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{{Other uses|German Party (disambiguation){{!}}German Party}}

The '''German Party''' ({{langx|de|Deutsche Partei in Rumänien}}; {{langx|ro|Partidul German din România}}, ''PGR'') was a [[List of political parties in Romania|political party]] in post-[[World War I]] [[Romania]], claiming to represent the entire [[Germans of Romania|ethnic German community]] in the country, at the time it was still a [[Kingdom of Romania|kingdom]].

== Overview ==

The German Party went through a rather lengthy period of creation. It was founded on the initiative of part of the ethnic German [[bourgeoisie]] at [[Timișoara]] on 6 September 1919, in advance of the [[1919 Romanian general election|November election]]. Gradually, it extended its organisations into [[Transylvania]], [[Banat]], [[Bukovina]] and [[Bessarabia]], territories with appreciable numbers of ''[[Volksdeutsche]]''. Its leadership organs were elected by general assemblies or by congresses. The party was the political expression of the Union of Romanian Germans (UGR, ''Uniunea Germanilor din România''), which oversaw a wide range of activities (political, cultural, religious, economic). Although it claimed to speak for all local Germans, in reality the party overwhelmingly represented the interests of the wealthiest layer of that national minority.

The programme adopted in 1919 and which, in essence, remained the same for the entire [[interwar period]], called for the application of the resolution adopted at the [[Alba Iulia]] National Assembly on 1 December 1918 regarding minorities, respect for the rights and liberties guaranteed by Romanian legislation, and the promotion of certain specific interests (cultural rights; maternal-language education; the right to found schools and other institutions maintained through special contributions paid by the German population; the right to associate for religious, cultural, economic, and other purposes). A core motivation was to secure recognition of the UGR by successive governments as a distinct entity within Romania, with the right to speak on behalf of all ethnic Germans. The PGR fought for an ever-larger representation of the German minority in [[Parliament of Romania|Parliament]] as well as on [[Counties of Romania|county]] and communal councils.

The process of founding the PGR began in 1919 and ended in 1921. At first, [[Transylvanian Saxons]] created their own political parties (the Saxon Party - ''Partidul Sas'', and the National Saxon Party - ''Partidul Național Săsesc''), as did the [[Banat Swabians]] ([[Autonomous Swabian Party|Swabian Party]] - ''Partidul Șvab'', and the National Swabian Party - ''Partidul Șvab Național''). At the September 1921 [[Chernivtsi|Cernăuți]] Congress, the UGR was created, led by a National Council and with [[Rudolf Brandsch]] as its president. The Saxons, through the 8 January 1919 [[Mediaș]] resolution, and the Swabians, through the 10 August 1919 Timișoara resolution, joined the [[Union of Transylvania with Romania|act of Union of Transylvania and Banat with Romania]].

From a political point of view, the PGR adopted a strategy of collaboration with Romanian governments, no matter their political orientation, calculating that they could more easily achieve their specific demands in this way. The party took part in parliamentary elections on the side of the party in government (except in the [[1927 Romanian general election|1927 election]], when it allied itself with the [[Magyar Party (Romania)|Magyar Party]]), winning between 10 and 15 seats in the lower house every time. It had a significant number of communal and county councillors, and even mayors in localities with a sizeable German component. Brandsch, between 23 April 1931 and 20 October 1932, and [[Hans Otto Roth]], between 4 July and 4 September 1940, were respectively Undersecretary of State and Minister for Minorities. The PGR organised numerous meetings, also editing a large number of newspapers and gazettes through which it promoted its political agenda. It official newspaper was the ''Siebenbürgisches Deutsches Tageblatt'', published from 1919 to 1944.

After 1930, [[Nazism|Nazi]] ideas began to seep into the party. The man who promoted this trend was [[Fritz Fabritius]], who in September 1932 created the Movement for Reciprocal Assistance of Romanian Germans ({{langx|ro|Mișcarea de Întrajutoare a Germanilor din România}}; {{langx|de|Selbsthilfe}}), with a national-socialist orientation. In May 1933, Fabritius founded the National-Socialist Party of Romanian Germans (PNSGR, ''Partidul Național-Socialist al Germanilor din România''), which propagated Nazi ideas and organised youth camps; members of this party wore uniforms and used the [[swastika]] as their symbol. So as not to be dissolved on the basis of the 9 December 1933 journal of the [[Ion Duca]] government, the PNSGR took the name Movement of National Renewal of Romanian Germans (NEDR, ''Mișcarea de Reînnoire Națională a Germanilor din România''). The attempt at evasion did not go undetected and on 7 July 1934, the government decided to ban the work camps and disband the NEDR, as it was undertaking activities "banned by the laws in effect".

