Free State of Mecklenburg-Schwerin
Freistaat Mecklenburg-Schwerin (German)
State of Germany
1918–1933
of Mecklenburg-Schwerin
Coat of arms

The Free State of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (red) within the Weimar Republic
CapitalSchwerin
Population 
• 1925
674,411
 • TypeRepublic
Historical eraInterwar period
• Established
14 November 1918
• Disestablished
31 December 1933
Preceded by		Succeeded by
Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin
Mecklenburg

The Free State of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (German: Freistaat Mecklenburg-Schwerin) was a state in the Weimar Republic that was established on 14 November 1918 upon the abdication of the Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin following the German Revolution. In 1933, after the onset of Nazi rule, it was united with the smaller neighbouring Free State of Mecklenburg-Strelitz to form the new united state of Mecklenburg on 1 January 1934.

Government

The state parliament consisted of a landtag of a varying number of members but not fewer than 50, elected for a term of three years by universal suffrage. The state administration, headed by a Minister-President was responsible to the landtag and could be removed by a vote of no confidence.[1] For most of the Weimar period, the state governments were headed by either a Social Democrat or a Nationalist.[2] However, in the June 1932 landtag election, the Nazi Party became the largest party with 49% of the vote and a Nazi, Walter Granzow, became Minister-President on 13 July. Thus, Mecklenburg-Schwerin was one of only five states to have installed a Nazi-led government before the Nazis came to power nationally.[3]

Following their seizure of power at the national level, the Nazi government enacted the "Second Law on the Coordination of the States with the Reich" that established more direct control over the states by means of the new powerful position of Reichsstatthalter (Reich Governor). Friedrich Hildebrandt was installed in this post on 26 May 1933.[4] By the end of the year, Hildebrandt, who was also Reichsstatthalter of the neighboring Free State of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, moved to consolidate his domains and merged the two states into a new united state of Mecklenburg, effective 1 January 1934.[4] And with that, the brief fifteen-year existence of the Free State of Mecklenburg-Schwerin passed into history.

Rulers of Mecklenburg-Schwerin

President of the State Ministry

  • Hugo Wendorff (DDP) 1918–1919

Minister-Presidents

  • Hugo Wendorff (DDP) 1919–1920
  • Hermann Reincke-Bloch (DVP) 1920–1921
  • Johannes Stelling (SPD) 1921–1924
  • Joachim Freiherr von Brandenstein (DNVP) 1924–1926
  • Paul Schröder (SPD) 1926–1929
  • Karl Eschenburg (Consortium of National Mecklenburgers) 1929–1932
  • Walter Granzow (NSDAP) 1932–1933
  • Hans Egon Engell (NSDAP) 1933

Reichsstatthalter

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Der Freistaat Mecklenburg-Schwerin Überblick". Retrieved 2 March 2023.
  2. ↑ "Der Freistaat Mecklenburg-Schwerin Die Staatsministerien 1918–1933". Retrieved 2 March 2023.
  3. ↑ Orlow, Dietrich (1969). The History of the Nazi Party: 1919–1933. University of Pittsburgh Press. p. 277. ISBN 0-8229-3183-4.
  4. 1 2 Miller, Michael D.; Schulz, Andreas (2012). Gauleiter: The Regional Leaders of the Nazi Party and Their Deputies, 1925–1945. Vol. 1 (Herbert Albrecht - H. Wilhelm Hüttmann). R. James Bender Publishing. pp. 485–486. ISBN 978-1-932-97021-0.

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