German National People's Party

Category:German political parties
Category:Nationalist political parties
Category:Baden-Württemberger political parties
The German National People's Party (German: Deutschnationale Volkspartei, DNVP) is a right-wing party in Baden-Württemberg and formerly the Weimar Republic. It was founded shortly after the end of the Great War as a unification of numerous right-wing parties that had existed under the German Empire, such as the German Conservative Party, Free Conservative Party, German Fatherland Party, Christian Social Party, along with the far-right factions of the National Liberal Party.
Opposed to the Weimar Republic from its inception, the DNVP received 10.2% of the vote in the 1919 election, with support primarily concentrated in the eastern territories of Prussia, such as Pomerania and East Prussia. The DNVP supported the April Putsch, aimed at solidifying the power of the Freikorps and countering republican and communist forces perceived as threatening the nation. When this event spiraled into the German Civil War, the DNVP rallied its supporters to the side of the counterrevolutionary Whites, and some DNVP politicians took ministerial roles in the cabinet of Kurt von Schleicher, but with the triumph of the Spartacists in 1920 the DNVP was dissolved in most areas of the nation, with its leaders arrested or forced into exile. Despite its staunchly German nationalist and anti-occupation position, particularly against the French, the DNVP ironically found refuge in the occupied Rhineland, as well as in Baden-Württemberg, which had been occupied by the French to establish a buffer state. Due to ideological disagreements the Rhenish branch of the party split to form the German Conservative Party in 1922.
With a support base almost entirely consisting of Protestants, particularly in the middle and upper classes, the DNVP is strongest in the Protestant-majority regions of Württemberg and Hesse. The party is practically dominated by the Württemberger section of the party, led by Wilhelm Bazille. Due to this, the modern DNVP is considerably more moderate than the formerly Prussian-dominated party, as the Württemberger branch had its origins in national liberalism, rather than national conservatism and political antisemitism. In contrast to sections of the DNVP in other regions, the Württemberger branch had been open to cooperation with pro-republican forces at a regional level, though it nonetheless favored a monarchy. It also shares close ties with the Württemberg Farmer's and Winegrower's League, a regionalist agrarian party that it runs with on a joint electoral list in federal elections. A similar arrangement exists with the Baden Farmer's League, while both of the agrarian parties form the Landbund. Many Prussian exiles, Der Stahlhelm members, and Freikorps veterans initially joined the party, but split in 1923 to form the far-right German National Fighting Front.