1928 German federal election

1928 German federal election

←  December 1924 20 May 1928 (1928-05-20) 1930  →
All 491 seats in the Reichstag 246 seats needed for a majority
Registered	41,224,678 ( 5.7%)
Turnout	75.6% ( 3.2pp)
First party Second party Third party   Leader Hermann Müller Otto Wels Arthur Crispien Kuno von Westarp Wilhelm Marx Party SPD DNVP Centre Last election 26.0%, 131 seats 20.5%, 103 seats 13.6%, 69 seats Seats won 153 73 61 Seat change 22 30 8 Popular vote 9,152,979 4,381,563 3,712,152 Percentage 29.8% 14.3% 12.1% Swing 3.8pp 6.2pp 1.5pp   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader Ernst Thälmann & Philipp Dengel Gustav Stresemann Erich Koch-Weser Party KPD DVP DDP Last election 8.9%, 45 seats 10.1%, 51 seats 6.3%, 32 seats Seats won 54 45 25 Seat change 9 6 7 Popular vote 3,264,793 2,679,703 1,479,374 Percentage 10.6% 8.7% 4.8% Swing 1.7pp 1.4pp 1.5pp
Results by constituency Results by district and independent city
Government before election Fourth Marx cabinet Z–DNVP–DVP–BVP Government after election Second Müller cabinet SPD–DVP–DDP–Z–BVP

Federal elections were held in Germany on 20 May 1928. ^{[1] [2]} The Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) remained the largest party in the Reichstag after winning 153 of the 491 seats. ^[3] Voter turnout was 75.6%. ^[4]

Campaign

5,484 candidates were nominated by 31 parties in the 646 electoral districts and 540 candidates in the 31 Reich lists. ^[5] The Nazi candidate list was published in April 1928, and featured thirty-six names running in thirty-five districts. Twelve of the candidates were Gauleiters. Joseph Goebbels, Gregor Strasser, and others were candidates in multiple districts. ^[6]

The only two parties to gain significantly were the SPD, which received almost a third of the vote, and the Communist Party of Germany (KPD), which completed a thorough victory of the left wing. However, the SPD still failed to win a clear majority, resulting in another coalition government, led by Hermann Müller. ^[7] Following his appointment as Chancellor, Müller, who had previously held the post for four months in 1920, created a grand coalition of members of the SPD, the German Democratic Party, the Centre Party, the German People's Party and the Bavarian People's Party. ^[8] However, the coalition was plagued by internal divisions right from the beginning, with each party more concerned with their own interests than the interests of the government. As a result, Müller asked German President Paul von Hindenburg for emergency powers, but when Hindenburg refused, he resigned, marking the end of the "last genuinely democratic government of the Weimar Republic" on 27 March 1930. ^[9]

The recently reformed Nazi Party contested the elections after the ban on the party had been lifted in 1925. However, the party received less than 3% of the vote and won only 12 seats in the Reichstag. Adolf Hitler, who had been incarcerated in Landsberg prison for his involvement in the Beer Hall Putsch until Christmas 1924, ^[10] had concentrated on re-establishing himself as the leader of the Nazi Party after his release rather than on his party's electability.

Analysis

The Nazis performed best in the rural areas of Schleswig-Holstein, Lower Saxony, Thuringia, and Upper Bavaria. ^[11] Their share in urban areas fell from the previous election, with them losing 2.6% in Hamburg and 1.3% in the Ruhr. ^[12] They placed third in Munich. ^[13] The German National People's Party (DNVP) saw their support in rural Protestant areas fall from 39% to 27%. ^[14] The DNVP received twice as much support in rural areas than in urban areas. ^[15]

Twelve Nazis were elected, six from electoral districts and six from the Reich list. ^{[16] [17]}

The KDP increased its support from the previous election by 500,000 votes, with 130,000 of this coming from Berlin. ^[18]

