The ''Parlamentarischer Rat'' (
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
**Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ger ...
for "Parliamentary Council") was the
West German
West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...
constituent assembly
A constituent assembly (also known as a constitutional convention, constitutional congress, or constitutional assembly) is a body assembled for the purpose of drafting or revising a constitution. Members of a constituent assembly may be elected b ...
in
Bonn
The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr r ...
that drafted and adopted the constitution of West Germany, the
Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany, promulgated on 23 May 1949.
Convening
The Council was implemented by the
minister-president
A minister-president or minister president is the head of government in a number of European countries or subnational governments with a parliamentary or semi-presidential system of government where they preside over the council of ministers. It ...
s of the eleven
states of Germany within the three Western
Allied occupation zones
Germany was already de facto occupied by the Allies from the real fall of Nazi Germany in World War II on 8 May 1945 to the establishment of the East Germany on 7 October 1949. The Allies (United States, United Kingdom, Soviet Union, and France ...
and inaugurated on 1 September 1948. It included 70 state delegates selected by 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 in non- ...
'' parliaments specifically for this purpose (including five non-voting representatives of
West Berlin
West Berlin (german: Berlin (West) or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin during the years of the Cold War. Although West Berlin was de jure not part of West Germany, lacked any sovereignty, and was under mi ...
), many of them state ministers, government officials or legal academics. The deputies could rely on a draft document prepared by the constitutional
Herrenchiemsee convention
{{short description, Meeting of constitutional experts
The Constitutional Convention at Herrenchiemsee (german: Verfassungskonvent auf Herrenchiemsee) was a meeting of constitutional experts nominated by the minister-presidents of the Western Sta ...
held in August.
The Council was officially opened by
North Rhine-Westphalia
North Rhine-Westphalia (german: Nordrhein-Westfalen, ; li, Noordrien-Wesfale ; nds, Noordrhien-Westfalen; ksh, Noodrhing-Wäßßfaale), commonly shortened to NRW (), is a States of Germany, state (''Land'') in Western Germany. With more tha ...
minister-president
Karl Arnold
Karl Arnold (21 March 1901 – 29 June 1958) was a German politician. He was Minister President of North Rhine-Westphalia from 1947 to 1956.
Early life and education
Arnold was born in Herrlishöfen in Württemberg on 21 March 1901. He was tra ...
as host. The second speaker was
Hessian
A Hessian is an inhabitant of the German state of Hesse.
Hessian may also refer to:
Named from the toponym
*Hessian (soldier), eighteenth-century German regiments in service with the British Empire
**Hessian (boot), a style of boot
**Hessian f ...
minister-president
Christian Stock
Christian Stock (28 August 1884, Darmstadt, Grand Duchy of Hesse – 13 April 1967 in Seeheim-Jugenheim) was a German Social Democrat politician and the first Prime Minister—''Ministerpräsident''—of the provisional state of Greater Hess ...
as current head of the Ministerial Conference of the Federal States. The site of the opening ceremony was at the great hall of the
Museum Koenig in Bonn, a preliminary decision in view of the "provisional" capital of a West German state, which the minister-presidents at a convention in
Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in th ...
on 11 October 1948 decided to locate in Bonn (instead of
Frankfurt
Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...
). The assembly elected the
Christian Democratic
Christian democracy (sometimes named Centrist democracy) is a political ideology that emerged in 19th-century Europe under the influence of Catholic social teaching and neo-Calvinism.
It was conceived as a combination of modern democratic ...
politician
Konrad Adenauer, former mayor of
Cologne
Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 m ...
, its president. The regular sessions of the Parliamentary Council were held at the nearby
Pedagogical Academy building.
The delegates of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) already formed a united faction with their
Christian Social (CSU) colleagues from
Bavaria
Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...
, as did the liberal
Free Democratic Party Free Democratic Party is the name of several political parties around the world. It usually designates a party ideologically based on liberalism.
Current parties with that name include:
*Free Democratic Party (Germany), a liberal political party in ...
