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The Democratic People's Party (Demokratische Volkspartei, DVP) was the name of two liberal parties in Germany. It is not to be confused with the Deutsche Volkspartei of 1918, which used the same abbreviation DVP.
Between 1863 and 1866, a Demokratische Volkspartei or Württembergische Volkspartei was active in the Kingdom of Württemberg. It was a more left-liberal party that had descended from the German Progress Party of 1861. It became the Deutsche Volkspartei (German People's Party) for the regions of southern Germany in 1868. In 1910, the party merged with two similar parties to form the Progressive People's Party, Fortschrittliche Volkspartei, which in 1918 became the German Democratic Party; the party dissolved in 1933.
After the Second World War, liberals in the State of Württemberg-Baden refounded a party with the name Demokratische Volkspartei. In 1948 it joined with other state parties in the Free Democratic Party. For historical reasons, the state party in Baden-Württemberg still uses the old name together with the national name (FDP/DVP).
