Siegfried von Kardorff explained

Siegfried Alfred Rudolf Friedrich von Kardorff (4 February 1873 in Berlin − 12 October 1945 in Berlin) was a German politician.

Life

He was born the son of Wilhelm von Kardorff and followed him in adopting a career in politics. Describing himself as a "left-wing Free Conservative",^[1] Kardoff was from 1910 to 1918 member of Prussian House of Representatives. Kardorff helped found the German National People's Party.^[2] At one of its first public meetings in December 1918, Kardorff was the main speaker. He declared: "Our new party, in which friendly right-wing parties have united, has no past and rejects any responsibility for the past. We have a present and, if God will, a good future".^[3] Kardorff said that the party would uphold the monarchy, agriculture, the middle class and the church: "But we are not a party of Lutheran orthodoxy, rather we find recognition wherever living Christianity is found".^[4]

Kardorff later joined the German People's Party and was a member of its "industrial right-wing" according to the historian Stephen G. Fritz.^[5] From 1920 to 1932 he was member of German Reichstag.

He also composed political biographies of Otto von Bismarck and his father; the latter was praised by G. P. Gooch,^[6] Carlton J. H. Hayes^[7] and Sidney B. Fay.^[8]

External links

Notes and References

1. Lewis Hertzman, 'The Founding of the German National People's Party (DNVP), November 1918-January 1919', The Journal of Modern History, Vol. 30, No. 1 (Mar., 1958), p. 35, n. 43.
2. Hertzman, p. 26, n. 7.
3. Hertzman, pp. 29-30.
4. Hertzman, p. 30.
5. Stephen G. Fritz, 'The Search for Volksgemeinschaft: Gustav Stresemann and the Baden DVP, 1926-1930', German Studies Review Vol. 7, No. 2 (May, 1984), p. 256.
6. G. P. Gooch, 'Reviewed Work: Wilhelm von Kardorff: ein Nationaler Parlamentarier im Zeitalter Bismarcks und Wilhelms II, 1828-1907 by Siegfried von Kardorff', The English Historical Review Vol. 51, No. 204 (Oct., 1936), p. 713.
7. Carlton J. H. Hayes, 'Reviewed Work: Wilhelm von Kardorff, ein nationaler Parliamentarier im Zeitalter Bismarcks und Wilhelms II, 1828-1907 by Siegfried von Kardorff', The American Historical Review Vol. 43, No. 1 (Oct., 1937), p. 127.
8. Sidney B. Fay, 'Reviewed Work: Wilhelm von Kardorff: Ein Nationaler Parliamentarier im Zeitalter Bismarcks und Wilhelms II, 1828-1907 by Siegfried von Kardorff', The Journal of Modern History Vol. 9, No. 4 (Dec., 1937), pp. 529-530.