Editing German Democratic Party (section)

==History==
===Background===
The [[German Empire]] had a series of major [[Liberalism in Germany|liberal]] parties, including the [[National Liberal Party (Germany)|National Liberal Party]] (NLP). The [[German Progress Party]] and [[Liberal Union (Germany)|Liberal Union]] merged into the [[German Free-minded Party]]. [[Friedrich Naumann]]'s [[National-Social Association]] merged into the [[Free-minded Union]] in 1903. [[Theodor Barth]] and his supporters broke away into the [[Democratic Union (Germany)|Democratic Union]] in 1908, and maintained their independence until joining the DDP in 1918. The other liberal parties united into the left-liberal [[Progressive People's Party (Germany)|Progressive People's Party]] (FVP) in 1910. The FVP received 1.5 million votes in the [[1912 German federal election|1912 election]], the last one before the outbreak of [[World War I]].{{sfn|Frye|1985|pp=6-8}}

===Foundation and rise===
[[File:Portrait Friedrich Naumann (ca. 1911).jpg|thumb|[[Friedrich Naumann]] {{Circa|1911}}|224x224px]]
[[File:Hugo Preuß 1919 (cropped).jpg|thumb|[[Hugo Preuß]] in 1919]]


A proposal to merge the NLP and FVP was made in the waning days of World War I, but faced opposition from the NLP's right-wing and FVP's left-wing. The formation of the German Democratic Party was announced on 16 November. Among the founding members were {{ill|Theodor Vogelstein|de|Theodor Vogelstein}}, [[Richard Witting]], {{ill|Richard Frankfurter|de|Richard Frankfurter}}, [[Hjalmar Schacht]], and [[Kurt von Kleefeld]]. The group contacted [[Theodor Wolff]], the editor-in-chief of the ''[[Berliner Tageblatt]]'', about how to organize the party. It was named the Democratic Party at Wolff's insistence. On 16 November 1918, one week after the [[German Revolution of 1918–1919|November Revolution]], an appeal for the founding of a new democratic party was written by Wolff and signed by 60 people.{{sfn|Frye|1985|pp=45-47}} An almost identical statement was published at the same time by the ''[[Vossische Zeitung]]'' (Voss's Newspaper).<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Wagner |first=Horst |date=1998 |title=Die Gründung der DDP 1918 |trans-title=The Founding of the DDP 1918 |journal=Berlinische Monatsschrift (Luisenstädtischer Bildungsverein) |language=de |volume=11 |issn=0944-5560}}</ref> The FVP, NLP's left-wing, and DDP merged together on 20 November. Right-wing members of the NLP formed the [[German People's Party]] (DVP).{{sfn|Frye|1985|p=49}}

The FVP raised 26,000 RM in 1911, and had 1,054 individual contributors in 1912. The DDP raised millions in the leadup to the [[1919 German federal election|1919 election]] and had over one million members by January 1919.{{sfn|Frye|1985|pp=56-58}} The party won 75 seats in the election and became the third-largest party in the [[Weimar National Assembly]], but their support halved in the [[1920 German federal election|1920 election]] and their seat total fell to 39.{{sfn|Frye|1985|pp=69-70}}

The DDP was a member of the [[Scheidemann cabinet]], but left in June 1919 in response to the [[Treaty of Versailles]] before returning to the coalition in October.{{sfn|Frye|1985|pp=71-72}} [[Friedrich von Payer]] resigned as chair of the DDP's legislative caucus after voting in favor of the treaty.{{sfn|Frye|1985|p=78}} It was heavily involved with the creation of the [[Weimar Constitution]]. The document was drafted by Preuß, [[Max Weber]] influenced the section covering the presidency, and [[Erich Koch-Weser]] wrote the section covering referendums.{{sfn|Frye|1985|pp=80-81}}

Naumann served as the first chair of the party until his death in 1919. His faction and ideological allies included [[Gertrud Bäumer]], {{ill|Anton Erkelenz|de|Anton Erkelenz}}, {{ill|Wilhelm Heile|de|Wilhelm Heile
}}, [[Theodor Heuss]], [[Carl Wilhelm Petersen]], and [[Gustav Stolper]]. This group held positions of high leadership within the party for the entirety of its history. Petersen served as chair until 1924, when he resigned after his election as [[List of mayors of Hamburg|mayor of Hamburg]].{{sfn|Frye|1985|pp=88-91}}

