TheGerman People's Party (German:Deutsche Volkspartei,DtVP) was aGerman liberalparty created in 1868 by the former wing of theGerman National Association which during the conflict about whether theunification of Germany should be led by theKingdom of Prussia orAustria-Hungary supportedAustria. The party was most popular inSouthern Germany.

Initially, the South German democrats supported theGreater German solution of theGerman Question. After the establishment of theGerman Empire in 1871 under Prussia, the solution which excluded Austria, it advocated federalist structures and defended the South German states' rights against increasing strengthening of the central government in Berlin. Insistently, the party demanded democratic reforms, in particular strengthening of the position of the parliament, which had no say in the formation of the government and no influence on government policies as the government was appointed and dismissed by the emperor alone.

In contrast to theNational Liberal Party, the party stood in staunch opposition against the policy ofOtto von Bismarck from the establishment of the German Empire. The party put theliberal notion of liberty above the prospect of a German unification led from above. The party was highly critical of thePrusso-German monarchy and advocated theseparation of church and state. Still, it rejected Bismarck'sKulturkampf against theCatholic Church as well as theAnti-Socialist Laws. The German People's Party was the mostleftist^[2] among non-Marxist parties and closest to thesocial democracy. It was the sole liberal party to cooperate with the socialists in theReichstag.

Most of the party's members were craftsmen, small traders, farmers and clerks. However, the leadership consisted of upper-class intellectuals.Leopold Sonnemann (proprietor of the newspaperFrankfurter Zeitung) and the lawyerFriedrich von Payer served as Chairmen. In 1910, the party merged with theFree-minded People's Party and theFree-minded Union to form theProgressive People's Party. A notable member of both the German People's Party, the Progressive People's Party and its successor theGerman Democratic Party wasLudwig Quidde, theNobel Peace Prize winner in 1927.

The most influential among the German People's Party's state organisations was theDemocratic People's Party inWürttemberg. After the German People's Party was disbanded, it continued as the regional branch of the Progressive People's Party, the German Democratic Party and is still part of the full name of the liberalFree Democratic Party in thestate ofBaden-Württemberg. In contrast to the South German People's Party of 1868–1910, theGerman People's Party in theWeimar Republic (1919–1933) was amonarchist successor to the imperial National Liberal Party.

• Contributions to liberal theory
• Liberal democracy
• Liberalism
• Liberalism in Germany
• Liberalism worldwide
• List of liberal parties

• German People's Party 1868–1910. Website of theDeutsches Historisches Museum (German Historical Museum) (in German).

• Defunct liberal political parties
• Defunct political parties in Germany
• Liberal parties in Germany
• Political parties established in 1868
• Political parties in the German Empire
• Political parties disestablished in 1910
• Radical parties
• 1868 establishments in the North German Confederation
• 1910 disestablishments in Germany

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