Free State of Schaumburg-Lippe

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Free State of Schaumburg-Lippe
Freistaat Schaumburg-Lippe
State of Germany
←
1918–1946 →
Flag Coat of arms
Flag Coat of arms
Location of Schaumburg-Lippe
The Free State of Schaumburg-Lippe (red) within the Weimar Republic
Capital Bückeburg
Government Republic
State Councillor
 •  1918 (first) Friedrich von Feilitzsch
 •  1933–1945 Karl Dreiera
 •  1945–1946 (last) Heinrich Hermann Drake
Reichsstatthalter
 •  1933–1945 Alfred Meyer
Historical era Interwar · World War II
 •  German Revolution 15 November 1918
 •  Disestablished 1 November 1946
Area
 •  1939 340 km2 (131 sq mi)
Population
 •  1939 53,277 
Density Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character ",". /km2  (Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character ",". /sq mi)
a. As State President.

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.

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

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 9 March 1933, they appointed a Nazi Reichskommissar to take direct control of police functions in Schaumburg-Lippe, provoking 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.[3]

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

Minister of State

Chairman of the State Council

State Councillors

State President

Reichsstatthalter

State Councillors

See also

References

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  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

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