Eastern State Plan
The Eastern State Plan was developed by Adolf von Batocki after the First World War in order to secure the estates of the East Elbe landowners for the German Reich despite Poland's independence in 1918. It failed because of the resistance of the Reich government .
background
After the loss of the First World War , it became known in October 1918 that Polish politicians ( Dmowski ) intended to demand the cession of large areas in the peace treaty. When the Poznan uprising broke out at the end of December 1918 and Polish units occupied the country, the German Reich government, which had been destabilized as a result of the November Revolution , had nothing to do with it.
East Prussia's Upper President v. Batocki then presented the Eastern State Plan in December 1918: East Prussia , West Prussia and the Netzedistrikt were to be merged into a German federal state and temporarily resigned from the Reich Association in order to be able to deal with Poland independently of the diplomatic obligations and interests of the German Reich. Poznan and Silesia were to join.
The chief president was supported above all by Rudolf Nadolny , the office manager of the Reich president Friedrich Ebert , and by August Winnig .
From November 1918 Winnig had been General Representative for the occupied Baltic countries and had considered the constitution of a Baltic state consisting of Livonia , Courland , Lithuania , East Prussia and West Prussia , which should be based on Germany. The plan was based on previous considerations for a United Baltic Duchy under Adolf Friedrich zu Mecklenburg . In the hectic months from January 1919 up to the acceptance of the Versailles Treaty , the main question was whether an Eastern state could repel a Polish invasion even without Reich help.
To v. Batocki were on the civil side of the President of West Prussia Schnackenburg , the District President v. Oppen ( Allenstein ) and v. Bülow ( Bromberg ), Danzig's mayor Sahm , Königsberg's mayor Goerdeler and Georg Cleinow , a leading man in the people's councils that had formed in the province of Posen to combat Polish insurgents.
On the military side, the commanders of the regular troops in the Ostmark were ready to fight. They were under the command of General v. Below , the commanding general of the XVII. Army Corps in Gdansk. Numerous negotiations were conducted with the government authorities of the Reich and Prussia, with the Supreme Army Command in Kolberg (General Groener ), the Minister of War Reinhardt and their staffs. When the troops, including the local people's armed forces, finally reported 280,000 men, the imperial government , which was reluctant in this confusing time, wanted a referendum. Some parliamentarians from the East rejected it; it would be scheduled too quickly and therefore not meaningful.
Rejection
It was unclear and decisive how the Reich government perceived the threat to the Ostmark. Batocki therefore traveled to Weimar on June 20, 1919 , where he was received by Erzberger . Any support for the Eastern State Movement was refused.
With this decision, which was also supported by Hindenburg, Batocki appeared in Danzig in front of eighty leading men of the movement who were waiting for the signal to attack: “There is no fighting.” For Carl Friedrich Goerdeler , a witness of the assembly, “the simple and modest man [v. Batocki] won the respect of the men who disagreed and remained of a different opinion on the matter. "
Not discouraged by this failure, v. Batocki in the sense of Hugo Preuss and Bill Drews , to strengthen the provincial self-government with the chief president and communal district administrators. The district presidents should be omitted. He encountered resistance from the Social Democratic Prime Minister Otto Braun and in Berlin ministries who feared for their influence. After all, an "East Prussian Office" was set up in Berlin in June 1920 under the direction of the Mayor of Osteroder Christian Herbst, which was maintained by the Prussian state government and which was officially named "East Prussian Representation to the Reich and State Ministry" at the end of 1921 under Friedrich Wilhelm Frankenbach (1884–1942). received. This office enabled the East Prussian President to influence all decisions that affected the cooperation between Königsberg and Berlin. In 1930 this representation was dissolved and its tasks were largely replaced by the Reich Commissioner for Eastern Aid .
literature
- Fried von Batocki, Klaus von der Groeben : Adolf von Batocki. A picture of life. In action for East Prussia and the Reich. Ostseeverlag, Raisdorf 1998, ISBN 3-9802210-9-1 .
- Hagen Schulze : The Eastern State Plan 1919. In: Quarterly books for contemporary history . Vol. 18, Issue 2, April 1970, pp. 123-163, online (PDF; 1.8 MB) .
- Grzegorz Łukomski: Problem “korytarza” w stosunkach polsko-niemieckich i na arenie miedzynarodowej 1919-1939. Study polityczne. Adiutor, Warsaw 2000, ISBN 8-386-10043-5 .