The Rural People's Movement () was a farmers' protest movement in northern

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 ...

from 1928 to 1933. Due to an agricultural crisis, demonstrations took place in numerous towns and cities in early 1928, and deputations were sent to Berlin to voice grievances against trade and tax policies. Farmers' continuing financial difficulties and dissatisfaction with their own lobby organizations led to more radical protests, especially in the

province of Schleswig-Holstein The Province of Schleswig-Holstein ( ) was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia (from 1868 to 1918) and the Free State of Prussia (from 1918 to 1946). History It was created from the Duchies of Schleswig and Holstein, which had been conquere ...

, from late 1928. Passive resistance included tax strikes and the obstruction of foreclosures, but some farmers, with the assistance of nationalist radicals, resorted to terrorist methods. Throughout 1929 bombs were placed in public buildings, including the Reichstag. The Rural People's Movement ran its own newspaper "Das Landvolk" which was edited by Bruno von Salomon, the brother of

Ernst von Salomon Ernst von Salomon (25 September 1902 – 9 August 1972) was a German novelist and screenwriter. He was a Weimar-era national-revolutionary activist and right-wing Freikorps member. Family and education He was born in Kiel, in the Kingdom of Pr ...

. With the arrest of the bombers and many of its leaders, as well as the rise of 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 ...

, the Landvolk declined from 1930.

Hans Fallada Hans Fallada (; born Rudolf Wilhelm Friedrich Ditzen; 21 July 18935 February 1947) was a German writer of the first half of the 20th century. Some of his better known novels include '' Little Man, What Now?'' (1932) and '' Every Man Dies Alone'' ...

's first successful novel, ''A Small Circus ''(''Bauern, Bonzen und Bomben''), was based on the farmers' protests, especially a demonstration and boycott of the town of

Neumünster Neumünster () is a city in the middle of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. With more than 79,000 registered inhabitants, it is the fourth-largest municipality in Schleswig-Holstein (behind Kiel, Lübeck and Flensburg). The ''Holstenhallen'' and ...

References

*Rudolf Heberle, ''From Democracy to Nazism; a regional case study on political parties in Germany''. Baton Rouge, 1945. *Alexander Otto-Morris, ''Rebellion in the Province. The Landvolkbewegung and the Rise of National Socialism in Schleswig-Holstein''. Frankfurt am Main, 2013. *

Gerhard Stoltenberg Gerhard Stoltenberg (29 September 1928 – 23 November 2001) was a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and minister in the cabinets of Ludwig Erhard, Kurt Georg Kiesinger and Helmut Kohl. He served as Minister-President ...

, ''Politische Strömungen im schleswig-holsteinischen Landvolk 1918 - 1933. Ein Beitrag zur politischen Meinungsbildung in der Weimarer Republik''. Düsseldorf, 1962. *Timothy A. Tilton, ''Nazism, Neo-Nazism and the Peasantry''. Bloomington, 1975. {{Authority control 1928 establishments in Germany 1933 disestablishments in Germany Agricultural organisations based in Germany German nationalism Organizations based in the Weimar Republic 20th century in Schleswig-Holstein Politics of the Weimar Republic Rural culture in Europe