The abolition of Prussia took place on 25 February 1947 through a decree of the Allied Control Council, the governing body of post-World War II occupied Germany and Austria. The rationale was that by doing away with the state that had been at the center of German militarism and reaction, it would be easier to preserve the peace and for Germany to develop democratically.
Prussia was for many centuries a major power in north-central Europe, based around the cities of Berlin and Königsberg (now Kaliningrad, Russia). It rose to particular prominence during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, due for the most part to the strength of its military. During the reign of the Great Elector Frederick William (r. 1640–1688), Prussia increased its military to 40,000 men and instituted an effective military administration. When his grandson Frederick William I (r. 1713–1740) undertook large-scale military reforms, he began the country's tradition of an expansive military budget, which rose to consume 80% of Prussia's entire annual budget. By the time of his death in 1740, the Prussian Army had grown into a standing army of 83,000 men. In the War of the Austrian Succession (1740–1748) and the Seven Years' War (1759–1763), his son Frederick the Great (r. 1740–1786) won Silesia from the Habsburg Empire and raised Prussia to the level of a great European power. By that time, the large Prussian landowners known as Junkers had a virtual monopoly on the kingdom's officer corps, a position that they would for the most part maintain throughout the remainder of Prussia's existence.[1]
Prussia was officially abolished by Control Council Law No. 46, passed by the Allied occupation authorities on 25 February 1947. Its reconstitution was also opposed by powerful German postwar politicians, especially the first West German Chancellor, Konrad Adenauer.[4]
Territories today
Territory lost by Germany at the end of World War II
The territories of Prussia as of 1937 (mainly its twelve provinces) became the following entities after the Second World War:
Saxony: The two regions around Magdeburg and Halle (Saale) merged with the Free State of Anhalt to form the East German state of Saxony-Anhalt, which was abolished in the 1952 administrative reform and then recreated in 1990 during German reunification. The region around Erfurt merged with the Weimar state of Thuringia to form the East German state of Thuringia, which was also abolished in 1952 and recreated in 1990.
The Prussian State which from early days has been a bearer of militarism and reaction in Germany has de facto ceased to exist. Guided by the interests of preservation of peace and security of peoples and with the desire to assure further reconstruction of the political life of Germany on a democratic basis, the Control Council enacts as follows:
Article I
The Prussian State together with its central government and all its agencies are abolished. Article II Territories which were a part of the Prussian State and which are at present under the supreme authority of the Control Council will receive the status of Länder or will be absorbed into Länder.
The provisions of this Article are subject to such revision and other provisions as may be agreed upon by the Control Council, or as may be laid down in the future Constitution of Germany.[a] Article III
The State and administrative functions as well as the assets and liabilities of the former Prussian State will be transferred to appropriate Länder, subject to such agreements as may be necessary and made by the Allied Control Council. Article IV
This law becomes effective on the day of its signature.
Signed in Berlin on February 25, 1947.
Control Council Law No. 46, signed on 25 February, liquidates the State of Prussia, its central government, and all its agencies. This law is in the nature of a confirming action; the eleven provinces and administrative districts of prewar Prussia have since the beginning of the occupation been split up among the Soviet, British, and American Zones and Poland.[5]
^Parker, Stephen; Philpotts, Matthew (16 October 2009). "Sinn und Form": The Anatomy of a Literary Journal. Walter de Gruyter. p. 377. ISBN9783110217865. Künste Berlin contains the archives that have been accumulated since 1696 in the various incarnations of the present Berlin Academy of Arts: from the Prussian Academy of Arts, which ceased to exist with the abolition of Prussia after 1945
Bibliography
Ernst Rudolf Huber (1951), Sources of Constitutional Law of the modern era, Volume 2, Matthiesen & Co, p. 648, OCLC45536654
