Weimar constitution

The Weimar constitution was the document that governed the short-lived Weimar Republic (1919-1933). Following the end of WWI, a hastily elected German National Assembly gathered in the town of Weimar, in the state of Thuringia, in January of 1919 to write a constitution for the Reich. The fundamentals of the constitution were known: It was to be a Democratic, Federal Republic, with a President and Parliament to govern it. Supreme power was to be delegated by The People. Disagreements arose between the delegates over such things as the new national flag, religious education for the youth, and the rights of the regional states that were to make up the Reich. All of these disagreements were resolved by August of 1919. The main tenets of the Constitution are as follows:

• The President was to be elected for terms of seven years. There were no limits placed on terms. In addition, he was to have emergency powers, including the ability to dissolve the Parliament, the ability to unilaterally issue emergency legislation, and the ability to deploy the armed forces to restore order within the Reich. The last power was very vague, and all three were later enacted by Hitler when he was declared President.
• The Parliament was to be elected for terms of four years. Additionally, it was to function as a Proportional Representation System.
• The voting age was set at 20, with universal suffrage.

The Constitution guaranteed a number of things, among them the “Right of every German to work.” Sixty-seven delegates abstained from voting to adopt the Constitution. Immediately, fringe groups began looking for “Jewish Conspiracies” within the Constitution. They immediately pointed to the new national flag, which was red, black and gold. The gold was somehow seen as a “yellow Jewish blemish” on the new flag. Additionally, Hugo Pruess, a liberal Jew, played a large part in the drafting of the Constitution. This was seen as a link in the so-called “Jewish Conspiracy.” Inevitably, the Constitution failed. Upon Hitler’s rise to the Chancellery in 1933, and his subsequent seizure of the Presidency, the Constitution was abused. After the dissolution of the Parliament, the suspension of civil rights through the Reichstag Fire Decree, the Constitution was abandoned.

External links

\n* Brief Summary: http://www.johndclare.net/Weimar2.htm\n* Selected Articles: http://web.jjay.cuny.edu/~jobrien/reference/ob13.html\n* Entire Constitution: http://www.zum.de/psm/weimar/weimar_vve.php Category:Weimar RepublicCategory:German legal history