Greater German People’s Community Großdeutsche Volksgemeinschaft | |
|---|---|
| Leader | Alfred Rosenberg Julius Streicher |
| Founded | 1 January 1924; 101 years ago (1924-01-01) |
| Dissolved | 12 March 1925; 100 years ago (1925-03-12) |
| Merged into | Nazi Party (NSDAP) |
| Newspaper | Großdeutsche Zeitung[1] |
| Ideology | Nazism |
| Political position | Far-right |
| Colours | Brown |
TheGreater German People’s Community (German:Großdeutsche Volksgemeinschaft, GVG) was one of the two mainfront organizations established after the National Socialist German Workers' Party (Nazi Party) was banned by the government of theWeimar Republic in the wake of the failedBeer Hall Putsch of November 1923.
The GVG was founded on 1 January 1924 byAlfred Rosenberg, the editor-in-chief of theVolkische Beobachter, on the instructions ofAdolf Hitler who was incarcerated inLandsberg prison at the time. Shortly before his arrest on 11 November 1923, Hitler had charged Rosenberg with leadership of the movement.[2]
Headquartered inMunich, the GVG was largely limited toBavaria, the birthplace of National Socialism, and had no substantial presence outside that State. The GVG became a haven for Nazi Party members from that area. Prominent members includedMax Amann,Phillip Bouhler,Hermann Esser,Franz Xaver Schwarz andJulius Streicher.[3]
Rosenberg, one of the least charismatic of the Nazi leaders and lacking in leadership qualities, was soon pushed aside by Streicher, a far more ruthless and abrasive personality, who was elected Chairman of the GVG on 9 July 1924 with Esser, also a coarse, bullying sort, as his Deputy Chairman.[4]
The GVG found itself vying for leadership of the Nazi movement with the other much larger successor organization, theNational Socialist Freedom Movement (German:Nationalsozialistische Freiheitsbewegung, NSFB). This group consisted of an alliance between Nazi Party members from northern Germany and theGerman Völkisch Freedom Party. The leaders of this group wereErich Ludendorff,Albrecht von Graefe andGregor Strasser. The NSFB supported participation in the electoral system. The GVG, by contrast, still clung to a revolutionary and anti-parliamentary orientation that eschewed participation in electoral politics. Consequently it won no seats in the twoReichstag elections of May and December 1924.[5]
Neither group accepted the legitimacy of the other and both claimed the support of Hitler. This rivalry threatened a split in the National Socialist movement. Hitler, not wanting to jeopardize his chances forparole, announced his “withdrawal” from political leadership on 7 July 1924 and refused to publicly endorse either organization. This only resulted in increased confusion, disharmony and squabbling between the putative successor groups.[6]
Hitler was released from prison on 20 December 1924 and soon re-established the NSDAP, reclaiming its leadership on 27 February 1925 in a speech at theBürgerbräukeller in Munich. Streicher and Esser were both in attendance and pledged their loyalty.[7] The GVG subsequently formally disbanded on 12 March and its members rejoined the Nazi Party almost without exception.[8]
Grossdeutsche Volksgemeinschaft inthe Bavarian Historical Dictionary
