1931 in Germany

Decades:	1910s ; 1920s ; 1930s ; 1940s ; 1950s ;
See also:	Other events of 1931 ; History of Germany • Timeline • Years

Last updated January 16, 2024

Incumbents

President - Paul von Hindenburg (Non-partisan)

Chancellor - Heinrich Brüning (Centre)

Events

January 4 – German pilot Elly Beinhorn begins her flight to Portuguese Guinea (now Guinea-Bissau) in Africa.
February 11 – National Socialist (NSDAP) and National Party (DNVP) members walk out of the Reichstag in protest against changes in the parliament's protocol intended to limit heckling.
April 22 – Austria, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States recognize the Second Spanish Republic.
May 8 – Prosecution of Adolf Hitler by Hans Litten for complicity in manslaughter committed by members of the Sturmabteilung at the Tanzpalast Eden ("Eden Dance Palace") in Berlin in 1930 is dismissed.^[1]
June 5 – Chancellor Brüning visits London, where he warns the British Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald that the collapse of the Austrian banking system, caused by the bankruptcy of the Creditanstalt, has left the entire German banking system on the verge of collapse. Germany suspends payment of World War I reparations and, despite declaration of the Hoover Moratorium, there is massive withdrawal of domestic and foreign funds from German banks, which by mid-July have all closed.^[2]
June 10 – The Schienenzeppelin, an experimental propeller driven railcar, sets up a new world railway speed record of 230 km/h on its way from Hamburg to Berlin which is not surpassed by any other train for 24 years.
August 9 – Referendum in Prussia for dissolving the Landtag ends with the "yes" side winning 37% of the vote, which is insufficient for calling the early elections. The elections are intended to remove the Social Democratic Party (SPD) government of Otto Braun, which is one of the strongest forces for democracy in Germany. Supporting the "yes" side are the NSDAP, the DNVP and the Communist Party (KPD), while the SPD and Zentrum support the "no" side.
August 29 – Airship Graf Zeppelin pioneers the air route between Germany and Brazil.
August – The Deaflympics are held in Nuremberg.^[3]
October 11 – Rally in Bad Harzburg leads to the Harzburg Front being founded, uniting the NSDAP, the DNVP, the Stahlhelm and various other right-wing fractions.
December 8 – Carl Friedrich Goerdeler is appointed Reich Price Commissioner to enforce the deflationary policies of the Brüning government.

Arts and literature

Erich Kästner's satire Der 35. Mai oder Konrad reitet in die Südsee is published.
Irmgard Keun's first novel Gilgi - eine von uns is published.^[4]
Erich Maria Remarque's war novel Der Weg zurück concludes serialization (January) and is published in book form (March).
Carl Zuckmayer's satire Der Hauptmann von Köpenick is first performed.
Fritz Lang's thriller M is released (May 11).
The film version of Berlin-Alexanderplatz is released.
The musical film version of Die 3-Groschen-Oper , is released (February 19).
The film version of Emil und die Detektive is released.

Science

10 September – Ernst Ruska and Max Knoll publish their findings after building the first prototype electron microscope.^[5]
Adolf Butenandt identifies the sex hormone androsterone.^[6]
The first electroencephalography is performed by Hans Berger.
Nobel Prize in Chemistry awarded to Carl Bosch and Friedrich Bergius; Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine awarded to Otto Heinrich Warburg.

Births

January 8 – Bill Graham (Wulf Wolodia Grajonca), rock concert promoter (d. 1991 in the United States)
January 16 – Johannes Rau, President of Germany 1999–2004 (d. 2006)
January 17 – Mark Brandis (Nikolai von Michalewsky), journalist and science fiction author (d. 2000)
February 2 – Walter Burkert, classical scholar (d. 2015 in Switzerland)^[7]
February 6 – Maria Mies, sociologist and feminist (died 2023)^[8]
February 7 – Holger Börner, politician (died 2006)
March 3 – Werner Haas (pianist), German musician (died 1976)
March 11 – Janosch (Horst Eckert), writer
April 1 – Rolf Hochhuth, dramatist
April 29 – Frank Auerbach, painter
May 19 – Alfred Schmidt, philosopher (d. 2012)
June 4 – Erasmus Schöfer, writer (died 2022)
June 8 – Dana Wynter, actress (d. 2011 in the United States)
June 29 – Ralph Klein, basketball player and coach (d. 2008 in Israel)
June 30 – Gerda Herrmann, composer and poet (died 2021)
July 31 – Ivan Rebroff, German singer (died 2008)
August 20 – Bernd Becher, photographer (d. 2007)
September 1 – Michael O. Rabin, Israeli computer scientist and Turing Award laureate
November 6 – Mike Nichols (Mikhail Igor Peschkowsky), director (d. 2014 in the United States)

