Parties of the Weimar Republic

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SOCIAL DEMOCRATIC PARTY OF GERMANY (SOZIALDEMOKRATISCHE PARTEI DEUTSCHLANDS)

Social Democrats – the center-left foundation of the Weimar Republic. The first chancellors and the first president were Social Democrats. A Social Democrat led the largest region of Germany – Prussia, and the party itself gained a relative majority in the Reichstag elections until 1932. Its removal from power heralded the end of the republic itself.

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COMMUNIST PARTY OF GERMANY (KOMMUNISTISCHE PARTEI DEUTSCHLANDS)

The communists were the main threat to the Weimar Republic from the "left" and also the primary competitors of the Social Democrats in the struggle for the sympathies of the working class. However, their aggressive image worked against them: the communists did not have the strength to overthrow the system on their own, but the fight against them became the perfect pretext for destroying the republic from the "right."

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CATHOLIC CENTER (ZENTRUM)

Catholic Center – the right-centrist foundation of the Weimar Republic. Ministers from this party served in all governments from 1919 to 1932, and its representatives became chancellors several times. Being a confessional force, the Center could cooperate with all ideological camps, and thus was involved both in the creation of the republic and in its dismantling.

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BAVARIAN PEOPLE'S PARTY (BAYERISCHE VOLKSPARTEI)

Bavaria was the largest German state after Prussia, and therefore its ruling party influenced not only regional but also national politics as a whole. Breaking away from the Center, Bavarian regionalists expressed more federalist and conservative views.

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GERMAN DEMOCRATIC PARTY (DEUTSCHE DEMOKRATISCHE PARTEI)

The German Democrats were the third pillar of the "Weimar Coalition" alongside the Social Democrats and Catholic Centrists. It was their representative who wrote the Republican Constitution. However, having received significant trust at the very beginning of the republic, the left liberals steadily lost their popularity until they were ultimately swept away.

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GERMAN PEOPLE'S PARTY (DEUTSCHE VOLKSPARTEI)

Right-wing liberals went from denying the Weimar system to recognizing and saving it at a critical moment. The death of their leader, Gustav Stresemann, marked the beginning of the end: both for the right-wing liberals and for the republic itself.

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GERMAN NATIONAL PEOPLE'S PARTY (DEUTSCHNATIONALE VOLKSPARTEI)

Conservative nationalists were long the main opponents of the Weimar system from the "right." Refusing to recognize the republic, conservatives consistently worked towards its dismantling. At the decisive moment, despite complex relations, they formed an alliance with the Nazis and won, only to ultimately lose.