Origins
The Centre Party belongs to the political spectrum of "Political Catholicism" that, emerging in the early 19th century after the turmoil of the Napoleonic wars, had changed the … See more

In the Weimar Republic
The Centre Party, whose pragmatic principles generally left it open to supporting either a monarchical or republican form of government, proved one of the mainstays of the Weimar Republic, … See more

Although the party's ideology has shifted throughout its existence, it has consistently presented itself through a Christian democratic (particularly Catholic) and socially conservative profile. Until the 1920s, it was seen to occupy the political centre before … See more

• Official web site
• Website of the European Christian Political Movement, of which the Zentrumspartei is a member
• Catholic Encyclopedia article See more

After the war, the party was refounded, but it was confronted with the emergence of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), a new party formed as a Christian party comprising both Catholics and Protestants. As many former Centre party politicians, such as See more

• Anderson, Margaret Lavinia. Windthorst: A Political Biography (Oxford University Press, 1981).
• Anderson, Margaret Lavinia. Practicing Democracy: Elections and Political Culture in Imperial Germany (2000) excerpt and text search See more