Social Democratic Party of Saarland

Last updated

The Social Democratic Party of Saarland (German : Sozialdemokratische Partei des Saarlands, abbreviated SPS) was a political party existing between 1946 and 1956 in the Saar Protectorate. [1] It had a short-lived predecessor, the Social Democratic Regional Party of the Saar Territory (German : Sozialdemokratische Landespartei des Saargebiets, abbreviated SPdS) existing between 1933 and 1935 in the Saar Territory.

Contents

Before its foundation

In 1872, the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) gathered a meeting for the first time in a city of the Saar Basin, in St. Johann (now a locality of Saarbrücken); they met in order to gain supporters starting local party activities. However, the SPD was less successful in the industrial region of the Saar Basin, usually called the Saar Coal District (German: Saarrevier) than in other industrialised areas of the German Empire. [2] This was due to the dominance of the coal and steel industry in the Saar Coal District which showed strong paternalistic features, providing its workers better life conditions than in other branches which again played a more important role in other industrial regions of Germany. [2] Another feature was the strong conservatism among many Saar Basin inhabitants, with Catholic voters often rather clinging to the Centre Party or voters of declared Protestant alignment, a minority in the Saar Basin, voting for the National Liberal Party. [2]

However, it took until 1893 that an agitation committee (Agitationskomitee) was founded in Saarbrücken in order to tour the Trier Region spreading SPD ideas and encouraging the foundation of local organisations in that region, of which the Prussian part of the Saar Basin formed part until 1920. In 1898, the Saar Coal District election association (Wahlverein Saarrevier) was founded to support SPD candidates running for the Reichstag. In 1903 the joint agitation committee for the Reichstag constituencies Trier Region No. 4 (with Saarlouis, Merzig, Saarburg in the Rhineland) and No. 5 (Saarbrücken; No. 4 and 5 mostly covering the Prussian Saar Coal District), Palatinate No. 4 (with Zweibrücken, Pirmasens, covering the southwest of that Bavarian Region) and Alsace-Lorraine No. 12 (with Saargemünd, Forbach in Lorraine, covering the northeast of the Department of Lorraine) was formed, seated in Saarbrücken.

In the Reichstag election of 1912, the SPD gained 13% of the votes in the city of Saarbrücken, the second lowest result for the SPD among all the German cities with more than 100,000 inhabitants. [3] In 1917, the SPD split into the more radical Independent Social Democrats (USPD) and the more moderate Majority Social Democrats (MSPD), reuniting in 1922. The Social Democrats in the Saar Territory then formed the SPD, Unterbezirk Saar, one of the lower-ranking regional subdivisions within the reunited party (Unterbezirk, i.e. subdistrict). [3]

After the separation of the Territory of the Saar Basin (Saar Territory) from Germany in 1920 and the takeover of all the coal and steel industry by the French government in order to exploit reparations the antagonism between capitalists and workers, formerly less developed in the Saar Coal District with its many paternalistic entrepreneurs, turned into a matter conceived as a nationalist issue, simplified as French government agents exploiting German workers. Nationalist opinions heated up.

In the Saar Territory, there was no home-rule by the citizens but a government, the Governing Commission (German: Regierungskommission, Reko) appointed by the League of Nations. [4] The Reko consisted of five members, none elected by the people, but one appointed by France, one by Germany, who had to be a native from the Saar Territory, and three other nationals appointed by the League of Nations. [5] The members of the Governing Commission served one year terms. [6] The Governing Commission decided on all legislation autonomously. [7] According to paragraph 23 of the Versailles Treaty the Governing Commission was to establish an assembly of elected representatives of the inhabitants of the Saar Territory in such a manner as the Governing Commission would determine itself. [4] [7] So on 24 March 1922, after four years without any official representation of the people, the Reko decreed the formation of a Saar Territory assembly called the Regional Council (German: Landesrat). [8] In June 1922 the Governing Commission held the first election of the Regional Council, and starting with the second election of the Regional Council the legislation period was extended from three to four years, with elections in 1928, and in 1932.