(FDP) together with the Hessian Liberal-Democratic Party and the
Democratic People's Party (DVP) from
Württemberg-Baden
Württemberg-Baden was a state of the Federal Republic of Germany. It was created in 1945 by the United States occupation forces, after the previous states of Baden and Württemberg had been split up between the US and French occupation zones. I ...
and
Württemberg-Hohenzollern
Württemberg-Hohenzollern (french: Wurtemberg-Hohenzollern ) was a West German state created in 1945 as part of the French post-World War II occupation zone. Its capital was Tübingen. In 1952, it was merged into the newly founded state of Bad ...
. The 65 voting members included 27 Christian Democrats, 27
Social Democrats (SPD) led by
Carlo Schmid, and five Liberals under
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 cordial nature – something of a contrast to the stern character of chancellor Ko ...
. In addition, the
Communist Party
A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of ''The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. A ...
, the
German Party and the
Centre Party each sent two delegates. Four of the 65 delegates were women:
Elisabeth Selbert
Elisabeth Selbert (1896–1986) was a German politician and lawyer. She was one of the four women who worked on the Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany, collectively called the ''Mütter des Grundgesetzes'' ( en, Mothers of the Bas ...
(SPD),
Friederike Nadig (SPD),
Helene Weber
Helene Weber (born 17 March 1881 in Elberfeld, now Wuppertal, Rhine Province, died 25 July 1962 in Bonn) was a German politician and was known as a women's rights activist. In the Weimar Republic she rose to prominence in the Catholic Centre Party ...
(CDU) and
Helene Wessel (Centre). The SPD deputy
Paul Löbe had served as President of the
Reichstag parliament from 1925 until 1932, when he was succeeded by
Hermann Göring.
Proceedings
The primary purpose of the Council was to prepare a new constitution for
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
, thereby drawing lessons from the failure of the
Weimar Republic
The Weimar Republic (german: link=no, Weimarer Republik ), officially named the German Reich, was the government of Germany from 1918 to 1933, during which it was a constitutional federal republic for the first time in history; hence it is al ...
and the rise of
Nazism
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...
, in order to re-establish a
federal
Federal or foederal (archaic) may refer to:
Politics
General
*Federal monarchy, a federation of monarchies
*Federation, or ''Federal state'' (federal system), a type of government characterized by both a central (federal) government and states or ...
state based upon a stable
democracy
Democracy (From grc, δημοκρατία, dēmokratía, ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which the people have the authority to deliberate and decide legislation (" direct democracy"), or to choose gov ...
,
welfare
Welfare, or commonly social welfare, is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refer specificall ...
and the ''
Rechtsstaat'' (
rule of law
The rule of law is the political philosophy that all citizens and institutions within a country, state, or community are accountable to the same laws, including lawmakers and leaders. The rule of law is defined in the ''Encyclopedia Britannica ...
) maxim. The draft declared human
dignity
Dignity is the right of a person to be valued and respected for their own sake, and to be treated ethically. It is of significance in morality, ethics, law and politics as an extension of the Enlightenment-era concepts of inherent, inalienable ...
inviolable, and to respect and protect it the duty of all state authority. These basic principles were explicitly declared irreversible by the so-called
eternity clause
Eternity, in common parlance, means infinite time that never ends or the quality, condition, or fact of being everlasting or eternal. Classical philosophy, however, defines eternity as what is timeless or exists outside time, whereas sempitern ...
. To distinguish it from the newly established
People's Republics behind the
Iron Curtain
The Iron Curtain was the political boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II in 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1991. The term symbolizes the efforts by the Soviet Union (USSR) to block itself and its s ...
, the draft laid stress on a
parliamentary system
A parliamentary system, or parliamentarian democracy, is a system of democratic governance of a state (or subordinate entity) where the executive derives its democratic legitimacy from its ability to command the support ("confidence") of the ...
and the
separation of powers
Separation of powers refers to the division of a state's government into branches, each with separate, independent powers and responsibilities, so that the powers of one branch are not in conflict with those of the other branches. The typic ...
