Reichstag constituency district of Königsberg 1

The constituency of the German Reich.

The Reichstag constituency of the province of East Prussia - Koenigsberg 1 administrative district (constituency 1; constituency Memel-Heydekrug ) was a constituency for the Reichstag elections in the German Reich and the North German Confederation from 1867 to 1918.

Constituency layout

The constituency comprised the district of Memel and the district of Heydekrug .

Population development

year	Residents
1890	101,553
1895	101,363
1900	102,622
1905	104.286
1910	105.281

Professional men

	Agriculture	Industry and commerce	Trade and services
1895	68.6	14.1	17.4
1907	65.3	16.3	18.4

Denomination

	Evangelical	Catholic
1890	94.4	3.4
1905	93.9	3.9
1910	93.9	4.1

A strong ethnic minority of Lithuanians lived in the constituency and also elected representatives several times.

MPs

choice	MP	Political party	image
Reichstag election February 1867 to 1891	Helmuth Karl Bernhard von Moltke	Conservative
Supplementary election 1891 to 1893	Bernhard Schlick	German Conservative Party	0
Reichstag election 1893	Heinrich Ancker	FVp	0
Reichstag election 1898	Jonas Smalakys	Lithuanian Conservative Party	0
Substitute election 1901	Friedrich Martin Mattschull	Lithuanian Conservative Party	0
Reichstag election 1903	Max Krause	German Conservative Party	0
Reichstag election 1907 to 1918	Felix Schwabach	National Liberal Party

elections

1867 (February)

There was only one ballot.

candidate	Political party	be right	in %	Remarks
Helmuth Karl Bernhard von Moltke	Conservative	8177	0	0

1867 (August)

There was only one ballot.

candidate	Political party	be right	in %	Remarks
Helmuth Karl Bernhard von Moltke	Conservative	4754	0	0

1871

There was only one ballot.

candidate	Political party	be right	in %	Remarks
Helmuth Karl Bernhard von Moltke	Conservative	4753	0	0
	F.	3362	0	0
Others	0	30th	0	0

1874

There were two ballots.

candidate	Political party	be right	in %	Remarks
Helmuth Karl Bernhard von Moltke	Conservative	3146	0	0
	F.	3444	0	0
	SPD (Lass.)	1361	0	0
	SPD (Eisena.)	292	0	0
Others	0	11	0	0

candidate	Political party	be right	in %	Remarks
Helmuth Karl Bernhard von Moltke	Conservative	3870	0	0
	F.	3674	0	0

1877

There was only one ballot.

candidate	Political party	be right	in %	Remarks
Helmuth Karl Bernhard von Moltke	Conservative	4329	0	0
	F.	3443	0	0
	F.	387	0	0
Others	0	16	0	0

1878

There was only one ballot.

candidate	Political party	be right	in %	Remarks
Helmuth Karl Bernhard von Moltke	Conservative	6150	0	0
	F.	3328	0	0
Others	0	62	0	0

1881

There was only one ballot.

candidate	Political party	be right	in %	Remarks
Helmuth Karl Bernhard von Moltke	Conservative	5257	0	0
	F.	4071	0	0
Others	0	12	0	0

1884

There was only one ballot. The number of eligible voters was 19,456 and the number of votes cast was 12,037, of which 33 were invalid. The turnout was 62.0%.

candidate	Political party	be right	in %	Remarks
Helmuth Karl Bernhard von Moltke	Conservative	7935	0	0
	F.	4082	0	0
Others	0	20th	0	0

1887

There was only one ballot. The number of eligible voters was 20,214 and the number of votes cast was 14,092, of which 28 were invalid. The turnout was 69.6%.

candidate	Political party	be right	in %	Remarks
Helmuth Karl Bernhard von Moltke	Conservative	11,833	0	0
	F.	2249	0	0
Others	0	10	0	0

1890

Moltke was also supported by the NLP. In 1890 there was only one ballot. The number of eligible voters was 20,358 and the number of votes cast was 12,290, of which 31 were invalid. The turnout was 60.4%.

candidate	Political party	be right	in %	Remarks
Helmuth Karl Bernhard von Moltke	Conservative	8476	69.1%	0
Shy	DF	3490	28.5%	0
Carl Schultze	SPD	275	2.2%	0
Others	0	18th	0.2%	0

