Senate of the Free City of Danzig

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Senate Building Senate of the Free City of Danzig.JPG
Senate Building

The Senate of the Free City of Danzig was the government of the Free City of Danzig from 1920 to 1939, after the Allied administration of Reginald Tower and the Danzig Staatsrat.

Contents

Constitutional Regulations

Senate Flag Danzig Senatsflagge 1920-1939.svg
Senate Flag
Senate Coat of Arms Senate of the Free City of Danzig coat of arms.JPG
Senate Coat of Arms

The separation of Danzig from the German Reich as a "Free City" without a vote led to the need to draft a constitution. In the Constitution of the Free City of Danzig, articles 25 to 42 detailed and regulated the role of the Senate. The Senate consisted of 7 full-time senators (including the President of the Senate, who was the chairman, and the Deputy President, the Vice Chairman) and 13 honorary senators. The full-time senators were elected from the Volkstag, and served 4-year terms. The honorary senators could serve indefinite terms. Only by a vote of no confidence from the Volkstag could honorary senators be recalled. Even with a dissolution of the Volkstag, the Senate could remain in power.

The Senate was the highest state authority. In particular, it had the tasks:

In articles 43 to 49, which detailed legislative procedures, laws had to be approved by both the Volkstag and the Senate. In the event that the Senate failed to approve bills on the day it was proposed, a referendum would be held. Constitutional amendments required a two-thirds majority. [1]

With the constitutional amendment of July 4, 1930, the number of senators was reduced to 12 (with the members of the Volkstag decreased from 120 to 72). [2]

Individual Senates

First Sahm Senate

A portrait of Heinrich Sahm Heinrich Sahm.jpg
A portrait of Heinrich Sahm

After the establishment of the Free City of Danzig on November 15, 1920, the Constituent Assembly elected the members of the first senate on December 6. It was a bourgeois coalition between the DNVP, the DPP and the liberal Free Economic Association. The Social Democrats were the main opposition. The head of the government was Heinrich Sahm, the former mayor, who did not belong to any party. There were 4 DNVP, 4 DDP and 5 liberals in the Senate. At the second Volkstag election on November 18, 1923, the coalition continued. The First Sahm Senate continued until December 10, until it was replaced by the Second Sahm Senate. The honorary members of the First Sahm Senate, including the Deputy President, resigned on January 15, 1924.

StatusOfficeNameParty
Full-timePresident of the Senate Heinrich Sahm Partyless
Full-timeInterior Minister Wilhelm Schümmer Zentrum
Full-timeMunicipal AffairsDr. Hubertus Schwartz
Full-timeCultureDr. Hermann Strunk DDP, from 1921 DPFW
Full-timeFinance Ernst Volkmann (from February 8th, 1921)Partyless
Full-timePublic WorksDr. Otto Leske
Full-timeState-owned EnterpriseProf. Ludwig Noé (until April 26th, 1921)DDP, from 1921 DPFW
Wolf Runge (from April 27th, 1921)
Full-timeJustice and Social AffairsDr. Albert Frank DNVP
HonoraryDeputy to the PresidentDr. Ernst Ziehm (elected on January 16th, 1924)DNVP
HonoraryAgriculture and Forestry Franz Ziehm (elected on January 16th, 1924)DNVP
HonoraryBusiness Gustav Karow (elected on January 16th, 1924)DNVP
Honorary Otto Pertuss (from January 23rd, 1924)DNVP
Honorary Georg Bennecke (until April 30th, 1921)DNVP
Honorary Richard Senftleben (elected on January 16th, 1924)DNVP
Honorary Otto Schulze (from January 16th, 1924)DNVP
HonoraryKette (re-elected on January 16th, 1924)DNVP
HonorarySchiffsreeder Bosselmann (from January 16th, 1924)DNVP
HonoraryIngenieur Jansson (from May 27th, 1921 to January 15th, 1924)DNVP
Honorary Anton Sawatzki (elected on January 16th, 1924)Zentrum
Honorary Karl Fuchs (elected on January 16th, 1924)Zentrum
HonoraryUnion Secretary Krause (elected on January 16th, 1924)Zentrum
HonoraryCity Council Dr. Wiercinski (from January 16th, 1924)Zentrum
HonoraryEconomy Julius Jewelowski (until January 18th, 1924)DDP, from 1921 DPFW
HonoraryNutritionDr. Paul Eschert (until January 15th, 1924)FWV, from 1921 DPFW
HonoraryFactory Director Dr. Unger (from January 16th to October 15th, 1924)DPFW
HonoraryFactory Director Briechle (from January 16th to October 15th, 1924)DPFW
HonorarySavings Gustav Fuchs (until January 15th, 1924)Liberal
HonoraryPost Office [3] Emil Förster (until January 15th, 1924)FWV, from 1921 DPFW

