Preußenschlag

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The Preußenschlag (Prussian coup) was one of the major steps towards the destruction of the German Weimar Republic (1919-1933) and the rise of Adolf Hitler to power. On July 20, 1932, Reichspräsident (Reich president) Paul von Hindenburg issued an emergency decree which dismissed the cabinet of Prussia, the largest German Land (state). The pretense for this measure were violent unrests in some areas of Prussia and the alleged inability of the Prussian government to handle the matter. The main trigger was a shootout between SA demonstrators and communists in the Altona district of Hamburg on 17 July, 1932, thenceforth known as "Altonaer Bloody Sunday" (Altonauer Blutsonntag), which claimed 18 lives.

Prussia had just held an election and the present cabinet lost its majority in the Prussian Landtag (state parliament). The true reason, however, was that the Prussian cabinet, headed by Ministerpräsident (Prime Minister) Otto Braun and representing a coalition of the Social Democratic Party (SPD), the Centre Party and the liberal German Democratic Party and with authority over the powerful Prussian police force, was one of the last major democratic opposition forces against Reichskanzler (Reich Chancellor) Franz von Papen.

Papen lacked majority support in the Reichstag (German Diet). His only means to govern was through presidential emergency powers and the decrees issued by the senile Hindenburg, on whom Papen had great influence. Papen and his supporters, mostly right-wing nationalists and monarchists (his cabinet, packed with aristocrats, was dubbed "Kabinett der Barone" ("cabinet of the barons"), loathed the democratic system established by the Weimar constitution and aimed to replace it by an authoritarian regime. The emergency decree of July 20 declared Papen Reichskommissar (Reich Commissioner) for Prussia, which vested in him all the competences of the Prussian ministries and thus gave him direct control over the Prussian authorities.

The Preußenschlag was later declared partially unconstitutional by the German Staatsgerichtshof (Constitutional Court), but only in so far as the formal existence of the Prussian cabinet was concerned. The transfer of power to Papen was upheld, so the decision of the court had no practical effect. Prussia remained under direct rule of the Reich until it was dissolved by the Allies after the end of World War II.

[edit] Sources

• Lexikon der deutschen Geschichte – Ploetz, Verlag Herder, Freiburg im Breisgau, Österreich 2001 (in German)