Hamburg Senate 1919–1933

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Flag of the Hamburg Senate

The new, democratic Hamburg Senate was first elected by the citizens on March 28, 1919 , supported by a coalition of the German Democratic Party and the SPD . As the strongest faction, the SPD held back: it did not appoint the first mayor , but instead allowed this post to be taken over by senators who had already belonged to the pre-war senate in the interests of personal continuity . A coalition with the USPD was ruled out by the SPD due to a very tough election campaign. With the general election of October 26, 1924, the previous coalition no longer had a majority. The German People's Party was accepted into the coalition and from March 18, 1925 provided several senators. After the election of September 27, 1931, the incumbent Senate had lost its majority in the citizenry. But since no new Senate could be elected, the old Senate continued to run the business.

prehistory

During the November Revolution, revolutionary workers and soldiers took power in Hamburg on November 5, 1918 after brief battles. After the troops loyal to the government were eliminated, a workers and soldiers council was spontaneously formed. On November 6, 1918, the Workers 'and Soldiers' Council was de facto recognized by the Senate as the highest government organ. On November 8, 1918, the workers 'and soldiers' council was formally re-elected and thus legitimized. Politically, the council was dominated by the USPD and radical left. The Workers 'and Soldiers' Council met permanently in Hamburg City Hall and ruled Hamburg for the following four months. On November 12th, Dr. Heinrich Laufenberg and Wilhelm Heise elected chairmen of the workers 'and soldiers' council. In the first revolutionary zeal, the Senate was abolished on November 12th. But since its expertise proved to be irreplaceable, the old Senate was reinstated as the highest authority on November 18. After the Spartacus uprising failed in January 1919 and the USPD and left-wing radicals were ousted as a result, the SPD succeeded in asserting its interests in the Workers 'and Soldiers' Council. Heinrich Laufenberg and Wilhelm Heise left the council on January 20, 1919, and Berthold Grosse and Karl Hense , both of whom were members of the SPD, were elected chairmen of the workers 'and soldiers' council. This set a new election of the citizens in free and equal election on March 16, 1919. In the constituent meeting of the citizenship on March 26, 1919, the workers 'and soldiers' council passed power to the citizenship and then effectively dissolved. The old Senate resigned on March 27, 1919.

Senators

The senators elected by the parliament are shown below.

Heinrich Lorenz and Henry Everling , who had both been elected to the Senate for the SPD, left the Senate after just under 3 months to return to their previous positions in the GEG and the production cooperative . It is clear that the number of “bourgeois senators” (DDP, DVP) was roughly equal to those of the SPD.

Max Mendel left the Senate on June 20, 1929 . Health reasons for his resignation from the Senate are occasionally seen as advanced. His Jewish origins may have been the decisive factor in his withdrawal from the Senate. With him and Senator Carl Cohn from the DDP, the only two Jewish politicians left the Hamburg Senate.

On September 15, 1931, during the economic crisis, the Senate was reduced from 16 to 12 members; Arnold Nöldeke (DDP), Franz Heinrich Witthoefft (DVP), Richard Perner (SPD) and Heinrich Stubbe (SPD) resigned.

Distribution of departments

The division of responsibilities of the Senate is not easy to depict. For example, there were still different deputations, offices and commissions, some of which included several senators. The following shows which senator was president of an administrative branch.

Rudolf Ross Heinrich Stubbe Carl Wilhelm Petersen Johannes Hirsch Max Schramm John von Berenberg-Gossler Curt Platen Walter Matthaei Heinrich Eisenbarth Berthold Grosse Emil Krause Paul Hoffmann Heinrich Eisenbarth Louis Grünwaldt Paul Neumann (Senator) Paul Hoffmann (Politiker) Emil Krause Rudolf Ross Walter Matthaei Heinrich Schumann Emil Krause Emil Krause Werner von Melle Paul de Chapeaurouge Carl Wilhelm Petersen Werner von Melle Carl Wilhelm Petersen Arnold Nöldeke Bruno Louis Schaefer Adolph Schönfelder Heinrich Stubbe Heinrich Schumann Karl Hense Carl Wilhelm Petersen Wilhelm Amsinck Burchard-Motz Peter Stubmann Justus Strandes Gustav Sthamer Walter Matthaei Carl Cohn Arnold Diestel Rudolf Ross Carl Wilhelm Petersen Otto Stolten Gustav Sthamer Rudolf Ross Carl Wilhelm Petersen Rudolf Ross Max Schramm (Politiker) Otto Stolten Carl Wilhelm Petersen Rudolf Ross Carl Wilhelm Petersen Arnold Diestel Gustav Sthamer Werner von Melle

Councilors of State

The principle of non-voting members was also adopted from the old Senate. In 1919 the old official titles Senate Secretary and Syndicus were still used for the State Secretaries . This traditional procedure was reformed on June 24, 1920: all Senate members who were not entitled to vote received the newly created rank of Council of State . The individual councils of state are shown below.

