Towards the end of 1918, with old certainties dissolving in the dismal aftermath of a catastrophic war, George Schreiber launched himself as a politician of the Centre Party, which was seen by many as the political manifestation of Catholic Germany. He embarked on his political career by authoring a succession of newspaper articles, sometimes using the pseudonym "Richard Richardy", and by delivering speeches at party meetings. A broadly sympathetic commentator implies unambiguously that Schreiber's "big ... speeches" could be a little too carefully prepared: when he improvised, the impact of his oratory was sometimes greater. Reflecting the satisfyingly simplistic beliefs of the time that the war had been "caused" by an excess of Prussian militarism, he adopted with relish the party slogan, "Los von Berlin – Los von Preußen". His speeches may not have been to the taste of everyone, but his position as a youthful energetic professor of church history evidently appealed to Catholic voters. On 19 November 1918 he published an article in the widely read (in the region) calling for a "strong political coming together" of the formerly Prussian provinces of Westphalia and Rhineland into a new German federal state. This campaign was ended in 1919 when the Weimar National Assembly (pre-parliament) produced a new constitution that provided for the establishment of new federal states through the roguish device of a referendum, but it had significantly helped raise Schreiber's public profile in the regions concerned. The first national election of the new Republican Germany was held early in June 1920. Schreiber stood as a candidate for the "Westphalia North" electoral district (which included his home region of Münster) and was directly elected (without recourse to the "second preference votes" of losing candidates).