Constitution of Berlin (East)
The Constitution of Berlin (East) was the provisional East Berlin constitution at the time of the fall of the Wall in 1990 . It was replaced on January 11, 1991 by the now (overall) Berlin constitution .
procedure
In the constitution of the new city council on 28 May 1990 and the establishment of the "Committee for the preparation of the unit of Berlin (Constitution and Rules of Procedure)" was decided. This committee was constituted on June 6th, and Knut Herbst ( SPD ) became its chairman . Two days later, a working group of the committee for drafting the constitution of Berlin (East) was set up, members of the working group were: Manfred Burkhardt (SPD), Walter Wessel (SPD), Wolfgang Schmahl ( CDU ), Hans-Werner Vogel (CDU), Ingrid Köppe ( Bündnis 90 ), Horst Kellner ( PDS ) and Hans-Peter Wolf ( BFD ).
After a series of meetings of the “Working Group on the Constitution”, the East Berlin “Committee for Unity Berlin” was finally able to adopt the constitution of Berlin (East) in a meeting lasting several hours. The Berlin city council passed the constitution on July 11th. On July 25, 1990 this constitution was promulgated by Mayor Tino Schwierzina (SPD).
Structure and content
The East Berlin constitution was divided into nine sections and 90 articles:
Preface:
In the will
- To protect the freedom and rights of every individual, to order the community and the economy democratically, to serve the spirit of social progress and peace, to give state life a new order for a transitional period until the unification of both parts of Berlin,
and the desire
- In order to ensure that Berlin remains the capital of a unified Germany, the Berliners in that part of the city that was previously denied free self-determination have given themselves this provisional constitution through the city council.
Sections and Articles:
| Section I. | The basics | Articles 1 to 5 |
| Section II | The fundamental rights and state objectives | Articles 6 to 24 |
| Section III | The People's Representation | Articles 25 to 39 |
| Section IV | The government | Articles 40 to 44 |
| Section V. | The legislation | Articles 45 to 49 |
| Section VI | The administration | Articles 50 to 61 |
| Section VII | The administration of justice | Articles 62 to 72 |
| Section VIII | Finance | Articles 73 to 90 |
| Section IX | Transitional and final provisions | Articles 84 to 90 |
literature
- The President of the Berlin House of Representatives (ed.): The negotiations of the unified committees of the Berlin parliaments , Berlin 1990, 3 volumes, ISBN 3-922581-18-8