Short answers, pulled from the story.
The German Democratic Party, or Deutsche Demokratische Partei (DDP), was a liberal political party in the Weimar Republic, considered centrist or centre-left. Along with the German People's Party, it represented political liberalism in Germany between 1918 and 1933.
The formation of the German Democratic Party was announced on the 16th of November 1918, one week after the November Revolution. The Progressive People's Party, the left wing of the National Liberal Party, and the new party merged together on the 20th of November 1918.
The DDP lost votes after 1920 to rival parties over disputes about the Treaty of Versailles, and its support halved as its seats fell from 75 to 39. It also lost members, finances, and journalistic backing, was falsely branded the party of big capital, and was later defamed by the Nazis as the Jewish party.
The DDP had renamed itself the German State Party in 1930, and its deputies voted for the Nazi-sponsored Enabling Act in 1933. The self-dissolution of the German State Party, forced by the Nazis, took place on the 28th of June 1933 as part of Gleichschaltung.
Founding signatories included Albert Einstein, and Friedrich Naumann served as the first party chair. Other members included Hugo Preuß, who drafted the Weimar Constitution, Theodor Heuss, Walther Rathenau, Hjalmar Schacht, Thomas Mann, Max Weber, and Reinhold Maier.
More Jews voted for the DDP than for any other party, and its supporters came largely from the educated middle class, earning it the nickname the party of Jews and professors. At its December 1919 conference, 40 percent of attendees held a doctorate.
Former DDP members helped found new parties after the war. Theodor Heuss, Thomas Dehler, and Reinhold Maier helped found the West German Free Democratic Party, while Wilhelm Külz, Eugen Schiffer, and Waldemar Koch joined the East German Liberal Democratic Party.