The First German Bundestag was the first German parliament after the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. It existed between September 7, 1949 and September 7, 1953. The senior president was Paul Löbe from the SPD. On September 15, 1949, the first Bundestag elected

Konrad Adenauer Konrad Hermann Joseph Adenauer (5 January 1876 – 19 April 1967) was a German statesman and politician who served as the first Chancellor of Germany, chancellor of West Germany from 1949 to 1963. From 1946 to 1966, he was the first leader of th ...

( CDU ) Chancellor with 202 yes votes, 142 no votes, 44 abstentions and one invalid vote in the first ballot. The first bundestag held a total of 282 sessions, with the last session taking place on July 29, 1953. It was succeeded by the

Second German Bundestag The Bundestag is the German federal parliament, and the only federal representative body that is directly elected by the German people. It was established in 1949 by the Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany and is the historical successor ...

Dates of Session

1949-1953 *Election for the first Bundestag occurred on 14 August 1949. *The Bundestag convened for the first time in

Bonn Bonn () is a federal city in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, located on the banks of the Rhine. With a population exceeding 300,000, it lies about south-southeast of Cologne, in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr region. This ...

on 7 September 1949. *The session ended on September 7, 1953.

Members

Coalitions

* CDU/

CSU CSU may refer to: Universities and university systems United States * Columbia Southern University, in Orange Beach, Alabama * California State University system * Colorado State University, in Fort Collins, Colorado * Connecticut State Univers ...

, FDP and DP form coalition (208 seats, 51.7%) to elect

as the first

Chancellor of Germany The chancellor of Germany, officially the federal chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, is the head of the federal Cabinet of Germany, government of Germany. The chancellor is the chief executive of the Federal Government of Germany, ...

Major political events

*Bundestag meets with

quorum A quorum is the minimum number of members of a group necessary to constitute the group at a meeting. In a deliberative assembly (a body that uses parliamentary procedure, such as a legislature), a quorum is necessary to conduct the business of ...

of members to elect Erich Köhler first

President of the Bundestag The president of the Bundestag ( or ; Grammatical gender in German#Professions, when the office is held by a man) presides over the sessions of the Bundestag, the federal parliament of Germany, with functions similar to that of a speaker (poli ...

, 7 September 1949. *

Federal Convention The Constitutional Convention took place in Philadelphia from May 25 to September 17, 1787. While the convention was initially intended to revise the league of states and devise the first system of federal government under the Articles of Conf ...

elects

Theodor Heuss Theodor Heuss (; 31 January 1884 – 12 December 1963) was a German liberal politician who served as the first president of West Germany from 1949 to 1959. His civil demeanour and his cordial nature – something of a contrast to German nati ...

first

President of Germany The president of Germany, officially titled the Federal President of the Federal Republic of Germany (),The official title within Germany is ', with ' being added in international correspondence; the official English title is President of the F ...

. The President takes the oath of office before a joint session of the Bundestag and the Bundesrat on the same date, Friday, 12 September 1949. *Bundestag elects

first Chancellor of Germany, Monday 15 September 1949. *Köhler loses support within his own party,

Hermann Ehlers Hermann Ehlers (1 October 1904 – 29 October 1954) was a German politician. He was the second president of the Bundestag from 19 October 1950 to 29 October 1954. He was a member of the Christian Democratic Union. Early life Ehlers was born ...

elected second President of the Bundestag. *

Kurt Schumacher Curt Ernst Carl Schumacher, better known as Kurt Schumacher (13 October 1895 – 20 August 1952), was a German politician and resistance fighter against the Nazis. He was chairman of the Social Democratic Party of Germany from 1946 and the fir ...

is temporarily removed from the Bundestag after calling Adenauer "the Allied Forces' Chancellor" *Bundestag passes laws concerning restitution and recovery of damages due to World War II (''Lastenausgleichsgesetz''),

corporate governance Corporate governance refers to the mechanisms, processes, practices, and relations by which corporations are controlled and operated by their boards of directors, managers, shareholders, and stakeholders. Definitions "Corporate governance" may ...

, and

antitrust Competition law is the field of law that promotes or seeks to maintain market competition by regulating anti-competitive conduct by companies. Competition law is implemented through public and private enforcement. It is also known as antitrust l ...

regulation *Bundestag ratifies treaty for the

European Coal and Steel Community The European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) was a European organization created after World War II to integrate Europe's coal and steel industries into a single common market based on the principle of supranationalism which would be governe ...

Officers

- Erich Köhler,

Seats by party

References

Bundestag Election Results (German)
{{s-end 001 1949 establishments in West Germany 1953 disestablishments in West Germany