Centre Party
Sign in to saveAlso known as Deutsche Zentrumspartei, Zentrum, ZP
catholic political party in Germany
Key facts
- Federal chairman
- Christian Otte
- Founder
- Joseph Görres
- Founded
- 13 December 1870 ; 155 years ago ( 1870-12-13 ) (original form) 1945 ; 81 years ago ( 1945 ) (current form)
- Headquarters
- Straberger Weg 12 41542, Dormagen , NRW
- Youth wing
- Windthorstbund [ de ]
- Paramilitary wing
- Reichsbanner Schwarz-Rot-Gold (1924–1930)
- Membership
- 600 (2022 estimation</span>"}]]}'>est. )
- Ideology
- Christian democracy Political Catholicism Republicanism (after 1918)
- Political position
- Centre to centre-right
- Religion
- Catholicism
- Regional affiliation
- Bavarian People's Party
- International affiliation
- White International (historical)
- Colours
- Black , White , Blue
- Bundestag
- 0 / 630
- Bundesrat
- 0 / 69
- State parliaments
- 0 / 1,884
- European parliament
- 0 / 96
- Heads of state governments
- 0 / 16
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- minor party
- Official name
- Deutsche Zentrumspartei - Älteste Partei Deutschlands gegründet 1870
- Religion
- Catholic Church
- Participant in
- 1999 European Parliament election in Germany
- Country
- Germany
- Headquarters
- Dormagen
- Official website
- zentrumspartei.de
- Political ideology
- political Catholicism
Show 15 more facts
- member count
- 600
- Commons category
- Deutsche Zentrumspartei
- inception
- 1945-00-00
- dissolved, abolished or demolished date
- 1933-07-05
- topic's main category
- Category:Deutsche Zentrumspartei
- member of
- European Christian Political Party
- location of formation
- Berlin
- minimum age
- 16
- short name
- ZENTRUM
- operating area
- Germany
- official color
- blue
- P8168
- Ulster
- native label
- Deutsche Zentrumspartei
- member category
- Category:Centre Party (Germany) politicians
- described by source
- Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary
Sources (6)
via Wikidata · CC0
~40 min read
Encyclopedic overview
The Centre Party (German: Zentrum, Z), officially the German Centre Party (German: Deutsche Zentrumspartei, DZP) and also known in English as the Catholic Centre Party, is a Christian democratic political party in Germany. It was most influential in the German Empire and Weimar Republic. Formed in 1870, it successfully battled the Kulturkampf waged by Chancellor Otto von Bismarck against the Catholic Church. It soon won a quarter of the seats in the Reichstag, and its middle position on most issues allowed it to play a decisive role in the formation of majorities. The party name Zentrum (Centre) originally came from the fact that Catholic representatives would take up the middle section of seats in parliament between the social democrats and the conservatives.
For most of the Weimar Republic, the Centre Party was the third-largest party in the Reichstag and a bulwark of the Republic, participating in all governments until 1932. Following Adolf Hitler's rise to power in early 1933, the Centre Party was among the parties who voted for the Enabling Act, which granted legislative powers to Hitler's government. Nevertheless, the party was pressured into dissolving itself on 5 July, as the Nazi Party became the only legally permitted party in the country shortly thereafter.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Centre Party” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.