Government memoranda on imperial and constitutional reform

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With a total of four government memoranda on the imperial and constitutional reform , the Bavarian state government endeavored between 1924 and 1932 to reform the Weimar imperial constitution in favor of federalism . As the second largest country in the German Empire, behind the overpowering Prussia , Bavaria had a special interest in a strong role for the states.

This policy sparked a debate, but it was unsuccessful because a Unitarian policy prevailed during the crises of the Weimar Republic .

Basics

When the Weimar Constitution was being discussed, Bavaria had already resisted the interests of the Reich to introduce uniform structures and had insisted on federal principles. Because of the division of the parties in Bavaria, this position could only develop little strength in the Reich, so that Bavaria could only enforce the preservation of the Reichsrat as a chamber of states and the responsibility of the states for the police. In Bavaria and among the Bavarian members of the Reichstag , strong currents developed that opposed the Weimar constitution. At the same time, under Gustav von Kahr , Bavaria tried to establish itself as a “ regulatory cell ” in the Reich, and the temporarily liberal policies of Prussia and the Reich were opposed to a right-wing position. The Catholic Church took up the criticism of democracy, for them the Weimar Republic was, according to a pastoral word of the Bavarian Bishops' Conference, "born of the sin of the revolution and of the curse". Right-wing federalism organized itself politically in the Bavarian People's Party , which was the strongest parliamentary group in the Bavarian state parliament.

The memoranda

Memorandum of January 1924

The Hitler putsch in November 1923 hit the state structures and new debates arose, including on the relationship between Bavaria and the Reich. On behalf of the government of Eugen von Knilling , the State Councilor Hans Schmelzle in the Bavarian Foreign Ministry drafted a memorandum on the revision of the Reich constitution in December 1923. The document was presented to Reich Chancellor Wilhelm Marx on January 4, 1924 .

The first part of the text indicated that the German Empire from 1871 had been built on the individual states and had attained its greatest power during this time. In a second section, specific reforms to the Weimar Imperial Constitution were suggested. Karl Schwend described the memorandum as a compromise program. Although it was geared towards the Bavarian wishes, it did not seek a special path for Bavaria. And she praised Bismarck's empire, but did not recognize the role of Prussia in the empire, which had changed greatly in democracy. The document was therefore unsuitable for promoting a general federal reform in favor of all countries and at the expense of Prussia. Wolfgang Zorn even classified the memorandum as a “battle of retreat” for the “recalcitrant Free State”, as the Reich, not least under the impression of the Hitler putsch, relied more on control of the countries because it wanted to promote their independence.

The memorandum was initially welcomed by the Reich government in Berlin, but the answer was harsh and critical. Ministerialdirigent Arnold Brecht wrote a 52-page memorandum in reply in which the transfer of rights to the states was rejected. The Bismarckian empire had perished, the Weimar Republic had to insist on the empire's strong role, since only in this way could the obligations imposed in the Versailles Peace Treaty be fulfilled. A discussion did not take place in this way. During the visit of Reich Chancellor Hans Luther to Munich in February 1925, it was not possible to make a substantive statement about the relationship between the Reich and the states. The first memorandum had no effect in favor of federalism, the criticism of the imperial constitution instead stimulated a discussion in which the democratic-republican character of Germany was attacked and weakened.

Memorandum of January 1926

The weaknesses of the Weimar Republic became more and more visible in the course of 1924 and 1925, and the Reich government only established itself more strongly to provide support, thereby pushing the federal elements back further. The Bavarian Prime Minister Heinrich Held commissioned State Councilor Schmelzle in autumn 1925 with a new memorandum, which was mainly written by Ministerialrat Karl Sommer. It was handed over in January 1926 in Berlin. The proposals were of a "defensive character"; Bavaria had come to terms with the Weimar Constitution. Demands for a constitutional reform threatened to encourage more unitarian change. Therefore Bavaria no longer demanded the restoration of the conditions of the empire, but insisted on express compliance with federal responsibilities. At the same time, the expansion of the financial sovereignty of the federal states was suggested, but this reform was never seriously represented and instead increased financial equalization was sought as a realistic goal.