The ''[[Berliner Tageblatt]]'', ''[[Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung|Frankfurter Zeitung]]'', and ''[[Vossische Zeitung]]'' were among the leading newspapers that supported the party. Rudolf Oeser, an editor at ''FZ'', became a cabinet member. Support for the DDP from these newspapers waned as the party went rightward.{{sfn|Frye|1985|p=96}}

The DDP initially voted against joining the [[First Wirth cabinet]], but later joined it. It left the Wirth cabinet after the [[1921 Upper Silesia plebiscite|partition]] of [[Upper Silesia]].{{sfn|Frye|1985|pp=119-120}}

===Decline===
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-S81877, Marie-Elisabeth Lüders (cropped).jpg|thumb|222x222px|[[Marie-Elisabeth Lüders]]]]

20,000 people attended the first national convention of the Young Democratic Organization, but active membership declined to a few thousand members as the 1920s continued and 2,000 people attended the 1929 convention.{{sfn|Frye|1985|p=94}}

The party's membership fell from around 800,000 one year after its foundation to 117,000 by 1927.<ref>{{Cite web |last= |first= |title=Die Deutsche Demokratische Partei |url=https://www.dhm.de/lemo/kapitel/weimarer-republik/innenpolitik/ddp.html |access-date=2022-11-19 |website=Deutsches Historisches Museum www.dhm.de |language=de}}</ref> In spite its steadily dwindling size, the DDP played an important political role in the early years of the Republic. For one, its position between the SPD and the Centre Party helped stabilize the Weimar Coalition nationwide and especially in [[Free State of Prussia|Prussia]]. Wilhelm Abegg, for example, the state secretary in the Prussian Ministry of the Interior, reorganized and modernized the Prussian police. In addition, members of the DDP formed an important reservoir of personnel for high positions in public administration. No other party was able to provide to a similar extent civil servants who both possessed the professional training and were loyal to the democratic system of the Weimar Republic, something that was not the case with the mostly monarchist and anti-democratic civil servants inherited from the Empire.

In 1920, the DDP had already lost votes, in large measure to the German People's Party, German National People's Party, and to parties focused on single issues. This was due to disagreements within the DDP over how to deal with the Versailles Peace Treaty, of which some deputies approved. The loss of votes was accompanied by a simultaneous loss of members, finances and journalistic support. Important newspapers such as the ''Vossische Zeitung'' and the ''[[Frankfurter Zeitung]]'' held views that were close to those of the DDP, but the party was never able to establish an important party paper of its own such as the SPD's ''[[Vorwärts]]'' or later the Nazis' ''[[Völkischer Beobachter]]''. The prejudice that the DDP was the 'party of big capital' held credence among part of the public, a prejudice that was factually false and charged with anti-Semitism. In later years, the Nazi Party exploited this by defaming the DDP as 'the Jewish party'.

Another reason for the decline was their program of 'social capitalism' in which workers and owners mutually recognized "duty, right, performance and profit"<ref>{{Cite book |last=Schneider |first=Werner |title=Die Deutsche Demokratische Partei in der Weimarer Republik 1924–1930 |publisher=Fink |year=1978 |isbn=3-7705-1549-8 |location=Munich |pages=58 |language=de |trans-title=The German Democratic Party in the Weimar Republic 1924–1930}}</ref> and where solidarity was to prevail between employees, workers and owners. This visionary idea was out of touch with the reality of rising unemployment and economic difficulties under the pressure of the Treaty of Versailles.

=== Renaming to the German State Party ===
In July 1930, the DDP united with the People's National Reich Association (VNR) to form the [[German State Party]], initially for the upcoming Reichstag elections. This brought fierce conflicts within the party, as the VNR was the political arm of [[Artur Mahraun|Artur Mahraun's]] national liberal Young German Order.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Winkler |first=Heinrich August |title=Der lange Weg nach Westen. Deutsche Geschichte 1806–1933 |publisher=C.H. Beck |year=2002 |isbn=9783893314638 |location=Bonn |pages=487 |language=de |trans-title=The Long Road to the West. German History 1806–1933}}</ref> After the merger, many members of the left wing, including [[Ludwig Quidde]] and Hellmut von Gerlach, left the party and founded the Radical Democratic Party in 1930, which was largely unsuccessful politically. The Young German Order broke away from the DDP immediately after the Reichstag elections,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Brauers |first=Christof |title=Die FDP in Hamburg 1945 bis 1953 |publisher=Peter Lang |year=2007 |location=Munich |pages=75 ff |language=de |trans-title=The FDP in Hamburg 1945 to 1953}}</ref> but the DDP nevertheless formally reorganized itself the German State Party (DStP) on 8 November 1930.{{sfn|Frye|1985|p=176}}

