Welfenputsch

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The Welfenputsch describes a brief government crisis in the Prussian province of Hanover during the Kapp-Lüttwitz Putsch from March 13 to 17, 1920.

background

In Hanover there was, among other things, the German-Hannoversche Party (DHP), which already in 1919 called on its supporters to organize their own vigilante groups. She was also supported by the Freikorps called the Hannoversche Legion . The party's aim was to reintroduce the monarchy in Hanover and to make itself independent of Prussia . The action was preceded by talks between the regional party leaders at the “democratic” action committee on March 14, 1920. The DHP General Secretary Otto von Berger proposed to the major parties in the province (DHP, Center Party , DDP , MSPD , USPD ) that they "set up an independent government" for the time of the unresolved situation in Berlin. A five-member commission should have taken over government affairs for this period. The SPD spoke out against the independence of Hanover, so they were offered that Robert Leinert could take over the post of first Prime Minister of the "Hanoverian Republic".

The coup attempt

The DHP was not on the side of the Kapp putschists, as they campaigned for the Prussian monarchy. Therefore, they committed their own attempted coup, the so-called "Welfenputsch". The putsch started on the evening of March 15, before the SPD could accept the offer. The DHP had two companies of the Hanover Legion storm the city palace.

However, rumors about the approach of armed Guelph troop units had led to the fact that the military commander General von Hülsen deployed Reichswehr troops in the city of Hanover on the night of March 15-16, 1920 around the Guelph vigilante groups (who wore yellow and white armbands ) to disarm in the city. This resulted in shootings. The companies that had penetrated the castle were disarmed and driven out by the security police. The attempted coup ended on March 17th, those responsible initially fled, but some returned a little later. In the course of these disputes, ten workers were killed, and they were buried in the Stöcken cemetery. Later attempts to restore Hanover's independence, such as a vote on the separation from Prussia , always failed because of the vote of the SPD.

The term “Welfenputsch” was probably coined by the social democratic press, which saw the DHP on the one hand as a conservative-monarchist opponent and on the other hand as a threat to Prussia , which had been social democratic since the revolution of 1918/19 . The DHP had denied a coup attempt in Hanover. After the First World War, the DHP strongly advocated the separation of the Province of Hanover from the Prussian state association.

literature

  • Klaus Neumann: The so-called Welfenputsch. In: Political Regionalism and State Reorganization in the Early Years of the Weimar Republic in Northwest Germany. Lit, Münster around 1988, ISBN 3-886-60422-5 , ( online, p. 309. )

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Der Welfenputsch on fau.org, accessed on September 1, 2014.
  2. ↑ Welfenputsch 1920 on Politik-bildung.de , accessed on September 1, 2014 (PDF, p. 30.)