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138-654: Also known as the Deutsche Konservative Partei - Deutsche Rechtspartei (the party used both names, varying the name used between different Länder , but had no direct links to the pre-World War I German Conservative Party ), the initially national-conservative party formed in June 1946 through a merger of three smaller groups — the Deutsche Konservative Partei , the Deutsche Aufbaupartei of

276-821: A Free Democratic Party was founded in May 1946. In the first post-war state elections in 1946, liberal parties performed well in Württemberg-Baden (16.8%), Bremen (18.3%), Hamburg (18.2%) and Greater Berlin (still undivided; 9.3%). The LDP was especially strong in the October 1946 state elections of the Soviet zone—the last free parliamentary election in East Germany—obtaining an average of 24.6% (highest in Saxony-Anhalt, 29.9%, and Thuringia, 28.5%), thwarting an absolute majority of

414-473: A CDU-FDP centre-right governing coalition in the Bundestag with a 53% majority of seats. On election night, party leader Westerwelle said his party would work to ensure that civil liberties were respected and that Germany got an "equitable tax system and better education opportunities". The party also made gains in the two state elections held at the same time, acquiring sufficient seats for a CDU-FDP coalition in

552-599: A European-oriented liberals, although it came from the national liberal camp, but with Willi Weyer and Hans-Dietrich Genscher led the new centre of the party. This center strove to make the FDP coalition support both major parties. Here, the Liberals approached to by their reorientation in East Germany and politics especially of the SPD. On 21 October 1969 began the period after the election of

690-682: A Social-Liberal coalition with the SPD and the German Chancellor Willy Brandt . Walter Scheel was he who initiated the foreign policy reversal. Despite a very small majority he and Willy Brandt sat by the controversial New Ostpolitik. This policy was within the FDP quite controversial, especially since after the entry into the Federal Government defeats in state elections in North Rhine-Westphalia, Lower Saxony and Saarland on 14 June 1970 followed. In Hanover and Saarbrücken,

828-536: A coalition between the FDP and CDU/CSU was impossible primarily because of the weak results of the FDP. The CDU/CSU parties had achieved the third-worst performance in German postwar history with only 35.2 percent of the votes. Therefore, the FDP was unable to form a coalition with its preferred partners, the CDU/CSU parties. As a result, the party was considered as a potential member of two other political coalitions , following

966-744: A liberal coalition party was founded in the state of Bremen under the name of Bremen Democratic People's Party. In January 1946, liberal state parties of the British occupation zone merged into the Free Democratic Party of the British Zone (FDP). A similar state party in Hesse , called the Liberal Democratic Party, was licensed by the U.S. military government in January 1946. In the state of Bavaria,

1104-501: A more independent status, especially in Bavaria. However, it has no legal significance. All sixteen states are represented at the federal level in the Bundesrat (Federal Council), where their voting power depends on the size of their population. Germany is a federal , parliamentary , representative democratic republic . The German political system operates under a framework laid out in

1242-504: A number of members who supported Otto Ernst Remer and Gerhard Krüger left to join the more openly neo-Nazi party. Indeed, the group lost two of its deputies — Rössler and Fritz Dorls — to this more extreme party upon its foundation. The DRP did however gain one deputy when the Wirtschaftliche Aufbau-Vereinigung (a group of disparate figures who supported the demagogic Munich lawyer Alfred Loritz ) disintegrated in

1380-668: A pan-German party of liberals from all four occupation zones. Its leaders were Theodor Heuss (representing the DVP of Württemberg-Baden in the American zone) and Wilhelm Külz (representing the LDP of the Soviet zone). However, the project failed in January 1948 as a result of disputes over Külz's pro-Soviet direction. The Free Democratic Party was established on 11–12 December 1948 in Heppenheim , in Hesse , as an association of all 13 liberal state parties in

1518-522: A plan to divide the German Reich into 14 roughly equal-sized states. His proposal was turned down due to opposition of the states and concerns of the government. Article 18 of the constitution enabled a new delimitation of the German territory but set high hurdles: "Three fifth of the votes handed in, and at least the majority of the population are necessary to decide on the alteration of territory". In fact, until 1933 there were only four changes in

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1656-616: A referendum in the Federal Republic as a whole (paragraph 4) was abolished, which meant territorial revision was no longer possible against the will of the population affected by it. East Germany had originally consisted of five states (i.e., Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Thuringia). In 1952, these states were abolished and the East was divided into 14 administrative districts called Bezirke . Soviet -controlled East Berlin – despite officially having

1794-427: A revision, the federal government had to include the proposal into its legislation. Then a referendum was required in each territory or part of a territory whose affiliation was to be changed (paragraph 3). The proposal should not take effect if within any of the affected territories a majority rejected the change. In this case, the bill had to be introduced again and after passing had to be confirmed by referendum in

1932-527: A time JuLis and the Young Democrats operated side by side, until the JuLis became the sole official youth wing of the FDP in 1983. The Young Democrats split from the FDP and were left as a party-independent youth organization. At the time of reunification, the FDP's objective was a special economic zone in the former East Germany, but could not prevail against the CDU/CSU, as this would prevent any loss of votes in

2070-490: A week later, the FDP not only crossed the electoral threshold, but also increased its share of the votes to 2 percentage points higher than in the previous state election. This was attributed to the local leadership of Christian Lindner . The FDP last won a directly elected seat in 1990, in Halle —the only time it has won a directly elected seat since 1957. The party's inability to win directly elected seats came back to haunt it at

2208-645: Is a liberal political party in Germany. The FDP was founded in 1948 by members of former liberal political parties which existed in Germany before World War II, namely the German Democratic Party and the German People's Party . For most of the second half of the 20th century, particularly from 1961 to 1982, the FDP held the balance of power in the Bundestag . It has been a junior coalition partner to both

2346-582: Is aligned to the centre or centre-right of the political spectrum. The FDP is a member of the Liberal International , the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe and Renew Europe . The history of liberal parties in Germany dates back to 1861, when the German Progress Party (DFP) was founded, being the first political party in the modern sense in Germany. From the establishment of

2484-459: Is believed that this was partly due to tactical voting by CDU and Christian Social Union of Bavaria (CSU) alliance supporters who hoped for stronger market-oriented economic reforms than the CDU/CSU alliance called for. However, because the CDU did worse than predicted, the FDP and the CDU/CSU alliance were unable to form a coalition government. At other times, for example after the 2002 federal election,

