The Democratic Farmers' Party of Germany (, DBD) was an East German political party. The DBD was founded in 1948. It had 52 representatives in the Volkskammer, as part of the National Front. The DBD participated in all GDR cabinets (with the exception of the last GDR cabinet). The founding of the DBD was an attempt by the SED to weaken the influence of CDU/LDPD in the rural community by establishing a party loyal to the SED. The leadership cadre came mainly from the ranks of the SED.DBD Deutsche Bauernpartei from chronik der wende In the late 1980s, the party had 117,000 members.Dirk Jurich, Staatssozialismus und gesellschaftliche Differenzierung: eine empirische Studie, p.31. LIT Verlag Münster, 2006,
After the fall of Berlin Wall, the party initially tried to find itself a niche as ecological agrarian party, but the first free Volkskammer election (1990) netted it only nine seats. In 1990 the DBD merged with the Christian Democratic Union.
International contacts
The DBD had friendly relations with peasants' parties in other Eastern Bloc countries. It had close contacts with the Polish United People's Party (Zjednoczone Stronnictwo Ludowe, ZSL) and the Bulgarian Agrarian National Union (Bǔlgarski Zemedelski Naroden Sǔyuz, BZNS).Peter Joachim Lapp Die "befreundeten Parteien" der SED, 1988, p. 103 Besides that, there were some contacts with farmers' associations in West Germany.Peter Joachim Lapp Die "befreundeten Parteien" der SED, 1988, p. 108 They had also some contacts with agrarian parties in Finland (Centre Party) and in Sweden (Centre Party).
Electoral history
Volkskammer elections
ElectionVotes%Seats+/–1949–1950 151954195819631967197119761981 719861990251,2262.2% 43
Chairmen of the DBD Ernst Goldenbaum, 1948–1982 Ernst Mecklenburg, 1982–1987 Günther Maleuda, 1987–1990 Ulrich Junghanns, 1990
References
External links Deutsche Bauernpartei from chronik der wende