The Regional Council counted 30 members, the Governing Commission deliberately determined one person as the chairperson, the president of the Regional Council (Landesratspräsident). [3] In the first legislation period the Reko did not even choose the president from the midst of the Regional Council. [3] The assembly was no parliament, but only consultative, the representatives were only to be heard, but had no say in legislation. [3] The agenda of matters to be debated was exclusively set up by the Governing Commission. [3] The members of the Regional Council had neither the right of interpellation, nor the right to actively bring a subject to the agenda, let alone they were entitled to table a bill. [3] Its members did not enjoy immunity. [3] So in case the Governing Commission did not set an issue on the Regional Council's agenda it could only send delegations to the League of Nations with pleads, and so the Regional Council did. [3] In the Regional Council the SPD had five (1922, 1928), six (1924) and three seats (1932), with over the years altogether nine different Social Democratic representatives being once or more often elected. [3]

With this situation being as it was also the Social Democrats joined the so-called pro-German block in the Regional Council opposing the autocratic rule by the Governing Commission. The SPD demanded the return of the Saar Territory to Germany in order to let the Saar people live in a country allowing the people to elect a parliament and its government in self-determination.

In Nazi Germany, with many Social Democrats already arrested, hiding, exiled or even killed since the Nazi takeover, the SPD was officially outlawed on 22 June 1933, as were the trade unions and all kinds of workers organisations in the fields of education, culture, sports and the like more. [9] Those members of the SPD Reich executive, still not arrested, not yet exiled and able to flee arrived in the Saar Territory right after the ban of the party in Germany. As an organisation based in the Saar Territory the Unterbezirk Saar was not subject to the party ban in Germany and the SPD Reich executive and the SPD Saar regional executive held consultations on the situation and what to do. Whereas the majority of the Reich executive abstained from and rejected any cooperation of the SPD with parties like the Communist Party of Germany (KPD), which was no less in favour of a dictatorship than the Nazis, the Saar executive felt like forming a cooperation with the Communists, who had long been fighting the Weimar democracy and the SPD as its supporters, denouncing Social Democrats as social fascists. [10]

After the Nazi takeover in Germany, the Social Democrats and the Communists in the Saar Territory, with both their central party organisations in Germany destroyed and many of their fellow party comrades jailed or even murdered, quitted the joint opposition by the parties in the Regional Council against the autocratic government system in the Saar Territory. [3] [11] The Social Democrats yet upheld their demand for democracy, but with Germany having transformed into a dictatorship the status quo in the Saar Territory happened to be the minor evil. [3]

The communists with their own ideas on the dictatorship of the proletariat, also feared a return of the Saar Territory to a Nazi-ruled Germany. SPD and KPD in the Saar Territory now campaigned for continuing the status quo, [3] with the SPD hoping for a reestablishment of a democratic Germany, and the communists wishing a Soviet Germany. However, the other parties in the Regional Council further supported the return of the Saar Territory as soon as possible even though also their party organisations within Nazi Germany had been forbidden, or dissolved anticipating that, and party members were deposed from offices, banned from the public or arrested.

By a cooperation with the communists, the Unterbezirk Saar executive wanted to combine all willing powers in order to win votes in the upcoming referendum against an immediate return to Germany, but for a continuation of the status quo. Of course, the SPD Reich executive was also clearly for upholding the status quo, but against campaigning with the communists. After some days in the Saar Territory, the SPD Reich executive moved on to Prague where the SPD Reich executive, adopting its exile name SoPaDe, could stay until the powers concluding the Munich Agreement decided the break-up of Czechoslovakia in October 1938. [9]

1933 to 1935: Social Democratic Regional Party of the Saar Territory

On 12 November 1933, the Unterbezirk Saar of the SPD held its party convention in Saarbrücken, approved by the SoPaDe and attended by its representatives and delegates of the Socialist International. [9] At this convention the Unterbezirk Saar, in dissent with the SoPaDe on the cooperation with the communists, assumed independence from the SPD and reconstituted as an independent party, the Social Democratic Regional Party of the Saar Territory (German: Sozialdemokratische Landespartei des Saargebietes; SPdS, sometimes also abbreviated as SLS). [10]

On 2 July 1934, the SPdS and the Saar Communists started their cooperation. [11] Whereas the referendum was originally planned to offer the electorate only a choice between the Saar Territory returning to Germany or being annexed to France, the supporters of maintaining the status quo prompted the Governing Commission to add this as a third option to the ballot papers. In 1935, the SPdS and the Saar branch of the KPD formed a united front. On behalf of the SPdS, the declaration of the front, issued on January 29, 1935, was signed by Max Braun, since 1928 head of the Unterbezirk Saar and then the SPdS, respectively. [1] Emil Kirschmann was the party secretary of SPdS. [12]