Deaths

February 16 – Wilhelm von Gloeden, photographer (b. 1856)
February 23 – Eduard von Capelle, admiral (b. 1855)
February 26 – Otto Wallach, chemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (b. 1847)
March 11 – F. W. Murnau, film director (b. 1888; d. in United States)
March 20 – Hermann Müller, German politician (born 1876)
April 14 – Richard Armstedt, historian (b. 1851)
May 6 – Hermann Anschütz-Kaempfe, German scientist and inventor (b. 1872)
September 18 – Geli Raubal, half-niece of Adolf Hitler (b. 1908)
September 20 – Max Littmann, architect (b. 1862)
October 17 – Alfons Maria Jakob, neuropathologist (b. 1884)

Related Research Articles

Der Stahlhelm, Bund der Frontsoldaten, commonly known as Der Stahlhelm, was a German First World War veteran's organisation existing from 1918 to 1935. It was part of the "Black Reichswehr" and in the late days of the Weimar Republic closely affiliated to the monarchist German National People's Party (DNVP), placed at party gatherings in the position of armed security guards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alfred Hugenberg</span> German businessman and politician (1865–1951)

Alfred Ernst Christian Alexander Hugenberg was an influential German businessman and politician. An important figure in nationalist politics in Germany during the first three decades of the twentieth century, Hugenberg became the country's leading media proprietor during the 1920s. As leader of the German National People's Party, he played a part in helping Adolf Hitler become chancellor of Germany and served in his first cabinet in 1933, hoping to control Hitler and use him as his tool. The plan failed, and by the end of 1933 Hugenberg had been pushed to the sidelines. Although he continued to serve as a guest member of the Reichstag until 1945, he wielded no political influence. Following World War II, he was interned by the British in 1946 and classified as "exonerated" in 1951 after undergoing denazification.

The German National People's Party was a national-conservative and monarchist political party in Germany during the Weimar Republic. Before the rise of the Nazi Party, it was the major nationalist party in Weimar Germany. It was an alliance of conservative, nationalist, monarchist, völkisch, and antisemitic elements supported by the Pan-German League. Ideologically, the party was described as subscribing to authoritarian conservatism, German nationalism, monarchism, and from 1931 onwards also to corporatism in economic policy. It held anti-communist, anti-Catholic, and antisemitic views. On the left–right political spectrum, it belonged on the right-wing, and is classified as far-right in its early years and then again from the late 1920s when it moved back rightward.

The Timeline of the Weimar Republic lists in chronological order the major events of the Weimar Republic, beginning with the final month of the German Empire and ending with the Nazi Enabling Act of 1933 that concentrated all power in the hands of Adolf Hitler. A second chronological section lists important cultural, scientific and commercial events during the Weimar era.

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Events in the year 1930 in Germany.

The 1929 German Referendum was an attempt during the Weimar Republic to use popular legislation to annul the agreement in the Young Plan between the German government and the World War I opponents of the German Reich regarding the amount and conditions of reparations payments. The referendum was the result of the initiative "Against the Enslavement of the German People " launched in 1929 by right-wing parties and organizations. It called for an overall revision of the Treaty of Versailles and stipulated that government officials who accepted new reparation obligations would be committing treason.