Substitute election 1891

After Moltke's death, a replacement election was necessary. In the replacement election in 1891 there was only one ballot. The number of eligible voters was 20,529 and the number of votes cast was 10,984, of which 22 were invalid. The turnout was 53.5%.

candidate	Political party	be right	in %	Remarks
Bernhard Schlick	Conservative	7230	66.0%	0
	DF	2018	18.4%	0
	SPD	1571	14.3%	0
Others	0	143	1.3%	0

1893

The conservative camp disagreed in the Reichstag election in 1893 . The Conservative Electoral Association supported the previous MP Bernhard Schlick, while the Reich Party put up its own candidate. The conservative Lithuanians ran their own candidate who campaigned for the strengthening of the Lithuanian language in elementary schools.

In 1893 there were two ballots. In the first ballot, the number of eligible voters was 20,907 and the number of votes cast was 14,035, of which 33 were invalid. The turnout was 67.1%.

candidate	Political party	be right	in %	Remarks
Heinrich Ancker	FVP	2946	21.0%	0
Bernhard Schlick	conservative	5094	36.4%	0
Jonas Smalakys	Lithuanians	2825	20.2%	0
Pietsch	Reich Party	1322	9.3%	0
Lorenz	SPD	1805	13.0%	0
Others	0	10	0.1%	0

In the runoff election, the Lithuanians supported the free-spirited candidate after he had agreed to support the Lithuanian candidate in the upcoming state election. After Ancker had agreed to vote for the military bill, the Reich Party also called for his election. The SPD also supported him. In the second ballot there were 14,773 votes cast, 44 of which were invalid and a turnout of 70.7%.

candidate	Political party	be right	in %	Remarks
Heinrich Ancker	FVP	8687	59.0%	0
Bernhard Schlick	conservative	6042	41.0%	0

1898

The conservatives and the BdL agreed on a common conservative candidate. The FVg supported the candidate of the FVP.

In 1898 there were two ballots. In the first ballot, the number of eligible voters was 21,063 and the number of votes cast 15,391 of which 59 were invalid. The turnout was 73.1%.

candidate	Political party	be right	in %	Remarks
Heinrich Ancker	FVP	3226	21.0%	0
Waldersee	conservative	5557	36.2%	0
Jonas Smalakys	Lithuanians	3504	22.9%	0
Otto Braun	SPD	3015	19.7%	0
Others	0	30th	0.2%	0

In the runoff election, the FVP and SPD support the Lithuanian candidate. In the second ballot there were 14,328 votes cast, 54 of which were invalid and a turnout of 68.0%.

candidate	Political party	be right	in %	Remarks
Waldersee	conservative	6456	45.2%	0
Jonas Smalakys	Lithuanians	7818	54.8%	0

Substitute election 1901

After Smalaky's death, a replacement election was necessary. The boards of the Lithuanian-Conservative and German-Conservative electoral associations agreed on a Lithuanian candidate. One of the reasons for this choice was his membership in the BdL.

There were two ballots in the 1901 replacement election. In the first ballot, the number of eligible voters was 21,533 and the number of votes cast was 14,922, of which 20 were invalid. The turnout was 69.3%.

candidate	Political party	be right	in %	Remarks
Schaak	FVP	2931	19.7%	0
Friedrich Martin Mattschull	Lithuanians	7016	47.1%	0
Otto Braun	SPD	4941	33.2%	0
Others	0	14th	0.1%	0

In the runoff election, the left-wing liberals called for abstention, but at the same time declared this to be “not binding”. In the second ballot there were 16,065 votes cast, 104 of which were invalid and a voter turnout of 74.6%.

candidate	Political party	be right	in %	Remarks
Friedrich Martin Mattschull	Lithuanians	9123	57.2%	0
Otto Braun	SPD	6838	42.8%	0

1903

The Lithuanians initially rejected talks about a common candidate and nominated Saunus as the sole candidate. The German conservatives offered to support Saunus if he would undertake to join the conservative faction as an intern. After no declaration was made in this regard, the German conservatives put the landowner Krause on as their own candidate.

