Landtag of Prussia

Coordinates: 52°30′29″N 13°22′55″E / 52.50806°N 13.38194°E / 52.50806; 13.38194
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Prussian House of Representatives, about 1900
Prussian House of Lords, about 1900

The Landtag of Prussia (

German Revolution of 1918–19 the Landtag diet continued as the parliament of the Free State of Prussia
between 1921 and 1934, when it was abolished by the Nazi regime.

History

Kingdom of Prussia

In the course of the

King of Prussia had the right to introduce bills, although the king remained the most powerful element in the government.[1] The first Parliament, which met in 1849, modified the constitution in mostly minor ways. The resulting 1850 Constitution of Prussia,[2]
amended numerous times, remained Prussia's basic law until 1918.

Under the regency of Prince

Karl Anton von Hohenzollern from 1858 (the "New Era"), the House of Representatives led by the newly established German Progress Party gradually developed into a serious political actor, culminating in a constitutional conflict in 1861: William I, who had just acceded to the Prussian throne, and his war minister Albrecht von Roon requested approval for an increment of the military budget, which the deputies refused. Roon urged the king to appoint Otto von Bismarck as Minister President. Bismarck acted on an alleged gap in the constitution (Lückentheorie) and openly sidestepped any power of the purse of the Prussian representatives, saying that "not by speeches and votes of the majority are the great questions of the time decided (...) but by iron and blood." The assembly raised a blistering protest and over the following years Bismarck's cabinet had to govern without a government budget passed by the legislature. In September 1866 the Minister President, at a peak of his power after the Battle of Königgrätz, reached the passage of the Indemnity Act (Indemnitätsgesetz) subsequently legalising his budget management. The balloting led to the split-off of the National Liberal Party which became a loyal supporter of Bismarck's policies.[citation needed
]

Free State of Prussia

During the German Revolution of 1918–19 the new Prussian government of

constitutional convention (Preußische Landesversamlung) was elected on 26 January 1919, after the introduction of equal franchise for all men and women. After the failed Kapp Putsch of 1920, the assembly confirmed the first cabinet of Minister-president Otto Braun and finally adopted the new Prussian constitution on 30 November. The Preußischer Landtag was re-established as the parliament of the Free State of Prussia in 1921. The provinces were represented in the Prussian State Council, which succeeded the former Herrenhaus as a kind of upper house. The Cologne mayor Konrad Adenauer served as its president until 1933.[3]

A legislative period lasted for no longer than four years. The parliament could be dissolved early by joint resolution of the prime minister and the presidents of the Landtag and the State Council or by a

plebiscite. In 1931 just such a referendum, intended to dissolve the Prussian Landtag, took place on the initiative of the "Stahlhelm" veterans' organization, with the support of the Nazi Party and the German Communist Party.[4] The referendum failed. Landtag elections took place on 20 February 1921, 7 December 1924, 20 May 1928, 24 April 1932, and 5 March 1933. The last Prussian Landtag convened on 22 March 1933, and again on 18 May 1933 for the final time. A year after coming to power in Germany, the Nazi Party passed the "Law on the Reconstruction of the Reich," effective on 30 January 1934. Directed at replacing the German federal state with a unitary government, this law abolished the Prussian Landtag, along with all other provincial diets.[5]

Building complex

House of Representatives, staircase
House of Lords, entrance hall

In 1899, the House of Representatives (Abgeordnetenhaus) moved into a building on

Martin Gropius Bau. During the German Revolution of 1918–19 the Reichsrätekongress (national Workers' and Soldiers' Council) held its assemblies here from 16 to 20 December 1918.[6]: 136  On 1 January 1919, the Communist Party of Germany was founded here. Since 1993 the building has been the seat of the Abgeordnetenhaus of Berlin: colloquially it is still named Preußischer Landtag just as the nearby building accommodating the Bundestag is still generally referred to as the Reichstag
.

The seat of the Prussian House of Lords on

Bundesrat
.

Presidents of the Prussian Landtag (Free State of Prussia)

Political Party:   SPD   NSDAP

Portrait Name Political Party Term of Office
President of the Preußische Landesversammlung
Robert Leinert Social Democratic Party of Germany 1919–1921
Presidents of the Landtag of Prussia
Robert Leinert Social Democratic Party of Germany 1921–1924
Friedrich Bartels Social Democratic Party of Germany 1924–1928
1928–1931
Ernst Wittmaack Social Democratic Party of Germany 1931–1932
Hanns Kerrl National Socialist German Workers' Party 1932–1933
1933

See also

Literature

  • Hans Wilderotter: Das Haus der Abgeordneten: Ein Denkmal preußischer und deutscher Geschichte in der Mitte Berlins. Philo Fine Arts, Dresden 2001,

External links

References

  1. ^ "[oktroyierte] Verfassungsurkunde für den preußischen Staat vom 5. Dezember 1848" [[imposed] Constitutional Charter for the Prussian State of 5 December 1848]. documentArchiv.de (in German). Retrieved 4 April 2023.
  2. ^ Constitution of the Kingdom of Prussia  – via Wikisource.
  3. ^ "Konrad Adenauer". Konrad Adenauer Stiftung. Retrieved 10 April 2023.
  4. ^ Harsch, Donna (2000). German Social Democracy and the Rise of Nazism. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. p. 129.
  5. ^ "Nazi conspiracy and aggression". avalon.law.yale.edu. Retrieved 28 June 2020.
  6. .

52°30′29″N 13°22′55″E / 52.50806°N 13.38194°E / 52.50806; 13.38194