Weimar Republic - Aftermath

Aftermath

The constitution of 1919 was never formally repealed, but the Enabling Act meant that it was a dead letter. The Enabling Act itself was breached by Hitler on three occasions in 1934: Article 2 of the act stated that

'Laws enacted by the government of the Reich may deviate from the constitution as long as they do not affect the institutions of the Reichstag and the Reichsrat. The rights of the President remain undisturbed.'

The powers of the Länder (states) were transferred to the central government, rendering the Reichsrat obsolete. A month later, the Reichsrat itself was dissolved. President von Hindenburg died in August, and Hitler appropriated the president's powers for himself. The Enabling Act did not specify any recourse that could be taken if the chancellor violated Article 2, and no judicial challenge ensued. Following the death of Hindenburg in 1934, the constitution was largely forgotten, with some minor exceptions. In Hitler's 1945 political testament, written shortly before his suicide, he appointed Admiral Karl Doenitz to succeed him, but as President rather than Fuehrer, thereby re-establishing a constitutional office dormant since Hindenburg's death twelve years earlier. On 30 April 1945, Doenitz formed what became known as the Flensburg government, which de facto controlled only a tiny area of Germany near the Danish border and the town of Flensburg. It was dissolved by the Allies on 23 May. On 5 June, the Allied Berlin Declaration stated in its preamble that the Allies assumed

supreme authority with respect to Germany, including all the powers possessed by the German Government and any state, municipal, or local government or authority.

It also declared that there was

no central Government or authority in Germany capable of accepting responsibility for the maintenance of order, the administration of the country and compliance with the requirements of the victorious Powers.

Article 13 of the declaration read:

he four Allied Governments will take such steps, including the complete disarmament and demilitarization of Germany, as they deem requisite for future peace and security. The Allied Representatives will impose on Germany additional political, administrative, economic, financial, military and other requirements arising from the complete defeat of Germany. All German authorities and the German people shall carry out unconditionally the requirements of the Allied Representatives, and shall fully comply with all such proclamations, orders, ordinances and instructions.

These provisions, not legally challenged by either of the subsequent German governments, meant that neither any NSDAP decree nor the 1919 constitution held any legal force over the Allies' administration of Germany.

The 1949 Constitution of the German Democratic Republic contained many passages that were originally part of the 1919 constitution. It was intended to be the constitution of a united Germany, and was thus a compromise between liberal-democratic and Leninist ideologies. It was replaced by a new, explicitly Leninist constitution in 1968, which was substantially amended in 1974. In 1990, the GDR dissolved altogether.

The Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany, enacted in 1949, stated that

The provisions of Articles 136, 137, 138, 139 and 141 of the German Constitution of 11 August 1919 shall be an integral part of this Basic Law.

These articles of the Weimar constitution (which dealt with the state's relationship to various Christian churches) remain part of the German Basic Law.