Berlin, twice a capital

 

 

Prussia and Germany

Today, Germany is divided into fifteen autonomous states, which is why it is called a Federal Republic. This autonomy of the regions dates from the Holy Germanic Empire, where the emperor’s authority over the territorial units which made up his empire was largely nominal. And we have all seen maps of Germany before 1871 with its inextricable puzzle of duchies, principalities and mini-kingdoms.

The German Reich founded by William I in 1871 was in fact more a federation than an Empire, as the states that formed it remained largely autonomous entities. And this situation continues under the Weimar Republic. In fact, it was only under Hitler’s rule that Germany was a centralized state.

When we look at a map of the FRG, we see that all states, or Länder, have areas of roughly the same size. But if we look at a map of the Weimar Republic, we see that it was made up of a colossus on one side (Prussia) and about twenty states, which shared among themselves the remaining territory, of the other. Indeed, Prussia accounted for 60% of the territory as well as the population of the Reich.

When I read in history books that Hermann Göring was appointed by Hitler Minister of the Interior of Prussia, I did not understand that he was content with ruling a single region. But in 1933 Prussia was not a region of any kind; to control it was to control Germany.

Berlin was therefore twice a capital : of the Weimar Republic and of the Free State of Prussia. The residence of the President of the Republic was at Wilhelmsstrasse 73, and the Chancellor of the Reich dwelled at number 77. And that character of so great importance, the chancellor of the Free State of Prussia? At the 63 of the same street. The Wilhelmsstrasse, which also housed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, was hence the heart of the German state. Nowadays, it has lost all those institutions but it remains the address of some foreign ministries and embassies (including that of the U.K.). The Chancellor has her offices in a brand new building, a few hundred meters from the Parliament (formerly Reichstag and now Bundestag).

And what happened to the proud Free State of Prussia? If we compare the two maps above, we see that its territory was divided between half a dozen Länder, including North Rhine-Westphalia, Bremen-Niedersachsen, Berlin-Brandenburg and Saxony-Anhalt.

Short history of Prussia under Weimar

At the time of the constitution of the Weimar Republic, the government seriously considered dividing Prussia into small states, but the traditionalist sentiment finally prevailed and Prussia became by far the largest state of the Republic. With the democratization of the election system, it became a bastion of the left. The incorporation of "Red Berlin" and the industrialized Ruhr region - both with working-class majorities - ensured domination by social democrats.

From 1919 to 1932, Prussia was governed by a coalition of social democrats, Catholics and liberals. Unlike other Reich states, the majority of democratic parties have never been seriously threatened, although the Nazi party became increasingly important around 1930.

Otto Braun, who was Prussian minister-president (prime minister) almost continuously from 1920 to 1932, is considered one of the most capable social democrats in history. In collaboration with his Minister of the Interior, Carl Severing, he implemented several innovative reforms, which would also serve as models for the FRG. Many historians consider the Prussian government during this period as much more successful than that of Germany as a whole.

Contrary to the authoritarianism by which it was known before the war, Prussia was a pillar of democracy in the Republic. 

This system was destroyed by the Preußenschlag ("Prussian coup") of Reich Chancellor Franz von Papen. In this coup, the German government deposed the Prussian one on July 20, 1932, on the pretext that the latter had lost control of public order in Prussia and using fabricated evidence that Social Democrats and Communists planned a putsch. Once Hitler became Chancellor, the Nazis took advantage of von Papen's absence to appoint Hermann Göring to the Prussian Ministry of the Interior.