The party received 1.3 million votes and 20 seats in the 1930 election. Its electoral performance continued to decline in the 1930s. Its seat total declined by sixteen in the [[July 1932 German federal election|July 1932 election]], where it received 371,000 votes. [[Hermann Dietrich]] called for the party to be dissolved after these results. Its seat total fell to two after the [[November 1932 German federal election|November 1932 election]]. [[Hermann von Richthofen]], [[Peter Reinhold]], and others left the party after failing to convince its leadership to dissolve it. It gained three seats in the [[March 1933 German federal election|March 1933 election]], but its share of the vote declined. The DStP obtained these five seats with the help of a combined list with the SPD.{{sfn|Frye|1985|pp=183-187}}<ref>{{Cite web |date=8 June 2011 |title=Die Deutsche Demokratische Partei (DDP) |url=https://www.dhm.de/lemo/kapitel/weimarer-republik/innenpolitik/ddp |access-date=20 November 2022 |website=Deutsches Historisches Museum}}</ref>

The DStP deputies, as opposed to the SPD, voted for the Nazi-sponsored [[Enabling Act of 1933|Enabling Act]], which effectively disempowered the Reichstag.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Reichstag – 2. Sitzung. Donnerstag den 23. März 1933 S. 25 S. 45 |url=https://www.reichstagsprotokolle.de/Blatt2_w8_bsb00000141_00049.html |access-date=2022-11-20 |website=Verhandlungen des deutschen Reichstags}}</ref> Their "yes" to the Enabling Act was justified by the deputy [[Reinhold Maier]]. The final sentence of his speech read: "In the interest of the people and the Fatherland and in the expectation of lawful developments, we will put aside our serious misgivings and agree to the Enabling Act."<ref>{{Cite web |title=Reichstag – 2. Sitzung. Donnerstag den 23. März 1933 S. 25 |url=https://www.reichstagsprotokolle.de/Blatt2_w8_bsb00000141_00029.html |access-date=2022-11-20 |website=Verhandlungen des deutschen Reichstags}}</ref>

The DStP deputies in the [[Landtag of Prussia]] were removed as they worked with the SDP in their election{{sfn|Frye|1985|p=188}} and was banned from engaging in political activity in Prussia in June.{{sfn|Frye|1985|p=190}} Since the mandates of the DStP’s Reichstag deputies had been won by means of nominations from the Social Democratic Party, they expired in July 1933 based on a provision of the [[Gleichschaltung|Gleichschaltung Law]] of 31 March 1933.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Reichsgesetzblatt, Jahrgang 1933 S. 462 |url=https://alex.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/anno-plus?apm=0&aid=dra&datum=19330004&seite=00000462&zoom=2 |access-date=2022-11-19 |website=ALEX Historische Rechts- und Gesetzestexte}}</ref> The self-dissolution of the DStP, forced by the Nazis, took place on 28 June 1933. The law against the formation of new parties enacted on 14 July codified the existence of a single party in the Nazi state and any activity on behalf of other parties was made a punishable offense.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Gesetz gegen die Neubildung von Parteien vom 14. Juli 1933 |trans-title=Law against the formation of new parties of 14 July 1933 |url=http://www.verfassungen.de/de/de33-45/parteien33.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081221214838/http://www.verfassungen.de/de/de33-45/parteien33.htm |archive-date=21 December 2008 |access-date=19 November 2022 |website=Verfassungen der Welt}}</ref>

===Resistance to National Socialism===
[[File:Otto Geßler.jpg|thumb|[[Otto Gessler|Otto Geßler]]|236x236px]]
Individual members of the DStP participated in the [[German resistance to Nazism|resistance to National Socialism]]. The only left-liberal resistance group, the Robinsohn-Strassmann group, consisted mainly of former DDP/DStP members. A middle-class resistance circle with about sixty members was the Sperr Circle in Bavaria. It consisted of the diplomat [[Franz Sperr]] as well as the former Weimar Reich ministers and DDP members Otto Geßler and Eduard Hamm. Many former members of the DDP and Radical Democratic Party also found themselves forced into exile either because of their stance against the regime or their pacifist attitudes, among them Ludwig Quidde and Wilhelm Abegg. Others were murdered by the National Socialists, including Fritz Elsas.