Liberal Democrats in the Weimar Republic

A thorough critical history of the DDP and DStP based on archival research that reveals new information about the fail-ure of the German middle classes in politics. Frye demonstrates that the DDP had a significance much greater than its fol-lowing might suggest. Within its ranks were some of Germany's most influential intellectuals, academics, and publicists. It was the party that made the most notable contribution to the Weimar Consti-tution and was most in tune with its values. The DDP represented many con-tradictory political and intellectual influences: nationalism as well as interna-tionalism and pacifism; reverence for individualism as well as statism. In time these internal contradictions tore the party apart. The failure of the German middle classes to build a moderate political party and their tendency to move to the extreme right reveals much about the German middle classes, the failure of liberalism, and the rise of nazism.