Free State of Schaumburg-Lippe

Summary

The Free State of Schaumburg-Lippe (German: Freistaat Schaumburg-Lippe) was created following the abdication of Prince Adolf II of Schaumburg-Lippe on 15 November 1918, following the German Revolution. It was a state in Germany during the Weimar Republic and Nazi Germany. The democratic government was suppressed during Nazi rule. At the end of the Second World War, the British military occupation government decreed on 1 November 1946 the union of Schaumburg-Lippe, Hannover, Braunschweig and Oldenburg to form the new state of Lower Saxony.

Free State of Schaumburg-Lippe
Freistaat Schaumburg-Lippe
State of Germany
1918–1946
Flag of Schaumburg-Lippe
Flag
Coat of arms of Schaumburg-Lippe
Coat of arms

The Free State of Schaumburg-Lippe (red) within the Weimar Republic
CapitalBückeburg
Area 
• 1939
340 km2 (130 sq mi)
Population 
• 1939
53,277
Government
 • TypeRepublic
State Councillor 
• 1918 (first)
Friedrich von Feilitzsch
• 1933–1945
Karl Dreiera
• 1945–1946 (last)
Heinrich Hermann Drake
Reichsstatthalter 
• 1933–1945
Alfred Meyer
Historical eraInterwar · World War II
15 November 1918
• Disestablished
1 November 1946
Preceded by
Succeeded by
Principality of Schaumburg-Lippe
Lower Saxony
a. As State President.
British Military Government Ordinance No. 55, merging Schaumburg-Lippe into the new state of Lower Saxony, effective 1 November 1946.
Map showing Free State of Lippe and Schaumburg-Lippe

Government edit

The state parliament consisted of a Landtag of 15 members elected for a term of three years by universal suffrage. The state administration, headed by a Staatsrat (State Councillor), was responsible to the Landtag and could be removed by a vote of no confidence.[1] For most of the Weimar period, the state coalition governments usually were headed by a Social Democrat or a non-partisan technocrat.[2]

Following their seizure of power at the national level, the Nazi government embarked on a policy of Gleichschaltung (coordination) by which they intended to eliminate any potential sources of opposition in the states. On 8 March 1933, Reich Interior Minister Wilhelm Frick appointed Kurt Matthaei as the Nazi Reichskommissar to take direct control of police functions in Schaumburg-Lippe.[3] This provoked the resignation of the SPD-led coalition government.[2]

The Reich government next enacted the "Provisional Law on the Coordination of the States with the Reich" on 31 March 1933. This mandated that all the sitting state Landtage be dissolved and reconstituted on the basis of the recent 5 March Reichstag election results. By this means, the Nazi Party secured a working majority in the Schaumburg-Lippe Landtag and installed Hans-Joachim Riecke as the head of government on 1 April. On 7 April, the Reich government enacted the "Second Law on the Coordination of the States with the Reich" that established more direct control over the states by means of the new powerful position of Reichsstatthalter (Reich Governor). Alfred Meyer, the Nazi Party Gauleiter for Gau Westphalia-North, was installed in this new post for both Schaumburg-Lippe and Lippe on 16 May 1933.[4]

By the provisions of the "Law on the Reconstruction of the Reich" of 31 January 1934, all state Landtage were abolished and the sovereignty of the states was passed to the Reich government. With that, Schaumburg-Lippe effectively lost its rights as a federal state, though it continued to exist as an administrative unit of the Reich until the fall of the Nazi regime.

After the war, Schaumburg-Lippe was part of the British occupation zone. It lost its status as a separate German state when it was merged into the newly founded state of Lower Saxony on 1 November 1946, which subsequently became a part of West Germany upon its establishment in May 1949.

Government Leaders edit

Minister of State edit

  • Friedrich Freiherr von Feilitzsch (15 November 1918 – 3 December 1918)

Chairman of the State Council edit

  • Heinrich Lorenz (SPD, 4 December 1918 – 14 March 1919)

State Councillors edit

  • Otto Bömers (non-partisan, 14 March 1919 – 22 May 1922)
  • Konrad Wippermann (non-partisan, 22 May 1922 – 28 May 1925)
  • Erich Steinbrecher (SPD, 28 May 1925 – 7 October 1927)
  • Heinrich Lorenz (SPD, 7 October 1927 – 7 March 1933)
  • Hans-Joachim Riecke (NSDAP, 1 April – 23 May 1933)

State President edit

  • Karl Dreier (NSDAP, 25 May 1933 – 8 April 1945)

Reichsstatthalter edit

State Councillors edit

  • Heinrich Bövers (non-partisan, May 1945 – 15 Jun 1945)
  • Heinrich Hermann Drake (SPD, 15 Jun 1945 – 30 Apr 1946)
  • Heinrich Bövers (non-partisan, 30 Apr 1946 – 9 Dec 1946)

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ "Der Freistaat Schaumburg-Lippe Überblick". Retrieved 2 March 2023.
  2. ^ a b "Der Freistaat Schaumburg-Lippe Die Landesregierungen 1918–1933". Retrieved 2 March 2023.
  3. ^ "Nazi Coup in States: Police Powers Seized". No. 46389. The Times (London). 10 March 1933. p. 14.
  4. ^ Miller, Michael D.; Schulz, Andreas (2017). Gauleiter: The Regional Leaders of the Nazi Party and Their Deputies, 1925–1945. Vol. 2 (Georg Joel - Dr. Bernhard Rust). R. James Bender Publishing. p. 292. ISBN 978-1-932-97032-6.

External links edit

  • Schaumburg-Lippe
  • States of Germany since 1918