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People's State of Reuss

Coordinates: 50°52′50″N 12°05′00″E / 50.88056°N 12.08333°E / 50.88056; 12.08333
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People's State of Reuss
Volksstaat Reuß (German)
1918–1920
Coat of arms of Reuss
Coat of arms
Thuringia within the Weimar Republic
Thuringia within the Weimar Republic
People's State of Reuss (in dark and light pink) within Thuringia
People's State of Reuss (in dark and light pink) within Thuringia
CapitalGera
50°52′50″N 12°05′00″E / 50.88056°N 12.08333°E / 50.88056; 12.08333
GovernmentRepublic
Historical eraInterwar period
• Established
4 April 1918
• Merged into Thuringia
1 May 1920
Area
19191,143 km2 (441 sq mi)
Population
• 1919
211,324
Preceded by		 Succeeded by
Principality of Reuss-Greiz
Principality of Reuss-Gera
Thuringia
Today part ofGermany

The People's State of Reuss (German: Volksstaat Reuß) was a small, short-lived (1918–1920) central German state during the early years of the Weimar Republic. It was formed following the dissolution of the principalities of Reuss-Gera and Reuss-Greiz during the German revolution of 1918–1919. After Prince Heinrich XXVII abdicated for both principalities, they joined to form the People's State of Reuss. It became part of the new state of Thuringia when it was created on 1 May 1920.

Predecessor states

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The People's State of Reuss was formed from the merger of two former principalities of the House of Reuss: Reuss-Greiz (also known as Reuss Elder Line) and Reuss-Gera (the Junior Line). Both had been member states of the German Empire from 1871 until its fall in 1918 at the end of World War I. Due to the incapacity of Prince Heinrich XXIV of Reuss-Greiz, the two principalities were ruled in a personal union by Prince Heinrich XXVII of the Junior Line from 1908 to 1918.[1][2] Each principality had one seat in the Empire's Reichstag and one in the Bundesrat.

Revolution of 1918

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The two principalities collapsed during the revolution of 1918–1919, which brought down the German Empire and all of Germany's royal houses at the end of World War I. The revolution began in late October 1918 when rebellious sailors at Kiel set up a workers' and soldiers' council and in early November spread the revolt across the rest of Germany. Emperor Wilhelm II fled to Holland on 10 November, and councils quickly took power from the existing military, royal and civil authorities with little resistance or bloodshed.[3]

The revolution reached the Reuss principalities on 10 November. At Gera, a workers' and soldiers' council was formed following a public assembly that had demanded Prince Heinrich's abdication and the resignation of his ministers and of the mayor of Gera. Shortly afterwards, the Prince formally abdicated for both principalities. A demonstration at Greiz the same day also called for Heinrich to abdicate and for the principality to become a socialist republic. A workers' and soldiers' council was set up the next day, and the Prince's abdication was announced.[4][5]

Elections and the Kapp Putsch

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The principalities set up separate transitional governments under the leadership of their respective workers' and soldiers' councils. Reuss-Gera's state minister was the independent Karl Freiherr von Brandenstein and Reuss-Greitz's was William Oberländer of the liberal German Democratic Party (DDP). Each government had a single state councilor (Staatsrat) from the radical left Independent Social Democratic Party (USPD).[6] An administrative union of the two states was formed on 21 December 1918.[7]

On 2 February 1919 both states held elections for their still separate state parliaments (Landtag in the singular). In Reuss-Gera, a combined list of the USPD and the moderate Social Democratic Party (SPD) won 62% of the vote; in Greitz 45% went to the USPD and 16% to the SPD.[8] Two months later, on 4 April, the combined Landtags passed the "Law on the Unification of the Two Free States of Reuss into One People's State of Reuss and on the Provisional Constitution and Administration".[9][10] Brandenstein and Oberländer became joint state ministers of the new government.[6] All of the state councilors were from the USPD.[7] The capital was Gera.

During the March 1920 Kapp Putsch, a right-wing attempt to overthrow the government of the Weimar Republic, about 1,500 Freikorps and volunteer troops sympathetic to the putschists occupied Gera's town hall and other key buildings. A strike was called in protest, and on the 15th a demonstration led to a street battle in which two soldiers and 15 protesters were killed. At the end of eight hours of fighting, the putschists had been disarmed and the city retaken.[11]

Another violent clash took place near the Reuss village of Naitschau on 21 March, when a hastily mustered workers' militia confronted two Reichswehr battalions marching towards Leipzig to help put down a workers' uprising there. The militia succeeded in stopping the Reichswehr units at a total cost of 13 to 15 lives.[12]