1935 to 1945: Suppression and refoundation as the SPD Saar

However, in the 1935 Saar status referendum the inhabitants of the Saar Territory voted by a majority for the reunification of the Saar Territory with Germany. Subsequently, the SPdS was outlawed, many of its followers, especially those known for having officiated in party functions, fled the Saar Territory between the referendum and the Nazi takeover. [9] More than 40 Social Democrats from the Saar Territory were killed by the Nazi regime. [9]

In Völklingen, the first local SPD organisation was refounded in summer 1945. Max Braun, the exiled last president of the SPdS prepared his return to the Saar Basin, but died in London in July. In October 1945, the Saar Basin was under French occupation since July, the Social Democratic district organisation refounded after 10 years of suppression in the rear meeting room of a Saarbrücken restaurant. [2] Its original name then was Social Democratic Party of Germany, Saar district (SPD, Bezirk Saar), [2] adopting the SPD naming of the highest ranking regional subdivisions (Bezirk, i.e. district).

1946 to 1956: Social Democratic Party of Saarland

However, the French occupation authority, preparing the separation of the Saar Area from Allied-occupied Germany insisted on removing the term Germany and the party was renamed as Social Democratic Party, Saar district, in order to get it registered in January 1946. [2] This official separation from the SPD, however, was not followed by adopting its own Saar party platform. [2]

Nevertheless, in practice the leaders of the Social Democratic Party of Saarland condoned and soon backed the French policy of economically integrating the Saar Area with France, whereas politically the Social Democrats strived for the Saar's autonomy. [2] Within the party, however, there were three groupings with different opinions, those demanding a full annexation of the Saar to France, those condemning this attitude as separatism and promoting the reunification with Germany, and thirdly those wanting an autonomous Saar. [2]

At the Saar Landtag elections in 1947 (32.8%), in 1952 (32.4%), the SPS never surpassed the results of the Christian People's Party of Saarland (CVP, with 51.2% in 1947, and 54.7% in 1952), and thus - as the junior partner - joined a coalition with it under Johannes Hoffmann from 1947 to April 1951 with two ministers, Richard Kirn for the department of labour and welfare and Heinz Braun for the justice department. [2] In Hoffmann's second cabinet there were no SPS ministers, but Braun and Kirn rejoined his third cabinet officiating from 23 December 1952 to 17 July 1954. [2] Then the coalition of CVP and SPS fell because of the conflict over the law on forming employees' works councils. [2]

As to the Saar question, the SPS leaders maintained their position, cherishing the idea of a co-operative Europe, and campaigned for the Saar statute in the 1955 Saar referendum. [2] This, of course, was subject to criticism from some within the party, which led to long-lasting and embittered controversies among the party members. [2] A first attempt of the pro-German faction within the SPS, led by Ernst Roth, to win the party for their opinion, led to the total isolation of Roth, who was finally forced to resign as a member of the party's executive. A second attempt in 1951 led by Kurt Conrad gained enough support so that Conrad ran as a candidate for the party chairmanship against Kirn, and another pro-German candidate ran for the deputy chairmanship. [2] These attempts failed, but Kirn was only re-elected against the opposition of a visible minority. [2] Although the pro-German faction was growing, Kirn initiated a procedure to exclude Conrad from the party. [2] Before this could happen he resigned from the party. [2]

On 14 March 1952, some disaffected members of the SPS applied to register a new political party, the German Social Democratic Party (DSP), which had been unofficially formed as an SPS intra-party group in 1947, but the authorities refused to allow the registration. [2] In July 1955, the banning of so-called pro-German parties was lifted and the DSP then stepped into the daylight. [2]

The Saar electorate reacted to these developments in the December 1955 elections by giving a disappointing 5.8% share in the vote for the SPS. [2] On the other hand, the DSP won 14.3%. As a consequence the SPS then decided to merge with the DSP with effect from 18 March 1956, then forming the Landesverband Saar (Saar state association) of the Social Democratic Party of Germany. [2] The Saar Protectorate was transformed into the state of Saarland within West Germany on the occasion of the Little Reunification of Germany on 1 January 1957.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Saarland</span> State in Germany

Saarland is a state of Germany in the southwest of the country. With an area of 2,570 km2 (990 sq mi) and population of 990,509 in 2018, it is the smallest German state in area apart from the city-states of Berlin, Bremen, and Hamburg, and the smallest in population apart from Bremen. Saarbrücken is the state capital and largest city; other cities include Neunkirchen and Saarlouis. Saarland is mainly surrounded by the department of Moselle in France to the west and south and the neighboring state of Rhineland-Palatinate in Germany to the north and east; it also shares a small border about 8 kilometres long with the canton of Remich in Luxembourg to the northwest.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Saarlouis</span> Town in Saarland, Germany

