Free State of Saxe-Gotha

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The Free State of Saxe-Gotha (German: Freistaat Sachsen-Gotha), initially also known as the Republic of Gotha (German: Republik Gotha), emerged after the World War I from the Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. It existed from November 1918 to May 1, 1920: It united with six other states to form the State of Thuringia.

History

Revolution 1918

On November 9, 1918, the Gotha Reichstag representative Wilhelm Bock (USPD) proclaimed the Gotha Republic on the main market in Gotha and declared Duke Carl Eduard deposed. Five days later, on November 14, the joint state parliament of Saxony-Coburg and Saxony-Gotha held its last meeting in Gotha. At this meeting, the Duke announced his resignation. Finally, the state parliament dissolved itself. The two former duchies went their separate ways in the political developments that followed.

The executive committee of the Workers' and Soldiers' Council of Gotha took over the Duke's responsibilities in Gotha under the leadership of Otto Geithner. After a delegate conference of the workers' and soldiers' councils on November 30, the executive was taken over by three "People's Representatives for the State of Gotha", who signed "State Ministry, The People's Representatives". These were Wilhelm Bock, Emil Grabow and Adolf Schauder, with Bock resigning at the beginning of February and being replaced by Albin Tenner. The state administration was headed by State Minister von Bassewitz until May 1919.

Election of the State Assembly

On January 23, 1919, they set February 23 as the election day for the State Assembly of Gotha. The USPD won the absolute majority. The election campaign was overshadowed by the occupation of Gotha by Reichswehr units of General Maercker on February 18, 1919. This was triggered by military preparations against the meeting of the National Assembly in Weimar. The workers' movement responded to the occupation with a general strike, which in turn triggered a civil strike. On March 26, 1919, the people's representatives Schauder, Grabow and Tenner were confirmed as members of the government by the newly elected state assembly with 10 votes to 8.

On April 12, 1919, the separation of Saxe-Gotha and Saxe-Coburg was completed with the "State Treaty on the Administration of the Common Affairs of the Free States of Coburg and Gotha". After Carl Eduard had rejected a compensation offer of 15 million marks for the loss of his property, the "Law on the Confiscation of the Gotha House Fideikommiß, the Lichtenberg Fideikommiß, the Ernst-Albert Fideikommiß, the Schmalkalden Forests and the House Allod" was passed by the state assembly on July 31, 1919. It was the only expropriation of princes in Germany and was later annulled by a ruling of the Reich Court on June 18, 1925. The "Community Treaty on the Merger of the Thuringian States" was approved by all parties on May 28, 1919. The decision on a constitution based on a draft by Hermann Brill was made on December 23, 1919, as the last Thuringian state to do so, with the "Law for the Provisional Government Power in the Republic of Gotha," after a first draft incorporating the council system failed to come into force in the summer.

Conflicts with the Reich

On the occasion of the Kapp Putsch in March 1920 in Berlin, the state government led by the USPD called for a general strike in the Free State of Gotha. The workers armed themselves and stormed, among other things, the Gotha prison. In response, a Reichswehr unit was sent from Erfurt to Gotha on March 13, 1920. As a result, there were civil war-like clashes in Gotha with more than 100 deaths, after which the decimated Reichswehr Association withdrew to Erfurt on March 18. On March 20, a Marburg unit was transferred to Gotha, which drove 15 workers to the village of Mechterstädt near Gotha and shot them there during the Mechterstädt murders.

Another general strike followed from March 26 to 31. The eight members of the bourgeois parties in the state assembly demanded the resignation of the state government due to the events and finally resigned their seats in order to force new elections by failing to pass a quorum. Since the state assembly continued to meet with the USPD members, the opposition filed a complaint to the Reich Minister of the Interior on March 31 because of the unconstitutional conditions. This, as well as the executive committee to which the people's representatives had submitted themselves, were the triggers for the Reich Execution against Saxony-Gotha on April 10, 1920, which meant the declaration of a state of emergency, the appointment of the Reich Government Commissioner Wilhelm Holle and later the dissolution of the state assembly and new elections.