Transition to the State of Thuringia

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In late March 1919, representatives of the eight Thuringian states had met in Weimar to begin discussing plans to form a unified state. All except Coburg signed the “Community Agreement on the Merger of the Thuringian States” on 4 January 1920. Both houses of the Weimar Republic's parliament subsequently passed a federal law officially creating the State of Thuringia. When the law became effective on 1 May 1920, the People's State of Reuss formally ceased to exist as a sovereign federal state.[13] The Reuss region continued to exist as a higher-level municipal association with its own state government and state assembly until March 1923. Over that period its powers were gradually transferred to the state.[14] In addition, for the first 15 years after the Thuringian state constitution of 1921 came into force, one member of the state government had to come from Reuss.[15]

References

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  1. ^ Montgomery-Massingberd, Hugh. "Burke’s Royal Families of the World: Volume I Europe & Latin America, 1977, pp. 18, 32. ISBN 0-85011-023-8
  2. ^ Montgomery-Massingberd, Hugh (1977). Burke’s Royal Families of the World: Volume I Europe & Latin America. Bury St. Edmunds: Burke's Peerage. pp. 18, 32. ISBN 0-85011-023-8.
  3. ^ Sturm, Reinhard (23 December 2011). "Vom Kaiserreich zur Republik 1918/19" [From Empire to Republic 1918/19]. Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung (in German). Retrieved 23 August 2025.
  4. ^ "Reuß jüngere Linie (1848–1914)". HGIS (Historisch-geographisches Informationssystem) Germany. Retrieved 1 September 2025.
  5. ^ "Reuß ältere Linie (Reuß-Greiz) (1820–1914)". HGIS (Historisch-geographisches Informationssystem) Germany. Retrieved 1 September 2025.
  6. ^ a b "Der Volksstaat Reuß. Die Regierungen 1918–1920" [The People's State of Reuss. Governments (1918–1920)]. gonschior.de (in German). Retrieved 3 September 2025.
  7. ^ a b "Der Volksstaat Reuß. Ereignisse 1918–1920" [The People's State of Reuss. Events 1918–1920]. gonschior.de (in German). Retrieved 3 September 2025.
  8. ^ "Der Volksstaat Reuß. Wahlen 1919–1920" [The People's State of Reuss. Elections 1919–1920]. gonschior.de (in German). Retrieved 3 September 2025.
  9. ^ Schneider, Friedrich, ed. (1921). Aus den Tagen Heinrichs XXII, souv. Fürsten Reuss ä. L., 1867–1902. Aktenstüke, Aufzichnungen und Briefe [From the Days of Heinrich XXII, Prince Reuss Elder Line, 1867–1902. Documents, Notes, and Letters] (in German). H. Bredt's Nachf. p. 49.
  10. ^ "Gesetz über die Vereinigung der beiden Freistaaten Reuß zu einem Volksstaat Reuß sowie über die vorläufige Verfassung und Verwaltung" [Law on the Unification of the Two Free States of Reuss into One People's State of Reuss and on the Provisional Constitution and Administration]. Thüringer Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek Jena (in German). 4 April 1919. Retrieved 4 September 2025.
  11. ^ Bartuschka, Marc (3 October 2021). "Thüringen 1919. Zwischen Revolution und Landesgründung" [Thuringia 1919: Between Revolution and Statehood]. Gesellschaft zur Forschung der Demokratie-Geschichte (in German). Retrieved 28 September 2025.
  12. ^ Faludi, Christian (2 September 2021). "Thüringen 1919. Zwischen Revolution und Landesgründung" [Thuringia 1919: Between Revolution and Statehood]. Gesellschaft zur Forschung der Demokratie-Geschichte (in German). Retrieved 28 September 2025.
  13. ^ "Das Land Thüringen. Ereignisse 1918–1933" [The State of Thuringia. Events 1918–1933]. gonschior.de (in German). Retrieved 27 August 2025.
  14. ^ Seela, Reyk (2002). "Die Übergangslandtage und Gebietsvertretung in den reußischen Staaten bzw. dem Volksstaat Reuss 1919–1923" [The Transitional State Parliaments and Regional Representation in the Reuss States and the People's State of Reuss, 1919–1923]. In Mittelsdorf, Harald (ed.). Thüringer Landtag: Die vergessenen Parlamente. Landtage und Gebietsvertretungen in den Thüringer Staaten und Gebieten 1919 bis 1923 [Thuringian State Parliament: The Forgotten Parliaments. State Parliaments and Regional Representations in the Thuringian States and Regions from 1919 to 1923] (in German). Rudolstadt: Hain. pp. 233–274.
  15. ^ Post, Bernhard; Wahl, Volker (1999). Thüringen-Handbuch. Territorium, Verfassung, Parlament, Regierung und Verwaltung in Thüringen 1920 bis 1995 [Thuringia Handbook. Territory, Constitution, Parliament, Government, and Administration in Thuringia from 1920 to 1995] (in German). Weimar: Böhlau. p. 326.
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