German People's Party (Romania)

The German People's Party (German: Deutsche Volkspartei in Rumänien; Romanian: Partidul Poporului German din România, PPGR) was a political party that operated in Romania between 1935 and 1938, claiming to represent the ethnic German community.

Alfred Bonfert founded the PPGR on April 22, 1935 in a split with the Nazi-oriented German Party, whose president he accused of having a conciliatory attitude toward the party's democratic leaders, and which he denounced as Judeo-Communist during the next few years. The party's base was the Volksdeutsche bourgeoisie, influenced by Nazism. It was organised on the Hitler-created model, with a paramilitary system in which the cadres were named by superior hierarchical organs. It ran three official newspapers: Der Stürmer (Timișoara), Ost-deutscher beobachter (Sibiu), and Sachsenburg (Brașov).

In its programme of 1935, the PPGR asked for the 1923 Constitution to be respected, as well as for cultural autonomy for the local German community. Besides its programme, the party's practical activity entailed cultivating a German (in this case Nazi) spirit among the Germans of Romania, and implanting each one of these with the idea that he represented an element, living abroad, of the Great Reich, whose interests he had to serve. The PPGR was hostile to Romanians and tried to isolate ethnic Germans from the general population. It adopted an intransigent attitude toward the country's governments, disavowing collaboration and pursuing a policy of confrontation toward them. A veritable fifth column for the Reich, it was never very popular, gaining under 1% of the vote at the 1937 election despite Germans forming over 4% of the population.

The German People's Party, along with all other parties extant in Romania, was dissolved on March 30, 1938. On October 27, 1938, following orders from Berlin, the remnants of PPGR were merged with the German Party.

References

Enciclopedia partidelor politice din România, 1859-2003, Editura Meronia, Bucharest 2003, ISBN 973-8200-54-7

Historical political parties in Romania (1856–1947)

Liberal	National Liberal Party Free and Independent Faction National Liberal Party-Brătianu National Liberal Party–Tătărescu

Conservative	Conservative Party Constitutional Party Conservative-Democratic Party People's Party Romanian National Party Progressive Conservative Party Vlad Țepeș League

Agrarian	Agrarian League Agrarian Union Party Democratic Peasants' Party–Stere Democratic Peasants' Party–Lupu Bessarabian Peasants' Party League against Usury National Agrarian Party National Peasants' Party National Peasants' Party–Alexandrescu Peasants' Party Peasants' Party–Lupu Ploughmen's Front Radical Peasants' Party Socialist Peasants' Party Transylvanian Peasants' Party

Fascist, corporatist, and far right	Iron Guard Romanian Action Crusade of Romanianism National-Christian Defense League National Christian Party National Fascist Movement National Italo-Romanian Cultural and Economic Movement National Renaissance Front National Romanian Fascio National Socialist Party Romanian Front

Communist, socialist, and social democratic	Romanian Social Democratic Workers' Party Social Democratic Party of Romania Labor Party Socialist Party of Romania Social Democratic Party of Bukovina Socialist Party of Transylvania Banat Socialist Party Romanian Communist Party Federation of Socialist Parties from Romania Peasant Workers' Bloc Romanian Social Democratic Party Socialist Workers Party of Romania

Nationalist	Democratic Nationalist Party Democratic Union Party National Party National Union from Banat

Ethnic minority	Hungarian German Bloc Hungarian People's Party Hungarian People's Union Hungarian Union Magyar Party National Democratic Hungarian-Szekler Party German Party German People's Party Group of Transylvanian Saxons Jewish National People's Party General Jewish Labour Bund in Romania Jewish Party Ukrainian National Party Ukrainian Workers' Party of Romania

Other	Union of Patriots/National Popular Party

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