Free State of Prussia (1933–1947)
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The Free State of Prussia (German: Freistaat Preußen) briefly continued to exist in name after take-over by the Nazi regime of Adolf Hitler. Unlike the Free State of Prussia that existed from 1918 to 1933 during the Weimar Republic, the Nazi Free State had no parliamentary democracy and was ruled exclusively under the leadership of the National Socialist German Workers Party (Nazi Party). Prussia was administered by high-ranking Nazi member Hermann Göring from 1933 to 1935, who retained the title until 1945, despite the free state being abolished in 1935. Prussia was dismantled into regional Gaue in 1935, ending Prussia as a single territorial unit of Germany.
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[edit] History
[edit] Establishment of Nazi rule in Prussia
On 30 January 1933, Hitler had been appointed chancellor of Germany. As part of the deal, Papen was formally appointed minister-president of Prussia in addition to his role as Vice Chancellor of the Reich. In a little-noticed appointment, Hitler's top lieutenant Hermann Göring became the state's interior minister.
Four weeks later (27 February 1933), the Reichstag was set on fire. At Hitler's urging, President Paul von Hindenburg issued the Reichstag Fire Decree, which suspended civil liberties in Germany. Six days after the fire, the Reichstag election of March 5, 1933 strengthened the position of the Nazi Party, although they did not achieve an absolute majority. However, with their coalition partners, the German National People's Party, Hitler now commanded a bare majority in the Reichstag. Göring figured prominently in this election, as he was commander of the largest police force in the Reich. His police beat and harassed the other parties (especially the Communists and Social Democrats), and only allowed the Nazis and Nationalists to campaign relatively unmolested.
The new Reichstag was opened in the Garrison Church of Potsdam on March 21, 1933 in the presence of President Paul von Hindenburg, who had long since descended into senility. In a propaganda-filled meeting between Hitler and the NSDAP, the "marriage of old Prussia with young Germany" was celebrated, to win over the Prussian monarchists, conservatives, and nationalists and induce them to vote for the Enabling Act. The act was passed on 23 March 1933, legally granting Hitler dictatorial powers.
In April 1933, Papen was visiting the Vatican. The Nazis took advantage of his absence and appointed Göring in his place. With this act, Hitler was able to take power decisively in Germany, since he now had the whole apparatus of the Prussian government, including the police, at his disposal. By 1934 almost all Prussian ministries had been merged with the corresponding Reich ministries.
[edit] Dismantlement of Prussia
In the centralized state created by the Nazis in the "Law on the Reconstruction of the Reich ("Gesetz über den Neuaufbau des Reiches", 30 January 1934) and the "Law on Reich Governors" ("Reichsstatthaltergesetz", 30 January 1935) the States and Provinces of Prussia were dissolved, in fact if not in law. The federal state governments were now controlled by governors for the Reich who were appointed by the Chancellor. Parallel to that, the organization of the party into districts (Gau) gained increasing importance, as official in charge of a Gau (the infamous Gauleiter) was again appointed by the Chancellor who was at the same time chief of the NSDAP. Hitler appointed himself formally as Governor of Prussia, although his functions were exercised by Göring.
The leadership positions of Reichsstatthalter and Minister-President which were both held by Hermann Göring continued to exist but were subservient to the Nazi regime. Some changes were still made to Prussian provinces after this time. For example, the Greater Hamburg Act of 1937 transferred some territory from the provinces of Hanover and Schleswig-Holstein to Hamburg while at the same time annexing Hamburgian Geesthacht and the Hanseatic City of Lübeck to Schleswig-Holstein as well as Hamburgian Cuxhaven to the Province of Hanover. Other redeployments took place in 1939, involving cessions of Prusso-Hanoveran suburban municipalities to Bremen and in return the annexation of Bremian Bremerhaven to the Province of Hanover. Also Hanoveran Wilhelmshaven was ceded to Oldenburg. In 1942 redeployments involved the provinces of Saxony and Hanover and the Brunswick.
The Prussian lands transferred to Poland after the Treaty of Versailles were reannexed during World War II. However, most of this territory was not reintegrated back into Prussia but assigned to separate Gaue of the Nazi Germany.
With the end of National Socialist rule in 1945 came the division of Germany into Zones of Occupation, and the transfer of control of everything east of the Oder-Neisse line to other countries. As was the case after World War I, almost all of this territory had been Prussian territory (a small portion of the land east of the revised border had belonged to Saxony). Most of the land went to Poland and the northern third of East Prussia, including Königsberg, now Kaliningrad was annexed by the Soviet Union. The losses represented nearly two fifths of Prussian territory and nearly a quarter of territory within Germany's pre-1938 borders. An estimated ten million Germans fled or were expelled from these territories as part of the German exodus from Eastern Europe.
What remained of Prussia comprised both a little over half of the remaining German territory and a little over half of Prussia's pre-1914 territory. In Law #46 of 25 February 1947, the Allied Control Council formally proclaimed the dissolution of the Prussian state.[1] Although the Allies cited Prussia's history of militarism as their main justification for dissolving Prussia, its continued existence would have proven impractical following the onset of the Cold War and that conflict's division of Germany.
The provinces of Prussia were split up into the following territories/German states:
- Ceded to the USSR: the northern third of East Prussia. Today the Kaliningrad Oblast is a Russian exclave between Lithuania and Poland.
- Ceded to Poland: everything east of the Oder-Neisse line plus Stettin: (most of Silesia, Eastern Pomerania, the Neumark region of Brandenburg, all of Posen-West Prussia, and the remainder of East Prussia not ceded to Russia)
- Placed under Soviet administration: the following states were formed (partly after merging with other German states), were then abolished in 1952, and finally recreated after the reunification of Germany in 1990.
- Brandenburg: from the remainder of the Province of Brandenburg
- Saxony-Anhalt: from the bulk of the Province of Saxony, the remainder of the province became part of Thuringia
- Mecklenburg-Vorpommern: the remainder of the Province of Pomerania (most of Western Pomerania) merged into Mecklenburg
- Saxony: the remainder of the Province of Silesia merged into Saxony
- Placed under Allied administration: the remainder of Prussia was merged with other German states to become the following states of West Germany.
- Schleswig-Holstein: from the province of Schleswig-Holstein, under British administration
- Lower Saxony: from the province of Hanover, under British administration
- North Rhine-Westphalia: from the province of Westphalia and the northern half of the Rhine Province, under British administration
- Rhineland-Palatinate: from the southern remainder of the Rhine Province, under French administration
- Hesse: from the province of Hesse-Nassau, under American administration
- Württemberg-Hohenzollern: from the province of Hohenzollern, under French administration. This state was ultimately merged with Baden and Württemberg-Baden to form Baden-Württemberg.
- Berlin was divided into East Berlin (under Soviet administration) and West Berlin (redivided further into British, French and American sectors of administration). This western half was completely surrounded by East Germany and was ultimately enclosed by the Berlin Wall. The two halves were reunited after German reunification to form the modern German state of Berlin. A proposal to merge Berlin with the reformed state of Brandenburg was rejected by popular vote in 1996.
