German Socialist Party
The German Socialist Party was a short-lived German nationalist, far-right party during the early years of the Weimar Republic. Founded in 1918, its declared aim was an ideology that would combine both völkisch and socialist elements. However, the party never became a mass movement. After it was dissolved in 1922, many of its members joined the similar National Socialist German Workers' Party instead.
The DSP was heavily influenced by the antisemitic Thule Society led by Rudolf von Sebottendorf as well as publications of engineer Alfred Brunner, who aimed to create a party that would be both nationalist, socialist and attractive to the German proletariat. The DSP aimed to win the allegiance of the German proletariat away from communism which had become highly influential following the German Revolution of 1918–1919. This made the DSP similar to the German Workers' Party in and around Munich which later became the NSDAP. A merger of the two parties was contemplated, but it ultimately failed.
In 1920, the party was founded for the entire German state and contested in the Reichstag elections. However, the party proved unpopular, with only about 7,000 votes. This led Julius Streicher, an important party official, to ally with the so-called Völkische Werkgemeinschaft in the summer of 1921. Nonetheless, the DSP continued to lose members and popularity.
In late 1922, the party was officially dissolved and many functionaries followed Streicher to the NSDAP.
Hans Georg Grassinger, the founding chairman of the DSP, later recalled that Adolf Hitler had tried to join the party in 1919, but he was rejected:
