The Reich Party for Civil Rights and Deflation (), also known as the People's Justice Party (''Volksrechtpartei'', VRP), was a

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, ...

active in the

Weimar Republic The Weimar Republic, officially known as the German Reich, was the German Reich, German state from 1918 to 1933, during which it was a constitutional republic for the first time in history; hence it is also referred to, and unofficially proclai ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

History

The inflation crisis of 1923 sparked numerous calls for

revaluation Revaluation is a change in a price of a good or product, or especially of a currency, in which case it is specifically an official rise of the value of the currency in relation to a foreign currency in a fixed exchange rate system. In contrast, ...

and, whilst measures to this end were introduced in 1925, they did not satisfy many advocates of the policy and so in 1926 the ''Sparerbund für das Deutsche Reich'' decided to form its own political party. The party set itself up as the defender of

savers Savers Value Village Inc. is a publicly held, for-profit thrift store retailer headquartered in Bellevue, Washington, United States, offering second hand merchandise, with supermajority ownership by private equity firm Ares Management. An inte ...

and called for the creation of as broad a

middle class The middle class refers to a class of people in the middle of a social hierarchy, often defined by occupation, income, education, or social status. The term has historically been associated with modernity, capitalism and political debate. C ...

as possible. In contrast to the

Reich Party of the German Middle Class The Reich Party of the German Middle Class (), known from 1920 to 1925 as the Economic Party of the German Middle Classes (), was a conservative German political party during the Weimar Republic. It was commonly known as the Economic Party (, WP). ...

(WP), another middle class party, it sought to represent those who were worst hit by the

hyperinflation In economics, hyperinflation is a very high and typically accelerating inflation. It quickly erodes the real versus nominal value (economics), real value of the local currency, as the prices of all goods increase. This causes people to minimiz ...

of the early 1920s, with the WP representing the property owners who had done well from the crisis.

Richard Bessel Richard Bessel is professor of twentieth century history at the University of York and a member of the editorial boards of ''German History'' and ''History Today''. He is a specialist in the social and political history of modern Germany, the a ...

& E.J. Feuchtwanger, ''Social Change and Political Development in Weimar Germany'', Croom Helm, 1981, , p. 276 A youth movement, ''Posadowsky Jugendbund'', was attached to the party, taking its name from the party's honorary chairman Arthur von Posadowsky-Wehner, a former

Vice-Chancellor of Germany The vice-chancellor of Germany, officially the deputy to the federal chancellor (), is the second highest ranking German cabinet member. The Chancellor of Germany, chancellor is the head of government and, according to the constitution, gives thi ...

. The party won two seats in the

1928 elections The following elections occurred in the year 1928. Africa * 1928 Southern Rhodesian general election Asia * 1928 Japanese general election * 1928 Persian legislative election * 1928 Philippine House of Representatives elections * 1928 Philippine ...

although it had three separate members of the IV. Reichstag; Georg Best (formerly of the

German National People's Party The German National People's Party (, DNVP) was a national-conservative and German monarchy, monarchist political party in Germany during the Weimar Republic. Before the rise of the Nazi Party, it was the major nationalist party in Weimar German ...

and later a member of the

National Socialist Freedom Movement The National Socialist Freedom Movement (, NSFB) or National Socialist Freedom Party (, NSFP) was a short-lived political party in Weimar Germany created in April 1924 during the aftermath of the Beer Hall Putsch. Adolf Hitler and many Nazi le ...

Paul Seiffert Paul may refer to: People * Paul (given name), a given name, including a list of people * Paul (surname), a list of people * Paul the Apostle, an apostle who wrote many of the books of the New Testament * Ray Hildebrand, half of the singing duo P ...

(initially NSFP), and Emil Roß (initially Zentrum). The party lost its parliamentary representation in the

1930 elections The following elections occurred in the year 1930. Asia * 1930 Persian legislative election * 1930 Madras Presidency legislative council election * 1930 Japanese general election Europe * 1930 Finnish parliamentary election * 1930 Norwegian parli ...

after losing support to the

Nazi Party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party ( or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported the ideology of Nazism. Its precursor ...

. Under the leadership of Adolf Bauser, the VRP entered into coalition with the

Christian Social People's Service The Christian Social People's Service (, abbreviated CSVD) was a Protestant conservative political party in the Weimar Republic. The party's genesis lay in Adolf Stoecker's Christian Social Party, which joined the German National People's Part ...

and returned to the Reichstag following the July 1932 elections, winning one seat, although they lost the seat in the November 1932 elections. Following the establishment of the

Nazi regime Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a totalitarian dictat ...

in 1933, the VRP disappeared along with all parties outside of the

References

{{Germany-party-stub Conservative parties in Germany Defunct political parties in Germany Political parties in the Weimar Republic Political parties established in 1926 Political parties disestablished in 1933