Sudeten German Party Sudetendeutsche Partei | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Secretary | Konrad Henlein |
| Founded | 1 October 1933 (1933-10-01) |
| Dissolved | 5 November 1938 (1938-11-05) |
| Merger of | DNSAP,DNP |
| Merged into | NSDAP |
| Headquarters | Aš, later shifted toCheb[1] |
| Newspaper | Die Zeit |
| Paramilitary wings | Volkssport,SFK, FS,[2] |
| Membership | 1.35 million (1938est.) |
| Ideology | Nazism |
| Political position | Far-right |
| Colours | Black Red |
| Party flag | |
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TheSudeten German Party (German:Sudetendeutsche Partei,SdP,Czech:Sudetoněmecká strana) was created byKonrad Henlein under the nameSudetendeutsche Heimatfront ("Front of theSudeten German Homeland") on 1 October 1933, some months after theFirst Czechoslovak Republic had outlawed theGerman National Socialist Workers' Party (Deutsche Nationalsozialistische Arbeiterpartei, DNSAP). In April 1935, the party was renamedSudetendeutsche Partei following a mandatory demand of the Czechoslovak government. The name was officially changed toSudeten German and Carpathian German Party (Sudetendeutsche und Karpatendeutsche Partei) in November 1935.
With the rising power ofNazi Party in Germany, the Sudeten German Party became a major pro-Nazi force in Czechoslovakia with the explicit official aim of breaking the country up and joining it to theThird Reich. By June 1938, the party had over 1.3 million members, i.e. 40.6% of ethnic-German citizens of Czechoslovakia. During the last free democratic elections before theGerman occupation of Czechoslovakia, the May 1938 communal elections, the party gained 88% of ethnic-German votes, taking over control of most municipal authorities in the Czech borderland. The country's mass membership made it one of the largest fascist parties in Europe at the time.[3]
In 1903, a group ofSudeten Germans living in theBohemian crown lands of theAustro-Hungarian Monarchy created theGerman Workers' Party (DAP). Influenced by the ideas ofpan-Germanism andanti-Slavism, they opposed theCzech National Revival movement advocated by theYoung Czech Party. The history of this party is centered on the cities ofEger (German for present-day Cheb) andAussig (Ústí nad Labem), it originated and gave the impetus forAustrian National Socialism.
At the end ofWorld War I, the Austro-Hungarian Empire broke up into severalnation states. The DAP was renamed German National Socialist Workers' Party on 5 May 1918 and after the proclamation of Czechoslovakia claimed the right ofself-determination in the predominantly German-settledSudetenland andGerman Bohemian territories, demanding affiliation with the newly establishedRepublic of German-Austria. However, the new Czech-dominated government demanded the unity of the Bohemian (or now calledCzech) lands, as confirmed by the 1919Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye, and considered the Pan-German party offensive and dangerous for the existence of the country. The Czechoslovakian DNSAP led byHans Knirsch together with the conservativeGerman National Party (Deutsche Nationalpartei, DNP) became the main proponent of so-called "negativism", the general tendency among the Sudeten Germans not to accept the legitimacy of the Czechoslovakian state. Under Knirsch's successorRudolf Jung, the party was increasingly influenced by the rise of theNazi Party in the GermanWeimar Republic. In 1933, both the DNSAP and DNP decided to dissolve in order to prevent the imminent ban by thePrague government.
The SHF was founded on 1 October 1933.[4] The party entered into an alliance with theCarpatho-German Party (KdP) in the same year.[4]
The newly established SdP did not see itself as a successor of the DNSAP; in fact, SdP leaderKonrad Henlein sharply rejected the idea. At first he advocated theStändestaat concept of theAustrofascist movement according to the ideas ofOthmar Spann and would have rather preferred the affiliation with theFederal State of Austria than withNazi Germany. In his earlier speeches (until 1937), Henlein stressed his distance from German National Socialism, affirming loyalty to the Czechoslovak state and stressing approval of the idea of acantonal system and individual freedom. He later described his contact to Nazi leaders as merely tactical. In 1935 whenKarl Hermann Frank became deputy leader, the SdP gradually adopted the DNSAP tradition and became more radical.
In theparliamentary election of May 1935, the SdP with 1,249,534 (15.2%) of the votes became the strongest of all parties in Czechoslovakia. The party had won about 68% of the German votes, thus surpassing theGerman Social Democratic Workers Party, theGerman Christian Social People's Party and theFarmers' League. Meanwhile, the influence exerted by the German Nazi dictatorship became stronger and after 1935 several groups within the party were financed by Germany. In November 1937 Adolf Hitler openly declared – according to theHossbach Memorandum – his intention to separate the Sudetenland from the Czechoslovak state. The SdP officially coordinated this policy with Nazi leaders in order to integrate the German-speaking parts of Bohemia and Moravia into theGerman Reich.
After the AustrianAnschluss Henlein first met Hitler on 28 March 1938. His policy was the so-calledGrundplanung OA (Basic Planning) of summer 1938 and later in the interior policy of theProtectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. In March 1938 the Farmers League joined the SdP, as well as many Christian Social deputies in the Czechoslovak parliament. At a convention inCarlsbad on 24 April the majority of the party advocated the demand of the Sudeten Germans as an autonomous ethnic group, the separation of a self-governing German settlement area and the freedom to decide for annexation to Nazi Germany. At this time the SdP had about 1.35 million members.
In September 1938 the policy of SdP succeeded in the German annexation of Sudetenland according to theMunich Agreement (see:German occupation of Czechoslovakia). On 1 October Henlein was appointedReichskommissar of the incorporated territories, which became theReichsgau Sudetenland. After a last convention at Aussig, the organization officially merged into the German Nazi Party at a festive ceremony inReichenberg (Liberec) on 5 November 1938. However, as many Nazi officials likeReinhard Heydrich were suspicious of the SdP party members, they were not absorbed, but had to apply for admission to the Nazi Party. About 520,000 members were approved, among them Henlein himself who also joined theSS. He was officially appointedGauleiter in 1939, an office he held until 1945, though largely losing power to Reich Protector Heydrich.
As of October 1938 the SdP/KdP parliamentary club had 52 members from the Chamber of Deputies, and their joint Senate club had 26 members. On 30 October 1938 the parliamentary mandates of 46 deputies and 22 Senators of SdP and KdP were annulled.[4]
The SdP branches in areas that remained in Czechoslovakia after the Sudetenland annexation formed theGerman People's Group in Czecho-Slovakia (Deutsche Volksgruppe in der Tschecho-Slowakei).[5][6]
| Election year | # of overall votes | % of overall vote | # of overall seats won | +/– | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1935 | 1,249,534 (#1) | 15.2 | 44 / 300 |  44 | Konrad Henlein |
| Election year | # of overall votes | % of overall vote | # of overall seats won | +/– | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1935 | 1,092,255 (#1) | 15.0 | 22 / 150 | 22 | Konrad Henlein |
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