2622-429: Is referred to as "Land government" (Landesregierung) . Before 1 January 2000, Bavaria had a bicameral parliament, with a popularly elected Landtag , and a Senate made up of representatives of the state's major social and economic groups. The Senate was abolished following a referendum in 1998. The states of Berlin, Bremen, and Hamburg are governed slightly differently from the other states. In each of those cities,

2760-650: Is sometimes propagated by the richer states as a means to avoid or reduce fiscal transfers . In southwestern Germany, territorial revision seemed to be a top priority since the border between the French and American occupation zones was set along the Autobahn Karlsruhe-Stuttgart-Ulm (today the A8 ). Article 118 stated "The division of the territory comprising Baden , Württemberg-Baden and Württemberg-Hohenzollern into Länder may be revised, without regard to

2898-404: Is very common to use the term Bundesland (federated Land ). Officially this term Bundesland neither appears in the constitution of 1919 nor in the current one. Three Länder call themselves Freistaaten ("free states", an older German term for "republic"): Bavaria (since 1919), Saxony (originally from 1919 and again since 1990), and Thuringia (since 1994). Of the 17 states at the end of

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3036-630: The Völkisch politician Reinhold Wulle and the Deutsche Bauern- und Landvolk Partei . Its manifesto was in large parts authored by Hans Zehrer (1899–1966). Originally intended as a continuation of the Weimar -era German National People's Party (DNVP) of 1918–1933, the DRP soon attracted a number of former Nazis and its programme changed towards a more neo-Nazi stance, while many moderate members left to join

3174-472: The 1965 federal elections the FDP gained 9.5 percent. The coalition with the CDU in 1966 broke on the subject of tax increases and it was followed by a grand coalition between the CDU and the SPD. The opposition also pioneered a course change: the former foreign policy and the attitude to the eastern territories were discussed. The opposition leader for the FDP in the Bundestag was Knut von Kühlmann-Stumm . The new chairman elected delegates in 1968 Walter Scheel,

3312-430: The 2013 election , in which it came up just short of the 5% threshold. With no directly elected seats, the FDP was shut out of the Bundestag for the first time since 1949. After the previous chairman Philipp Rösler then resigned, Christian Lindner took over the leadership of the party. In the 2014 European parliament elections , the FDP received 3.4% of the national vote (986,253 votes in total) and returned 3 MEPs . In

3450-514: The 2014 Brandenburg state election the party experienced a 5.8% down-swing and lost all their representatives in the Brandenburg state parliament. In the 2014 Saxony state election , the party experienced a 5.2% down-swing, again losing all of its seats. In the 2014 Thuringian state election a similar phenomenon was repeated with the party falling below the 5% threshold following a 5.1% drop in popular vote. The party managed to enter parliament in

3588-593: The 2015 Bremen state election with the party receiving 6.5% of the vote and gaining 6 seats. However, it failed to get into government as a coalition between the Social Democrats and the Greens was created. In the 2016 Mecklenburg-Vorpommern state election the party failed to get into parliament despite increasing its vote share by 0.3%. The party did manage to get into parliament in Baden-Württemberg , gaining 3% of

3726-554: The British occupation authorities had arrested seven prominent members of the Naumann Circle, the FDP federal board installed a commission of inquiry, chaired by Thomas Dehler, which particularly sharply criticized the situation in the North Rhine-Westphalian FDP. In the following years, the right wing lost power, and the extreme right increasingly sought areas of activity outside the FDP. In the 1953 federal election ,

3864-473: The CDU/CSU (1949–1956, 1961–1966, 1982–1998 and 2009–2013) and Social Democratic Party (SPD) (1969–1982, 2021–present). In the 2013 federal election , the FDP failed to win any directly elected seats in the Bundestag and came up short of the 5 percent threshold to qualify for list representation, being left without representation in the Bundestag for the first time in its history. In the 2017 federal election ,

4002-635: The Congress of Vienna (1815), 39 states formed the German Confederation . The Confederation was dissolved after the Austro-Prussian War in which Prussia defeated Austria and forced Austria to remove itself from the affairs of the German states. Territorial boundaries were essentially redrawn as a result of military conflicts and interventions from the outside: from the Napoleonic Wars to

4140-662: The Congress of Vienna , the number of territories decreased from about 300 to 39; in 1866 Prussia annexed the sovereign states of Hanover , Nassau , Hesse-Kassel , and the Free City of Frankfurt . Prussia and the other states in Northern and Central Germany united as a federal state , the North German Federation , on 1 July 1867. Four of the five southern German states (Bavaria, Württemberg, Baden and Hesse-Darmstadt) entered military alliances with Prussia but Austria did not. In

4278-685: The Deutsche Mark was introduced as legal tender in the Saarland. Paragraph 6 of Article 29 stated that, if a petition was successful, a referendum should be held within three years. Since the deadline passed on 5 May 1958 without anything happening, the Hesse state government filed a constitutional complaint with the Federal Constitutional Court in October 1958. The complaint was dismissed in July 1961 on

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4416-741: The Federal Republic of Germany . In his 1954 re-election , he received the best election result to date of a President with 871 of 1018 votes (85.6 percent) of the Federal Assembly . Adenauer was also elected on the proposal of the new German President with an extremely narrow majority as the first Chancellor. The FDP participated with the CDU/CSU and the DP in Adenauer's coalition cabinet; they had three ministers: Franz Blücher (Vice-Chancellor), Thomas Dehler (justice), and Eberhard Wildermuth (housing). On

4554-580: The Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71, those four states joined the North German Federation which was consequently renamed to German Empire . The parliament and Federal Council decided to give the Prussian king the title of German Emperor (since 1 January 1871). The new German Empire included 25 states (three of them, Hanseatic cities) and the imperial territory of Alsace-Lorraine . Within

4692-675: The GDR new liberal parties emerged, like the FDP East Germany or the German Forum Party. They formed the Liberal Democratic Party, who had previously acted as a bloc party on the side of the SED and with Manfred Gerlach also the last Council of State of the GDR presented, the Alliance of Free Democrats (BFD). Within the FDP came in the following years to considerable internal discussions about dealing with