Since the People's Representatives were not prepared to cooperate with the Reich Commissioner, he appointed a Civil Service Government on May 10, 1920, with State Councilors Wilharm and Muther. In the new elections on May 30, the USPD lost its majority in the state parliament. On June 15, a bourgeois state government was formed with the People's Representatives Max Heyn (Landbund), Otto Liebetrau (DDP) and Friedrich Pfeffer (DVP).

Transition to the state of Thuringia

The state assembly elected on May 30 was dissolved again on January 7, 1921, as the USPD representatives began to boycott the sessions of the state assembly in July and render the parliament incapable of acting by resigning their seats. On March 6, 1921, the new elections for the regional representation took place. The Gothaer Heimat Bund, an association of bourgeois parties, regained the majority and formed the regional government with Max Heyn (Landbund), Otto Liebetrau (DDP) and Johannes Rasch (DVP) until March 30, 1923.

With the founding of the Land Thüringen on May 1, 1920, the Free State of Saxony-Gotha formally ceased to exist as a sovereign federal state, but the Gotha state government was still an important institution until the election of the Thuringian state government on November 10, 1920. The "Law on the Administration of the Former Thuringian States in the Transitional Period" of December 9, 1920 finally converted the Free State of Gotha into a higher-order municipal association with regional representation and regional government, which was abolished on April 1, 1923.

National Assembly

On January 23, 1919, they set February 23 as the election day for the Gotha National Assembly. The USPD obtained an absolute majority. The election campaign was overshadowed by the occupation of Gotha by Reichswehr units of General Maercker on 18 February 1919. The trigger was a military preparation against the gathering of the National Assembly of Weimar. The occupation was responded to by the labor movement with a general strike, which in turn triggered a civil strike. On March 26, 1919, the people's representatives Schauder, Grabow and Tenner were confirmed as members of the government by the newly elected regional assembly by a vote of 10 to 8.

The separation of the two parts of the former duchy was finally completed on 12 April 1919, when a state treaty was signed on the management of the common administration of the Free States of Coburg and Gotha.^[1][2]

On the occasion of the Kapp Putsch in March 1920 in Berlin, the state government led by the USPD in the Free State of Gotha called for a general strike. In the process, the workers armed themselves and stormed the Gotha prison, among other things. In response, on 13 March 1920, a Reichswehr unit was sent from Erfurt to Gotha. As a result, it reached Gotha in civil war clashes with over 100 dead, after which on 18 March the Reichswehrverband retreated to Erfurt. On March 20, a unit from Marburg was transferred to Gotha, and the Mechterstädt murders took place, where 15 workers died in the village of Mechterstädt, near Gotha.

State Assembly

Election for regional representation

• Election date: March 6, 1921
• Total number of seats: 15

• Regional government: Max Heyn (Landbund), Otto Liebetrau (DDP), Johannes Rasch (DVP)

Politics

Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars

• November 14, 1918 - March 25, 1919: Otto Geithner (USPD)

Minister of State

• March 25, 1919 - May 1, 1920: Otto Geithner (USPD)

Literature

• Joachim Bergmann: The domestic political development of Thuringia in the period from 1918 to 1932. Europaforum-Verlag, Lauf an der Pegnitz 2001, ISBN 3-931070-27-1, (Culture and History of Thuringia 16 = 19).
• Jörg Siegmund: Between consensus and blockade politics: The transitional parliaments in Saxony-Gotha and Saxony-Coburg. In: Harald Mittelsdorf (ed.): The forgotten parliaments. State parliaments and regional representations in the Thuringian states and regions 1919 to 1923. Published by the Thuringian State Parliament. Hain, Rudolstadt et al. 2002, ISBN 3-89807-038-7 (Writings on the history of parliamentarism in Thuringia 19).
• Franz Hammer: Free State of Gotha in the Kapp Putsch: Based on documents and memories of old comrades. Verlag Neues Leben, Berlin 1955.
• Ulrich Heß: The Saxe-Coburg and Gotha State Ministry 1858–1918. In: Yearbook of the Coburg State Foundation 7, 1962, ISSN 0084-8808, pp. 13–92 (also: special print).

References

See also

• Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
• State of Thuringia
• World War I

External links

• The Free State of Gotha at a glance