Officer election

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The election of officers was a selection tradition in the Prussian-German armed forces practiced from 1808 to 1942. Thereafter, promotion to officer could only take place if the officer corps of the unit had agreed to accept the applicant and accepted him through co-optation .

Emergence

Military Reorganization Commission, Königsberg (1807)

After the battle of Jena and Auerstedt , Prussia was down. Also Friedrich Wilhelm III. saw the need to rearrange the kingdom. The military reforms were the responsibility of Gerhard von Scharnhorst , August Neidhardt von Gneisenau and Hermann von Boyen . In August 1807 the regulations for the filling of positions in the cavalry, infantry and artillery were issued. This small cultural revolution also opened up the higher officer's career in the Prussian army for commoners . The election of officers was introduced in 1808 as part of the Prussian army reform . The reforms fundamentally changed the training and promotion of officers. First of all, the principle of seniority was abolished in the generals . When enlisting ensigns , the professional and character suitability criteria were set on August 6, 1808, and these criteria had to be proven in an exam. Excerpt from the regulations of August 6, 1808 (violation of the noble privilege):

"From now on, only knowledge and education are to be granted an entitlement to officer positions in times of peace, and excellent bravery and overview in times of war. All individuals from across the nation who possess this quality can therefore claim the highest positions of honor in the military. All previously held preference of the class ceases completely with the military and everyone has the same duties and rights. "

In principle, the higher officer ranks were also opened to commoners for the first time. The military reformers rejected further proposals to have the officers elected by their subordinates - as they had been raised from the ranks of the state reformers.

consequences

Originally, the reformers saw it as a way of breaking up class privileges and applying the merit principle to appoint the best ensign as an officer. Against these original intentions, however, the election of officers had a long-term effect in terms of conservative political and social selection and strengthened the spirit of the corps. The election of officers soon lost its electoral character. It served rather as a means of protection against unwanted elements in the officer corps ( Hans Meier-Welcker ). This was felt above all by Jewish officer candidates: "The greatest hurdle for the Jewish officer candidates, however, was the officer election process."

execution

The prerequisite was the officer's examination. In the army, officers were selected at regimental level, in the navy by the local officers of a naval station (North Sea or Baltic Sea). The corresponding ordinance for the Landwehr clearly shows what the implementation looked like :

Section 23 (election of officers)
  1. Every officer-aspirant must be elected before he can be brought to the position of officer in the proposal.
  2. The election is made by the officer corps of the Landwehr battalion to which the officer-aspirant in question belongs, or in the case of officer-aspirants who are called up for service, by the officer corps of the unit. Members of the officer corps are those listed in §. 6 of the Ordinance on the Courts of Honor etc.
  3. Only those officer-aspirants are put up for election who give their consent to their possible promotion, officer in writing, hold the position of a vice-sergeant or vice-sergeant and have the note mentioned in § 22, a in their referral national. Only those officer aspirants may be elected who, with an honorable disposition, have a secure civil existence and a position in life corresponding to the reputation of the officer rank. Officer aspirants who are postponed to the last year of the reserve or country more may not be offered for election during this time.
  4. All members of the officer corps are entitled and obliged to participate in the election, unless they are prevented by compelling reasons.
  5. The division of the officer corps of a Landwehr battalion, in consideration of the considerable number of members, into several elective divisions is done in the same way as the division into courts of honor.
  6. Votes can be cast orally or in writing. The votes are collected by the Landwehr district commander.
  7. The Landwehr district commander conducts the voting on the election date. The youngest officer casts his vote first. The minutes are kept according to Scheme 12 "). It is permissible to summarize the election negotiations for several officer aspirants who are proposed with the same list of applications (§ 24, l) in the election protocol.
  8. The absolute majority of votes decides when voting. If facts are brought up which the Landwehr district commander considers necessary to be clarified, the proposal will be withdrawn. The reasons of the minority against the election will only be recorded in the election record if the minority was at least 1/3 of the total number of voters.
  9. If at least nine officers cannot be called upon to cast votes, the stipulation of the § takes place. 47 of the Ordinance on the Courts of Honor by analogy. The election protocol will later be sent to the district command, which has to formulate the promotion proposal.
  10. If the election takes place at the troop unit itself, the commander must first request a certificate from the Landwehr district commander, who leads the officer aspirant in the Landwehr regular roles, about the civil and other circumstances of the person to be elected.
The certificate must clearly state whether the officer-aspirant in question is deemed worthy and suitable for promotion to officer or not.

The End

As early as the First World War , the requirements required a simplified procedure. The regimental commander only had to carry out a limited officer election, which consisted of the consent of the locally available officers of the unit concerned. In the Reichswehr and the Wehrmacht , officers were again selected according to the old rules. However, it was increasingly perceived as an old braid and did not correspond to the ideal of the people's army promoted by National Socialism and the increasing heterogeneity of the military functional elite. The election of officers was de facto abolished with its suspension for the duration of the Second World War by an ordinance of December 24, 1942: Amendment of the additional officer provisions, discontinuation of the election of officers. 1. In the war, the election of an officer as a prerequisite for promotion to officer for all units of the field and replacement army is not applicable.

literature

  • Bernhard R. Kroener : On the way to a "National Socialist People's Army". The social opening of the Army Officer Corps in World War II. In: Martin Broszat u. a. (Ed.): From Stalingrad to currency reform: To the social history of upheaval in Germany. Munich 1988, p. 655.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Rüdiger Döhler , Peter Kolmsee : Prussia's medical service in the wars of unification . Military Medical Monthly 60 (2016), pp. 254-258.
  2. ^ Rainer Wohlfeil : From the standing army of absolutism to general conscription (1789-1814). (= Handbook on German Military History ) Frankfurt a. M. Bernard & Graefe 1964, p. 143.
  3. ^ Manfred Messerschmidt : The Prussian military system. In: Wolfgang Neugebauer (Hrsg.): Handbook of Prussian history. Volume 3: From the German Empire to the 20th century and major topics in the history of Prussia. de Gruyter, Berlin et al. 2001, ISBN 3-11-014092-6 , pp. 319-546, here p. 418.
  4. ↑ Thomas Eugen Scheerer : The naval officers of the Imperial Navy. Socialization and conflict. With 72 tables (= small series of publications on military and naval history. Vol. 2). Winkler, Bochum 2002, ISBN 3-930083-88-4 , p. 48.
  5. ↑ Landwehr Order
  6. ↑ Jürgen Förster: The Wehrmacht In the Nazi State: An Analysis of Structural History. (= Contributions to military history / military history compact 5), Munich: Oldenbourg 2007 ISBN 978-3-486-58098-3 , p. 99.
  7. ↑ Army Ordinance Sheet 25 (1943), p. 6.