4830-831: The German Party (DP). Ahead of the 1949 federal elections to the first Bundestag , the party attempted a fusion with DP and the Hessian Nationaldemokratische Partei (not to be confused with the current homonymous party, formed in 1964), but the British administration responded that they would refuse to grant a license to such a party, so the party instead merged with the Gemeinschaft unabhängiger Deutscher (GuD) which members included former Nazis like Fritz Dorls , Gerhard Krüger and Fritz Rössler (alias Dr. Franz Richter), who became notorious for his radical positions. At

4968-641: The National Liberal Party in 1867 until the demise of the Weimar Republic in 1933, the liberal-democratic camp was divided into a " national-liberal " and a "left-liberal" line of tradition. After 1918 the national-liberal strain was represented by the German People's Party (DVP), the left-liberal one by the German Democratic Party (DDP, which merged into the German State Party in 1930). Both parties played an important role in government during

5106-661: The Oder-Neisse line fell under either Polish or Soviet administration but attempts were made at least symbolically not to abandon sovereignty well into the 1960s. The former provinces of Farther Pomerania , East Prussia , Silesia and Posen-West Prussia fell under Polish administration with the Soviet Union taking the area around Königsberg (now Kaliningrad), pending a final peace conference with Germany which eventually never took place. More than 8 million Germans had been expelled from these territories that had formed part of

5244-657: The Regierender Bürgermeister (governing mayor) in Berlin. The parliament for Berlin is called the Abgeordnetenhaus (House of Representatives), while Bremen and Hamburg both have a Bürgerschaft . The parliaments in the remaining 13 states are referred to as Landtag (State Parliament). The city-states of Berlin and Hamburg are subdivided into Districts . The City of Bremen consists of two urban districts : Bremen and Bremerhaven , which are not contiguous. In

5382-528: The Saarland  – which later received a special status – in the French zone; Mecklenburg(-Vorpommern) , Brandenburg , Saxony , Saxony-Anhalt , and Thuringia in the Soviet zone . No single state comprised more than 30% of either population or territory; this was intended to prevent any one state from being as dominant within Germany as Prussia had been in the past. Initially, only seven of

5520-649: The Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED) that was favoured by the Soviet occupation power. This disappointment to the communists however led to a change of electoral laws in the Soviet zone, cutting the autonomy of non-socialist parties including the LDP and forcing it to join the SED-dominated National Front , making it a dependent " bloc party ". The Democratic Party of Germany (DPD) was established in Rothenburg ob der Tauber on 17 March 1947 as

5658-410: The Spiegel affair , the FDP withdrew their ministers from the federal government. Although the coalition was renewed again under Adenauer in 1962, the FDP withdrew again on the condition in October 1963. This occurred even under the new Chancellor, Ludwig Erhard. This was for Erich Mende turn the occasion to go into the cabinet: he took the rather unimportant Federal Ministry for All-German Affairs. In

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5796-438: The Weimar Republic , six still exist (though partly with different borders): The other 11 states of the Weimar Republic either merged into one another or were separated into smaller entities: Some territories bordering other states were annexed to the bordering state. Also, Prussia had exclaves that were surrounded by other states. These became part of their surrounding states. All states, except Bavaria , now have territory of

5934-409: The Weimar Republic . In the first elections to the Bundestag on 14 August 1949 , the FDP won a vote share of 11.9 percent (with 12 direct mandates, particularly in Baden-Württemberg and Hesse), and thus obtained 52 of 402 seats. It formed a common Bundestag group with the hard-right German Party (DP) . In September of the same year the FDP chairman Theodor Heuss was elected the first President of

6072-413: The West German constitution thus applied to the entire German people . Article 23, which had allowed "any other parts of Germany" to join, was rephrased. It had been used in 1957 to reintegrate the Saar Protectorate as the Saarland into the Federal Republic, and this was used as a model for German reunification in 1990. The amended article now defines the participation of the Federal Council and

6210-451: The " Heppenheim Assembly " was held at the Hotel Halber Mond on 10 October 1847, a meeting of moderate liberals who were preparing for what would be, within a few months, the German revolutions of 1848–1849 . The FDP was founded on 11 December 1948 through the merger of nine regional liberal parties formed in 1945 from the remnants of the pre-1933 German People's Party (DVP) and the German Democratic Party (DDP), which had been active in

6348-436: The 16 German states in matters concerning the European Union . Article 29 was again modified and provided an option for the states to "revise the division of their existing territory or parts of their territory by agreement without regard to the provisions of paragraphs (2) through (7)". Article 118a was introduced into the Basic Law and provided the possibility for Berlin and Brandenburg to merge "without regard to

6486-423: The 1949 constitutional document known as the Grundgesetz (Basic Law). By calling the document the Grundgesetz , rather than Verfassung (constitution), the authors expressed the intention that it would be replaced by a true constitution once Germany was reunited as one state. Amendments to the Grundgesetz generally require a two-thirds majority of both chambers of the parliament; the fundamental principles of

6624-407: The 1950s, several of the FDP's regional organizations were to the right of the CDU/CSU, which initially had ideas of some sort of Christian socialism, and even former office-holders of the Third Reich were courted with nationalist values. The FDP voted in parliament at the end of 1950 against the CDU- and SPD-introduced de-nazification process. At their party conference in Munich in 1951 they demanded

6762-439: The Ahlen Programme, which allowed a Third Way between capitalism and socialism . Ludwig Erhard , the "father" of the social market economy , had his followers in the early years of the Federal Republic in the CDU/CSU rather than in the FDP. The FDP won Hesse's 1950 state election with 31.8 percent, the best result in its history, through appealing to East Germans displaced by the war by including them on their ticket. Up to

6900-459: The American states and regional governments in other federations without serious calls for territorial changes" in those other countries. Arthur B. Gunlicks summarizes the main arguments for boundary reform in Germany: "the German system of dual federalism requires strong Länder that have the administrative and fiscal capacity to implement legislation and pay for it from own source revenues. Too many Länder also make coordination among them and with

7038-480: The Basic Law as a binding order. An expert commission was established, named after its chairman, the former Secretary of State Professor Werner Ernst. After two years of work, the experts delivered their report in 1973. It provided an alternative proposal for the two regions: the north and center-southwest. In the north, either a single new state consisting of Schleswig-Holstein, Hamburg, Bremen and Lower Saxony should be created (solution A) or two new states, one in