[4]

Second Sahm Senate

Julius Gehl, local SPD leader Gehl Julius.png
Julius Gehl, local SPD leader

The rejection of the state budget of 1925 by Deputy President Ernst Ziehm led to a crisis in the government. A new senate was formed on August 19, 1925. This senate was a minority senate, made from a coalition of the SPD, Zentrum, and the German Liberal Party (formed from a 1925 merge of the Free Association of Civil servants, Employees and Workers and the German Party for Progress and Economy (the name of the Free Economic Association since 1920)). [5] This government was tolerated by the Poles and socialist politician Wilhelm Rahn.

StatusOfficeNamePartyAnnotations
Full-timePresident of the Senate Heinrich Sahm Partyless
Full-timeInterior Willibald Wiercinski-Keiser Zentrum
Full-timeSocial Welfare Hubertus Schwartz
Full-timeCulture Hermann Strunk DDP
Full-timeFinance Ernst Volkmann Partyless
Full-timePublic WorksDr. Otto Leske
Full-timeState-owned Enterprise Wolf Runge
Full-timeJustice Albert Frank DNVP
HonoraryDeputy to the President Ernst Ziehm DNVPuntil 1925
HonoraryDeputy to the President Wilhelm Riepe DNVPfrom 1926
Honorary Anton Sawatzki Zentrum
Honorary Hugo Neumann Liberal
Honorary Max Behrendt SPD1925–1926
HonoraryVice President Julius Gehl SPD1925–1926
Honorary Friedrich Grünhagen SPD1925–1926
Honorary Bernhard Kamnitzer SPD1925–1926
Honorary Ernst Loops SPD1925–1926
Honorary Walter Reek SPD1925–1926

Third Sahm Senate

In the third Volkstag election on November 13, 1927, there was a further political shift towards the SPD. The parties of the previous minority government now had a majority. Without prejudice for some changes in senators, the SPD, Zentrum, and the Liberals continued to dominate the senate.

The coalition collapsed in 1930, divided over the question of housing management and financing laws. On March 29, the Liberals left the coalition, with the SPD following suit on April 2. In May 1930, Heinrich Sahm's attempt to form a bourgeois senate failed. Sahm suffered another setback in a vote to amend the constitution, in which the DNVP succeeded in reducing the number of seats in the Volkstag from 120 to 72. This Senate remained in office until January 9, 1931.

StatusOfficeNameParty
Full-timePräsident of the Senate Heinrich Sahm Partyless
Full-timeInterior Friedrich Grünhagen SPD
Full-timeSocial Welfare Willibald Wiercinski-Keiser Zentrum
Full-timeCulture Hermann Strunk DDP
Full-timeFinance Bernhard Kamnitzer SPD
Full-timePublic Works Franz Arczynski SPD
Full-timeConstruction Hugo Althoff Zentrum
Full-timeJustice and Post Office Albert Evert DDP
Honorary Anton Sawatzki Zentrum
Honorary Gustav Fuchs Zentrum
Honorary Bruno Kurowski Zentrum
Honorary Julius Jewelowski DDP
Honorary Hans Zint SPD
Honorary Julius Gehl SPD
Honorary Willy Moritz SPD

Ziehm Senate

A portrait of Ernst Ziehm Ernst Ziehm.jpg
A portrait of Ernst Ziehm

In the fourth Volkstag election on November 16, 1930, neither the left or the bourgeois parties had received majorities. The NSDAP, which had received 12 seats, tipped the scales. On January 10, 1931, a new senate was formed under Ernst Ziehm, with its members being parts of the DNVP, Zentrum, and the Liberals. The Nazis tolerated this senate, even though they were prone to extreme political conflict with them.. However, in the autumn of 1931, the NSDAP discussed the possible fall and forceful removal of the Ziehm Senate, decided against by Adolf Hitler. Towards the end of 1932, Hitler changed his mind and started planning to remove the Ziehm Senate. With his appointment as Chancellor in January 1933, it was time for the NSDAP to come into power in Danzig. They deprived the Senate of confidence in Ziehm and offered to enter into a joint senate with the bourgeois parties if Hermann Rauschning became Senate President and the NSDAP appointed the Interior Senator. The bourgeois parties rejected this proposition and the Senate resigned, remaining in office until June 20, 1933. [6]

This Senate was known for increasing authoritarianism in Danzig, even banning the social democratic newspaper Volkstimme for a short time in 1932. [7] By 1932, the Nazis had tapped into the electoral power of the rural population of Danzig, and had become the second most popular party.

