the rebirth of Germany. However this initiative only lasted until 1891.
The later version of the DRP was established in either 1889 or 1890 by
Otto Böckel and
Oswald Zimmermann, who had been involved in the original party, under the name Antisemitic People's Party.
[Richard S. Levy, ''Antisemitism: A Historical Encyclopedia of Prejudice and Persecution'', ABC-CLIO, 2005, p. 22] It was based in
Erfurt
Erfurt () is the capital and largest city in the Central German state of Thuringia. It is located in the wide valley of the Gera river (progression: ), in the southern part of the Thuringian Basin, north of the Thuringian Forest. It sits i ...
in Saxony. The ''Deutscher Antisemitenbund'', an initiative of Wilhelm Pickenbach, was also included as part of the newly formed party. The new party's main aim was the repeal of Jewish emancipation.
The party contested the
1890 German federal election
Federal elections were held in Germany on 20 February 1890.Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) ''Elections in Europe: A data handbook'', p762 The Centre Party regained its position as the largest party in the Reichstag by winning 107 of the ...
, winning four seats in the
Reichstag.
[Davis, ''Colonialism, Antisemitism, and Germans of Jewish Descent in Imperial Germany'', p. 33] It increased its total to eleven in
1893
Events
January–March
* January 2 – Webb C. Ball introduces railroad chronometers, which become the general railroad timepiece standards in North America.
* Mark Twain started writing Puddn'head Wilson.
* January 6 – Th ...
.
The party officially adopted the name of the DRP to fight the latter election.
In 1894, the DRP merged with the similarly antisemitic
German Social Party to form the
German Social Reform Party.
The drive for the merger of the two parties had been led by Zimmermann and was unsuccessfully opposed by Böckel.
[ Robert Melson, ''Revolution and Genocide: On the Origins of the Armenian Genocide and the Holocaust'', University of Chicago Press, 1996, p. 118] Having lost his seat in 1903, Böckel faded from politics after the merger.
Following the dissolution of the merged party in 1900 Zimmermann returned to using the DRP moniker and continued to sit in the Reichstag until 1910.
Walther Killy
Walther Killy (26 August 191728 December 1995) was a German literary scholar who specialised in poetry, especially that of Friedrich Hölderlin and Georg Trakl. He taught at the Free University of Berlin, the Georg-August-Universität Göttinge ...
(ed.), ''Dictionary of German Biography: Thibaut - Zycha, Volume 10'', Walter de Gruyter, 2006, p. 705 In March 1914, the DRP merged again with the German Social Party to form the
German Völkisch Party (DvP).
References
{{Authority control
Antisemitism in Germany
Christian political parties in Germany
Defunct political parties in Germany
Far-right political parties in Germany
German nationalist political parties
Political parties established in 1889
Political parties of the German Empire
Protestant political parties