by Hans Fallada
German Parties and Elections in the Late Weimar Period
A Small Circus makes great play with political parties of the period. It seems almost surprising that, with so many characters in political office and at various levels of government, and so many scenes of politicking, deal-making and demonstration-tending-to-riot, it has no actual election in it; perhaps because it wouldn’t have added much in terms either of disorder or direction: things—in the book, as in reality—wouldn’t have become greatly better, or much worse. Weimar politics were distinguished by the number of parties, the virulence of their hatreds—especially internecine hatreds: the ones with most in common often the worst (the historic rift between the Socialist SPD and the Communists (KPD) is only the best known)—and the instability of the resulting coalition governments. One reason post-1945 Germany has its 5 per cent threshold of representation is to avoid any repetition of the Weimar-style fissuring of politics. Here are two tabulated sets of election results, the one from 1928, the year before the events Fallada based his novel on, and one from 1930, the year before it was published. The continual weakness of the centre is apparent, as is the way the Nazis (NSDAP) drew strength from conservative and nationalist (‘völkisch’) parties. In January 1933, they went on to become the biggest party, and took over the government (the so-called ‘Machtergreifung’), although they never secured a majority in a fair democratic election. The names towards the bottom of each list, with their small-to-insignificant representations, emblematize both the seething, wriggling drama and the deep mistakenness of the events Fallada describes: the idea of radicalizing the countryside, and harnessing it to a single, rural, conservative, nationalist party.
German Federal Election Results in 1928*
Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) 29.8%
German National People’s Party (DNVP) 14.3%
Centre Party (Z) 12.1%
Communist Party of Germany (KPD) 10.6%
German People’s Party (DVP) 8.7%
German Democratic Party (DDP) 4.8%
Reich Party of the German Middle Class (WP) 4.5%
Bavarian People’s Party (BVP) 3.1%
National Socialist German Workers Party (NSDAP) 2.6%
Christian-National Peasants’ and Farmers’ Party (CNBL) 1.9%
Right-Wing People’s Party 1.6%
German Farmers’ Party (DBP) 1.6%
Agricultural League 0.7%
German-Hanoverian Party (DHP) 0.6%
Sächsische Landvolk 0.4%
Other 2.7%
Total 100.0%
German Federal Election Results in 1930
Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) 24.5%
National Socialist German Workers Party (NSDAP) 18.3%
Communist Party of Germany (KPD) 13.1%
Centre Party (Z) 11.8%
German National People’s Party (DNVP) 7.0%
German People’s Party (DVP) 4.5%
Reich Party of the German Middle Class (WP) 3.9%
German Democratic Party (DDP) 3.8%
Christian-National Peasants’ and Farmers’ Party 3.1%
Bavarian People’s Party (BVP) 3.0%
Christian Social People’s Service (CSVD) 2.5%
German Farmers’ Party (DBP) 1.0%
Conservative People’s Party (KVP) 0.8%
Right-Wing People’s Party 0.8%
Agricultural League 0.6%
German-Hanoverian Party (DHP) 0.4%
Other 0.9%
Total 100.0%
* Statistisches Reichsamt (Hrsg.): Statistics of the German Reich.
Acknowledgments
The translator wishes to thank the Goethe Institute and the Alfred Toepfer Stiftung for a residency at Siggen in Holstein (Fallada country!) where the translation was completed, and to record a personal debt to the late Frau Birte Toepfer, an embodiment of gallantry and grace: I barely knew her, but I miss her.
It was a delight to work with Sarah Coward again, who edited the manuscript with sweetness and reason.