Richard Kunze

Richard Kunze (5 February 1872 in Sagan – May 1945) was a German right-wing politician known for his antisemitism.

Early years

Kunze's political career began around 1914 when he was employed by the German Conservative Party along with fellow rightist Wilhelm Kube. Serving the party as general secretary he earned 12,000 marks per month for a role that largely involved travelling Germany drumming up support. Near the end of the war he became involved with the Fatherland Party where he gained the nickname ''Knüppel-Kunze'' (Cudgel Kunze) because of strong attacks on the Jews.Paul Bookbinder, ''Weimar Germany: The Republic of the Reasonable'', Manchester University Press, 1996, p. 45

Post-war activity

After the war, Kunze was associated with the Deutschvölkischer Schutz und Trutzbund and in 1920 he joined with Reinhold Wulle and Arnold Ruge to form the ''Deutschvölkischen Arbeitsring Berlin'', a short-lived successor group. The group was absorbed by the German National People's Party (DNVP) in June 1920 and Kunze joined the DNVP and became the party's chief publicist. However, Kunze split from the party in 1921, feeling that it did not match his own hard-line stance on the Jews.Donald L. Niewyk, ''The Jews in Weimar Germany'', Transaction Publishers, 2001, p. 50

German Social Party

In 1921, Kunze established his own antisemitic party in north Germany known as the German Social Party, an early rival to the Nazi Party on the far right. The new party rejected the monarchism of the DNVP, arguing that Jewish influence had been just as pronounced in the German empire as in the new Weimar Republic. In May 1924, Kunze was elected as a deputy to the '' Reichstag'' on its ticket from electoral constituency 3 ( Potsdam II), serving until the October dissolution.Richard Kunze entry
in th
''Reichstag'' Members Database
/ref> The party became noted for provocative street activities, with Kunze himself becoming a well-known demagogue. However, support was lost as Kunze also gained a reputation for using the party as a way to make money for himself, diverting funds into his own pockets and after a number of defections, he wound the party up in 1929.Bernd Kruppa: ''Rechtsradikalismus in Berlin 1918−1928''. Overall-Verlag, Berlin 1988, pp. 300; 327ff; 362

Nazism

In 1930, Kunze joined his old rivals as a member of the Nazi Party. Kunze was elected to the Preußischer Landtag as a Nazi delegate in 1932. In November 1933, he was elected to the '' Reichstag'' from his former constituency in Potsdam and, at the March 1936 election, he switched to represent constituency 5 (Frankfurt an der Oder). He continued to serve until 1945 in what, by then, had become a perfunctory institution.

Kunze was arrested after the Battle of Berlin, but went missing in May 1945 and was presumed dead.Ernst Rudolf Huber: ''Deutsche Verfassungsgeschichte seit 1789. Band 6, Die Weimarer Reichsverfassung''. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 1984, p. 282.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kunze, Richard
1872 births
1945 deaths
20th-century German educators
German civilians killed in World War II
German Conservative Party politicians
German Fatherland Party politicians
German National People's Party politicians
German Protestants
German Social Party (Weimar Republic) politicians
Leaders of political parties in Germany
Members of the Landtag of Prussia
Members of the Reichstag 1924
Members of the Reichstag 1933–1936
Members of the Reichstag 1936–1938
Members of the Reichstag 1938–1945
Nazi Party politicians
People declared dead in absentia
People from Żagań
Politicians from the Province of Silesia