Herbert von Berger

Herbert Ritter and Edler Herr von Berger (born October 7, 1881 in Frankfurt (Oder) ; † 1965 ) was a Prussian officer, writer, publicist and high-ranking official in the field of the protection of the constitution.

Life

Paul Georg Herbert Ritter and Edler Herr von Berger was a Prussian officer. In 1903 he said goodbye to active military service and now devoted himself to writing and publishing. As the editorial director of Reimar Hobbing Verlag, founded in Berlin in 1903, he was also active as a philosophical and political journalist. He co-edited the “Conservative Monthly for Politics, Art and Literature” and later took over the management of the Reimar Hobbing publishing house . Here he relocated the works of Frederick the Great and was honored with the Red Eagle Order, IV class . Probably his first own publication was "Irmgard: Dramati poetry", which came out in Berlin Janke Verlag. Several writings and individual articles followed in which he presented the attitude of conservatism, which was also his own at this time, from different perspectives. In 1910 this included the book “Conservatism and the Party”, of which he was a member. Together with Philipp Zorn , he published an extensive three-volume work entitled “Germany under Kaiser Wilhelm II” in 1913 on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the throne of Wilhelm II .

At the beginning of the First World War Herbert von Berger entered the Prussian civil service. In 1914 he worked as an unskilled worker in the press department in the Prussian Ministry of the Interior. During these years he became a member of the German Society from 1914 . From 1916 he was a Privy Councilor and in March 1919 he moved to the Prussian State Ministry . At this time the Weimar Republic was born, the new Prime Minister Philipp Scheidemann had presented his government on February 13, 1919 and the National Assembly met in Weimar to draft the constitution. Even before it came into force, the Prussian State Ministry passed the resolution on July 21, 1919 to set up an institution to guarantee the protection of the constitution. The Prussian "State Commissariat for the Monitoring of Public Order (PrStKom)", which began its work on August 2, 1919, was under the direction of Herbert von Berger. As State Commissioner of this newly created State Security Authority, he was responsible for gathering and analyzing news about the opponents of the Weimar Constitution and was directly subordinate to the Prussian Prime Minister and the Minister of the Interior. This step by Prussia had also been taken in the field of the political police at the beginning of 1919. This was integrated into the Berlin police headquarters. At the time of its establishment, the State Commissariat was divided into the areas of news office, executive office and press department. Although it was a Prussian authority, the Reich Cabinet with its decision of September 13, 1919 provided a total of 2.5 million marks "from the war fund" and initially accepted this status.

The flaw of this constitutional authority, however, was from the beginning that it was not a Reich authority, but its task was aimed at providing the protection of the constitution in all parts of the Weimar Republic. This should be ensured by the fact that the relevant information from all 12 provinces of the registration offices located there in Berlin was brought together and supplemented by their own networks and informants. In order to quickly establish the ability to work, the most important personnel positions were filled until the turn of the year and on December 9, 1919 the authority was renamed "State Commissioner for Public Order". However, it quickly became apparent that it couldn't work that way. The states were suspicious of Prussia's dominant role and the Reich government criticized the lack of influence of the Reich on the work of the Prussian State Commissioner. At the turn of the year, the personal advisor to Reich Minister Matthias Erzberger (1875-1921), Heinrich Hemmer (1886-1942), took steps to convert the state authority into a Reich authority. As early as February 14, 1920, a cabinet proposal for overcoming the state level was on the table.

But the events of the Kapp Putsch from March 13 to 17, 1920 ended all discussions that had begun in one fell swoop. They clearly showed that the Prussian State Commissioner had "failed miserably". Because his authority was not sufficiently informed about the impending dangers that should lead to the overthrow of the Weimar Republic. It had downplayed the endangerment of the state from the right, which at that time emanated mainly from the National Association , in its aims and activities as well as in the reports to the government. Herbert von Berger had not informed the government about the putsch plans by Wolfgang Kapp and Walther von Lüttwitz . He had thus contributed to the fact that the Bauer cabinet was not able to assess the situation correctly either. Therefore, after the Kapp Putsch, he had to counter accusations made against himself that he had acted disloyally or negligently. He was then replaced as State Commissioner on March 25, 1920. He was succeeded by Robert Weismann (1869-1942) , who had previously been the first public prosecutor in Prussia .

Immediately thereafter, Herbert von Berger became active as the Prussian envoy in Dresden and later as a lecturer in the Ministry of the Interior.

Herbert von Berger died in 1965.

Fonts

• Irmingard: Dramatic Poetry , Berlin Janke Verlag, 1908.
• Conservatism and the Party , Reimar Hobbing Verlag Berlin, 1910.
• Conservatism in the intellectual life , Reimar Hobbing Verlag Berlin, 1910.
• Germany under Kaiser Wilhelm II . (Co-author: P.Zorn, FWvon Loebel, S.Körte and H. von Berger), Reimar Hobbing Verlag Berlin, 1914.

Volume 1 German Politics Volume 2 The German Economic Life Volume 3 The Sciences

• A fallissiment: play in 4 acts , Hendel Bücherei Halle an der Saale, 1920.
• Status reports of the Reich Commissioner for the Monitoring of Public Order , from 1920, (Ed.), Holdings of the Federal Archives Koblenz R134, Munich 1979 (new edition).

literature

• Dirk Emunds, From the Protection of the Republic to the Protection of the Constitution? The Reich Commissioner for Monitoring Public Order in the Weimar Republic, Dr. Kovac Verlag Hamburg 2017, series of publications of the university - performance - responsibility, volume 5, Federal University for Public Administration
• Gerhard Schulze (edit.): The minutes of the Prussian State Ministry 1817–1934 / 38. Vol. 11 / II. Olms-Weidmann, Hildesheim 2002, ISBN 3-487-11663-4 , p. 121. ( Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences (Ed.): Acta Borussica . New series. )
• Theodor Wolff: Diaries 1914-1919. Boppard am Rhein, 1984 p. 80

Web links

• Herbert Ritter and Edler Herr von Berger in the online version of the Reich Chancellery Edition Files. Weimar Republic

Individual evidence

1. ^ Hans-Peter Schwarz: 100 Years of German Anniversary Balance Sheets. In the S. (Ed.): The Federal Republic of Germany: a balance sheet after 60 years. Munich, 2008 p. 10
2. ^ Short biography of Herbert Ritter and Edler von Berger, files of the Reich Chancellery. Weimar Republic Reg. 2.118, in: www.bundesarchiv.de/aktenreichskanzlei/1919-1933/00a/adr/adrag/kap1_2/para2_118.html
3. ↑ Dirk Emunds, From the Protection of the Republic to the Protection of the Constitution? The Reich Commissioner for Monitoring Public Order in the Weimar Republic, Verlag Dr. Kovac Hamburg, 2017
4. ^ Heinrich August Winkler: Weimar 1918–1933. The history of the first German democracy. Frankfurt am Main, 1993 p. 121
5. ^ Report on "The Activities of the State Commissioner for Public Order on the Occasion of the Coup on March 13, 1920" of April 16, 1920

predecessor	Office	successor
Office re-established in August 1919	Prussian State Ministry, State Commissioner for Public Order Monitoring 1919–1920	Robert Weismann (1869-1942)
unoccupied	Prussian envoy in Dresden 1920–1922	Bells, Chargé d' affaires