Senate of the Free City of Danzig

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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.

Constitutional Regulations[]

Senate Flag
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:

  • to announce the laws within a month of their constitutional formation and to issue the ordinances necessary for their execution;
  • to run the state administration independently within the framework of the constitution, the laws and the state budget, and to exercise = supervision over all state authorities;
  • to draw up the budget draft;
  • to manage the property and revenues of the state, to remit revenues and expenditures and to defend the rights of the state;
  • to appoint officials, unless stated otherwise by constitution or law;
  • to operate within the framework of the constitution and the laws for the safety and public welfare of the State and of all nationals, and to adopt its necessary regulations.

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

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 . 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 in January 15, 1924.

Status Office Name Party
Full-time President of the Senate Heinrich Sahm Partyless
Full-time Innterior Minister Zentrum
Full-time Municipal Affairs Dr.
Full-time Culture Dr. DDP, from 1921 DPFW
Full-time Finance (from February 8th, 1921) Partyless
Full-time Public Works Dr.
Full-time State-owned Enterprise Prof. (until April 26th, 1921) DDP, from 1921 DPFW
(from April 27th, 1921)
Full-time Justice and Social Affairs Dr. DNVP
Honorary Deputy to the President Dr. Ernst Ziehm (elected on January 16th, 1924) DNVP
Honorary Agriculture and Forestry (elected on January 16th, 1924) DNVP
Honorary Business (elected on January 16th, 1924) DNVP
Honorary (from January 23rd, 1924) DNVP
Honorary (until April 30th, 1921) DNVP
Honorary (elected on January 16th, 1924) DNVP
Honorary (from January 16th, 1924) DNVP
Honorary Kette (re-elected on January 16th, 1924) DNVP
Honorary Schiffsreeder Bosselmann (from January 16th, 1924) DNVP
Honorary Ingenieur Jansson (from May 27th, 1921 to January 15th, 1924) DNVP
Honorary (elected on January 16th, 1924) Zentrum
Honorary (elected on January 16th, 1924) Zentrum
Honorary Union Secretary Krause (elected on January 16th, 1924) Zentrum
Honorary City Council Dr. Wiercinski (from January 16th, 1924) Zentrum
Honorary Economy (until January 18th, 1924) DDP, from 1921 DPFW
Honorary Nutrition Dr. (until January 15th, 1924) FWV, from 1921 DPFW
Honorary Factory Director Dr. Unger (from January 16th to October 15th, 1924) DPFW
Honorary Factory Director Briechle (from January 16th to October 15th, 1924) DPFW
Honorary Savings Gustav Fuchs (until January 15th, 1924) Liberal
Honorary Post Office[3] (until January 15th, 1924) FWV, from 1921 DPFW

[4]

Second Sahm Senate[]

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 .

Status Office Name Party Annotations
Full-time President of the Senate Heinrich Sahm Partyless
Full-time Interior Zentrum
Full-time Social Welfare
Full-time Culture DDP
Full-time Finance Partyless
Full-time Public Works Dr.
Full-time State-owned Enterprise
Full-time Justice DNVP
Honorary Deputy to the President Ernst Ziehm DNVP until 1925
Honorary Deputy to the President DNVP from 1926
Honorary Zentrum
Honorary Hugo Neumann Liberal
Honorary SPD 1925–1926
Honorary Vice President Julius Gehl SPD 1925–1926
Honorary SPD 1925–1926
Honorary Bernhard Kamnitzer SPD 1925–1926
Honorary SPD 1925–1926
Honorary Walter Reek SPD 1925–1926

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.

Status Office Name Party
Full-time Präsident of the Senate Heinrich Sahm Partyless
Full-time Interior SPD
Full-time Social Welfare Zentrum
Full-time Culture DDP
Full-time Finance Bernhard Kamnitzer SPD
Full-time Public Works SPD
Full-time Construction Zentrum
Full-time Justice and Post Office DDP
Honorary Zentrum
Honorary Gustav Fuchs Zentrum
Honorary Bruno Kurowski Zentrum
Honorary DDP
Honorary SPD
Honorary Julius Gehl SPD
Honorary SPD

Ziehm Senate[]

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 , 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.

Status Office Name Party
Full-time President of the Senate
Agriculture
Ernst Ziehm[8][9] DNVP
Full-time Deputy President
Social Welfare
Zentrum
Honorary Interior DNVP
Full-time Culture DNVP
Full-time Culture  [de] (National Bloc)
Full-time Public Works and Trade Zentrum
Full-time Businesses, Transport and Work NatBl
Honorary Justice NatBl
Honorary DNVP
Honorary Kaufmann Senftleben DNVP
Honorary Zentrum
Honorary Bruno Kurowski Zentrum

Rauschning Senate[]

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.

Office Name Party
President of the Senate Hermann Rauschning NSDAP
Deputy President
Interior
Arthur Greiser NSDAP
Social Welfare Hans Albert Hohnfeldt NSDAP
Culture NSDAP
Finance NSDAP
Business NSDAP
Construction NSDAP
Justice Zentrum
[10]
Public Health NSDAP
Public Enlightenment and Propaganda NSDAP[11]
Senators for Special Use

[12]
NSDAP
NSDAP
Zentrum

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
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