Covenant for the renewal of the empire

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Federation for the Renewal of the Reich (BER, also: Erneuerungsbund , Luther-Bund ) was an organization in the final phase of the Weimar Republic , which by means of an imperial reform, a territorial reorganization of the states , a new regulation of the relationship between the Reich and the states and the strengthening of the position aspired of the Reich President at the expense of Parliament .

In a memorandum in October 1928, the federal government presented a solution to the Reichsland . Prussia and the rest of Northern Germany would have become an empire that would have been administered directly by the empire.

Emergence

Ludwig Kastl kicked off the founding at the annual meeting of the RDI at the beginning of September 1927. He called for a comprehensive reduction in the total tax burden on companies by saving public spending. To this end, the administration and the constitution should be reformed.

The hour of birth of BER was a meeting on 19./20. September 1927 by Paul Reusch , Hans Luther , Max Warburg , Ludwig Kastl and Siegfried von Roedern in Reusch's country estate, the Katharinenhof Palace . An office for L. (Luther) was agreed here.

On October 20, 1927, the "Hanover Circle", which was created independently of BER, was joined by Hermann Schmidt (Braunschweig potash industrialist), Ewald Hecker , Walter Jänecke (publisher) and Gustav Heintze (textile industrialist from Hanover).

The Bund was founded on January 6, 1928 in Berlin . The founding call signed u. a. Carl Bergmann (member of the supervisory board of Deutsche Bank ), Paul Moldenhauer , Jakob Goldschmidt , Louis Hagen , Franz von Mendelssohn , Albert Vögler , Fritz Thyssen , Gustav Krupp von Bohlen and Halbach , Paul Reusch , Fritz Springorum , Wilhelm Cuno , Hermann Röchling , Carl Friedrich von Siemens , Robert Bosch and Abraham Frowein .

aims

The objectives of the federal government were presented in detail in the guiding principles:

  • Transfer of government and administrative tasks to the Reich, Reich government and Reichstag take the place of the Prussian institutions
  • The "Reichsland Prussia" is expanded to include enclaves and peripheral areas and divided into provinces.
  • The provinces are represented in the Imperial Council
  • Financial equalization should be simplified

Another goal of the imperial reform was to reduce government spending. A particular goal was to end the dualism between Prussia and the Reich. In addition, the federal government worked towards an authoritarian presidential government. In the bulletin of the BER in October 1932 it was stated:

“That the Renewal Union recognized the 'strengthening of the Führer thought' as one of the main problems of our political life at an early stage is proven by its 1929 paper on 'The Rights of the German Reich President according to the Reich Constitution'. Here the overcoming of parliamentary and factional rule was demanded and it was demonstrated that the Reich President himself is capable of becoming the decisive factor in German politics without changing the constitution. The Renewal Alliance can claim to have carried out essential preparatory work for the implementation of the system of an authoritarian presidential government by highlighting the decisive aspects of constitutional law and by clarifying the public opinion. "

To this end, the federal government developed a brisk journalistic activity.

To the extreme right, the federal government stood aloof. Alfred Hugenberg opposed the federal government's proposals because they did not go far enough for him. The federal government behaved cautiously towards the NSDAP .

The KPD called the federal government's call to be founded as an "attack on trust capital" and a "program of capitalist rationalization of the state".

In 1933 the federal government stopped its work.

organization

The membership fee was very low, it was 6 Reichsmarks for individuals and 60 Reichsmarks for a legal entity per year. The form of organization was extremely loose. Organizational life was limited to the meetings of the board of directors and the working committee as well as the annual general meeting in Berlin , after which a press reception followed in the first few years with the presentation of the goals for the public. Individual regional groups were created that organized lecture evenings and general meetings.

The leadership of the federal government consisted of Paul Reusch , Hans Luther , Max Warburg , Siegfried von Roedern , Thilo Freiherr von Wilmowsky (since 1930), Paul Kempner (treasurer since 1930) and Otto Geßler (since 1931), who met regularly in Reusch's villa .

Chairperson

Members

The federal government had around 300 members. They included:

First group (West German and Berlin big business and local politicians)

Second group (agriculture)

Third group (Hamburg large economy)

Fourth group (Hanover district)

Fifth group (politics, science and others)

Industry and banks

  • Konrad Piatscheck (Chairman of the German Brown Coal Industry Association)
  • Wolfgang Reuter (General Director of Demag )
  • Jakob Riesser (Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Rheinische Braunkohlen AG, Central Board Member of the DDP)
  • Philip Rosenthal (general director of the porcelain factory Ph. Rosenthal and Co.)
  • Kurt Schmitt
  • Oskar Sempell (Member of the Board of the United Steel Works )
  • Kurt concern
  • Carl Voith (General Director of North German Lloyd)

Agriculture

politics

Labor movement

  • Friedrich Baltrusch
  • Hans Bechly
  • Otto Becker (Chairman of the General Association of Employees in Public Enterprises and the Movement of People and Goods)

Science and Young Conservatives

Fonts

  • Reich reform. Communications from the Federation for the Renewal of the Reich e. V. (published monthly from January / February 1929)
  • Empire and countries. Proposals, reasons, bills . Berlin 1928.
  • The rights of the German President under the Imperial Constitution. A common understanding . Berlin 1929.
  • The problem of the Reichsrat. Guiding principles with justification. Bills with justification. Compare with other states . Berlin 1930.
  • When will the imperial reform come? Extracts and additions to the earlier federal publication: Reich und Länder . Berlin 1931.
  • The imperial reform. Vol. 1: General principles for the delimitation of responsibilities between the Reich, the Länder and the associations of local authorities . Berlin 1933.

Web links

literature

  • Kurt Gossweiler : Federation for the Renewal of the Reich (BER) 1928–1933 . In: Dieter Fricke (ed.): The bourgeois parties in Germany. Handbook of the history of the bourgeois parties and other bourgeois interest organizations from Vormärz to 1945 . Vol. 1, Leipzig 1968. pp. 195-200.
  • Hak-Ie Kim: Industry, State and Economic Policy. The economic policy discussion in the final phase of the Weimar Republic 1930–1932 / 33 . Berlin 1997, p. 11 ff.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ No. 388. Guiding principles of the “Federation for the Renewal of the Reich” on the question of Reich reform. (pdf) In: www.historisches-lexikon-bayerns.de. Federation for the Renewal of the Reich, 1928, accessed on March 25, 2016 .
  2. ^ Gossweiler: Federation for the renewal of the empire. 1968, p. 199.
  3. ^ Gossweiler: Federation for the renewal of the empire. 1968, p. 199.
  4. ↑ taken from: Hak-Ie Kim: Industry, State and Economic Policy. 1997, p. 26 ff. There is no list of members. The list comes from Werner Müller's dissertation, supervised by Kurt Gossweiler : The monopoly bourgeoisie and the constitution of the Weimar Republic . Berlin 1970, pp. 70–95, which is based on newspaper reports and signatories of the imperial reform guidelines.