Leo Lippmann Adolf Buehl Anton Hagedorn

October 1931

Results of the 1931 state election
Political party % of votes Seats
KPD 21.86 35
SPD 27.81 46
DStP 8.70 14th
DVP 4.79 7th
center 1.40 2
DNVP 5.61 9
Middle class party 1.47 2
People's Service 1.41 2
NSDAP 26.25 43

In the general election on September 27, 1931, the previous coalition of SPD, DStP and DVP lost its majority. The NSDAP had achieved a landslide victory: it received 26 percent of the votes cast (after 2% in 1928) and was able to form the second largest parliamentary group. The KPD received almost 22% (after 16% in 1928). The Senate-supporting parties clearly lost votes: the SPD from 35% in 1928 to 28%, the DStP from 12% (1928 still as DDP) to 9% in 1931 and the DVP from 12% to 5%. In view of this, the Senate resigned completely on October 4, 1931. According to Article 37 of the Hamburg Constitution , the Senate continued to run the business until a new Senate was elected. Since there was no new majority for a senate in the citizenry, the previous incumbents remained in office. A coalition of the KPD and SPD would have had a slim majority, but after the Hamburg uprising of 1923, cooperation between the two workers' parties seemed unthinkable. Since there were three strong blocks in the citizenship that blocked each other, no new government could be formed. The legislative activity of the citizenry also came to a practical standstill. This situation benefited the parties that had made up the old Senate for a short time: they could continue to govern; In the long term, the Senate was unable to act (from which the NSDAP and KPD benefited).

The new election on April 24, 1932 changed this situation: on the one hand, the NSDAP became the strongest force in the citizenship and, on the other hand, the KPD lost significantly, so that a coalition of bourgeois parties and the NSDAP was mathematically possible.

March 1933

On March 2, 1933, Reich Interior Minister Wilhelm Frick ( NSDAP ) asked the Hamburg Senate to ban the social-democratic newspaper Hamburger Echo . The following day, all of the senators who belonged to the SPD resigned because, on the one hand, they did not agree to the ban and, on the other hand, they did not want to offer any reason to interfere with Hamburg's independence. On March 3, 1933, Paul de Chapeaurouge became the police officer . After the Reichstag election of March 5, 1933 , SA units occupied the town hall in the evening . Carl Wilhelm Petersen , who had been seriously ill for several weeks, resigned from his position. After the polling stations were closed, Wilhelm Frick appointed SA Standard Leader Alfred Richter (NSDAP) as Reich Commissioner and Police Lord in Hamburg. Thereupon Paul de Chapeaurouge resigned as senator on March 6th. On March 8, 1933, a new Senate was elected by a coalition of NSDAP, State Party , DNVP and DVP .

Footnotes

  1. ^ Werner Jochmann: Hamburg. History of the city and its inhabitants. Volume 2, Hofmann & Campe, 1986, ISBN 978-3455082555 , pp. 160/161.
  2. ↑ Election results of March 16, 1919: SPD 50.46% - 82 seats; DDP 20.47% - 33 seats; DVP 8.60% - 13 seats; USPD 8.07% - 13 seats; Hamburg Economic Association 4.20% - 7 seats; DNVP 2.86% - 4 seats; Landowner 2.45% - 4 seats; Center 1.20% - 2 seats; Hamburg Economic Party 0.42% - 1 seats; United Civic Associations 0.37% - 1 seat; Others 0.51% - 0 seats; Source: Gonschior.
  3. ↑ Ursula Büttner: Establishment and destruction of democracy in Hamburg: five treatises. Hamburg 1998, ISBN 3929728362 , p. 61.
  4. ↑ a b Source: typescript by Fuhrmann.
  5. ^ Leo Lippmann: My life and my official activity, memories and a contribution to the financial history of Hamburg. Christians, Hamburg 1964, p. 295.
  6. ^ University of Hamburg, Institute for Folklore / Cultural Anthropology ( Memento from September 2, 2013 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on April 25, 2010.
  7. ↑ Holger Martens : Max Mendel. In: SPD regional organization Hamburg: For freedom and democracy: Hamburg social democrats in persecution and resistance 1933–1945, biographical sketches. P. 106 f., Hamburg 2003, ISBN 3-8330-0637-4 .
  8. ↑ Revision by Ursula Büttner: Establishment and Destruction of Democracy in Hamburg: Five Essays. Hamburg 1998, ISBN 3929728362 , p. 118.
  9. ↑ After Ursula Büttner: Establishment and Destruction of Democracy in Hamburg: Five treatises. Hamburg 1998, ISBN 3929728362 , p. 150.
  10. ^ In 1930 the DDP merged with the Young German Order to form the German State Party (DStP).
  11. ↑ Ursula Büttner: Establishment and destruction of democracy in Hamburg: five treatises. Hamburg 1998, ISBN 3929728362 , p. 199.

swell

  • Ursula Büttner : Hamburg at the time of the Weimar Republic. Six treatises. State Center for Political Education, Hamburg 1996.
  • Ursula Büttner: Establishment and Destruction of Democracy in Hamburg: Five Treatises. Hamburg 1998, ISBN 3929728362 .
  • Rainer Fuhrmann : Distribution of offices in the Senate 1860–1945. Typescript, Hamburg State Archives.
  • Werner Jochmann : Hamburg. History of the city and its inhabitants. Volume 2, Hofmann & Campe ( ISBN 978-3455082555 ), 1986.
  • Leo Lippmann : My life and my official activities, memories and a contribution to the financial history of Hamburg. Christians, Hamburg 1964.