The Sudeten German Party (, SdP, ) was created by Konrad Henlein under the name ''Sudetendeutsche Heimatfront'' ("Front of the Sudeten German Homeland") on 1 October 1933, some months after the

First Czechoslovak Republic The First Czechoslovak Republic, often colloquially referred to as the First Republic, was the first Czechoslovakia, Czechoslovak state that existed from 1918 to 1938, a union of ethnic Czechs and Slovaks. The country was commonly called Czechosl ...

had outlawed the German National Socialist Workers' Party (''Deutsche Nationalsozialistische Arbeiterpartei'', DNSAP). In April 1935, the party was renamed ''Sudetendeutsche Partei'' following a mandatory demand of the Czechoslovak government. The name was officially changed to Sudeten German and Carpathian German Party (''Sudetendeutsche und Karpatendeutsche Partei'') in November 1935. With the rising power of

Nazi Party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party ( or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported the ideology of Nazism. Its precursor ...

in Germany, the Sudeten German Party became a major pro-Nazi force in Czechoslovakia with the explicit official aim of breaking the country up and joining it to the

Third Reich Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a totalitarian dictat ...

. By June 1938, the party had over 1.3 million members, i.e. 40.6% of ethnic-German citizens of Czechoslovakia. During the last free democratic elections before the

German occupation of Czechoslovakia German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

, the May 1938 communal elections, the party gained 88% of ethnic-German votes, taking over control of most municipal authorities in the Czech borderland. The country's mass membership made it one of the largest fascist parties in Europe at the time.

Background

In 1903, a group of

Sudeten Germans German Bohemians ( ; ), later known as Sudeten Germans ( ; ), were ethnic Germans living in the Czech lands of the Bohemian Crown, which later became an integral part of Czechoslovakia. Before 1945, over three million German Bohemians constitute ...

living in the Bohemian crown lands of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy created the

German Workers' Party The German Workers' Party (, DAP) was a short-lived far-right political party established in the Weimar Republic after World War I. It only lasted from 5 January 1919 until 24 February 1920. The DAP was the precursor of the National Socialist ...

(DAP). Influenced by the ideas of

pan-Germanism Pan-Germanism ( or '), also occasionally known as Pan-Germanicism, is a pan-nationalist political idea. Pan-Germanism seeks to unify all ethnic Germans, German-speaking people, and possibly also non-German Germanic peoples – into a sin ...

and

anti-Slavism Anti-Slavic sentiment, also called Slavophobia, refers to prejudice, collective hatred, and discrimination directed at the various Slavs, Slavic peoples. Accompanying racism and xenophobia, the most common manifestation of anti-Slavic sentiment t ...

, they opposed the

Czech National Revival The Czech National Revival was a cultural movement which took place in the Czech lands during the 18th and 19th centuries. The purpose of this movement was to revive the Czech Czech language, language, culture and national identity. The most pro ...

movement advocated by the

Young Czech Party The Young Czech Party (, officially National Liberal Party, ''Národní strana svobodomyslná'') was formed in the Bohemian crown land of Austria-Hungary in 1874. It initiated the democratization of Czech political parties and led to the establi ...

. The history of this party is centered on the cities of

Eger Eger ( , ; ; also known by other #Names and etymology, alternative names) is the county seat of Heves County, and the second largest city in Northern Hungary (after Miskolc). A city with county rights, Eger is best known for Castle of Eger, its ...

(German for present-day Cheb) and Aussig (Ústí nad Labem), it originated and gave the impetus for Austrian National Socialism. Germans in western Austro-Hungaria

At the end of

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, the Austro-Hungarian Empire broke up into several

nation state A nation state, or nation-state, is a political entity in which the State (polity), state (a centralized political organization ruling over a population within a territory) and the nation (a community based on a common identity) are (broadly ...

s. The DAP was renamed German National Socialist Workers' Party on 5 May 1918 and after the proclamation of Czechoslovakia claimed the right of

self-determination Self-determination refers to a people's right to form its own political entity, and internal self-determination is the right to representative government with full suffrage. Self-determination is a cardinal principle in modern international la ...

in the predominantly German-settled ''

Sudetenland The Sudetenland ( , ; Czech and ) is a German name for the northern, southern, and western areas of former Czechoslovakia which were inhabited primarily by Sudeten Germans. These German speakers had predominated in the border districts of Bohe ...

'' and '' German Bohemian'' territories, demanding affiliation with the newly established

Republic of German-Austria The Republic of German-Austria (, alternatively spelt ), commonly known as German-Austria (), was an unrecognised state that was created following World War I as an initial rump state for areas with a predominantly German-speaking and ethn ...

. However, the new Czech-dominated government demanded the unity of the Bohemian (or now called

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus *Czech (surnam ...

) lands, as confirmed by the 1919 Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye, and considered the Pan-German party offensive and dangerous for the existence of the country. The Czechoslovakian DNSAP led by Hans Knirsch together with the conservative German National Party (''Deutsche Nationalpartei'', DNP) became the main proponent of so-called "negativism", the general tendency among the Sudeten Germans not to accept the legitimacy of the Czechoslovakian state. Under Knirsch's successor Rudolf Jung, the party was increasingly influenced by the rise of the

in the German

Weimar Republic The Weimar Republic, officially known as the German Reich, was the German Reich, German state from 1918 to 1933, during which it was a constitutional republic for the first time in history; hence it is also referred to, and unofficially proclai ...

. In 1933, both the DNSAP and DNP decided to dissolve in order to prevent the imminent ban by the

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

government.

SHF

The SHF was founded on 1 October 1933. The party entered into an alliance with the Carpatho-German Party (KdP) in the same year.

