All-German People's Party
Encyclopedia
Political party
A political party is a political organization that typically seeks to influence government policy, usually by nominating their own candidates and trying to seat them in political office. Parties participate in electoral campaigns, educational outreach or protest actions...
in the Federal Republic of Germany
West Germany
West Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....
. The party was founded on November 29, 1952 and ceased to exist in 1957. It was a Christian, pacifist, left bourgeois party that opposed re-armament of Germany because it believed that re-armament would make German reunification impossible.
Foundation and aims
The party was formed by a number of former CDUChristian Democratic Union (Germany)
The Christian Democratic Union of Germany is a Christian democratic and conservative political party in Germany. It is regarded as on the centre-right of the German political spectrum...
or German Centre Party members and Confessing Church
Confessing Church
The Confessing Church was a Protestant schismatic church in Nazi Germany that arose in opposition to government-sponsored efforts to nazify the German Protestant church.-Demographics:...
supporters, who opposed the re-armament of Germany and a close co-operation with the Western powers. The forerunner of the party was the association Notgemeinschaft für den Frieden Europas, founded in November 1951 by Gustav Heinemann
Gustav Heinemann
Gustav Walter Heinemann, GCB was a German politician. He was Mayor of the city of Essen from 1946 to 1949, West German Minister of the Interior from 1949 to 1950, Minister of Justice from 1966 to 1969 and President of the Federal Republic of Germany from 1969 to 1974.-Early years and professional...
.
Heinemann had been in 1949/1950 minister of the internal affairs (CDU
Christian Democratic Union (Germany)
The Christian Democratic Union of Germany is a Christian democratic and conservative political party in Germany. It is regarded as on the centre-right of the German political spectrum...
member). Together with Helene Wessel, until the begin of 1952 chair of the catholic Deutsche Zentrumspartei, and two other persons he formed the Präsidium of the party which did not have a chairman. Heinemann and Wessel often appeared together in order to appeal to Protestants and Catholics at the same time.
The party believed in détente
Détente
Détente is the easing of strained relations, especially in a political situation. The term is often used in reference to the general easing of relations between the Soviet Union and the United States in the 1970s, a thawing at a period roughly in the middle of the Cold War...
and favoured plebiscites. It refused to use Christianity for anticommunism and advocated to fight racial and religious prejudice. On economics the party was not interested in a more precise programme due to the different views among its members.
Elections and legacy
In the only BundestagBundestag
The Bundestag is a federal legislative body in Germany. In practice Germany is governed by a bicameral legislature, of which the Bundestag serves as the lower house and the Bundesrat the upper house. The Bundestag is established by the German Basic Law of 1949, as the successor to the earlier...
election the party took part in - the 1953 election
German federal election, 1953
The 2nd German federal election, 1953, was conducted on September 6, 1953, to elect members to the Bundestag of West Germany.-Issues and Campaign:...
– they only managed to obtain 1.3 % of votes (for the common list with the East German funded Bund der Deutschen
Bund der Deutschen
The Alliance of Germans, Party for Unity, Peace and Freedom – in German: Bund der Deutschen, Partei für Einheit, Frieden und Freiheit – was a political party in the Federal Republic of Germany....
(Alliance of Germans). The only electoral success of the GVP was the local election of North Rhine-Westphalia
North Rhine-Westphalia
North Rhine-Westphalia is the most populous state of Germany, with four of the country's ten largest cities. The state was formed in 1946 as a merger of the northern Rhineland and Westphalia, both formerly part of Prussia. Its capital is Düsseldorf. The state is currently run by a coalition of the...
on October 28, 1956 where the party got 78 seats. After they could only win 1.6% in the Baden-Württemberg
Baden-Württemberg
Baden-Württemberg is one of the 16 states of Germany. Baden-Württemberg is in the southwestern part of the country to the east of the Upper Rhine, and is the third largest in both area and population of Germany's sixteen states, with an area of and 10.7 million inhabitants...
legislative election of 1956, the GVP was formally disbanded on May 19, 1957.
The party recommended that members join the Social Democratic Party of Germany
Social Democratic Party of Germany
The Social Democratic Party of Germany is a social-democratic political party in Germany...
. Some members had already left the GVP for the SPD. The Social Democrats had refused to adopt GVP members on their lists for the federal election of 1957 but granted good list positions to some former GVP members (among them Heinemann and Wessel). This helped SPD to open itself to parts of the Christian bourgeoisie
Bourgeoisie
In sociology and political science, bourgeoisie describes a range of groups across history. In the Western world, between the late 18th century and the present day, the bourgeoisie is a social class "characterized by their ownership of capital and their related culture." A member of the...
.
A number of former GVP members had substantial careers in the Social Democratic party. Erhard Eppler
Erhard Eppler
Erhard Eppler is a German Social Democratic politician and founder of the GTZ .- Early years :Born in Ulm, Erhard Eppler grew up in Schwäbisch Hall, where his father was the headmaster of the local grammar school. From 1943 to 1945 he served as a soldier in an anti-aircraft unit...
became federal minister on development aid, Jürgen Schmude
Jürgen Schmude
Jürgen Dieter Paul Schmude is a German politician of the Social Democratic Party of Germany. He was born in Insterburg East Prussia, Germany, ....
on education and Diether Posser
Diether Posser
Diether Posser was a German politician, representative of the Social Democratic Party.- Life :...
state minister in North Rhine-Westphalia. Most noteworthy, Gustav Heinemann
Gustav Heinemann
Gustav Walter Heinemann, GCB was a German politician. He was Mayor of the city of Essen from 1946 to 1949, West German Minister of the Interior from 1949 to 1950, Minister of Justice from 1966 to 1969 and President of the Federal Republic of Germany from 1969 to 1974.-Early years and professional...
and Johannes Rau
Johannes Rau
Johannes Rau was a German politician of the SPD. He was President of Germany from 1 July 1999 until 30 June 2004, and Minister-President of North Rhine-Westphalia from 1978 to 1998.-Education and work:...
, until 2010 the only SPD presidents of Germany
President of Germany
The President of the Federal Republic of Germany is the country's head of state. His official title in German is Bundespräsident . Germany has a parliamentary system of government and so the position of President is largely ceremonial...
, had both been GVP members.
Literature in German
- Siegfried Heimann: Die Gesamtdeutsche Volkspartei; in: Richard Stöss (Hrsg.): Parteien-Handbuch. Die Parteien der Bundesrepublik Deutschland 1945–1980, Band 2; Opladen: Westdeutscher Verlag, 1984; ISBN 3-531-11592-8
- Barbara Jobke: Aufstieg und Verfall einer wertorientierten Bewegung. Dargestellt am Beispiel der Gesamtdeutschen Volkspartei; Universität, Dissertation Tübingen 1974
- Diether Koch: Heinemann und die Deutschlandfrage; München: Kaiser, 1972; ISBN 3-459-00813-X
- Josef Müller: Die Gesamtdeutsche Volkspartei. Entstehung und Politik unter dem Primat nationaler Wiedervereinigung 1950-1957; Düsseldorf: Droste-Verlag, 1990; ISBN 3-7700-5160-2