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7176-575: The DRP had actively tried to organize members of earlier right-wing groups, but no action ensued, as the party had ceased to exist. A few members who had not joined the Deutsche Reichspartei continued as "National Rightists" ( Nationale Rechte ) and finally aligned themselves with the Free Democratic Party in 1954. States of Germany The Federal Republic of Germany , as a federal state , consists of sixteen states . Berlin , Hamburg and Bremen (with its seaport exclave , Bremerhaven ) are called Stadtstaaten (" city-states "), while

7314-422: The FDP achieved 12.8 percent nationwide, the best result until then, and the FDP entered a coalition with the CDU again. Although it was committed before the election to continuing to sit in any case in a government together with Adenauer, Chancellor Adenauer was again, however, to withdraw under the proviso, after two years. These events led to the FDP being nicknamed the Umfallerpartei ("pushover party"). In

7452-496: The FDP received 9.5 percent of the party votes, 10.8 percent of the primary vote (with 14 direct mandates, particularly in Hamburg , Lower Saxony, Hesse, Württemberg and Bavaria ) and 48 of 487 seats. In the second term of the Bundestag, the South German Liberal Democrats gained influence in the party. Thomas Dehler, a representative of a more social-liberal course took over as party and parliamentary leader. The former Minister of Justice Dehler, who in 1933 suffered persecution by

7590-431: The FDP regained its representation in the Bundestag, receiving 10.6% of the vote. After the 2021 federal election the FDP became part of governing Scholz cabinet in coalition with the Social Democratic Party and the Greens . Since the 1980s, the party, consistently with its ordoliberal tradition, has pushed economic liberalism and has aligned itself closely to the promotion of free markets and privatization , and

7728-466: The FDP's nearly three decade reign in government. In its 2002 campaign the FDP made an exception to its party policy of siding with the CDU/CSU when it adopted equidistance to the CDU and SPD. From 1998 until 2009 the FDP remained in the opposition until it became part of a new centre-right coalition government. In the 2005 general election the party won 9.8 percent of the vote and 61 federal deputies, an unpredicted improvement from prior opinion polls. It

7866-434: The FDP's position as the largest opposition party in the Bundestag. In the 2009 European election , the FDP received 11% of the national vote (2,888,084 votes in total) and returned 12 MEPs . In the September 2009 federal elections , the FDP increased its share of the vote by 4.8 percentage points to 14.6%, an all-time record. This percentage was enough to offset a decline in the CDU/CSU's vote compared to 2005, to create

8004-403: The Federal Minister of the Interior by reference to the referendum of 1951. However, the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany ruled that the rejection was unlawful: the population of Baden had the right to a new referendum because the one of 1951 had taken place under different rules from the ones provided for by article 29. In particular, the outcome of the 1951 referendum did not reflect

8142-399: The Federal Republic as a whole (paragraph 4). The reorganization should be completed within three years after the Basic Law had come into force (paragraph 6). Article 29 states that "the division of the federal territory into Länder may be revised to ensure that each Land be of a size and capacity to perform its functions effectively". In their letter to Konrad Adenauer ,

8280-438: The Federal Republic of Germany in 1949. This was in contrast to the post-war development in Austria , where the national Bund ("federation") was constituted first, and then the individual states were carved out as units of that federal nation. The German use of the term Länder ("lands") dates back to the Weimar Constitution of 1919. Previously, the states of the German Empire had been called Staaten ("states"). Today, it

8418-424: The Federal Territory must be revised (paragraph 1). Moreover, in territories or parts of territories whose affiliation with a Land had changed after 8 May 1945 without a referendum, people were allowed to petition for a revision of the current status within a year after the promulgation of the Basic Law (paragraph 2). If at least one tenth of those entitled to vote in Bundestag elections were in favour of

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8556-413: The Freiburg Thesis, which were as Rowohlt Paperback sold more than 100,000 times, on a theoretical basis, the FDP is committed to " social liberalism " and social reforms . Walter Scheel was first foreign minister and vice chancellor, 1974, he was then second-liberal President and paving the way for inner-party the previous interior minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher free. From 1969 to 1974 the FDP supported

8694-399: The French-occupied Saar Protectorate was returned and formed into the Saarland , the Federal Republic consisted of ten states, which are referred to as the " Old States " today. West Berlin was under the sovereignty of the Western Allies and neither a Western German state nor part of one. However, it was in many ways integrated with West Germany under a special status. A new delimitation of

8832-470: The German-speaking lands for centuries and which mostly did not have sizable Polish minorities before 1945. However, no attempts were made to establish new states in these territories, as they lay outside the jurisdiction of West Germany at that time. In 1948, the military governors of the three Western Allies handed over the so-called Frankfurt Documents to the minister-presidents in the Western occupation zones. Among other things, they recommended revising

8970-443: The Nazi regime via the Gleichschaltung process, as the states administratively were largely superseded by the Nazi Gau system . Three changes are of particular note: on 1 January 1934, Mecklenburg-Schwerin was united with neighbouring Mecklenburg-Strelitz ; and, by the Greater Hamburg Act ( Groß-Hamburg-Gesetz ) of 1937, the territory of the city-state was extended, while Lübeck lost its independence and became part of

9108-407: The Nazis, was known for his rhetorical focus. Generally the various regional associations were independent. After the FDP had left in early 1956, the coalition with the CDU in North Rhine-Westphalia and made with SPD and centre a new state government, were a total of 16 members of parliament, including the four federal ministers from the FDP and founded the short-lived Free People's Party, which then up

9246-480: The Prussian province of Schleswig-Holstein . During the Allied occupation of Germany after World War II , internal borders were redrawn by the Allied military governments. New states were established in all four zones of occupation: Bremen , Hesse , Württemberg-Baden , and Bavaria in the American zone ; Hamburg , Schleswig-Holstein , Lower Saxony , and North Rhine-Westphalia in the British zone ; Rhineland-Palatinate , Baden , Württemberg-Hohenzollern and

9384-404: The SPD Chancellor Willy Brandt, who was succeeded by Helmut Schmidt . Already by the end of the 70s there did not seem to be enough similarities between the FDP and the SPD to form a new coalition, but the CDU/CSU chancellor candidate of Franz Josef Strauss in 1980 pushed the parties to run together again. The FDP's policies, however, began to drift apart from the SPD's, especially when it came to

9522-401: The Saarland (solution C), the district of Germersheim would then become part of Baden-Württemberg. The other alternative was that the Palatinate (including the region of Worms ) could be merged with the Saarland and Baden-Württemberg, and the rest of Rhineland-Palatinate would then merge with Hesse (solution D). Both alternatives could be combined (AC, BC, AD, BD). At the same time,

