Free People's State of Württemberg

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Freier Volksstaat Württemberg
Free People's State of Württemberg

State of Germany

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1918 – 1945

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Flag	Coat of arms (from 1922)

Location of Württemberg (red) within Germany

Capital

Stuttgart

Government

Republic

President

- 1918-1920 (first)

Wilhelm Blos

- 1933-1945 (last)

Christian Mergenthaler

Reichsstatthalter

- 1933-1945

Wilhelm Murr

Historical era

Interwar period

- Established

9 November 1918

- Constitution enacted

29 September 1919

- Abolition (de facto)

7 April 1933

- Abolition (de jure)

1945

Area

- 1925 ^[1]

19,508 km² (7,532 sq mi)

Population

- 1925 ^[1] est.

2,580,235

Density

132.3 /km² (342.6 /sq mi)

The Free People's State of Württemberg (German: Freier Volksstaat Württemberg) was the official name of the state of Württemberg during the Weimar Republic. As Germany underwent violent revolution near the end of World War I, the Kingdom of Württemberg transformed from a monarchy to a democratic republic without bloodshed; the borders and internal administration of Württemberg remained unchanged. Following the introduction of its new constitution and the Weimar Constitution in 1919, Württemberg was re-established as a member state of the German Reich. ^[2]

In comparison to the political turmoil that plagued Weimar Germany, political development in Württemberg was driven by continuity and stability. The three legislative periods of the Württemberg parliament from 1920 to 1932 each ran the full prescribed length of four years, unlike at the federal level. The social democrats lost their influence in Württemberg early in the state’s history, with conservative coalitions forming government from 1924 to 1933. Despite the many financial crises that affected Germany during the 1920s and 1930s, the economic development of Württemberg proceeded better than in many other German states and its capital – Stuttgart – became a regional centre of finance and culture.

With the Nazi seizure of federal power in 1933 and the following elimination of all non-Nazi organisations (Gleichschaltung) were Württemberg and all other German states abolished, in spirit if not in law. After World War II, Württemberg was split between the US and French Allied Occupation Zones in Germany and became parts of two new states: Württemberg-Baden and Württemberg-Hohenzollern. These two states, along with Baden were merged In 1952 to form the modern German state of Baden-Württemberg.

[edit] References

^ (1931) Beckmanns Welt-Lexikon und Welt-Atlas. Leipzig / Vienna: Verlagsanstalt Otto Beckmann.
^ Article 1 of the Württemberg constitution (25 September 1919) states: "Württemberg is a democratic republic and member of the German Reich. Its state authority is exerted in accordance with both this constitution and German national law". Article 2 of the Weimar Constitution (11 August 1919) states: "The territory of the German Reich consists of the territory of its member states."