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Guardians of tradition or agents of modernity: sources of National Socialist appeal in rural northwest Germany. George S. Vascik Miami University. Polling places in northwest Germany. Kreise and Ämter. R üstringen. Hadeln. Neuhaus. Jever. Lehe. Wittmund. Kehdingen. Norden. - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
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Guardians of tradition or agents of modernity: sources of National
Socialist appeal in rural northwest Germany
George S. Vascik
Miami University
Polling places in northwest Germany
Kreise and Ämter
NordenWittmund
Jork
Hadeln Neuhaus
Kehdingen
Osterholz
Bremervörde
Stade
Lehe
Geestemünde
Blumenthal
Elsfleth
WesterstedeLeer
Weener
Emden
Oldenburg
Varel
JeverRüstringen
Butjadingen
Brake
Aurich
Plurality winners, 1924_1
DNVP
DNVP
DHP
Wittmund
1924_1 1928 1930 1932_1
P value
R2 P value
R2 P value
R2 P value
R2
All/tax hectare 0.907 0.0 0.273 0.2 0.444 0.1 0.000 5.9
All/pop. density 0.295 0.2 0.728 0.0 0.750 0.0 0.351 0.2
All/RR distance 0.178 0.8 0.119 1.1 0.017 3.0 0.776 0.0
1924_1 1928 1930 1932_1
P value
R2 P value
R2 P value
R2 P value
R2
All/tax/density 0.576 0.2 0.536 0.2 0.729 0.1 0.000 6.4
All/tax/distance 0.398 0.9 0.156 1.7 0.025 3.8 0.096 2.2
All/density/dist 0.285 1.2 0.223 1.4 0.057 3.0 0.118 2.0
All/den/tax/dist 0.454 1.2 0.249 1.9 0.061 3.9 0.015 4.9
Determinants of Racist success in all villages(multiple variables)
Determinants of Racist success in all villages(single variable)
1924_1 1928 1930 1932_1
P value
R2 P value
R2 P value
R2 P value
R2
Ag/tax hectare 0.000 13.8 0.000 12.9 0.000 12.4 0.000 7.4
Ag/pop. density 0.000 13.4 0.000 11.1 0.000 12.3 0.027 0.5
Ag/RR distance 0.000 11.3 0.007 4.5 0.001 7.2 0.001 7.2
1924_1 1928 1930 1932_1
P value
R2 P value
R2 P value
R2 P value
R2
Ag/tax/density 0.000 14.3 0.000 13.0 0.000 12.5 0.000 7.9
Ag/tax/distance 0.000 12.9 0.020 4.5 0.003 7.3 0.000 9.1
Ag/density/dist 0.000 11.7 0.018 4.6 0.003 7.2 0.006 5.7
Ag/den/tax/dist 0.000 13.7 0.040 4.6 0.007 7.3 0.000 11.9
Determinants of Racist success Liberal villages(multiple variables)
Determinants of Racist success in Liberal villages(single variable)
Völkisch votes in relation to pre-War Liberal hegemony, May 1924
Agrarian block leader, 1924_1
VSB
Bremervoerde
Hamburg
Bremen
Locating Bremervoerde
Constituency: Hanover 18
Constituency 15
Bremervörde
GIS of Kreis Bremervoerde
The complex nature of politics in Bremervoerde
• Liberals and Radicals – Who they were and what they represented
• The German-Hanoverian party– Who they were and what they represented
• The Agrarians – Bund der Landwirte later Reichslandbund
• Creating the Composite Voting Indices
Mapping areas of political
orientation
Liberal = goldDHP = greenAgrarian = striped
Single variables influencing Liberal, Agrarian, and Modern orientation
Liberal Agrarian Traditionalist
P-value R-Sq P-value R-Sq P-value R-Sq
Parish 0.000 20.6% 0.676 0.3% 0.000 26.0%
Area 0.547 0.7% 0.359 1.5% 0.465 1.0%
Tax/hectare 0.340 1.7% 0.002 16.0% 0.095 5.0%
RR distance
Population 0.208 2.9% 0.290 2.0% 0.073 5.7%
Pop. density
0.031 8.2% 0.026 8.7% 0.027 8.6%
% non-Evangelical
0.141 3.9% 0.332 1.7% 0.116 4.4%
Composite Liberal and Traditionalist Vote percentages by parish
Scatter plot of Composite Agrarian Vote percentages and tax/hectare
Probability plot of Composite Agrarian Value percentages and tax/hectare
Transformative effect of the Great War
• Immediate post-War results• Continued German-Hanoverian strength
and spread– What it meant
• May 1924 referendum• The impact of the Great Inflation
– Dissolution of the Liberal (DVP) and Radical (DDP) parties
Immediate post-War results
May referendum
Question: should Hanover be allowed to form a state independent of Prussia?
