Reichsrat (Germany)
The Reichsrat was the representation of the member states (Länderkammer) in the Weimar Republic (1919–1933). According to Article 60 of the Weimar Constitution , it was the organ “to represent the states in legislation and administration” at the national level. He took the place of the Bundesrat in the German Empire and the transitional committee of states . During the time of National Socialism (1933–1945), the Reichsrat was finally dissolved by law in February 1934.
composition
The Reichsrat was composed of representatives from the 18 German states . They were sent by the state governments and had an imperative mandate . Only in Prussia half of the members of the Reichsrat were not appointed by the state government, but by the provincial administration.
The number of representatives of a country was dependent on its population: each country had at least one vote and thus the right to one member. Larger states had one vote for each 700,000 inhabitants (previously to one million inhabitants, amended by a Reich law in 1921), a remainder of at least 350,000 inhabitants (previously 500,000) was counted as 700,000. But no state was allowed to unite more than two fifths (40%) of all votes or members. The members were appointed by the state governments.
A special case is Prussia, which was also allowed to have a maximum of forty percent of the members, but whose population would have justified a vote share of over sixty percent. An additional weakening of the still strong Prussian position was the compulsory composition of the Prussian Reichsrat members: From July 14, 1921 half of them could not be sent by the state government, but had to be sent by the provincial administrations of the Prussian provinces . This clausula antiborussica was intended to prevent the state government from exerting too much influence and at the same time to achieve a certain fairness towards the smaller, weaker-voiced states.
The distribution of votes in the Reichsrat was as follows (sorted by number of seats or alphabetically):
| countries | August 15, 1919 | May 1, 1920 | July 14, 1921 | May 15, 1926 | April 1, 1929 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
25th | 22nd | 26th | 27 | 26th | ||
|
7th | 7th | 10 | 11 | 11 | ||
|
5 | 5 | 7th | 7th | 7th | ||
|
3 | 3 | 4th | 4th | 4th | ||
|
3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | ||
|
7th | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | ||
|
2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | ||
|
1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | ||
|
1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||
|
1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||
|
1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||
|
1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||
|
1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||
|
1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||
|
1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||
|
1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||
|
1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||
|
1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | - | ||
| to hum | 63 | 55 | 66 | 68 | 66 |
- ↑ Thuringian Seats 1919: Each of the seven Thuringian states ( Reuss , Sachsen-Altenburg , Sachsen-Gotha , Sachsen-Meiningen , Sachsen-Weimar-Eisenach , Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt , Schwarzburg-Sondershausen ) each had a seat. The united state of Thuringia was founded on May 1, 1920.
- ↑ On April 1, 1929, the Free State of Waldeck united with Prussia , his vote was lost.
organization
The Reichsrat met, like the Bundesrat before, in a specially designed room in the Reichstag building by the architect Paul Wallot .
Although the Reichsrat was the second legislative body at the Reich level alongside the Reichstag, it was the responsibility of the Reich government to convene it . As in the Bundesrat of the North German Confederation and the Empire , the Reichsrat was also chaired by a member of the Reich government, usually the Minister of the Interior .
The Reichsrat was divided into specialist committees, within which the members had equal voting rights. Within the Reichsrat, every member as well as the members of the Reich government were allowed to submit applications; in this it differed from the former Bundesrat, in which the Reich government had no right of initiative. The applications were decided by a simple (relative) majority.
right
The Reichsrat had the right
- to demand the introduction of a law , whereby the Reich government was allowed to take a position on this,
- to be informed by the Reich government about current government affairs and
- to veto laws passed by the Reichstag , which could, however, be overcome with a two-thirds majority in the Reichstag .
In contrast to the Federal Council after 1949 , for example , the Reichsrat could not introduce its own draft laws.
evaluation
In the tradition of federalism in Germany, the Reichsrat was the institutionalized representation of national interests at the level of the nation-state. Overall, the Reichsrat had lost importance compared to its predecessor, the Bundesrat and nominally the highest constitutional body of the federal empire, mainly because it lost equality in the legislative process. In addition, it lost its independence, since the Reich government not only held the leadership, but could also introduce laws directly, while the Federal Council was theoretically a pure representation of the interests of the sovereigns, albeit determined by Prussia, to whom the Reich leadership was responsible had to follow.
