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Free State of Schaumburg-Lippe

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Free State of Schaumburg-Lippe
Freistaat Schaumburg-Lippe (German)
State of Germany
1918–1946
Flag of Schaumburg-Lippe
Flag
Coat of arms of Schaumburg-Lippe
Coat of arms

The Free State of Schaumburg-Lippe (red) within the Weimar Republic

CapitalBückeburg
Area 
• 1939
340 km2 (130 sq mi)
Population 
• 1939
53,277
Government
 • TypeRepublic
State Councillor 
• 1918 (first)
Friedrich von Feilitzsch [de]
• 1933–1945
Karl Dreier [de]a
• 1945–1946 (last)
Heinrich Drake
Reichsstatthalter 
• 1933–1945
Alfred Meyer
Historical eraInterwar · World War II
15 November 1918
• Disestablished
1 November 1946
Preceded by
Succeeded by
Principality of Schaumburg-Lippe
Lower Saxony
Today part ofGermany
a. As State President.

The Free State of Schaumburg-Lippe (German: Freistaat Schaumburg-Lippe) was created following the abdication of Prince Adolf II of the Principality of Schaumburg-Lippe on 15 November 1918, following the German Revolution. It was a state in Germany during the Weimar Republic and Nazi Germany. The democratic government was suppressed during Nazi rule. At the end of the Second World War, the British military occupation government decreed on 1 November 1946 the union of Schaumburg-Lippe, Hannover, Braunschweig and Oldenburg to form the new state of Lower Saxony.

British Military Government Ordinance No. 55, merging Schaumburg-Lippe into the new state of Lower Saxony, effective 1 November 1946.
Map showing Free State of Lippe and Schaumburg-Lippe.

Government

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The state parliament consisted of a Landtag of 15 members elected for a term of three years by universal suffrage. The state administration, headed by a Staatsrat (State Councillor), was responsible to the Landtag and could be removed by a vote of no confidence.[1] For most of the Weimar period, the state coalition governments usually were headed by a Social Democrat or a non-partisan technocrat.[2]

Following their seizure of power at the national level, the Nazi government embarked on a policy of Gleichschaltung (coordination) by which they intended to eliminate any potential sources of opposition in the states. On 8 March 1933, Reich Interior Minister Wilhelm Frick appointed Kurt Matthaei as the Nazi Reichskommissar to take direct control of police functions in Schaumburg-Lippe.[3] This provoked the resignation of the SPD-led coalition government.[2]

The Reich government next enacted the "Provisional Law on the Coordination of the States with the Reich" on 31 March 1933. This mandated that all the sitting state Landtage be dissolved and reconstituted on the basis of the recent 5 March Reichstag election results. By this means, the Nazi Party secured a working majority in the Schaumburg-Lippe Landtag and installed Hans-Joachim Riecke as the head of government on 1 April. On 7 April, the Reich government enacted the "Second Law on the Coordination of the States with the Reich" that established more direct control over the states by means of the new powerful position of Reichsstatthalter (Reich Governor). Alfred Meyer, the Nazi Party Gauleiter for Gau Westphalia-North, was installed in this new post for both Schaumburg-Lippe and Lippe on 16 May 1933.[4]

By the provisions of the "Law on the Reconstruction of the Reich" of 31 January 1934, all state Landtage were abolished and the sovereignty of the states was passed to the Reich government. With that, Schaumburg-Lippe effectively lost its rights as a federal state, though it continued to exist as an administrative unit of the Reich until the fall of the Nazi regime.

After the war, Schaumburg-Lippe was part of the British occupation zone. It lost its status as a separate German state when it was merged into the newly founded state of Lower Saxony on 1 November 1946, which subsequently became a part of West Germany upon its establishment in May 1949.

Government Leaders

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Name Took office Left office Party
Minister of State
1 Friedrich von Feilitzsch [de] 15 November 1918 3 December 1918
Chairman of the State Council
2 Heinrich Lorenz [de] 4 December 1918 14 March 1919 SPD
State Councillors
3 Otto Bömers [de] 14 March 1919 22 May 1922 Ind.
4 Konrad Wippermann [de] 22 May 1922 28 May 1925 Ind.
5 Erich Steinbrecher [de] 28 May 1925 7 October 1927 SPD
Heinrich Lorenz 7 October 1927 7 March 1933 SPD
6 Hans-Joachim Riecke 1 April 1933 23 May 1933 NSDAP
Reichsstatthalter
Alfred Meyer 16 May 1933 11 April 1945 NSDAP
State President
7 Karl Dreier [de] 25 May 1933 8 April 1945 NSDAP
State Councillors
8 Heinrich Bövers [de] May 1945 15 June 1945 Ind.
9 Heinrich Drake 15 June 1945 30 April 1946 SPD
Heinrich Bövers 30 April 1946 9 December 1946 Ind.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Der Freistaat Schaumburg-Lippe Überblick". Retrieved 2 March 2023.
  2. ^ a b "Der Freistaat Schaumburg-Lippe Die Landesregierungen 1918–1933". Retrieved 2 March 2023.
  3. ^ "Nazi Coup in States: Police Powers Seized". No. 46389. The Times (London). 10 March 1933. p. 14.
  4. ^ Miller, Michael D.; Schulz, Andreas (2017). Gauleiter: The Regional Leaders of the Nazi Party and Their Deputies, 1925–1945. Vol. 2 (Georg Joel - Dr. Bernhard Rust). R. James Bender Publishing. p. 292. ISBN 978-1-932-97032-6.
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