9660-419: The Union won an absolute majority. The FDP also called for a nuclear-free zone in Central Europe. Even before the election Dehler was assigned as party chairman. At the federal party in Berlin at the end January 1957 relieved him Reinhold Maier. Dehler's role as Group Chairman took over after the election of the national set very Erich Mende. Mende was also chairman of the party. In the 1961 federal election ,

9798-482: The Weimar Republic era, but successively lost votes during the rise of the Nazi Party beginning in the late-1920s. After the Nazi seizure of power , both liberal parties agreed to the Enabling Act of 1933 and subsequently dissolved themselves. During the 12 years of Hitler's rule, some former liberals collaborated with the Nazis (e.g. economy minister Hjalmar Schacht ), while others resisted actively against Nazism, with some Liberal leaning members and former members of

9936-530: The Western Allies, viewed itself as part of the Federal Republic and was largely integrated and considered a de facto state. In 1952, following a referendum , Baden, Württemberg-Baden, and Württemberg-Hohenzollern merged into Baden-Württemberg . In 1957, the Saar Protectorate joined the Federal Republic as the state of Saarland . The next change occurred with German reunification in 1990, in which

10074-504: The affected states, the proposals were shelved. Public interest was limited or nonexistent. The referendum in Baden was held on 7 June 1970. 81.9% of voters decided for Baden to remain part of Baden-Württemberg, only 18.1% opted for the reconstitution of the old state of Baden . The referendums in Lower Saxony and Rhineland-Palatinate were held on 19 January 1975 (the percentages given are

10212-630: The boundaries of the West German states in a way that none of them should be too large or too small in comparison with the others. As the premiers did not come to an agreement on this question, the Parliamentary Council was supposed to address this issue. Its provisions are reflected in Article ;29 of the Basic Law . There was a binding provision for a new delimitation of the federal territory:

10350-454: The commission developed criteria for classifying the terms of Article 29 Paragraph 1. The capacity to perform functions effectively was considered most important, whereas regional, historical, and cultural ties were considered as hardly verifiable. To fulfill administrative duties adequately, a population of at least five million per state was considered as necessary. After a relatively brief discussion and mostly negative responses from

10488-566: The configuration of the German states: the 7  Thuringian states were merged in 1920, whereby Coburg opted for Bavaria , Pyrmont joined Prussia in 1922, and Waldeck did so in 1929. Any later plans to break up the dominating Prussia into smaller states failed because political circumstances were not favourable to state reforms. After the Nazi Party seized power in January 1933, the Länder were gradually abolished and reduced to provinces under

10626-471: The consent of the federal government (Article 32 of the Basic Law). Typical treaties relate to cultural relationships and economic affairs. Some states call themselves a " free state " ( Freistaat ). It is merely a historic synonym for "republic" and was a description used by most German states after the abolishment of monarchy after World War I . Today, Freistaat is associated emotionally with

10764-401: The constituent states have certain limited powers in this area: in matters that affect them directly, the states defend their interests at the federal level through the Bundesrat ("Federal Council"), and in areas where they have the legislative authority they have limited powers to conclude international treaties "with the consent of the federal government". It was the states that formed

10902-469: The constitution, as expressed in the articles guaranteeing human dignity, the separation of powers, the federal structure, and the rule of law are valid in perpetuity. Despite the original intention, the Grundgesetz remained in effect after the German reunification in 1990, with only minor amendments. The federal constitution stipulates that the structure of each Federated State's government must "conform to

11040-432: The constitution. An appeal against the decision was rejected as inadmissible by the Federal Constitutional Court. On 24 August 1976, the binding provision for a new delimitation of the federal territory was altered into a mere discretionary one. Paragraph 1 of Article 29 was rephrased, with the provision that any state had to be "of a size and capacity to perform its functions effectively" put first. The option for

11178-693: The creation of the Deutsche Reichspartei in January 1950. Rössler had to vacate his party offices due to his contacts with SRP chairmen, he joined the Socialist Reich Party in September 1950. Although effectively defunct, the DRP became the subject of a report produced by the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany in the context of the banning of the SRP in 1952. The report claimed that

11316-592: The debt crisis. Westerwelle stepped down as party leader following the 2011 state elections, in which the party was wiped out in Saxony-Anhalt and Rhineland-Palatinate and lost half its seats in Baden-Württemberg . Westerwelle was replaced in May 2011 by Philipp Rösler . The change in leadership failed to revive the FDP's fortunes, however, and in the next series of state elections, the party lost all its seats in Bremen , Mecklenburg-Vorpommern , and Berlin . In Berlin,

11454-469: The early 1950s. Within the Bundestag, the DRP began to work closely with a number of minor groups on the far right, such as the National Democrats (a minor group that should not be confused with the later National Democratic Party of Germany ). Between 1950 and 1951, the remaining DRP MPs who supported Fritz Rössler sought to merge with these groups in order to form a larger grouping, which resulted in

11592-530: The economy. Within the SPD, there was strong grassroots opposition to Chancellor Helmut Schmidt's policies on the NATO Double-Track Decision . However, within the FDP, the conflicts and contrasts were always greater. In the fall of 1982, the FDP reneged on its coalition agreement with the SPD and instead threw its support behind the CDU/CSU. On 1 October, the FDP and CDU/CSU were able to oust Schmidt and replace him with CDU party chairman Helmut Kohl as

11730-473: The election. One possibility was a partnership between the FDP, the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) and the Alliance 90/The Greens , known as a " traffic light coalition ", named after the colors of the three parties. This coalition was ruled out, because the FDP considered the Social Democrats and the Greens insufficiently committed to market-oriented economic reform . The other possibility

11868-525: The empire, 65% of the territory and 62% of the population belonged to the state of Prussia. After the territorial losses of the Treaty of Versailles , the remaining states continued as republics of a new German federation. The debate on a new delimitation of the German territory started in 1919 as part of discussions about the new constitution. Hugo Preuss , the father of the Weimar Constitution , drafted

12006-497: The end of 1950 in the Bundestag because the opposition SPD supported the motion along with the governing CDU/CSU; the governing FDP voted along with the hard-right DP and the openly neo-Nazi German Reich Party (DRP) against the law against Nazis. The 1953 Naumann Circle , named after Werner Naumann , consisted of a group of former Nazis who tried to infiltrate the party, which had many right-wing and nationalist members in Hesse , North Rhine-Westphalia and Lower Saxony . After

