Voter Mobilization Strategies applied by the German political parties of Slovakia (1920–1938)

The paper explores, what strategies and methods were used by the two, most influential German political parties of Slovakia, the Zipser Deutsche Partei and the Karpathendeutsche Partei to mobilize as many voters as possible. Despite the latter party founded by a former member of the previous party, the concept according to which they were formed, fundamentally differed. While the oppositional Zipser Deutsche Partei was interested in preserving the pre-1918 political, economic and informal networks in the Spiš region, the – firstly pro-Prague and later National Socialist – Karpathendeutsche Partei strived to integrate the institutions of the Spiš Germans into the political and economic framework coordinated by the Sudeten German elite. The paper attempts to present, how the Zipser Deutsche Partei tried to maintain its positions, and how the Karpathendeutsche Partei sought to change the status quo not only in Spiš, but also in the other German-speaking areas of Slovakia.