In the short term, this policy was successful. The total remittances from the Reich to the Länder were increased from April 1927 and the Reich temporarily took over the costs of unemployment welfare. In order to look at the relations between the Reich and the Länder in general, a Reich-Länder conference was convened for January 1928. For this, the representatives of a unitarian uniform structure of the Reich organized their interests and used the German Republican Reichsbund , in which the left wing of the Center Party , the Democratic Party and the Social Democratic Party of Germany came together. They sought a republican form of government with penetration at all levels in order to be able to implement a nationwide social program. The various interests broke out in the negotiations, and the Reichstag elections in May 1928 significantly strengthened the SPD and the new Reich government leaned towards unitarian structures.

Memorandum of October 1928

For a meeting of the constitutional committee of the country conference in October 1928, the Bavarian Prime Minister Held submitted another memorandum under the title “Material on constitutional reform”. In it, he no longer attributed the “deficiencies in German constitutional life” to the federal system of the Weimar Constitution, but to “the failure to observe this system”. The country conference sat until 1930 and then submitted a proposal for constitutional reform. According to this, a unitary state was to be realized in Northern Germany, in which Prussia would transfer its government to the Reich and subordinate its previous provinces directly to the Reich. Bavaria, Saxony, Württemberg and Baden were preserved, all smaller states would be directly subordinate to the Reich administration.

For Bavaria, this was unacceptable, especially since advice on the financial relationships between the Reich and the states had been expressly excluded. Prime Minister Held canceled any further participation in negotiations in June 1930, and the reforms were never implemented.

Memorandum of August 1932

In July 1932, the so-called Prussian coup of the Free State of Prussia through the intervention of the empire under the new Chancellor Franz von Papen lifted unlawful and led by Papen in the capacity of Reich Commissar asked. This changed the situation of federalism again. Held's Bavarian government reacted with another memorandum, which was handed over in August 1932. Bavaria no longer resisted a stronger connection between Prussia and the Reich, but only "with special legal protection for the states". This was not further defined. Held received no reply to his letter, the collapse of democracy was already mapped out in the constitutive session on September 12 after the Reichstag elections in July 1932 and the dissolution of the newly elected Reichstag, and there was no longer any debate about federalism in the Weimar Republic .

literature

  • Karl Schwend: Bavaria between monarchy and dictatorship . Richard Pflaum Verlag 1954, Chapter Bavaria in the Struggle for Reich Reform, pp. 315-416,
  • Franz Menges: Hans Schmelzle. Bavarian State Council in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Minister of Finance. Journal for Bavarian State History, Supplements 1, CH Beck 1972

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Manfred Treml: The history of modern Bavaria . Bavarian State Center for Political Education, 2006, pp. 192–199
  2. ↑ On the revision of the Weimar Constitution. Memorandum of the Bavarian State Government from January 1924
  3. ↑ Schwend 1954, pp. 320-327
  4. ↑ Schwend 1954, p. 328 f.
  5. ↑ Wolfgang Zorn: Bavaria's history in the 20th century . CH Beck 1986, ISBN 3-406-31098-2 , p. 289.
  6. ↑ Menges 1972, p. 79
  7. ↑ Menges 1972, p. 83 f.
  8. ↑ Schwendt 1954, p. 330
  9. ↑ a b c d Manfred Treml: The history of modern Bavaria . Bavarian State Center for Political Education, 2006, p. 231 f.
  10. ↑ Schwend 1954, p. 341
  11. ↑ Menges 1972, p. 86
  12. ↑ Schwend 1954, p. 343
  13. ↑ Menges 1972, p. 109
  14. ↑ Schwend 1954, pp. 465-467