Reichspräsident
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The Presidential Palace (Reichspräsidentenpalais) in Berlin. |
The
Reichspräsident was the
German head of state during the period of the
1919-
1933 Weimar Republic and the title was later briefly revived in
1945. The German title
Reichspräsident literally means "
President of the Reich" (
reich is an ambiguous German word that roughly means "country" or "realm"). However in English he was usually simply referred to, like the modern president (
Bundespräsident), as the
President of Germany.
The
Weimar constitution created a
semi-presidential system in which power was divided between the president, a cabinet and a parliament. The
Reichspräsident was directly elected under universal adult suffrage for a seven year term. It was intended that the president would rule in conjunction with the
Reichstag (legislature) and that his emergency powers would be exercised only in extraordinary circumstances, but the political instability of the Weimar period, and a paralysing factionalism in the legislature, meant that the president came to occupy a position of considerable power, capable of legislating by decree and appointing and dismissing governments at will.
The office was abolished by the Nazi government in
1934 and replaced by a new position of
Führer und Reichskanzler ("
Führer and Reich Chancellor"). It was later revived in the last days of the
Nazi regime when
Karl Dönitz briefly became
Reichspräsident in May, 1945. The modern office of President of Germany (
Bundespräsident), established in
1949, is the successor to the office of
Reichspräsident. However the modern German presidency is largely a ceremonial position, granting most executive powers to the
Chancellor.
Interim
*
Hans Luther (
DVP) was acting
Reichspräsident from
28 February to
12 March, 1925.
*
Walter Simons was acting
Reichspräsident from
12 March to
12 May, 1925.
The
Weimar constitution required that the president was directly elected by universal adult suffrage for a term of seven years, and could be re-elected. This is in contrast to the modern Federal President who is indirectly elected, by a
Federal Convention, for a five year term. Nonetheless, during the Weimar Republic only two direct presidential elections actually occurred. The first Reich President,
Friedrich Ebert, was indirectly elected by the
National Assembly in
1919. The two direct elections were the election of
Paul von Hindenburg in
1925, and his re-election in
1932. When
Karl Dönitz briefly became
Reichspräsident in 1945 it was because the title was bestowed upon him in
Adolf Hitler's will. The two presidential elections of the Weimar period were the:
*
German presidential election, 1925*
German presidential election, 1932During the Weimar period the law provided that the presidency was open to all German citizens who had reached 35 years of age. The direct election of the president occurred under a form of the
two round system. If no candidate received the support of an absolute majority of votes cast (i.e. more than half) in a first round of voting, a second vote was held at a later date. In this round the candidate who received the support of a
plurality of voters was deemed elected. A group could also nominate a substitute candidate in the second round, in place of the candidate it had supported in the first.
The Reich President could not be a member of the
Reichstag (parliament) at the same time. The constitution required that on taking office the president swore the following oath (although the inclusion of additional religious language was permitted):
I swear to devote my energy to the welfare of the German people, to increase its prosperity, to prevent damage, to hold up the Reich constitution and its laws, to consciously honour my duties and to exercise justice to every individual.
*
Appointment of the Government: The
Reichskanzler ("Reich Chancellor") and his
cabinet were appointed and dismissed by the president. No vote of confirmation was required in the Reichstag before the members of the cabinet could assume office, but any member of the cabinet was obliged to resign if the body passed a motion of no confidence in him. The president could appoint and dismiss the chancellor at will, but all other cabinet members could, save in the event of a no confidence motion, only be appointed or dismissed at the chancellor's request.
*
Dissolution of the Reichstag: The president had the right to dissolve the Reichstag at any time, in which case a general election had to occur within sixty days. Theoretically, he was not permitted to do so more than once for the same "reason", but this limitation had little significance in practice.
*
Promulgation of the law: The president was responsible for signing bills into law. The president was constitutionally obliged to sign every law passed in accordance with the correct procedure but could insist that a bill first be submitted to the electorate in a
referendum. Such a referendum could, however, only override the decision of the Reichstag if a majority of eligible voters participated.
*
Foreign relations: Under the constitution, the president was entitled to represent the nation in its foreign affairs, to accredit and receive ambassadors and to conclude treaties in the name of the state. However approval of the Reichstag was required to declare war, conclude peace or to conclude any treaty that related to German laws.
*
Commander-in-chief: The president held "supreme command" of the armed forces.
*
Amnesties: The president had the right to confer amnesties.
Emergency powers
The Weimar constitution granted the president sweeping powers in the event of a crisis. Article 48 empowered the president, if "public order and security [were] seriously disturbed or endangered" to "take all necessary steps to re-establish law and order". These permissible steps included the use of armed force and the suspension of many of the civil rights otherwise guaranteed by the constitution. Most importantly, the president could take over the legislative powers of the Reichstag by issuing
Notverordnungen (emergency decrees) which had the same rank as conventional acts of parliament.
The Reichstag had to be informed immediately of any measures taken under Article 48 and had the right to reverse any such measures. Even so, during the Weimar period the article was used to effectively by-pass parliament. Furthermore, although the article was intended for use only in an extraordinary emergency the article was invoked many times, even before
1933. An additional special power conferred on the
Reichspräsident by the constitution was authority to use armed force to oblige a state government to cooperate if it failed to meet its obligations under the constitution or under federal law.
Powers in practice
The Weimar constitution created a system in which, theoretically, the cabinet was answerable to both the president and the legislature. In particular, the fact that the president could appoint the cabinet, while the Reichstag had only a power of dismissal, created a high cabinet turn-over as ministers were appointed by the president only to be dismissed by the Reichstag shortly afterwards. Ebert and Hindenburg (initially) both attempted to appoint cabinets that enjoyed the confidence of the Reichstag. However, from
1930 onwards Hindenburg ruled by means of three "presidential cabinets" (
Präsidialkabinetten) or , which did not enjoy a majority in the Reichstag.
