The Landtag of the Republic of Baden was the representative legislative body for the

Republic of Baden The Republic of Baden () was a German state during the Weimar Republic. It was formed as the successor to the Grand Duchy of Baden during the German revolution of 1918–1919 and formally dissolved in 1945. Today it is part of the federal state ...

from 1919 to 1934 during the time of the

Weimar Republic The Weimar Republic, officially known as the German Reich, was the German Reich, German state from 1918 to 1933, during which it was a constitutional republic for the first time in history; hence it is also referred to, and unofficially proclai ...

. It succeeded the second chamber of the ''Badische Ständeversammlung'' (Chamber of Estates) of the

Grand Duchy of Baden The Grand Duchy of Baden () was a German polity on the east bank of the Rhine. It originally existed as a sovereign state from 1806 to 1871 and later as part of the German Empire until 1918. The duchy's 12th-century origins were as a Margravia ...

. Through most of the Weimar period, the ''

Landtag A ''Landtag'' (State Diet) is generally the legislative assembly or parliament of a federated state or other subnational self-governing entity in German-speaking nations. It is usually a unicameral assembly exercising legislative competence ...

'' was dominated by parties of the

Weimar Coalition The Weimar Coalition () is the name given to the coalition government formed by the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), the German Democratic Party (DDP) and the Catholic Centre Party (Z), who together had a large majority of the delegates ...

, with the Catholic Centre Party as the largest party. After the

Nazis came to power The rise to power of Adolf Hitler, dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945, began in the newly established Weimar Republic in September 1919, when Hitler joined the ''German Workers' Party, Deutsche Arbeiterpartei'' (DAP; German Workers' Par ...

at the national level, they instituted the ''

Gleichschaltung The Nazi term (), meaning "synchronization" or "coordination", was the process of Nazification by which Adolf Hitler—leader of the Nazi Party in Nazi Germany, Germany—established a system of totalitarian control and coordination over all ...

'' (coordination) process by enacting the " Provisional Law on the Coordination of the States with the Reich" on 30 March 1933. This dissolved all the sitting ''Landtage'' and reconstituted them on the basis of the recent 5 March 1933 ''Reichstag'' election results, which had given the

Nazi Party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party ( or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported the ideology of Nazism. Its precursor ...

and its coalition partner the

DNVP The German National People's Party (, DNVP) was a national-conservative and monarchist political party in Germany during the Weimar Republic. Before the rise of the Nazi Party, it was the major nationalist party in Weimar Germany. It was an alli ...

a working majority. In Baden, this resulted in the Weimar Coalition parties being reduced from 58 seats to 25, while the Nazis and their partner increased their representation from 9 to 32. During its last session (6 March to 14 October 1933) the ''Landtag'' only held three sittings between 16 May and 9 June 1933 and passed no significant legislation. On 14 October the ''Landtag'' was dissolved along with those of all the German states and no new elections were scheduled. On 30 January 1934, the Reich government enacted the "

Law on the Reconstruction of the Reich The Law on the Reconstruction of the Reich () of 30 January 1934, was a sweeping constitutional change to the structure of the German state by the government of Nazi Germany. It was one of the key pieces of legislation that served as the basis f ...

", formally abolishing all the ''Landtage'' and transferring the

sovereignty Sovereignty can generally be defined as supreme authority. Sovereignty entails hierarchy within a state as well as external autonomy for states. In any state, sovereignty is assigned to the person, body or institution that has the ultimate au ...

of the states to the central government.

Legal basis and structure

Sessions

Presidents

Elections

Party leaders

References

Bibliography

* Michael Braun: ''Der Badische Landtag 1918–1933. Handbuch der Geschichte des deutschen Parlamentarismus.'' Droste Verlag, Düsseldorf 2010, . * Martin Furtwängler (Bearbeitg.): ''Die Protokolle der Regierung der Republik Baden. Erster Band: die provisorische Regierung November 1918 – März 1919.'' W. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 2012, .

External links

* {{in lang, de}
Digitalisierte Protokolle der Badischen Ständeversammlung: Badische Landesbibliothek Karlsruhe
1919 establishments in Germany 1934 disestablishments in Germany Defunct lower houses Historical legislatures in Germany History of Karlsruhe History of Baden