Saarlouis is a town in Saarland, Germany, capital of the district of Saarlouis. In 2020, the town had a population of 34,409. Saarlouis is located on the river Saar. It was built as a fortress in 1680 and was named after Louis XIV of France.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Otto Wels</span> German politician (1873–1939)

Otto Wels was a German politician who served as a member of the Reichstag from 1912 to 1933 and as the chairman of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) from 1919 until his death in 1939. He was military commander of Berlin in the turbulent early days of the German Revolution of 1918–1919, and during the 1920 Kapp Putsch he was instrumental in organizing the general strike that helped defeat the anti-republican putschists. Near the end of the Weimar Republic's life, however, he saw the futility of calling a general strike against the 1932 Prussian coup d'état because of the mass unemployment of the Great Depression.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Saar Protectorate</span> French protectorate, disputed territory

The Saar Protectorate, officially Saarland, was a French protectorate and a disputed territory separated from Germany. On joining the Federal Republic of Germany in 1957, it became the smallest "federal state", the Saarland, not counting the "city states" of Berlin, Hamburg, and Bremen. It is named after the Saar River.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Homburg, Saarland</span> Town in Saarland, Germany

Homburg is a town in Saarland, Germany and the administrative seat of the Saarpfalz district. With a population of 43,029 inhabitants (2022), it is the third largest town in the state. The city offers over 30,000 workplaces. The medical department of the University of Saarland is situated here. The city is also home to the Karlsberg beer brewery. Major employers include Robert Bosch GmbH, Schaeffler Group and Michelin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Saar franc</span> Currency of the Saar Protectorate in 1948-1956

The Saar franc was the French franc used as the official currency of the Saar during the times that the Saar territory was economically split off from Germany, in 1920–1935 as the Territory of the Saar Basin, in 1947–1956 as the Saar Protectorate and 1957–1959 as the state of Saarland in West Germany. Local notes and coins were issued during both periods, but the Saar franc was never legally an independent currency.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Free State of Prussia</span> Successor state of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1918 to 1947

The Free State of Prussia was one of the constituent states of Germany from 1918 to 1947. The successor to the Kingdom of Prussia after the defeat of the German Empire in World War I, it continued to be the dominant state in Germany during the Weimar Republic, as it had been during the empire, even though most of Germany's post-war territorial losses in Europe had come from its lands. It was home to the federal capital Berlin and had 62% of Germany's territory and 61% of its population. Prussia changed from the authoritarian state it had been in the past and became a parliamentary democracy under its 1920 constitution. During the Weimar period it was governed almost entirely by pro-democratic parties and proved more politically stable than the Republic itself. With only brief interruptions, the Social Democratic Party (SPD) provided the Minister President. Its Ministers of the Interior, also from the SPD, pushed republican reform of the administration and police, with the result that Prussia was considered a bulwark of democracy within the Weimar Republic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Territory of the Saar Basin</span> League of Nations Mandate in Weimar Republic (1920–35)

The Territory of the Saar Basin was a region occupied and governed by the United Kingdom and France from 1920 to 1935 under a League of Nations mandate. It had its own flag : a blue, white, and black horizontal tricolour. The blue and white stood for Bavaria, and white and black for Prussia, out of whose lands the Saar Territory was formed. Initially, the occupation was under the auspices of the Treaty of Versailles. Its population in 1933 was 812,000, and its capital was Saarbrücken. The territory closely corresponds with the modern German state of Saarland, but was slightly smaller in area. After a plebiscite was held in 1935, it was returned to Germany.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Greater Region of SaarLorLux</span> Euroregion in Western Europe

The Greater Region, formerly also known as SaarLorLux, is a euroregion of eleven regional authorities located in four European states. The term has also been applied to cooperations of several of these authorities or of their subdivisions, administrations, organisations, clubs and people. Member regions represent different political structures: the Walloon region, comprising the French and German-speaking Communities of Belgium; the former Lorraine part of Grand Est, a region of France, including the French departments Meurthe-et-Moselle, Meuse, Moselle and Vosges; the German federated states of Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland; and the sovereign state of Luxembourg.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Reinhard Klimmt</span> German politician (born 1942)

Reinhard Klimmt is a German politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD). From 1998 to 1999, he was Minister President of Saarland, and 1999–2000, Federal Minister of Transport, Building and Urban Affairs.