On 22 November 1933, [[Otto Fritz Jikeli]], who continued Fabritius' ideas, was elected president of the National Saxon Council (''Consiliul Național Săsesc''), whereupon he declared himself a follower of the national-socialist conception. Some leaders challenged Jikeli, so that Fabritius personally took control of the National Saxon Council on 30 April 1935. On 22 October of that year Fabritius was elected president of the UGR, then of the PGR too. Dissent continued within the PGR: in April 1935, Alfred Bonfert founded the [[German People's Party (Romania)|German People's Party]], accusing Fabritius of having a conciliatory attitude toward the democratic leaders of the PGR. In the [[1937 Romanian general election|1937 elections]] the German Party formed an electoral alliance with the governing [[National Liberal Party (Romania, 1875)|National Liberals]], and then, in advance of the [[1938 Romanian general election|1938 elections]] (which never took place), with the governing [[National Christian Party]].

The German Party, along with all other parties extant in Romania, was dissolved on 30 March 1938. However, it continued its activity at the cadre level, using the cover of the Romanian German Community (''Comunitatea Germanilor din România''), which joined the [[National Renaissance Front]] on 10 January 1939. On 27 October 1938, following orders from [[Nazi Germany]], the PPGR and the PGR merged. On 21 November 1940, during the [[National Legionary State]], when many thousands of German troops were on Romanian soil, the Ethnic German Group of Romania (GEGR, ''Grupul Etnic German din România'') was founded and declared a "Romanian juridical person of public right". All Romanian citizens of German origin were officially inducted into the organisation; the representative of the "national will of the Ethnic German Group of Romania" was the [[National Socialist German Workers Party]] (NSDAP). After the [[Legionnaires' Rebellion and Bucharest Pogrom|Legionnaires' Rebellion]] was crushed in January 1941, NSDAP remained the sole legal political organisation in Romania until the [[1944 Romanian coup d'état|Coup of 23 August 1944]]. The head of the GEGR and of the local NSDAP was [[Andreas Schmidt (politician)|Andreas Schmidt]], named directly by Berlin, whose interests he represented. Some members of GEGR called for including Transylvania and Banat into a separate state &ndash; Donauland &ndash; which would be a protectorate of the [[Nazi Germany|Third Reich]]. The GEGR, which used terror against ethnic Germans who did not share its Nazi ideology, was disbanded by the decree-law of 7 October 1944.

==Notable members==

* [[Rudolf Brandsch]] (president, 1919–1935)
* [[Fritz Fabritius]] (president, 1935–1938)
* [[Hans Otto Roth]]
* [[Fritz Konnerth]]
* [[Franz Krauter]]

== Electoral history ==

=== Legislative elections ===

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
!Election
!'''Votes'''
!%
![[Chamber of Deputies (Romania)|Assembly]]
![[Senate of Romania|Senate]]
!'''Position'''
|-
! [[1920 Romanian general election|1920]]
|
|
| {{Composition bar|10|366|{{party color|German Party (Romania)}}}}
| {{Composition bar|2|166|{{party color|German Party (Romania)}}}}
| 9th
|-
! [[1926 Romanian general election|1926]]
|colspan=2|part of [[People's Party (interwar Romania)|PP]]-led alliance
| 
| 
| 
|-
! [[1927 Romanian general election|1927]]
|colspan=2|part of [[Hungarian German Bloc|BMG]]
| 
| 
| 
|-
! [[1928 Romanian general election|1928]]
|colspan=2|part of [[National Peasants' Party|PNȚ]]-led alliance
| {{Composition bar|8|387|{{party color|German Party (Romania)}}}}
| {{Composition bar|0|110}}
| 
|-
! [[1931 Romanian general election|1931]]
|colspan=2|part of National Union
| {{Composition bar|10|387|{{party color|German Party (Romania)}}}}
| {{Composition bar|0|113|hex=black}}
| 
|-
! [[1937 Romanian legislative election|1937]]
| 43,612
| 1.4
| {{Composition bar|0|387}}
| {{Composition bar|0|113}}
| 10th
|}

== References ==

* ''Enciclopedia partidelor politice din România, 1859-2003'', Editura Meronia, Bucharest 2003, {{ISBN|973-8200-54-7}}

== External links ==

* {{in lang|ro}} [[William Totok]], [https://web.archive.org/web/20070927034205/http://www.divers.ro/germanii_din_romania_intre_nazism_si_stalinism_de_william_totok_ro ''Germanii din România intre nazism si stalinism'', at Divers.ro]
{{Historical Romanian political parties}}{{Authority control}}

[[Category:German diaspora political parties]]
[[Category:German nationalist political parties]]
[[Category:German organizations in Romania]]
[[Category:20th century in Transylvania]]
[[Category:Defunct political parties in Romania]]
[[Category:Nazi parties]]
[[Category:Political parties of minorities in Romania]]
[[Category:Fascist parties in Romania]]
[[Category:Regionalist parties in Romania]]
[[Category:Political parties established in 1919]]
[[Category:Political parties disestablished in 1940]]
[[Category:Political parties in the Kingdom of Romania]]