The Memel People's Party or MVP (, ) was a pro-German

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

Klaipėda Region The Klaipėda Region () or Memel Territory ( or ''Memelgebiet'') was defined by the 1919 Treaty of Versailles in 1920 and refers to the northernmost part of the German province of East Prussia, when, as Memelland, it was put under the administr ...

(Memel Territory), autonomous region of

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

, from 1925 to 1938. Together with the Memel Agricultural Party, the party was established on June 13, 1925, by the Memel Cultural Union (''Memelländischer Kultubund'') in preparation for the first elections to the local county councils and the

Parliament of the Klaipėda Region In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. ...

. The party leaders were Joseph Kraus, Richard Meyer, Robert Grabow. MVP represented mainly industrialists, merchants, craftsmen, clerks, city dwellers. The party received funding from Germany and was able to provide no-interest loans to its members, gaining significant influence in the region. MVP published newspaper ''Memeler Dampfboot''. In May 1926, the party won two seats (out of 85) in the

Third Seimas of Lithuania The Third Seimas of Lithuania was the third parliament (Seimas) democratically elected in Lithuania after it declared independence on 16 February 1918. The elections took place on 8–10 May 1926. For the first time the Lithuanian Christian De ...

(representatives Robert Grabow and Max Jackstaidt). After the Nazi seizure of power in Germany in 1933, MVP lost its funding from Germany and began losing its members to the pro-Nazi Socialist National Community (''Sozialistische Volksgemeinschaft'' or SOVOG) and Christian-Socialist Workers Community (''Christlich-Sozialistische Arbeitsgemeinschaft'' or CSA). Some of the MVP activists retreated to Germany, others were arrested and tried for their anti-Lithuanian activities in the

Neumann–Sass case The trial of Neumann and Sass (; ), also known as the Kaunas Trials, was among the largest mass trials of Nazis in the early 1930s. The trial resulted in the convictions of the leaders of regional Nazi parties, Theodor von Sass, and other part ...

. The weakened party ran in later elections under the unified German list (''Memelländische Einheitsliste'' in 1935 and ''Memeldeutsche Einheitsliste'' in 1938). Its activities largely ceased of the 1938 elections.

Election results

References

{{reflist, refs= {{cite encyclopedia, last=Gliožaitis , first=Algirdas Antanas , title=Memelländische Volkspartei , encyclopedia=Mažosios Lietuvos enciklopedija , publisher=Mokslo ir enciklopedijų leidybos institutas , location=Vilnius , year=2006 , volume=3 , pages=61–62 , isbn=5-420-01470-X, language=lt Conservative liberal parties National liberal parties Political parties in the Memel Territory Political parties established in 1925 Political parties disestablished in 1938