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The Bavarian People's Party (german: Bayerische Volkspartei; BVP) was the
Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...
n branch of the Centre Party, a lay
Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...
party, which broke off from the rest of the party in 1918 to pursue a more
conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...
and more Bavarian particularist course.


History

The party displayed
monarchist Monarchism is the advocacy of the system of monarchy or monarchical rule. A monarchist is an individual who supports this form of government independently of any specific monarch, whereas one who supports a particular monarch is a royalist. ...
leanings because many Bavarians had never accepted the overthrow of the House of Wittelsbach in 1918, and there was a period of near separatism in the early 1920s, culminating in Gustav von Kahr's unwillingness to abide by rulings from Berlin during the autumn crisis of 1923. This only came to an end with the shock of
Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...
's Beer Hall Putsch. Following the establishment of a more stable situation throughout Germany, the party came around to a more moderate line under the leadership of ''Ministerpräsident'' Heinrich Held and party president
Fritz Schäffer Fritz Schäffer (12 May 1888 – 29 March 1967) was a German politician of the Bavarian People's Party (BVP) and the Christian Social Union (CSU). He was the Bavarian Minister of Finance from 1931 to 1933, when the Nazis came to power in Berlin ...
. During the
Weimar Republic The Weimar Republic (german: link=no, Weimarer Republik ), officially named the German Reich, was the government of Germany from 1918 to 1933, during which it was a constitutional federal republic for the first time in history; hence it is ...
, the BVP was consistently the most popular party in Bavaria and the party with the most seats in the
Landtag of Bavaria The Landtag of Bavaria, officially known in English as the Bavarian State Parliament, is the unicameral legislature of the German state of Bavaria. The parliament meets in the Maximilianeum in Munich. Elections to the Landtag are held every f ...
. In the second round of the 1925 German presidential election, the main contenders were
Paul von Hindenburg Paul Ludwig Hans Anton von Beneckendorff und von Hindenburg (; abbreviated ; 2 October 1847 – 2 August 1934) was a German field marshal and statesman who led the Imperial German Army during World War I and later became President of Germany fr ...
and
Wilhelm Marx Wilhelm Marx (15 January 1863 – 5 August 1946) was a German lawyer, Catholic politician and a member of the Centre Party. He was the chancellor of Germany twice, from 1923 to 1925 and again from 1926 to 1928, and he also served briefly as the ...
. If either the BVP or the
Communist Party A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of ''The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. ...
(KPD), who put up
Ernst Thälmann Ernst Johannes Fritz Thälmann (; 16 April 1886 – 18 August 1944) was a German communist politician, and leader of the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) from 1925 to 1933. A committed Marxist-Leninist and Stalinist, Thälmann played a major r ...
in the second round, had supported Marx, he would have become president instead of the elderly von Hindenburg, who died in 1934 and was succeeded by Hitler. The party may be seen as a precursor to the
Christian Social Union in Bavaria The Christian Social Union in Bavaria (German: , CSU) is a Christian-democratic and conservative political party in Germany. Having a regionalist identity, the CSU operates only in Bavaria while its larger counterpart, the Christian Democratic ...
(CSU), but alongside the CSU the Bavaria Party which has members elected to city councils in some Bavarian regions and the Bavarian Centre Party were also refounded after
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
and are explicitly claiming the historical heritage of the BVP.


Politicians

See
list of Bavarian People's Party politicians A list of notable politicians of the Bavarian People's Party: A * Hans Adlhoch * Alois Albert * Ellen Ammann B * Klara Barth * Joseph Baumgartner * Konrad Beyerle * Karl Bickleder * Otto Bohl D * Hans Demmelmeier * Kaspar Deutschenbaur E ...


References


External links


BVP on the website of the ''Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung'' (German)
{{Authority control 1933 disestablishments in Germany 1919 establishments in Germany Bavarian nationalism Christian democratic parties in Germany Conservative parties in Germany Defunct regional parties in Germany Nationalist parties in Germany Political parties disestablished in 1933 Political parties established in 1919 Political parties in the Weimar Republic Politics of Bavaria Catholic political parties Social conservative parties