In 1906, he gave up his professorship to devote his time to politics. As early as 1881 to 1884 Paasche was a
Liberal Union Reichstag Member for Rostock. From 1893 he was involved in both the Reichstag, as well as the Prussian State Parliament. Paasche played a central role in addressing the crisis of German sugar industry through a change of protectionist to market-consumerist policy. Since 1898, he was a member of the Central Board of the
National Liberal Party, from 1903 to 1909 and from 1912 to 1918 Vice-President of the Reichstag. Paasche was very combative, as a liberal: in 1908, during the Daily Telegraph affair, he attacked the emperor, and temporarily lost the support of the party and was not reintroduced into the Prussian State Parliament. During the First World War, he spoke out against the unrestricted submarine warfare and supported a peace agreement. From 1921 to 1924 he was Reichstag Member for the
German People's Party. Paasche died in 1925 in
Detroit,
Michigan, United States. In a speech in front of the Reichstag in 1904, Paasche, justifying German atrocities against the
Herero people, described them as "laboring animals" who could be disposed of at will. ==Hans Paasche==