Voting in two stages: first to decide if question should be put to the voters, second actual binding vote.
To move to second stage, a majority of 33% of eligible votes must vote yes.
Impact of the Great Inflation• Collapse of support
for DVP and DDP in election with 6.7% greater turnout
• Shifting support to DNVP
• Growth of Racist VSB
Locating political
anti-Semitism in Kreis
Bremervoerde
Single variables influencing votes cast for the VSB in May 1924
P-value R-Sq
Composite Liberal Value 0.000 31.6%
Composite Agrarian Value 0.316 1.8%
Composite Traditionalist Value 0.000 23.2%
Parish 0.037 7.7%
Area 0.090 5.1%
Tax/hectare 0.122 4.3%
Railroad distance
Population 0.192 3.1%
Population density 0.450 1.0%
% non-Evangelical 0.496 0,8%
The rural crisis of 1927/28
• Discussion of events
• Landvolk movement
• Founding of the CNBLP– Created by Landbund– Opposed to DNVP and Racists– Alliance with the German Hanoverians
• Campaign of 1928
Single variables influencing votes cast for the NSDAP in May 1928
P-value R-Sq
Composite Liberal Value 0.013 10.6%
Composite Agrarian Value 0.233 2.6%
Composite Traditionalist Value 0.045 7.1%
Parish 0.003 14.9%
Area 0.020 9.5%
Tax/hectare 0.947 0.0%
Railroad distance
Population 0.021 9.3%
Population density 0.307 1.9%
% non-Evangelical 0.200 3.0%
Single variables influencing votes cast for the CNBLP in May 1928
P-value R-Sq
Composite Liberal Value 0.310 1.9%
Composite Agrarian Value 0.001 18.4%
Composite Traditionalist Value 0.183 3.2%
Parish 0.832 0.1%
Area 0.443 1.1%
Tax/hectare 0.142 3.9%
Railroad distance
Population 0.179 3.3%
Population density 0.244 2.5%
% non-Evangelical 0.065 6.1%
Christian Nationalist
Peasants’ and Rural
Peoples’ Party
Who collects post-1928 detritus?
• The CNBLP, created by the Landbund as a mean of channeling rural discontent, turned out to be a way-station to the NSDAP
• CNBLP vote 1928:NSDAP vote 1930 – P-value 0.007 R-Sq=13.1%
• German-Hanoverians reemerge as the largest party in the majority of villages
• After 1930 elections, Christian Nationalists enter government and craft a Rural Recovery Program with DHP support
The election of September
1930• Where Racists did
best• Areas of residual
Traditionalist strength
• The battle within the Landbund between Traditionalists and Nazis
Single variables influencing votes cast for the NSDAP in September 1930
P-value R-Sq
Composite Liberal Value 0.000 23.9%
Composite Agrarian Value 0.028 9.0%
Composite Traditionalist Value 0.000 24.1%
CNBLP vote 1928 0.007 13.1%
Parish 0.004 15.2%
Area 0.133 4.3%
Tax/hectare 0.011 11.8%
Population 0.263 2.4%
Population density 0.613 0.5%
% non-Evangelical 0.731 0.2%
Single variables influencing votes cast for the NSDAP in July 1932
P-value R-Sq
Composite Liberal Value 0.224 2.8%
Composite Agrarian Value 0.018 10.2%
Composite Traditionalist Value 0.533 0.7%
Parish 0.465 1.0%
Area 0.351 1.6%
Tax/hectare 0.288 2.1%
Railroad distance
Population 0.360 1.6%
Population density 0.046 7.3%
% non-Evangelical 0.078 5.8%
Votes cast for the Deutsch-Hannoversche Partei, 1893-1932
Participation
1919 1920 1924/1 1924/2 1928 1930 1932/1 1932/2 1933
Votes 9,687 9,169 9,784 9,882 11,032 11,655 12,432 11,290 12,719
% 93.4 88.4 94.3 95.3>11.6% >5.6% >6.6% <9.2% >12.7
>11.6% 17.9% 25.8% 14.2% 28.7%
Eligible voters in May 1924: 10,372
Conclusions
• Voters in historically Liberal towns and villages were most susceptible to Racist and Nazi appeals after 1924
• Voters in historically Traditionalist towns and villages resisted the Nazis the longest
• The German-Hanoverian party was much more capable of maintaining its traditional voter base than most historians allow
• The Nazi triumph in 1932 was based in part on bringing new voters into the process
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