12144-538: The end of 2010, the party's support had dropped to as low as 5%. The FDP retained their seats in the state elections in North Rhine-Westphalia , which was held six months after the federal election, but out of the seven state elections that have been held since 2009, the FDP have lost all their seats in five of them due to failing to cross the 5% threshold. Support for the party further eroded amid infighting and an internal rebellion over euro-area bailouts during

12282-622: The executive branch consists of a Senate of approximately eight, selected by the state's parliament; the senators carry out duties equivalent to those of the ministers in the larger states. The equivalent of the minister-president is the Senatspräsident (president of the senate), also commonly referred to as Bürgermeister (Mayor) in Bremen, the Erster Bürgermeister (first mayor) in Hamburg, and

12420-727: The federal elections at the time, the 5% hurdle applied only to the states, not nationwide — in Schleswig-Holstein, Hamburg and NRW the party remained under 2%, but in Lower Saxony, it received 8.1% of the vote, that entitled it to five seats; its deputies were Dorls, Rössler/Richter, Adolf von Thadden, Heinz Frommhold (1906–1979) and Herwart Miessner (1911–2002). The party was the strongest in mid-sized Lower Saxonian cities, like Wilhelmshaven (31.5%), Gifhorn (30.7%), Emden (26.3%), Hameln (25.3%), Salzgitter (23.6%), Helmstedt (20.8%) and Hildesheim (17.3%). The party's strongest direct constituency

12558-451: The federal system: the legislatures are popularly elected for four or five years (depending on the state), and the minister-president is then chosen by a majority vote among the Landtag ' s members. The minister-president is typically the head of the biggest party of a coalition. The minister-president appoints a cabinet to run the state's agencies and to carry out the executive duties of

12696-487: The federal territory has been discussed since the Federal Republic was founded in 1949 and even before. Committees and expert commissions advocated a reduction of the number of states; academics ( Werner Rutz , Meinhard Miegel , Adrian Ottnad , etc.) and politicians ( Walter Döring , Hans Apel , and others) made proposals – some of them far-reaching – for redrawing boundaries but hardly anything came of these public discussions. Territorial reform

12834-412: The federation more complicated." But several proposals have failed so far; territorial reform remains a controversial topic in German politics and public perception. Federalism has a long tradition in German history. The Holy Roman Empire comprised many petty states , numbering more than 300 in around 1796. The number of territories was greatly reduced during the Napoleonic Wars (1796–1814). After

12972-412: The federation. The states retain residual or exclusive legislative authority for all other areas, including culture, which in Germany includes not only topics such as the financial promotion of arts and sciences, but also most forms of education and job training (see Education in Germany ). Though international relations including international treaties are primarily the responsibility of the federal level,

13110-446: The five " New States " on 3 October 1990. The former district of East Berlin joined West Berlin to form the new state of Berlin. Henceforth, the 10 "old states" plus 5 "new states" plus the new state Berlin add up to current 16 states of Germany. After reunification, the constitution was amended to state that the citizens of the 16 states had successfully achieved the unity of Germany in free self-determination and that

13248-548: The five new federal states in the general election in 1990. In all federal election campaigns since the 1980s, the party sided with the CDU and CSU, the main conservative parties in Germany. Following German reunification in 1990, the FDP merged with the Association of Free Democrats , a grouping of liberals from East Germany and the Liberal Democratic Party of Germany . During the political upheavals of 1989/1990 in

13386-409: The former Free State of Prussia. Other former Prussian territories lying east of the rivers Neisse and Oder were lost in 1945 and are now part of Poland or Russia . They are Silesia (Upper and Lower), Pomerania, West Prussia-Posen, and East Prussia respectively. Possible boundary changes between states continue to be debated in Germany, in contrast to how there are "significant differences among

13524-571: The former bloc party. Even before the reunification of Germany united on a joint congress in Hanover, the West German FDP united with the other parties to form the first all-German party. Both party factions brought the FDP a great, albeit short-lived, increase in membership. In the first all-German Bundestag elections, the CDU/CSU/FDP centre-right coalition was confirmed, the FDP received 11.0 percent of

13662-521: The grounds that Article 29 had made the new delimitation of the federal territory an exclusively federal matter. At the same time, the Court reaffirmed the requirement for a territorial revision as a binding order to the relevant constitutional bodies. The grand coalition decided to settle the 1956 petitions by setting binding deadlines for the required referendums. The referendums in Lower Saxony and Rhineland-Palatinate were to be held by 31 March 1975, and

13800-466: The military joining up with Henning von Tresckow (e.g. the Solf Circle ). Soon after World War II, the Soviet Union pushed for the creation of licensed " anti-fascist " parties in its occupation zone in East Germany. In July 1945, former DDP politicians Wilhelm Külz , Eugen Schiffer and Waldemar Koch called for the establishment of a pan-German liberal party. Their Liberal-Democratic Party (LDP)

13938-416: The most important economic, social and German national issues, the FDP agreed with their coalition partners, the CDU/CSU. However, the FDP offered to middle-class voters a secular party that refused the religious schools and accused the opposition parties of clericalization. The FDP said they were known also as a consistent representative of the market economy, while the CDU was then dominated nominally from

14076-447: The necessary majority vote in Brandenburg, while a majority of Berliners voted in favour. Federalism is one of the entrenched constitutional principles of Germany . According to the German constitution , some topics, such as foreign affairs and defence, are the exclusive responsibility of the federation (i.e., the federal level), while others fall under the shared authority of the states and

14214-480: The new Chancellor. The coalition change resulted in severe internal conflicts, and the FDP then lost about 20 percent of its 86,500 members, as reflected in the general election in 1983 by a drop from 10.6 percent to 7.0 percent. The members went mostly to the SPD, the Greens and newly formed splinter parties, such as the left-liberal party Liberal Democrats (LD). The exiting members included the former FDP General Secretary and later EU Commissioner Günter Verheugen . At

14352-535: The northeast consisting of Schleswig-Holstein, Hamburg and the northern part of Lower Saxony (from Cuxhaven to Lüchow-Dannenberg ) and one in the northwest consisting of Bremen and the rest of Lower Saxony (solution B). In the center and southwest, one alternative was that Rhineland-Palatinate (with the exception of the Germersheim district but including the Rhine-Neckar region) should be merged with Hesse and