In 1903 there were two ballots. In the first ballot, the number of eligible voters was 21,937 and the number of votes cast 16,295 of which 40 were invalid. The turnout was 74.3%.

candidate	Political party	be right	in %	Remarks
Emil Wobbe	FVP	3108	19.1%	Reindeer in Koenigsberg
Max Krause	Conservative	4710	29.0%	0
David Saunus	Lithuanians	4084	24.1%	0
Otto Braun	SPD	4333	26.7%	0
Others	0	20th	0.1%	0

In the runoff election, the Lithuanians called for the election of the SPD candidate. In the second ballot there were 14,336 votes cast, 99 of which were invalid and a voter turnout of 64.4%.

candidate	Political party	be right	in %	Remarks
Max Krause	Conservative	8209	57.7%	0
Otto Braun	SPD	6028	42.3%	0

1907

In the Reichstag election in 1907, the NLP was looking for a broad civic alliance for the Schwabach Government Council and was able to win the FVP over for this. Although the Central Committee of the Conservatives supported Schwabach, the local electoral association of the Conservatives refused to cooperate and again nominated landowners Krause. Since this candidacy was not coordinated with the Lithuanians, they made their own candidate.

In 1907 there were two ballots. In the first ballot, the number of eligible voters was 21,747 and the number of votes cast was 18,236, of which 53 were invalid. The turnout was 83.9%.

candidate	Political party	be right	in %	Remarks
Max Krause	Conservative	5668	31.2%	Landowner, Dawillen / Krs. Memel
Wilhelm Gaigalat	Lithuanians	4221	23.2%	0
Felix Schwabach	NLP	4941	27.2%	0
Otto Braun	SPD	3342	18.4%	0
Others	0	11	0.1%	0

In the runoff election, the Lithuanians called for the election of the NLP candidate. In return, the NLP promised to support the Lithuanian candidate in the 1912 Reichstag election. In the second ballot there were 17,971 votes cast, of which 137 were invalid and a voter turnout of 82.6%.

candidate	Political party	be right	in %	Remarks
Max Krause	Conservative	6431	36.1%	0
Felix Schwabach	NLP	11,403	63.9%	0

Substitute election 1908

The replacement election had become necessary because Schwabach had resigned his mandate because the election was about to be declared invalid. NLP and Lithuanians support him in choosing a replacement.

There was only one ballot. The number of eligible voters was 21,824 and the number of votes cast 14,527 of which 43 were invalid. The turnout was 66.6%.

candidate	Political party	be right	in %	Remarks
Buttkereit	Conservative	2912	20.1%	0
Felix Schwabach	NLP	9710	67.0%	0
Adolf Hofer	SPD	1851	12.8%	0
Others	0	11	0.1%	0

1912

According to the 1907 agreement, the NLP should have supported the Lithuanian candidate. Instead, she nominated Erneit Schwabach. BdL and conservatives called for the election of the Lithuanian candidate.

In 1912 there were two ballots. In the first ballot, the number of eligible voters was 22,189 and the number of votes cast was 18,469, of which 58 were invalid. The turnout was 83.2%.

candidate	Political party	be right	in %	Remarks
Strekies	Lithuanians	5808	31.5%	0
Felix Schwabach	NLP	8750	47.5%	0
Ferdinand Mertins	SPD	3839	20.9%	Ferdinand Mertins (1864–1943), 1918–1933 City Councilor, since 1921 City Councilor in Königsberg; [1927] Second chairman of the provincial cartel of the East Prussian trade unions.
Others	0	14th	0.1%	0

The Social Democrats also support the Lithuanian in the runoff election. In the second ballot there were 18,485 votes cast, 180 of which were invalid and a turnout of 83.3%.

candidate	Political party	be right	in %	Remarks
Strekies	Lithuanians	7399	40.4%	0
Felix Schwabach	NLP	10,906	59.6%	0

literature

• Carl-Wilhelm Reibel: Handbook of the Reichstag elections 1890–1918, 1st half volume, 2007, ISBN 978-3-7700-5284-4 , pp. 4–8.
• Fritz Specht: The Reichstag elections from 1867 to 1903: statistics of the Reichstag elections together with the programs of the parties and a list of the elected representatives, 2nd edition 1904, pp. 1–2.