The politics of Saarland takes place within a framework of a federal parliamentary representative democratic republic, where the Federal Government of Germany exercises sovereign rights with certain powers reserved to the states of Germany including Saarland. The state has a multi-party system where the two main parties are the rightist Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the leftist Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Landtag of Saarland</span> State diet of the German state of Saarland

The Landtag of the Saarland is the state diet of the German federal state of Saarland. It convenes in Saarbrücken and currently consists of 51 members of five parties. The Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) is the largest party in the Landtag with 29 seats, an absolute majority that allows the party to govern without a coalition. The 2022 elections marked the first time that the SPD had won the state in 20 years.

Siegfried Aufhäuser was a German politician and union leader who was chairman of the white-collar General Federation of Free Employees (AfA-Bund) from 1921 until 1933.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2022 Saarland state election</span> German state election

The 2022 Saarland state election was held on 27 March 2022 to elect the 17th Landtag of Saarland. The outgoing government was a coalition of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and Social Democratic Party (SPD) led by Minister-President Tobias Hans.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Otto Niebergall</span> German politician (1904–1977)

Otto Niebergall was a German politician (KPD). During the twelve Nazi years, most of which he spent abroad, he was a resistance activist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hermann Röchling</span>

Hermann Röchling was a German steel manufacturer in the Saar (Germany) and Lorraine (France) in the 20th century. He was a paternalistic and well-liked employer, concerned about his workers' health and welfare. After World War I (1914–18) he was accused of the war crime of destroying French factories. Although he was acquitted, his French property was not returned, and he became deeply hostile to France. He was a Pan-German nationalist and strongly antisemitic. After the accession of Adolf Hitler he became an influential member of the Nazi Party. During World War II (1939–45) he was made responsible for coordination of the iron and steel industry in occupied Lorraine, and later in the whole of Germany and the occupied territories. He used prisoners of war for forced labor in the steel works. After the war he was tried and convicted for human rights violations, although as an old man he was released before serving his full term.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alwin Brück</span> German politician (1931–2020)

Alwin Brück was a German politician who was a member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD). He was Parliamentary Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development from 1974 to 1982.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Lutze</span> German politician

Thomas Lutze is a German politician who represents the Social Democratic Party of Germany. Previously, he was a member of the Left Party. Thomas Lutze has served as a member of the Bundestag from the state of Saarland from 2009 to 2023, and has represented Berlin since October 2023.

References

  1. 1 2 Ursula Langkau-Alex (2004). Deutsche Volksfront 1932-1939: Zwischen Berlin, Paris, Prag und Moskau (in German). Berlin: Akademie Verlag. p. 148. ISBN   978-3-0500-4031-8.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 Cf. Rainer Freyer, "Die Parteien im Saarland 1945-59", on: Saar-Nostalgie: Erinnerungen an frühere Zeiten im Saarland, retrieved on 20 February 2014.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Michael Sander, "Die Anfänge der Sozialdemokratie an der Saar", on: Solidarisch und stark. SPD-Landtagsfraktion, retrieved on 20 February 2014.
  4. 1 2 Cf. Paragraph 23, Chapter II, Annex to Article 45–50, Treaty of Versailles.
  5. Cf. Paragraphs 16–17, Chapter II, Annex to Article 45–50, Treaty of Versailles.
  6. Cf. Paragraph 18, Chapter II, Annex to Article 45–50, Treaty of Versailles.
  7. 1 2 Cf. Paragraph 26, Chapter II, Annex to Article 45–50, Treaty of Versailles.
  8. Cf. Amtsblatt der Regierungskommission des Saargebiets, 1922, p. 41.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 Cf. "Unsere Geschichte: Nazi Deutschland", on: Homepage SPD Schwarzenholz, retrieved on 24 February 2014.
  10. 1 2 Gerd-Rainer Horn, European Socialists Respond to Fascism: Ideology, Activism and Contingency in the 1930s, New York City: Oxford University Press, 1996, p. 66.  ISBN   978-0195093742
  11. 1 2 Gerd-Rainer Horn, European Socialists Respond to Fascism: Ideology, Activism and Contingency in the 1930s, New York City: Oxford University Press, 1996, p. 65.  ISBN   978-0195093742
  12. Ursula Langkau-Alex, Deutsche Volksfront 1932-1939: Zwischen Berlin, Paris, Prag und Moskau], Berlin: Akademie, 2004. p. 152.