The Reichsrat had the right to consult and veto the legislation. The Reichstag was able to override a veto of the Reichsrat with a two-thirds majority and was thus nominally the stronger of the two parliamentary organs. However, since the composition of the Reichstag with its many parliamentary groups did not make it easy to unite two thirds of the votes, the government parliamentary groups generally tried to reach an agreement with the Reichsrat in advance. The presidency by the Reich government also curtailed the Reichsrat in its sovereignty rights : It could only convene itself if a third of the members demanded this from the Reich government. Through the presidency of a Reich Minister, the Reich government had a decisive influence on the course of business.
The Reichsrat was not a purely legislative body, as it participated in the administration of the Reich, and most of the ordinances required its approval. This enabled the states, based on the expertise of their ministerial bureaucracies , to exert enormous influence on the implementation provisions of imperial laws, which they usually also carried out on their own. Due to the relative stability of the state governments, the Reichsrat was seen as one of the last anchors of stability of the Reich institutions, especially in the final phase of the Weimar Republic, when the Reichstag was increasingly unable to act.
The weakening of the state chamber compared to the constitution of the empire fits in with the generally much more centralized Weimar constitution, which significantly expanded the legislative competence of the empire and its supervisory rights vis-à-vis the states. The now accepted constitutional "sovereignty of the Reich over the states" ( Gerhard Anschütz ) in conjunction with Matthias Erzberger's financial reform in 1919/1920 led to a significant weakening of the position of the member states, which was only reversed with the Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany . Its regional chamber, the Bundesrat , is based on the Reichsrat in terms of composition and powers. Compared to this, he has a stronger position in the approval laws with his absolute right of veto, but a weaker position in the objection laws , since the Bundestag can reject a Bundesrat veto here with a simple majority.
End in the time of National Socialism
During the Nazi seizure of power in 1933, the countries of the German Reich were brought into line . While Prussia had already been taken over by the government under Chancellor Franz von Papen in the Prussian strike in 1932 , the new Nazi Reich government set up governments led by appointed Reich commissioners in all countries on the basis of the Reichstag Fire Ordinance of February 28, 1933. Since these now named the members of the Reichsrat, the NSDAP quickly had a very large majority in the state chamber. She then used this to pass the Enabling Act passed by the Reichstag on March 24, 1933 . As a law that intervenes in the constitution, they needed the approval of the state representatives. This initially guaranteed the continued existence of the Reichsrat.
With the provisional law on the alignment of the states with the Reich of March 31, 1933, the influence of the state parliaments had already been severely curtailed. With the law on the rebuilding of the Reich of January 30, 1934, the state parliaments were finally abolished. The sovereign rights of the states were thus transferred to the empire. Since this law also intervened in the constitution, the Reichsrat, which now consisted only of Nazi representatives, had to approve. This took place at its last meeting on January 30, 1934. Since the countries were now only administrative units of the central state, their representation had lost its meaning. It was now possible to abolish it, since with the Reich Reconstruction Act, the Reich government also had the right to set constitutional law. The Reichsrat was formally dissolved on February 14, 1934 by the law on the repeal of the Reichsrat passed by the Reich government . In the centrally organized “ Third Reich ” there was no longer any room for a regional chamber.
aftermath
In the Federal Republic of Germany , the Bundesrat has been representing the federal states since 1949 . In the former GDR , the provincial chamber had this function for a short time .
literature
- Joachim Lilla : The Reichsrat - Representation of the German states in the legislation and administration of the Reich 1919–1934 . Droste Verlag, 2006, ISBN 978-3-7700-5279-0 .
Web links
- Joachim Lilla : Reichsrat, 1919–1934 in the Historical Lexicon of Bavaria
- Joachim Lilla: The end of the Reichsrat on Shoa.de
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b The Reichsrat was dissolved 75 years ago. www.bundesrat.de, March 3, 2009, accessed on August 16, 2015 .
- ↑ Gerhard Lehmbruch : Federalism as distribution decisions , in: Hans-Georg Wehling (Ed.): The German countries. History, politics, economics. Wiesbaden 2004, p. 345.
- ↑ Provisional law for the alignment of the states with the Reich. www.documentarchiv.de, February 3, 2004, accessed on August 17, 2015 .
- ^ Law on the rebuilding of the empire. www.documentarchiv.de, February 3, 2004, accessed on August 17, 2015 .
- ↑ Law on the repeal of the Reichsrat. www.documentarchiv.de, February 3, 2004, accessed on August 16, 2015 .
.svg)
Legislative branch at the national level
Reichstag |
Reichsrat
Executive at Reich level
Reich President |
Reichsregierung ( Reich Chancellor |
Reich Minister )
Judiciary at the Reich level
State Court |
Imperial Court
Organs of the Länder Landtag | State governments