StatusOfficeNameParty
Full-timePresident of the Senate
Agriculture
Ernst Ziehm [8] [9] DNVP
Full-timeDeputy President
Social Welfare
Willibald Wiercinski-Keiser Zentrum
HonoraryInterior Georg Hinz DNVP
Full-timeCulture Alfred Winderlich DNVP
Full-timeCulture Julius Hoppenrath  [ de ] NatBl (National Bloc)
Full-timePublic Works and Trade Hugo Althoff Zentrum
Full-timeBusinesses, Transport and Work Kurt Blavier NatBl
HonoraryJustice Fritz Dumont NatBl
Honorary Heinrich Schwegmann DNVP
HonoraryKaufmann SenftlebenDNVP
Honorary Anton Sawatzki Zentrum
Honorary Bruno Kurowski Zentrum

Rauschning Senate

A portrait of Hermann Rauschning Hermann Rauschning.jpg
A portrait of Hermann Rauschning

In the fifth Volkstag election on May 28, 1933, the NSDAP gained an absolute majority. On June 20, 1933, a senate under prominent Danzig Nazi Hermann Rauschning was elected, with only Nazis aside from two Zentrum senators. The Volkstag voted to adopt the Enabling Act, allowing the Senate to use emergency decrees without the approval of the Volkstag.

OfficeNameParty
President of the Senate Hermann Rauschning NSDAP
Deputy President
Interior
Arthur Greiser NSDAP
Social Welfare Hans Albert Hohnfeldt NSDAP
Culture Adalbert Boeck NSDAP
Finance Julius Hoppenrath NSDAP
Business Wilhelm Huth NSDAP
Construction Karl August Hoepfner NSDAP
Justice Willibald Wiercinski-Keiser Zentrum
[10]
Public Health Helmut Adalbert Kluck NSDAP
Public Enlightenment and Propaganda Paul Batzer NSDAP [11]
Senators for Special Use Wilhelm von Wnuck
Max Bertling
Anton Sawatzki [12]
NSDAP
NSDAP
Zentrum

Greiser Senate

Arthur Greiser was made Senate President (Senatspräsident) in 1935–1939. As Senate President of Danzig, he was a rival to Albert Forster, his nominal superior in the Nazi Party (Gauleiter of the city) since 1930. Greiser was part of the SS empire whilst Forster was closely aligned with the Nazi Party Mandarins Rudolf Hess and later Martin Bormann.

Forster Senate

On 23 August 1939 Albert Forster replaced Greiser as Danzig's head of state.

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References

  1. Text of the Constitution
  2. GBl. S. 179
  3. Förster war im Hauptberuf Direktor des Zopotter Postamts
  4. Sprenger beschreibt, es wären 6 ehrenamtliche Senatoren der DNVP gewählt worden. Ziehm nennt jedoch 7, wobei er jedoch sich selbst als Stellvertreter des Präsidenten mitzählt. Laut den Sitzungsprotokollen des Volkstags wurden 1920 folgende nebenamtliche Senatoren gewählt: Bennecke, Karow, Kette, Pertus, Senftleben, Ziehm, Carl Fuchs, Krause, Sawatzki, Dr. Eschert, Gust. Fuchs, Foerster, Jewelowski.
  5. Heinrich Sprenger : Heinrich Sahm : Kommunalpolitiker und Staatsmann,1969, Diss., S. 118–119, 135–136, 155–156
  6. Dieter Schenk: Danzig 1930–1945. Das Ende einer Freien Stadt. Ch. Links, Berlin 2013, ISBN   978-3-86153-737-3, S. 28 (eingeschränkte Vorschau in der Google-Buchsuche).
  7. Peter Oliver Loew, "Danzig: Biographie einer Stadt", 197.
  8. Ernst Ziehm: Aus meiner politischen Arbeit in Danzig 1914–1939 (Autobiografie), S. 147–156
  9. Die Freie Stadt Danzig Die Senate 1920–1939, http://www.gonschior.de/weimar/Danzig/Ueberblick_Reg.html
  10. ab 22. September 1933 NSDAP
  11. ab 22. September 1933 für Sawatzki
  12. bis 22. September 1933