Chamber of the GDR

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Plenary Chamber of the State Chamber (1958)

The Länderkammer of the GDR was from the establishment of the state on October 7, 1949, despite the political dissolution of the states in the German Democratic Republic on July 23, 1952, until its formal dissolution by the People's Chamber on December 8, 1958 as a representation of the states alongside the People's Chamber (at federal level ) involved in GDR legislation .

background

The five countries of the GDR and East Berlin, 1949–1952:
  • Mecklenburg
  • Brandenburg
  • Saxony-Anhalt
  • Saxony
  • Thuringia
  • Berlin (East)

    • In 1945 the Soviet Military Administration (SMAD) restructured the territory of the Soviet Occupation Zone (SBZ). In doing so, she largely took historical limits into account. Changes resulted from the defeat of Prussia and the relocation of the eastern border to the Oder-Neisse line . The area of ​​the four- sector city ​​of Berlin , which had been divided since November 1948 , did not belong to the Soviet occupation zone, whereby the SMAD only recognized the magistrate in power in the Soviet sector .

    In its first constitution of 1949, the GDR declared itself a decentralized unitary state . The laws were determined by the central government bodies in Berlin ( legislature ) and the state authorities were responsible for their implementation ( executive ).

    tasks

    In accordance with the central state tendencies in the GDR , the possibilities of intervention of the state chamber were not comparable with those in a real two-chamber system . The Länderkammer was able to introduce bills and had the right to object to legislative resolutions of the People's Chamber, but could then be overruled by the People's Chamber. Furthermore, this right of objection was never used.

    composition

    In accordance with the State Foundation Act of October 7, 1949, a “Provisional Chamber of States” was formed in addition to the Chamber of Deputies (“Provisional People's Chamber”). It consisted of eleven members of the state of Saxony, eight members of the state of Saxony-Anhalt, six members of the state of Thuringia, five members of the state of Brandenburg and four members of the state of Mecklenburg. The “capital of the German Democratic Republic, Berlin ” was able to send seven representatives as observers. On November 8, 1950, the law on the composition of the Länderkammer of the German Democratic Republic determined that it should consist of 13 representatives from Saxony, eleven from Saxony-Anhalt, ten from Thuringia, nine from Brandenburg and seven from Mecklenburg. These 50 members of the regional chamber were to be determined by the regional parliaments in relation to the parliamentary groups. The “capital Berlin”, which lacked a representative body, sent 13 representatives to the chamber of states with an advisory vote.

    President

    • Reinhold Lobedanz ( CDU ), 1949–1955, 1st Vice President of the Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania State Parliament (1946–1952)
    • August Bach (CDU), 1955-1958

    resolution

    With the de facto abolition of the states in the GDR through the administrative reform of 1952 , the state chamber initially continued to exist as a constitutional absurdity. Since the state parliaments no longer existed as a constitutional electoral body, the deputies were elected in 1954 by the district assemblies that met each state . In 1958, the individual district days then voted directly. The MPs appointed in this last election, however, had only one task: they did not lodge an objection when the People's Chamber of the GDR decided on December 8, 1958, to dissolve the regional chamber.

    See also

    Web links

    Individual evidence

    1. ↑ Federal Council compact: 1952–69 : The Reconstruction and Cold War ( Memento of December 9, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
    2. ↑ Law on the further democratization of the structure and functioning of state organs in the federal states in the German Democratic Republic of July 23, 1952