President of Germany (1919–1945)
Head of state under the Weimar Constitution / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The President of the Reich (German: Reichspräsident) was the German head of state under the Weimar constitution, which was officially in force from 1919 to 1945. In English he was usually simply referred to as the President of Germany.
President of the Reich | |
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Reichspräsident (German) | |
Style | His Excellency |
Type | Head of state |
Status | Abolished |
Residence | Presidential Palace |
Seat | Berlin, Germany |
Appointer | Direct election under a two-round system |
Term length | Seven years, with the possibility of indefinite re-election |
Constituting instrument | Weimar constitution |
Precursor | German Emperor |
Formation | 11 February 1919 |
First holder | Friedrich Ebert |
Final holder | Paul von Hindenburg (constitutionally) Karl Dönitz (de facto) |
Abolished |
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Superseded by |
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The Weimar constitution created a semi-presidential system in which power was divided between president, cabinet and parliament.[1][2][3] The Reichspräsident was directly elected under universal adult suffrage for a seven-year term. It was intended that the president would rule in conjunction with the Reichstag (legislature) and that his emergency powers would be exercised only in extraordinary circumstances, but the political instability of the Weimar period, and a paralysing factionalism in the legislature, meant that the president came to occupy a position of considerable power, capable of legislating by decree and appointing and dismissing governments at will.
In 1934, after the death of President Hindenburg, Adolf Hitler, already chancellor, assumed the powers of the presidency[4] as Führer und Reichskanzler ("Leader and Chancellor"), highlighting the positions he already held in party and government. In his last will in April 1945, Hitler named Joseph Goebbels his successor as chancellor but named Karl Dönitz as Reichspräsident, thus reviving the presidential office. However, this revival only lasted until shortly after the German surrender in May 1945.
The Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany established the office of Federal President (Bundespräsident), which is, however, a chiefly ceremonial post largely devoid of political power.