During the 1920s and '30s Hindenburg was able to use his power of dissolution to by-pass the Reichstag both with respect to presidential decrees and, eventually, the appointment of the cabinet. If the Reichstag threatened to censure his ministers or revoke one of his decrees he could simply dissolve the Reichstag, either pre-emptively or after it had acted, and be left able to govern without its interference for a maximum of ninety days until elections were held and the body reconvened. This use of the power of dissolution to effectively legislate by decree became known as the mechanism of
Präsidialregierungen.
The Weimar constitution did not provide for a vice presidency. If the president died or left office prematurely a successor would be elected. During a temporary vacancy, or in the event that the president was "unavailable", the powers and functions of the presidency passed to the chancellor. This mechanism was exploited by
Adolf Hitler following the death of Hindenburg. As chancellor, the powers of the president devolved on Hitler, who merged the two offices by creating the position of
Führer und Reichskanzler ("Führer and Reich Chancellor").
The provisions of the Weimar constitution for the impeachment or deposition of the president are similar to those found in the
Constitution of Austria. The Weimar constitution provided that the president could be removed from office prematurely by a referendum initiated by the Reichstag. To require such a referendum the Reichstag had to pass a motion supported by at least two-thirds of votes cast in the chamber. If such a proposal to depose the president was rejected by voters the president would be deemed to have been re-elected and the Reichstag would be automatically dissolved.
The Reichstag also had authority to impeach the president before the
Staatsgerichtshof, a court exclusively concerned with disputes between state organs. However it could only do this on a charge of willfully violating German law; furthermore the move had to be supported by a two-thirds majority of votes cast, at a meeting with a
quorum of two-thirds of the total number of members.
The
Reichspräsident was established as a kind of
Ersatzkaiser, that is, a substitute for the powerful monarch who had reigned in Germany until 1919. The new president's role was therefore informed, at least in part, by that played by the
Kaiser under the system of
constitutional monarchy being replaced.
Hugo Preuss, the writer of the Weimar constitution, is said to have accepted the advice of
Max Weber as to the term of office and powers of the presidency, and the method by which the president would be elected. The structure of the relationship between the
Reichspräsident and Reichstag is said to have been suggested by
Robert Redslop, who believed that
France's
Third Republic had been brought down by a too powerful legislature.
On
11 February, 1919 the National Assembly elected Friedrich Ebert of the
Social Democratic Party (SPD) as the first Reich President by 379 votes to 277. While in office he used emergency decrees on a number of occasions, including to suppress the
Kapp Putsch in
1920. His term came to an abrupt end with his death in 1925. In the election that followed Hindenburg was eventually settled on as the candidate of the political right, while the '
Weimar coalition' united behind
Wilhelm Marx of
Zentrum (the 'Catholic Centre Party'). Many on the right hoped that once in office Hindenburg would destroy Weimar democracy from the inside but in the years that followed his election Hindenburg never attempted to overthrow the Weimar constitution outright.
In March 1930 Hindenburg appointed
Heinrich Brüning to head the first "presidential cabinet", which did not enjoy the support of the Reichstag. In July Hindenburg adopted the national budget by decree and, when the Reichstag reversed this act, he dissolved the legislature. The years that followed would see an explosion of legislation by decree, where previously this power had been used only occasionally.
In March 1932 Hindenburg, although suffering from the onset of
senility, decided to stand for re-election. Adolf Hitler was his major opponent but Hindenburg won the election by a substantial margin. In June he replaced Brüning as chancellor with
Franz von Papen and again dissolved the Reichstag, before it could adopt a vote of no confidence. After reconvening it was again dissolved in September.
After briefly appointing
General Kurt von Schleicher as chancellor in December, Hindenburg responded to growing civil unrest and Nazi activism by appointing Hitler as chancellor in January, 1933. A parliamentary dissolution followed after which Hitler's government, with the aid of another party, were able to command the support of a majority in the Reichstag. On
23 March the Reichstag adopted the
Enabling Act, which effectively brought an end to the Weimar constitution. From this point onwards almost all political authority was exercised by Hitler. Hitler's government issued a law providing that upon Hindenburg's death the office of
Reichspräsident would be abolished and replaced with the new position of
Führer und Reichskanzler ("Fuhrer and Reich Chancellor"), occupied by Hitler as supreme leader.
Hitler committed suicide on
30 April, 1945, as
World War II in
Europe drew to a close. In his
Final Political Testament Hitler stated that Karl Dönitz was to succeed him as head of state, with the revived title of president and propaganda minister
Joseph Goebbels was to succeed him as
head of government with the title of
Reichskanzler. Goebbels committed suicide shortly after Hitler and within days Dönitz ordered Germany's military surrender on the
7 May, which
ended the war in Europe. He then appointed
Ludwig von Krosigk as chancellor and the two attempted to gather together a government. However this government was not recognised by the
Allied powers and was dissolved when its members were captured and arrested by British forces on
23 May at
Flensburg. On
June 5,
1945 the four occupying powers signed a document creating the
Allied Control Council, that did not mention the name of the previous German government. On signing the
de facto government of Germany became the
de jure.
*Chapter 4,
Presidents and Assemblies, Matthew Soberg Shugart and John M. Carey, Cambridge University Press, 1992.
*
List of German presidents since 1919*
Politics of Germany*
History of Germany