, all bound to the constitution. It included a charter of
fundamental rights and the right of access to courts.
The
Chancellor
Chancellor ( la, cancellarius) is a title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the or lattice work screens of a basilica or law cou ...
as
head of government
The head of government is the highest or the second-highest official in the executive branch of a sovereign state, a federated state, or a self-governing colony, autonomous region, or other government who often presides over a cabinet, a gro ...
was authorized to draw up the guidelines of policies, while the powers of the
President of Germany
The president of Germany, officially the Federal President of the Federal Republic of Germany (german: link=no, Bundespräsident der Bundesrepublik Deutschland),The official title within Germany is ', with ' being added in international corres ...
as
head of state
A head of state (or chief of state) is the public persona who officially embodies a state Foakes, pp. 110–11 " he head of statebeing an embodiment of the State itself or representatitve of its international persona." in its unity and l ...
were limited. In consequence of the destructive motions in the former Reichstag, the draft implemented the
constructive vote of no confidence, whereafter the Chancellor may only be removed from office by the
Bundestag
The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet") is the German federal parliament. It is the only federal representative body that is directly elected by the German people. It is comparable to the United States House of Representatives or the House of Commons ...
parliament if a prospective successor has the support of a majority. The concept of ''
Streitbare Demokratie
Defensive democracy is a term referring to the collection of laws
Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its p ...
'' also included the implementation of the
Federal Constitutional Court as an independent judicial body. Its
preamble
A preamble is an introductory and expressionary statement in a document that explains the document's purpose and underlying philosophy. When applied to the opening paragraphs of a statute, it may recite historical facts pertinent to the subj ...
stated the obligation to achieve German unity and the draft also provided for the accession of "other parts of Germany", as it was applied to the joining of the former
Saar Protectorate in 1957 and
German reunification
German reunification (german: link=no, Deutsche Wiedervereinigung) was the process of re-establishing Germany as a united and fully sovereign state, which took place between 2 May 1989 and 15 March 1991. The day of 3 October 1990 when the Ge ...
in 1990. The Western Allies insisted on the special status of
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...
, which is why the Bundestag MPs from
West Berlin
West Berlin (german: Berlin (West) or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin during the years of the Cold War. Although West Berlin was de jure not part of West Germany, lacked any sovereignty, and was under mi ...
were not entitled to vote.
The Council adopted the new constitution on 8 May 1949, with 53 votes for and 12 votes against, the Communist, German Party and Centre delegates voted against, as did six out of the eight CSU representatives. It also drafted the Election Law ("Wahlgesetz") for the first Bundestag election of 1949 (which was later on replaced by the "Bundeswahlgesetz"). The draft was approved by the three Western Supreme Commanders on May 12, as did the state assemblies—except for the Bavarian ''Landtag'' for an assumed insufficient realization of the federalism principle, knowing that the consent of two thirds of the state parliaments were enough for the enactment. The Basic Law was then formally signed and promulgated on May 23. The Parliamentary Council disassembled once it had finished its purpose, i.e. after the ratification and the enactment of the first Election Law in preparation of the
1949 federal election, which among others the Basic Law had left it as a remaining task.
References
Sources
* Josef Becker/ Theo Stammen/ Peter Waldmann (eds.): ''Vorgeschichte der Bundesrepublik Deutschland''. München: UTB Wilhelm Fink Verlag, 1979.
* Frank R. Pfetsch et al.: ''Ursprünge der Zweiten Republik''. Opladen: Westdeutscher Verlag, 1990.
*
*
*
See also
*Post-World War II
Constituent Assembly of Italy
*
Politics of Germany
Germany is a democratic and federal parliamentary republic, where federal legislative power is vested in the (the parliament of Germany) and the (the representative body of the , Germany's regional states).
The federal system has, since 194 ...
*
Weimar National Assembly of 1919
{{Authority control
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
Political history of Germany
1948 in Germany
1949 in Germany
*