Why did right-wing parties oppose the Young Plan?

Right-wing parties, led by the German National People’s Party (DNVP) and Alfred Hugenberg, opposed the Young Plan because they viewed it as a continuation of Germany's national humiliation.12

Their opposition was driven by several key objectives:

• Repudiation of Debt and Guilt: They sought to force the government to reject the reparations debt entirely, as well as the "war guilt" clause of the Treaty of Versailles upon which the debt was based.12
• Criminalization of Compliance: The nationalists aimed to hold government ministers legally accountable for treason if they accepted new financial obligations under the plan.13
• Political Mobilization: By utilizing popular initiative and referendum processes, the right wing attempted to force the Reichstag to reverse its approval of the plan. To lead this campaign, Hugenberg engaged Adolf Hitler, which provided the then-marginalized Nazi Party with a platform on the national political stage.132

Ultimately, the campaign failed to gain broad public support, with only 13.8 percent of voters backing the right-wing objectives in the subsequent plebiscite.12