ABSTRACT
The significance of the 1871 debates on clerical election influence for the formation of a Kulturkampf atmosphere cannot be overestimated. It was only when the Duke of Ratibor refused so much as to reply to the inquiries submitted by the local election committee concerning his future political stance that the district was launched on its insurgent course. Elections in Upper Silesia where Free Conservatives held the same positions of local dominance as liberals did in the west, were variations on the same theme. The struggle can thus be seen as part of the larger struggle for emancipation in German history. The reveals a massive realignment of Catholic voters, beginning with the Prussian Landtag elections in 1870. Cataclysmic elections realignment of Catholic voters into their own, specifically Catholic party after 1866 coincides with the rise of popular anti-Catholicism heralding the Kulturkampf.