Konrad Henlein

The newly established SdP did not see itself as a successor of the DNSAP; in fact, SdP leader Konrad Henlein sharply rejected the idea. At first he advocated the concept of the

Austrofascist The Fatherland Front (, VF) was the right-wing conservative, authoritarian, nationalist, corporatist, fascist and Catholic ruling political organisation of the Federal State of Austria. It claimed to be a nonpartisan movement, and aimed to unit ...

movement according to the ideas of

Othmar Spann Othmar Spann (1 October 1878 – 8 July 1950) was a conservative Austrian philosopher, sociologist and economist. His radical anti-liberal and anti-socialist views, based on early 19th century Romantic ideas expressed by Adam Müller et al. ...

and would have rather preferred the affiliation with the

Federal State of Austria The Federal State of Austria (; colloquially known as the "") was a continuation of the First Austrian Republic between 1934 and 1938 when it was a one-party state led by the conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and politi ...

than with

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

. In his earlier speeches (until 1937), Henlein stressed his distance from German National Socialism, affirming loyalty to the Czechoslovak state and stressing approval of the idea of a

cantonal The 26 cantons of Switzerland are the Federated state, member states of the Switzerland, Swiss Confederation. The nucleus of the Swiss Confederacy in the form of the first three confederate allies used to be referred to as the . Two important ...

system and individual freedom. He later described his contact to Nazi leaders as merely tactical. In 1935 when

Karl Hermann Frank Karl Hermann Frank (24 January 1898 – 22 May 1946) was a Sudeten Germans, Sudeten German Nazism, Nazi official in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia prior to and during World War II. Attaining the rank of ''Obergruppenführer'', he was in ...

became deputy leader, the SdP gradually adopted the DNSAP tradition and became more radical. In the parliamentary election of May 1935, the SdP with 1,249,534 (15.2%) of the votes became the strongest of all parties in Czechoslovakia. The party had won about 68% of the German votes, thus surpassing the German Social Democratic Workers Party, the German Christian Social People's Party and the Farmers' League. Meanwhile, the influence exerted by the German Nazi dictatorship became stronger and after 1935 several groups within the party were financed by Germany. In November 1937 Adolf Hitler openly declared – according to the Hossbach Memorandum – his intention to separate the Sudetenland from the Czechoslovak state. The SdP officially coordinated this policy with Nazi leaders in order to integrate the German-speaking parts of Bohemia and Moravia into the

German Reich German ''Reich'' (, from ) was the constitutional name for the German nation state that existed from 1871 to 1945. The ''Reich'' became understood as deriving its authority and sovereignty entirely from a continuing unitary German ''Volk'' ("na ...

. After the Austrian Henlein first met Hitler on 28 March 1938. His policy was the so-called (Basic Planning) of summer 1938 and later in the interior policy of the

Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia The Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia was a partially-annexation, annexed territory of Nazi Germany that was established on 16 March 1939 after the Occupation of Czechoslovakia (1938–1945), German occupation of the Czech lands. The protector ...

. In March 1938 the Farmers League joined the SdP, as well as many Christian Social deputies in the Czechoslovak parliament. At a convention in Carlsbad on 24 April the majority of the party advocated the demand of the Sudeten Germans as an autonomous ethnic group, the separation of a self-governing German settlement area and the freedom to decide for annexation to Nazi Germany. At this time the SdP had about 1.35 million members.

Annexation

In September 1938 the policy of SdP succeeded in the German annexation of Sudetenland according to the

Munich Agreement The Munich Agreement was reached in Munich on 30 September 1938, by Nazi Germany, the United Kingdom, the French Third Republic, French Republic, and the Kingdom of Italy. The agreement provided for the Occupation of Czechoslovakia (1938–194 ...

(see:

). On 1 October Henlein was appointed of the incorporated territories, which became the . After a last convention at Aussig, the organization officially merged into the German Nazi Party at a festive ceremony in Reichenberg (Liberec) on 5 November 1938. However, as many Nazi officials like

Reinhard Heydrich Reinhard Tristan Eugen Heydrich ( , ; 7 March 1904 – 4 June 1942) was a German high-ranking SS and police official during the Nazi era and a principal architect of the Holocaust. He held the rank of SS-. Many historians regard Heydrich ...

were suspicious of the SdP party members, they were not absorbed, but had to apply for admission to the Nazi Party. About 520,000 members were approved, among them Henlein himself who also joined the SS. He was officially appointed in 1939, an office he held until 1945, though largely losing power to Reich Protector Heydrich. As of October 1938 the SdP/KdP parliamentary club had 52 members from the Chamber of Deputies, and their joint Senate club had 26 members. On 30 October 1938 the parliamentary mandates of 46 deputies and 22 Senators of SdP and KdP were annulled. The SdP branches in areas that remained in Czechoslovakia after the Sudetenland annexation formed the German People's Group in Czecho-Slovakia ().

Electoral results

References

* ''The German Dictatorship, The Origins, Structure, and Effects of National Socialism'',

Karl Dietrich Bracher Karl Dietrich Bracher (13 March 1922 – 19 September 2016) was a German political scientist and historian of the Weimar Republic and Nazi Germany, born in Stuttgart. During World War II, he served in the Wehrmacht and was captured by the Americ ...

, trans. by Jean Steinberg, Praeger Publishers, NY, 1970. pp 50–54. *

External links

Sudetendeutsche Partei: Grundplanung O.A., 1938
{{Authority control Anti-Czech sentiment Banned far-right parties Collaboration with Nazi Germany Czechoslovak fascists German diaspora political parties German nationalist political parties Interwar minority parties in Czechoslovakia Nazi parties Pan-Germanism Political parties established in 1933 Political parties disestablished in 1938 Sudetenland Sudeten German people Czechoslovakia–Germany relations