The 1931 Prussian Landtag referendum was an attempt to prematurely dissolve the sitting session of the Landtag (parliament) of the Weimar German state of Prussia. The referendum, which took place according to Article 6 of the 1920 Prussian Constitution, was triggered by a petition launched in the spring of 1931 by the anti-republican veterans' organization Der Stahlhelm. It was supported by several right-wing parties including the Nazis, as well as by the Communist Party of Germany (KPD). Even though 93.9% of those voting on 9 August 1931 opted to dissolve the Landtag, the referendum failed because the turnout of 39.2% did not meet the minimum 50% requirement.

The presidential cabinets were a succession of governments of the Weimar Republic whose legitimacy derived exclusively from presidential emergency decrees. From April 1930 to January 1933, three chancellors, Heinrich Brüning, Franz von Papen, and Kurt von Schleicher were appointed by President Paul von Hindenburg, and governed without the consent of the Reichstag, Germany's lower house of parliament. After Schleicher's tenure, the leader of the Nazis Adolf Hitler succeeded to the chancellorship, ending the Weimar Republic.

The second Brüning cabinet, headed by Heinrich Brüning of the Centre Party, was the eighteenth democratically elected government during the Weimar Republic. It took office on 10 October 1931 when it replaced the first Brüning cabinet, which had resigned the day before under pressure from President Paul von Hindenburg to move the cabinet significantly to the right.

References

↑ Hett, Benjamin Carter (2007). "Hans Litten and the Politics of Criminal Law in the Weimar Republic". In Dubber, Markus Dirk; Farmer, Lindsay (eds.). Modern Histories of Crime and Punishment. Stanford University Press.
↑ Young, William (2006). German Diplomatic Relations 1871–1945: The Wilhelmstrasse and the Formulation of Foreign Policy. iUniverse, Inc. p. 174. ISBN 978-0-595-40706-4.
↑ Bell, Daniel (17 March 2016). Encyclopedia of International Games. McFarland. p. 519. ISBN 978-1-4766-1527-1.
↑ Ankum, Katharina (1997). Women in the metropolis : gender and modernity in Weimar culture. Berkeley: University of California Press. p. 11. ISBN 9780520917606.
↑ Mulvey, Thomas (1996). Advances in imaging and electron physics. San Diego London: Academic Press. p. 134. ISBN 9780080577623.
↑ Aftalion, Fred (1991). A history of the international chemical industry. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. p. 165. ISBN 9780812282078.
↑ Robert Parker (31 May 2015). "Walter Burkert: Classical scholar whose fascinating books on Greek mythology and religion were packed with fresh insight". The Independent. Retrieved 9 April 2022.
↑ Feminist scholar Maria Mies dead at 92

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[1] Hett, Benjamin Carter (2007). "Hans Litten and the Politics of Criminal Law in the Weimar Republic". In Dubber, Markus Dirk; Farmer, Lindsay (eds.). Modern Histories of Crime and Punishment. Stanford University Press.

[2] Young, William (2006). German Diplomatic Relations 1871–1945: The Wilhelmstrasse and the Formulation of Foreign Policy. iUniverse, Inc. p. 174. ISBN 978-0-595-40706-4.

[3] Bell, Daniel (17 March 2016). Encyclopedia of International Games. McFarland. p. 519. ISBN 978-1-4766-1527-1.

[4] Ankum, Katharina (1997). Women in the metropolis : gender and modernity in Weimar culture. Berkeley: University of California Press. p. 11. ISBN 9780520917606.

[5] Mulvey, Thomas (1996). Advances in imaging and electron physics. San Diego London: Academic Press. p. 134. ISBN 9780080577623.

[6] Aftalion, Fred (1991). A history of the international chemical industry. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. p. 165. ISBN 9780812282078.

[7] Robert Parker (31 May 2015). "Walter Burkert: Classical scholar whose fascinating books on Greek mythology and religion were packed with fresh insight". The Independent. Retrieved 9 April 2022.

[8] Feminist scholar Maria Mies dead at 92

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v t e Years in Germany (1871–present)
19th century	Pre-1871 1871 1872 1873 1874 1875 1876 1877 1878 1879 1880 1881 1882 1883 1884 1885 1886 1887 1888 1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900
20th century	1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000
21st century	2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024