German Völkisch Freedom Party

Far-right political party in Weimar Germany (1922–1924)

Politics of Germany
Political parties
Elections

The German Völkisch Freedom Party (German: Deutschvölkische Freiheitspartei, or DVFP) was an early far-right political party of Weimar Germany that took its name from the Völkisch movement, a right-wing populist and antisemitic movement focused on folklore and the German Volk. Anti-communist, its criticism of capitalism reflected economic antisemitism rather than socialism. The DVFP was founded on 16 December 1922, when Wilhelm Henning, Reinhold Wulle, and Albrecht von Graefe broke from the German National People's Party (DNVP).^[1] Leading right-wing figures, such as Ernst Graf zu Reventlow, Artur Dinter, and Theodor Fritsch, joined the party on its foundation.^[2]

Many members of the Deutschvölkischer Schutz- und Trutzbund joined the DVFP after the former was banned. After the Nazi Party was banned in the wake of the Beer Hall Putsch, the DVFP entered into an electoral alliance with many Nazis to form the National Socialist Freedom Movement in early 1924, a move endorsed by Erich Ludendorff and encouraged by Graefe, who hoped to gain control of the far right as a whole.^[3] This alliance was not a success, plans for a full merger fell through in August 1924, and Graefe and Wulle re-formed the DVFP, now named the German Völkisch Freedom Movement, as a rival to the Nazi Party in February 1925.^[4]

References

^ Beck, Hermann (2008). The Fateful Alliance. Berghahn Books. pp. 36–38.
^ Levy, Richard S. (2005). Antisemitism. ABC-CLIO. p. 265.
^ Morris, Douglas G. (2005). Justice Imperiled: The Anti-Nazi Lawyer Max Hirschberg in Weimar Germany. University of Michigan Press. p. 255.
^ Detlef Mühlberger (2004). "Organisation & Development of the Nazi Party". Hitler's Voice: The Völkischer Beobachter, 1920–1933. Vol. 1. Peter Lang. p. 105.