14490-511: The northernmost state, Schleswig-Holstein , and gaining enough votes in left-leaning Brandenburg to clear the 5% hurdle to enter that state's parliament. However, after reaching its best ever election result in 2009, the FDP's support collapsed. The party's policy pledges were put on hold by Merkel as the Great Recession unfolded and with the onset of the European debt crisis in 2010. By

14628-671: The other states there are the subdivisions below. The most populous state of North Rhine-Westphalia is uniquely divided into two area associations ( Landschaftsverbände ), one for the Rhineland , and one for Westphalia - Lippe . This arrangement was meant to ease the friction caused by uniting the two culturally different regions into a single state after World War II . The Landschaftsverbände now have very little power. Free Democratic Party (Germany) The Free Democratic Party (German: Freie Demokratische Partei , FDP , German pronunciation: [ɛfdeːˈpeː] )

14766-426: The other thirteen states are called Flächenländer ("area states") and include Bavaria , Saxony , and Thuringia , which describe themselves as Freistaaten ("free states"). The Federal Republic of Germany ("West Germany") was created in 1949 through the unification of the three western zones previously under American, British, and French administration in the aftermath of World War II . Initially,

14904-566: The party convention in November 1982, the Schleswig-Holstein state chairman Uwe Ronneburger challenged Hans-Dietrich Genscher as party chairman. Ronneburger received 186 of the votes—about 40 percent—and was just narrowly defeated by Genscher. in 1980, FDP members who did not agree with the politics of the FDP youth organization Young Democrats founded the Young Liberals (JuLis). For

15042-585: The party left the parliament. After the federal party congress in Bonn, just a week later supported the policy of the party leadership and Scheel had confirmed in office, founded by Siegfried party rights Zoglmann 11 July 1970 a "non-partisan" organization called the National-Liberal action on the Hohensyburgstraße—to fall with the goal of ending the social-liberal course of the party and Scheel. However, this

15180-406: The party lost nearly 75% of the support they had had in the previous election. In March 2012, the FDP lost all their state-level representation in the 2012 Saarland state election . However, this was offset by the Schleswig-Holstein state elections, when they achieved 8% of the vote, which was a severe loss of seats but still over the 5% threshold. In the snap elections in North Rhine-Westphalia

15318-421: The percentages of those eligible who voted in favour): The votes in Lower Saxony were successful as both proposals were supported by more than 25% of eligible voters. The Bundestag, however, decided that both Oldenburg and Schaumburg-Lippe should remain part of Lower Saxony. The justification was that a reconstitution of the two former states would contradict the objectives of paragraph 1 of article 29 of

15456-407: The pre-War states remained: Baden (in part), Bavaria (reduced in size), Bremen, Hamburg, Hesse (enlarged), Saxony, and Thuringia. The states with hyphenated names, such as Rhineland-Palatinate, North Rhine-Westphalia, and Saxony-Anhalt, owed their existence to the occupation powers and were created out of mergers of former Prussian provinces and smaller states. Former German territory that lay east of

15594-473: The principles of republican, democratic, and social government, based on the rule of law" (Article 28). Most of the states are governed by a cabinet led by a Ministerpräsident (minister-president), together with a unicameral legislative body known as the Landtag (State Diet ). The states are parliamentary republics and the relationship between their legislative and executive branches mirrors that of

15732-420: The provisions of Article 29, by agreement between the Länder concerned. If no agreement is reached, the revision shall be effected by a federal law, which shall provide for an advisory referendum." Since no agreement was reached, a referendum was held on 9 December 1951 in four different voting districts, three of which approved the merger ( South Baden refused but was overruled, as the result of total votes

15870-467: The provisions of Article 29, by agreement between the two Länder with the participation of their inhabitants who are entitled to vote". A state treaty between Berlin and Brandenburg was approved in both parliaments with the necessary two-thirds majority, but in a popular referendum of 5 May 1996, about 63% voted against the merger. The German states can conclude treaties with foreign countries in matters within their own sphere of competence and with

16008-623: The public support of Federal German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer for the plan. The rejection of the plan by the Saarlanders was interpreted as support for the Saar to join the Federal Republic of Germany. On 27 October 1956, the Saar Treaty established that Saarland should be allowed to join Germany, as provided by the German constitution. Saarland became part of Germany effective 1 January 1957. The Franco-Saarlander currency union ended on 6 July 1959, when

16146-432: The referendum in Baden was to be held by 30 June 1970. The threshold for a successful vote was set at one-quarter of those entitled to vote in Bundestag elections. Paragraph 4 stated that the vote should be disregarded if it contradicted the objectives of paragraph 1. In his investiture address, given on 28 October 1969 in Bonn, Chancellor Willy Brandt proposed that the government would consider Article 29 of

16284-564: The release of all "so-called war criminals " and welcomed the establishment of the "Association of German soldiers" of former Wehrmacht and SS members to advance the integration of the Nazi forces in democracy. The FDP members were seen as part of the " extremist " block along with the German Party in West Germany by the US intelligence officials. Similarly, a de-Nazification Act could only be passed at

16422-483: The same status as West Berlin – was declared East Germany's capital and its 15th district. The debate on territorial revision restarted shortly before German reunification . While academics (Rutz and others) and politicians (Gobrecht) suggested introducing only two, three, or four states in East Germany, legislation reconstituted the East German states in an arrangement similar to that which they had had before 1952, as

16560-458: The state's government. Like in other parliamentary systems, the legislature can dismiss or replace the minister-president after a successful no-confidence vote . The governments in Berlin , Bremen and Hamburg are referred to as " senates ". In the free states of Bavaria and Saxony , the government is referred to as "state government" (Staatsregierung) ; and in the other states, the government

16698-481: The states of the Federal Republic were Baden (until 1952), Bavaria (in German: Bayern ), Bremen , Hamburg , Hesse ( Hessen ), Lower Saxony ( Niedersachsen ), North Rhine-Westphalia ( Nordrhein-Westfalen ), Rhineland-Palatinate ( Rheinland-Pfalz ), Schleswig-Holstein , Württemberg-Baden (until 1952), and Württemberg-Hohenzollern (until 1952). West Berlin , while still under occupation by

