Constitution of the Free City of Gdansk

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The constitution of the Free City of Danzig was the constitution of the Free State of Danzig , the Free City of Danzig , formed on the territory of Danzig and the surrounding areas after the First World War , between 1922 and 1939.

Emergence

The separation of Danzig from Germany as a "Free City" made it necessary to give it a constitution.

In the Treaty of Versailles was laid down in Article 103: "The Constitution of the Free City of Danzig is in agreement with a High Commissioner of the League of Nations drafted by duly appointed representatives of the Free City of Danzig. The constitution is guaranteed by the League of Nations ”.

In September 1919 a subcommittee was set up to prepare the constitution . It consisted of 53 members of the magistrate and all political parties. It was composed according to the results of the election to the German National Assembly (the Free City of Danzig was not yet constituted at the time of this election). Two draft constitution were submitted to the subcommittee. In September, the mayor Heinrich Sahm , who was not party to the party, presented a draft, followed by a counter-draft of the majority socialists in October. The individual topics were discussed in 20 meetings until March 22, 1920, and at the end a draft constitution was voted on.

A major point of conflict was the question of school organization. The center could with his idea to continue to allow religious schools, not prevail against social democrats and liberals, the state simultaneous schools allowed as the only form of school.

The local elections on December 14, 1919 led to a significant strengthening of the DNVP with the losses of the Social Democrats and the DDP. This picture was also evident in the election for the Constituent Assembly on May 16, 1920.

The Constituent Assembly met for the first time on June 14, 1920. After 22 meetings, it passed the constitution on August 11, 1920 with 68 votes in favor, 44 against and one abstention in the third reading. The dispute over school policy was so intense that the USPD and SPD left the room in protest when they voted on Article 101. With the compromise found among the bourgeois parties, the existing denominational schools could remain, but new schools were to be created as simultaneous schools.

The necessary approval of the constitution by the League of Nations took even longer. Neither the conference of ambassadors on November 9, 1920 (after which the Free City of Danzig was constituted) nor the conference of October 27, 1920 dealt with the constitution. Only when it was published in the “Journal Officiel” of the League of Nations on May 13, 1922, was the constitution officially in force.

Constitutional amendments

The constitution was amended with several laws:

  • Law of December 9, 1920
  • Law of May 17, 1921
  • Law of April 4, 1922
  • Law of July 4, 1930 The content of this amendment, which was passed on June 27, 1930 with 92 votes against the Communists and 23 abstentions, was to reduce the People's Day to 72 and the Senate to 12 members.

In 1928 the attempt to amend the constitution failed. In the third reading on June 27, 1928, only 74 members took part, so that the necessary majority was not achieved. On December 9, 1928, the mandatory referendum took place . The population had the opportunity to support two proposed changes. The “People's Will” motion aimed to reduce the number of MPs to 72, the “Citizens' Protection” proposal even wanted to reduce the number to 61. Both motions missed the required number of 108,000 votes. The “will of the people” was supported by 73,284 voters, the “civil protection” by 58,251 voters.

Excavation and suspension

In the election for the 5th People's Day on May 28, 1933, the NSDAP received an absolute majority of the votes and 38 out of 72 seats in the People's Day. With this majority, the Enabling Act was also introduced in Gdansk. The constitution was thus largely undermined. Petitions from the democratic parties to the League of Nations did not lead to any improvements.

The constitution was finally repealed by the law of September 1, 1939.

Content

Since the population consisted of 95% Germans, Article 4 regulated that the official language is German. For the Polish minority, the use of the Polish language was guaranteed in teaching as well as in internal administration and the administration of justice.

Articles 6 to 24 regulated the election and work of the People's Day , Parliament. The role of the Senate and the Government was regulated in Articles 25 to 42. The Senate consisted of 7 full-time and 13 honorary senators. Neither an early dissolution of parliament nor a dismissal of the full-time senators was planned.

The legislative procedure regulated in Articles 43 to 49 regulated that laws required the approval of the Senate and the People's Day. In the event that the Senate refuses to approve popular parliamentary bills, a referendum was planned. Changes to the constitution required a two-thirds majority. Borrowings and new taxes were subject to a vote by the Finance Council .

The second main part of the constitution (Art. 71 ff.) Regulated the basic rights and basic duties. The regulations were often based on the corresponding regulations of the Weimar Imperial Constitution . The regulations on religion and religious societies in Article 96 ff were particularly controversial . Contrary to the regulations in the Reich, there was no separation of church and state. The bourgeois parties had also established the right of the churches to levy church taxes. The regulations on education and school (Art. 101 ff.) Were also controversial. In addition to the simultaneous school (Art. 104), the social democratic parties had failed to ban religious education (Art. 106).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Text of the Versailles Peace Treaty
  2. Stefan Samerski: The Catholic Church in the Free City of Danzig, 1991, ISBN 3412017914 , pp 27-40
  3. Journal of Laws of 1922, p. 141
  4. GS 1922 p. 142
  5. GS 1922 p. 144
  6. Journal of Laws p. 179
  7. Wolfgang Ramonat: The League of Nations and the Free City of Danzig 1920-1934, 1979, ISBN 3-7648-1115-3 , S. 139
  8. Wolfgang Ramonat: The League of Nations and the Free City of Danzig 1920-1934, 1979, ISBN 3-7648-1115-3 , pp. 142-143
  9. GVBl. P. 435
  10. ^ John Brown Mason: The Danzig Dilemma. A Study in Peacemaking by Compromise . Stanford University Press, Stanford 1946, ISBN 978-0-8047-2444-9 . ( limited preview )