German Party
Deutsche Partei
VolksgruppeführerFranz Karmasin
FoundedOctober 8, 1938 (1938-10-08)
Dissolved1945
Preceded byCarpathian German Party
NewspaperGrenzebote, Deutsche Stimmen
Youth wingGerman Youth
Paramilitary wingFreiwillige Schutzstaffel
Labour wingArbeitsfront der Volksdeutschen in der Slowakei
Membership (1940)57,000 (claimed)
IdeologyNazism
Slovak Landtag (1938)
2 / 63
Party flag

The German Party (German: Deutsche Partei, abbreviated DP) was a Nazi political party active amongst the German minority in Slovakia from 1938 to 1945.[1][2]

History

The party was formed on October 8, 1938, as a successor to the Carpathian German Party (KdP).[3][4] Franz Karmasin, a member of the Czechoslovak Chamber of Deputies, led the party, holding the title of Volksgruppeführer.[3] DP functioned as the referent in Slovakia for the German People's Group in Czecho-Slovakia (DVG), the successor organization of the Sudeten German Party founded on October 30, 1938.[3] The party published Grenzbote and Deutschen Stimmen from Bratislava.[2]

Organizationally, DP was modelled after the NSDAP in Germany, following the Führer principle.[4][5] It used the swastika as its symbol and Horst-Wessel-Lied as its anthem.[4] The DP youth wing was known as 'German Youth' (Deutsche Jugend) and maintained a paramilitary wing called Freiwillige Schutzstaffel.[4] Politically DP strove to foster homogenous Carpathian German communities and to maintain a privileged position for the German community in Slovakia.[6] The party was closely aligned with German foreign policy.[6] The first article of the DP statutes from March 1, 1940, proclaimed that "the German Party [was] representative of the political will of the entire German population in Slovakia".[7] However, not all Germans in Slovakia were happy with the supposed unity party; DP faced resistance from followers of the pro-Hungarian Zipser German Party.[5]

On December 18, 1938, the German Party got two deputies elected to the Slovak Landtag on the unity list of the Hlinka Slovak People's Party – Party of Slovak National Unity (HSĽS-SSNJ); Karmasin and Josef Steinhübl.[2][4] In March 1940 the DP politician Sigmund Keil became a member of the Landtag, replacing Gejza Rehák.[2] On November 20, 1941, a fourth DP politician became a Landtag member, as Dr. Adalbert Gabriel was appointed by presidential decree to represent the German community.[2]

By 1940 DP claimed to have 57,000 members organized in 120 local groups.[8] It folded in 1945.[2][9]

References

  1. ^ Europa Ethnica. Vol. 17. W. Braumüller. 1943. p. 159.
  2. ^ a b c d e f Mads Ole Balling (1991). Von Reval bis Bukarest: Ungarn, Jugoslawien, Rumänien, Slowakei, Karpatenukraine, Kroatien, Memelländischer Landtag, Schlesischer Landtag, komparative Analyse, Quellen und Literatur, Register (in German). Dokumentation Verlag. pp. 662, 665. ISBN 978-87-983829-5-9.
  3. ^ a b c Mads Ole Balling (1991). Von Reval bis Bukarest: Einleitung, Systematik, Quellen und Methoden, Estland, Lettland, Litauen, Polen, Tschechoslowakei (in German). Dokumentation Verlag. pp. 283–84. ISBN 978-87-983829-3-5.
  4. ^ a b c d e Josef Spetko (1991). Die Slowakei: Heimat der Völker (in German). Amalthea. p. 91. ISBN 978-3-85002-306-1.
  5. ^ a b Jürgen Zarusky (15 May 2013). Das Münchener Abkommen von 1938 in europäischer Perspektive: Eine Gemeinschaftspublikation des Instituts für Zeitgeschichte München-Berlin und des Collegium Carolinum (in German). Oldenbourg Verlag. p. 401. ISBN 978-3-486-70417-4.
  6. ^ a b Michael Fahlbusch; Ingo Haar (30 January 2005). German Scholars and Ethnic Cleansing, 1919–1945. Berghahn Books. p. 100. ISBN 978-0-85745-705-9.
  7. ^ David Schriffl (2004). Die Rolle Wiens im Prozess der Staatswerdung der Slowakei 1938/39 (in German). Peter Lang. p. 25. ISBN 978-3-631-52752-8.
  8. ^ Immo Eberl; Konrad G. Gündisch (1987). Die Donauschwaben. Jan Thorbecke Verlag. p. 165. ISBN 9783799541046.
  9. ^ Július Bartl (January 2002). Slovak History: Chronology & Lexicon. Bolchazy-Carducci. p. 137. ISBN 978-0-86516-444-4.
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