Results

Party		Votes	%	+/–	Seats	+/–
	Social Democratic Party	9,152,979	29.76	+3.74	153	+22
	German National People's Party	4,381,563	14.25	−6.24	73	−30
	Centre Party	3,712,152	12.07	−1.53	61	−8
	Communist Party of Germany	3,264,793	10.62	+1.68	54	+9
	German People's Party	2,679,703	8.71	−1.36	45	−6
	German Democratic Party	1,479,374	4.81	−1.53	25	−7
	Reich Party of the German Middle Class	1,387,602	4.51	+2.22	23	+11
	Bavarian People's Party	945,644	3.07	−0.67	17	−2
	Nazi Party	810,127	2.63	−0.37	12	−2
	Christian-National Peasants' and Farmers' Party	571,891	1.86	New	9	New
	Reich Party for Civil Rights and Deflation	509,471	1.66	New	2	New
	German Farmers' Party	481,254	1.56	New	8	New
	Völkisch-National Bloc	266,370	0.87	New	0	New
	Agricultural League	199,548	0.65	−1.00	3	−5
	German-Hanoverian Party	195,555	0.64	−0.22	4	0
	Saxon Peasants	127,700	0.42	New	2	New
	Christian Social Reich Party	110,704	0.36	New	0	New
	Left Communists	80,405	0.26	New	0	New
	Old Social Democratic Party of Germany	65,775	0.21	New	0	New
	Polish People's Party	64,753	0.21	−0.06	0	0
	Evangelical Party of Germany	52,488	0.17	New	0	New
	German Social Party	46,047	0.15	−0.38	0	0
	General People's Party	37,373	0.12	New	0	New
	German House and Property Owners' Party	35,846	0.12	New	0	New
	Independent Social Democratic Party	20,815	0.07	−0.26	0	0
	Evangelical Community Spirit	10,709	0.03	New	0	New
	Christian National Middle Class Party	9,957	0.03	New	0	New
	Pastor Greber Party	9,527	0.03	New	0	New
	Revaluation and Construction Party	8,562	0.03	New	0	New
	German Reich Bloc of the Injured	7,437	0.02	New	0	New
	Reich Party for Crafts, Trade and Business	6,614	0.02	New	0	New
	People's Welfare Party	6,071	0.02	New	0	New
	Franconian Peasants	3,417	0.01	New	0	New
	Wendish People's Party	3,111	0.01	−0.01	0	0
	Party for Justice and Tenant Protection	2,831	0.01	New	0	New
	Schleswig Club	2,435	0.01	−0.01	0	0
	German Christian Folk Party	901	0.00	New	0	New
	Vital Interests of the Unmarried	873	0.00	New	0	New
	Masurian People's Party	295	0.00	New	0	New
	Lithuanian People's Party	289	0.00	New	0	New
	Friesland	286	0.00	New	0	New
Total		30,753,247	100.00	–	491	–2
Valid votes		30,753,247	98.68
Invalid/blank votes		412,542	1.32
Total votes		31,165,789	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		41,224,678	75.60
Source: Gonschior.de

See also

• Members of the 4th German Reichstag (Weimar Republic)

References

1. Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p762 ISBN   978-3-8329-5609-7
2. Pollock 1928.
3. Nohlen & Stöver, p790
4. Nohlen & Stöver, p777
5. Pollock 1928, p. 699.
6. Orlow 1969, p. 126-128.
7. Evans, D. & Jenkins, J. (1999), Years of Weimar & the Third Reich, London: Hodder & Stoughton Educational, p. 83, ISBN   0-340-70474-8 .
8. "The Second Müller Cabinet after its First Meeting in the Reich Chancellery (June 1928)". GHDI (German History in Documents and Images). Retrieved 16 June 2023.
9. Evans & Jenkins 1999 , p. 88.
10. Broszat, M. (1987), Hitler and the Collapse of Weimar Germany, Oxford: Berg Publishers, p. 9, ISBN   0-85496-509-2 .
11. Childers 1983, p. 127.
12. Orlow 1969, p. 129.
13. Orlow 1969, p. 134.
14. Childers 1983, p. 148.
15. Childers 1983, p. 158.
16. Orlow 1969, p. 130.
17. "Nazis Won First 12 Reichstag Seats in 1928; Adolf Hitler Then Rose Steadily to Power". The New York Times . 13 November 1933. Archived from the original on 29 January 2024.
18. Pollock 1928, p. 703.

Works cited

• Childers, Thomas (1983). The Nazi Voter: The Social Foundations of Fascism in Germany, 1919-1933. University of North Carolina Press. ISBN   0807815705.
• Orlow, Dietrich (1969). The History of the Nazi Party: 1919-1933. University of Pittsburgh Press. SBN   822931834.
• Pollock, James (1928). "The German Elections of 1928". American Political Science Review . American Political Science Association. 22 (3): 698–705. doi:10.2307/1945624. JSTOR   1945624.