That Helmuth von Maltzahn sat in the Reichstag for eighteen years from 1871 is mentioned in every short biography. How narrowly or clearly he won his elections is recorded in a book from 1883: Die Reichstags-Wahlen von 1867 bis 1883, edited by A. Phillips, a statistical survey of all constituencies with the number of eligible voters, votes cast and results.
The constituency
Gültz belonged to the constituency “1. (Stettin) Demmin – Anklam”. Phillips gives its population as 79,799, of whom 28,409 lived in towns and 51,390 in the countryside, 98.8 per cent of them Protestant. The towns were Demmin (10,470 inhabitants), Treptow an der Tollense (4,033), Jarmen (1,642) and Anklam (12,264). In 1867 the National Liberal Count von Schwerin-Putzar had won twice. From 1871 the constituency went to the lord of the manor of Gültz.
The results
| Election | Turnout | Frhr. v. Maltzahn (Cons.) | Opposing candidate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1871 | 48,3 % | 5.536 (76,9 %) | Consul Gustav Müller, Berlin (NL): 1,658 |
| 1874 | 59,0 % | 4.669 (53,1 %) | Retired district judge Maas (NL): 4,097 |
| 1877 | 50,7 % | 6.250 (77,9 %) | Schulze-Delitzsch (Progress): 1,236; National Liberals: 504 |
| 1878 | 45,2 % | 6.142 (84,4 %) | Maas (NL): 1,112 |
| 1881 | 50,7 % | 5.328 (67,8 %) | Knight’s estate owner Kolbe (NL): 2,489 |
The percentages refer to valid votes; the totals add up in each case. It was close only in 1874, when the National Liberal Maas came within about 570 votes. In 1877 Maltzahn’s opponent was none other than the founder of the cooperative movement, Hermann Schulze-Delitzsch, standing for the Progress Party – and he had no chance. In 1878 Maltzahn achieved his best result with 84.4 per cent.
Town and country
For 1881 Phillips breaks down the votes. The result is revealing: in the towns the liberal challenger was clearly ahead, in the countryside the conservative landowner.
| 1881 | v. Maltzahn | Kolbe |
|---|---|---|
| Towns | 703 | 1.543 |
| Countryside, Demmin district | 3.115 | 456 |
| Countryside, Anklam district | 1.510 | 490 |
This was the typical pattern east of the Elbe: the villages and manorial districts carried the Conservatives, while the towns voted Liberal.
The entry in the register of members
The biographical section reads: “Frh. v. Maltzahn (-Gültz), Helmuth, owner of the knight’s estate of Gültz near Treptow a. d. Tollense, Western Pomerania … Member of the German Reichstag: 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th legislative period for 1. Stettin (Demmin-Anklam), Cons.” Phillips gives the date of birth as “6 June 1840”. The family chronicle, by contrast, gives 6 January 1840, 10.30 in the morning, and the baptism on 10 February. This points to a misprint in Phillips.
Source: A. Phillips (ed.), Die Reichstags-Wahlen von 1867 bis 1883. Statistik der Wahlen zum konstituierenden und norddeutschen Reichstage, zum Zollparlament, sowie zu den fünf ersten Legislatur-Perioden des Deutschen Reichstages, Berlin: Louis Gerschel 1883, p. 29 and register of members. Copy held by Harvard College Library, digitised by Google Books, public domain. Percentages calculated by Schloss Gültz from the figures given. Date of birth: Berthold Schmidt, Geschichte des Geschlechts von Maltzan und von Maltzahn, vol. IV, 1925, pp. 93 ff.