REPUBLIC OF BADEN

The 'Republic of Baden' () was a state of Germany during the time of the Weimar Republic, formed after the abolition of the Grand Duchy of Baden in 1918. It is now part of the modern German state of Baden-Württemberg.

Contents

History

The revolution in Baden

The new republic

Baden during Nazi rule

Post-war Baden

Administration

Leaders of the Republic of Baden

References

History

Main articles: Baden

The revolution in Baden

With revolution threatening the German Empire in the dying days of World War I, the state ministry of the Grand Duchy of Baden passed an electoral reform on 2 November 1918 in a final attempt to preserve the monarchy there. On 8 November, workers' and soldiers' councils were established in Lahr and Offenburg. On the following day, similar councils were established in Mannheim and Karlsruhe and the entire Badische state ministry stepped down.
On 10 November, a provisional government was formed in Karlsruhe and an assembly of the various revolutionary councils was held on the following day. On 13 November, Grand Duke Frederick II, relinquished all governing duties and eventually abdicated on 22 November, almost two weeks after the abdication of Kaiser Wilhelm II.
The provisional government declared the establishment of the ''freie Volksrepublik Baden'' (Free Peoples' Republic of Baden) on 14 November 1918, and set 5 January 1919 as the date for new elections.

The new republic

A national assembly was created on January 12 1919, with the Christian democratic Centre Party emerging as the strongest party ahead of the centre-left SPD. Together, these two parties received 91.5% of all votes. On April 1, the Badische parliament (''Landtag'') formed a government from members of the Weimar Coalition. Until 1933, Baden was mostly governed by the Centre Party.
On 21 March 1919, the ''Landtag'' unanimously passed a new constitution.^[2]. A popular vote approved of the constitution on 13 April. This popular vote was the first in German history and the Baden constitution was the only one passed by popular vote in Germany during the Weimar period.^[3]

Baden during Nazi rule

Baden, like all other German states, was subject to the process of ''Gleichschaltung'' in 1933, which effectively abolished all states - in practice, if not in law. The elected president of Baden was replaced with the Nazi-appointed Walter Köhler, although administrative power in the region truly rested with Robert Heinrich Wagner, the ''Gauleiter'' of Baden and ''Reichsstatthalter'' for Alsace-Lorraine.

Post-war Baden

Through the Allied occupation of post-war Germany, Baden was divided between the American and French occupation zones. The division was made so that the Autobahn connecting Karlsruhe and Munich (today the A8) was completely contained within the American zone. This northern American-administered area became part of 'Württemberg-Baden' on 19 September 1945^[4] while the southern half (known as 'South Baden', or simply 'Baden') was placed under French administration.
These two parts of Baden were reuinited and merged with the former state of Württemberg on 23 April 1952 as the new German state of Baden-Württemberg.

Administration

Baden was subdivided into four administrative districts (''Landeskommissärbezirke'', similar to the modern ''Regierungsbezirke''): based in Karlsruhe, Mannheim, Freiburg and Konstanz. These districts were further divided into a total of 53 ''Amtsbezirke'' (in 1924, this number was reduced to 40). These were divided again into a total of 1,536 municipalities.^[5]

Leaders of the Republic of Baden

Following the constitution, passed in 1921, the President of Baden was an elected from the standing members of the Baden Landtag for a 1-year term. After ''Gleichschaltung'', Baden was governed by appointed Nazi officials.

	Name	Took Office	Left Office	Party
President
1	Anton Geiß	10 November 1918	14 August 1920
2	Gustav Trunk	14 August 1920	23 November 1921
3	Hermann Hummel	23 November 1921	23 November 1922
4	Adam Remmele	23 November 1922	23 November 1923
5	Heinrich Franz Köhler	23 November 1923	23 November 1924
6	Willy Hellpach	23 November 1924	23 November 1925
-	Gustav Trunk (2nd term)	23 November 1925	23 November 1926
-	Heinrich Franz Köhler (2nd term)	23 November 1926	3 February 1927
-	Gustav Trunk (3rd term)	3 February 1927	23 November 1928
-	Adam Remmele (2nd term)	23 November 1927	23 November 1928
7	Josef Schmitt	23 November 1928	20 November 1930
8	Franz Josef Wittemann	20 November 1928	10 September 1931
-	Josef Schmitt (2nd term)	10 September 1931	11 March 1933
Reichsstatthalter and Gauleiter
	Robert Heinrich Wagner	11 March 1933	April 1945
Appointed Minister-President
	Walter Köhler	8 May 1933	April 1945

References

1. Beckmanns Welt-Lexikon und Welt-Atlas, , , , Verlagsanstalt Otto Beckmann, ,
2. Constitution of the Republic of Baden

3. Baden: Ereignisse 1918-1933
4. Allied Control Council Proclamation No.2
5. Der Freistaat Baden im Überblick