16836-481: The territory of the former German Democratic Republic ( East Germany ) became part of the Federal Republic, by accession of the re-established eastern states of Brandenburg , Mecklenburg-West Pomerania ( Mecklenburg-Vorpommern ), Saxony ( Sachsen ), Saxony-Anhalt ( Sachsen-Anhalt ), and Thuringia ( Thüringen ), and the reunification of West and East Berlin into a city state. A referendum in 1996 to merge Berlin with surrounding Brandenburg failed to reach

16974-483: The three Western zones of occupation. The proposed name, Liberal Democratic Party, was rejected by the delegates, who voted 64 to 25 in favour of the name Free Democratic Party (FDP). The party's first chairman was Theodor Heuss, a member of the Democratic People's Party in Württemberg-Baden; his deputy was Franz Blücher of the FDP in the British Zone. The place for the party's foundation was chosen deliberately:

17112-536: The three western military governors approved the Basic Law but suspended Article 29 until such time as a peace treaty should be concluded. Only the special arrangement for the southwest under Article 118 could enter into force. Upon its founding in 1949, West Germany thus had eleven states. These were reduced to nine in 1952 when three south-western states ( South Baden , Württemberg-Hohenzollern , and Württemberg-Baden ) merged to form Baden-Württemberg . From 1957, when

17250-531: The valid votes (79 seats) and won in Genschers city of birth Halle (Saale) the first direct mandate since 1957. During the 1990s, the FDP won between 6.2 and 11 percent of the vote in Bundestag elections. It last participated in the federal government by representing the junior partner in the government of Chancellor Helmut Kohl of the CDU. In 1998, the CDU/CSU-FDP coalition lost the federal election, which ended

17388-411: The vote and 7 seats. It also managed to enter government under a traffic light coalition . In 2016 Saxony-Anhalt state election the party narrowly missed the 5% threshold, receiving 4.9% of the vote and therefore receiving zero seats despite a 1% swing in their favour. The 2017 North Rhine-Westphalia state election was widely considered a test of the party's future as their chairman Christian Lindner

17526-416: The vote and a total of 12 seats. This represents a five-seat improvement over their previous results. In the 2016 Berlin state election the party gained 4.9% of the vote and 12 seats but still failed to get into government. A red-red-green coalition was instead formed relegating the FDP to the opposition. In the 2016 Rhineland-Palatinate state election , the party managed to enter parliament receiving 6.2% of

17664-533: The wishes of the majority of Baden's population. The two Palatine petitions (for a reintegration into Bavaria and integration into Baden-Württemberg) failed with 7.6% and 9.3%. Further requests for petitions (Lübeck, Geesthacht, Lindau, Achberg, and 62 Hessian communities) had already been rejected as inadmissible by the Federal Minister of the Interior or were withdrawn as in the case of Lindau. The rejection

17802-580: Was Wilhelmshaven – Friesland, where the party's candidate was former Kriegsmarine Sea Captain (Kapitän zur See) Walter Mulsow, the Wilhelmshaven fortress commander in 1945. However, with 23.7% of the vote, he came second after SPD's Johann Cramer (32.6%) and was not elected on the party list. Despite its electoral success, the DRP was weakened that same year when the Socialist Reich Party ( Sozialistische Reichspartei , SRP) formed (2 October 1949) and

17940-411: Was a CDU-FDP-Green coalition, known as a " Jamaica coalition " because of the colours of the three parties. This coalition wasn't concluded either, since the Greens ruled out participation in any coalition with the CDU/CSU. Instead, the CDU formed a Grand coalition with the SPD, and the FDP entered the opposition . FDP leader Guido Westerwelle became the unofficial leader of the opposition by virtue of

18078-408: Was also leading the party in that state. The party experienced a 4% swing in its favour gaining 6 seats and entering into a coalition with the CDU with a bare majority. In the 2017 Saarland state election the party again failed to gain any seats despite a 1% swing in their favour. The party gained 3 seats and increased its vote share by 3.2% in the 2017 Schleswig-Holstein state election . This success

18216-585: Was confirmed by the Federal Constitutional Court in the case of Lübeck. In the Paris Agreements of 23 October 1954, France offered to establish an independent "Saarland", under the auspices of the Western European Union (WEU), but on 23 October 1955 in the Saar Statute referendum the Saar electorate rejected this plan by 67.7% to 32.3% (out of a 96.5% turnout: 423,434 against, 201,975 for) despite

18354-411: Was decisive). On 25 April 1952, the three former states merged to form Baden-Württemberg. With the Paris Agreements in 1954, West Germany regained (limited) sovereignty. This triggered the start of the one-year period as set in paragraph 2 of Article 29. As a consequence, eight petitions for referendums were launched, six of which were successful: The last petition was originally rejected by

18492-428: Was involved to the end of the legislature instead of FDP in the Federal Government. The FDP first took it to the opposition. Only one of the smaller post-war parties, the FDP survived despite many problems. In 1957 federal elections they still reached 7.7 percent of the vote to 1990 and their last direct mandate with which they had held 41 of 497 seats in the Bundestag. However, they still remained in opposition because

18630-492: Was not done. Zoglmann supported in October 1970 a disapproval resolution of opposition to Treasury Secretary Alexander Möller, Erich Mende, Heinz Starke, and did the same. A little later all three declared their withdrawal from the FDP; Mende and Strong joined the CDU, Zoglmann later founded the German Union (Deutsche Union) , which remained a splinter party. The foreign policy and the socio-political changes were made in 1971 by

18768-418: Was often credited to their state chairman Wolfgang Kubicki . They also managed to re-enter the government under a Jamaica coalition . In the 2017 federal election the party scored 10.7% of votes and re-entered the Bundestag, winning 80 seats. After the election, a Jamaica coalition was considered between the CDU, Greens, and FDP. However, FDP chief Christian Lindner walked out of the coalition talks due to

18906-527: Was revived in some states of the Western occupation zones (in the Southwestern states of Württemberg-Baden and Württemberg-Hohenzollern under the name of Democratic People's Party ). Many former members of DDP and DVP however agreed to finally overcome the traditional split of German liberalism into a national-liberal and a left-liberal branch, aiming for the creation of a united liberal party. In October 1945

19044-601: Was soon licensed by the Soviet Military Administration in Germany , under the condition that the new party joined the pro-Soviet " Democratic Bloc ". In September 1945, citizens in Hamburg —including the anti-Nazi resistance circle "Association Free Hamburg"—established the Party of Free Democrats (PFD) as a bourgeois left-wing party and the first liberal Party in the Western occupation zones. The German Democratic Party

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