The minister-president (), or prime minister, of Prussia was the head of government of the Prussian state. The office existed from 1848, when it was formed by King Frederick William IV during the 1848–49 Revolution, until the abolition of Prussia in 1947 by the Allied Control Council.
History of the office Under the Kingdom of Prussia, the minister-president functioned as the chief minister of the king, and presided over the Landtag, the Prussian legislature established in 1848. After the unification of Germany in 1871 and until the 1918–1919 revolution, the office of the Prussian minister-president was usually held by the chancellor of the German Empire, beginning with the tenure of Otto von Bismarck.
Under the Free State of Prussia the minister-president was the head of the state government in a more traditional parliamentary role during the Weimar Republic. The office ceased to have any real meaning except as a kind of political patronage title after the takeover by the national government in 1932 (Preußenschlag), and after Nazi Germany dismantled Prussia as a state in 1935 (Reichsstatthaltergesetz). Eventually, the office was abolished along with Prussia itself by the Allies in the aftermath of World War II.
Chief ministers of the Kingdom of Prussia (1702–1848) 1702–1711: Johann Kasimir Kolbe von Wartenberg 1711–1728: 1728–1739: Friedrich Wilhelm von Grumbkow 1739–1749: 1749–1753: Georg Dietloff von Arnim-Boitzenburg 1749–1777: Count Karl-Wilhelm Finck von Finckenstein 1777–1802: Friedrich Anton von Heynitz 1786–1798: Friedrich Wilhelm von Arnim-Boitzenburg 1802–1804: Count Christian Heinrich Kurt von Haugwitz (1st term) 1804–1806: Count Karl August von Hardenberg (1st term) 1806: Count Christian Heinrich Kurt von Haugwitz (2nd term) 1806–1807: 1807: Count Karl August von Hardenberg (2nd term) 1807–1808: Baron Heinrich Friedrich Karl vom und zum Stein 1808–1810: Count Karl Friedrich Ferdinand Alexander zu Dohna-Schlobitten 1810–1822: Prince Karl August von Hardenberg (3rd term) 1822–1823: 1823–1841: Count Carl Friedrich Heinrich, Graf von Wylich und Lottum 1841–1848:
List of minister-presidents of Prussia (1848–1945)
Minister-presidents of the Kingdom of Prussia (1848–1918) Political party:
PortraitNameTerm of officePolitical party Took office Left office Days Count Adolf Heinrich von Arnim-Boitzenburg 19 March 1848 29 March 1848 Non-partisan Gottfried Ludolf Camphausen 29 March 1848 20 June 1848 Non-partisan Rudolf von Auerswald 25 June 1848 8 September 1848 Non-partisan Ernst von Pfuel 21 September 1848 1 November 1848 Non-partisan Count Friedrich Wilhelm von Brandenburg 2 November 1848 6 November 1850 Non-partisan Baron Otto Theodor von Manteuffel 9 December 1850 6 November 1858 Non-partisan Prince Karl Anton von Hohenzollern 6 November 1858 12 March 1862 Non-partisan Prince Adolf zu Hohenlohe-Ingelfingen 17 March 1862 23 September 1862 Non-partisan Prince Otto von Bismarck 23 September 1862 1 January 1873 Non-partisan Count Albrecht von Roon 1 January 1873 9 November 1873 Non-partisan Prince Otto von Bismarck 9 November 1873 20 March 1890 Non-partisan Count Leo von Caprivi 20 March 1890 22 March 1892 Non-partisan Count Botho zu Eulenburg 22 March 1892 26 October 1894 Non-partisan Prince Chlodwig zu Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst 29 October 1894 17 October 1900 Non-partisan Prince Bernhard von Bülow 17 October 1900 14 July 1909 Non-partisan Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg 14 July 1909 13 July 1917 Non-partisan Georg Michaelis 14 July 1917 1 November 1917 Non-partisan Count Georg von Hertling 1 November 1917 30 September 1918 Centre Prince Maximilian von Baden 3 October 1918 9 November 1918 Non-partisan
Minister-presidents of the Free State of Prussia (1918–1945) Political party:
PortraitNameTerm of officePolitical party Took office Left office Days Minister-presidents of the Free State of Prussia in the Weimar Republic Paul Hirsch 12 November 1918 27 March 1920 Social Democratic Party of Germany Heinrich Ströbel 12 November 1918 9 January 1919 Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany Otto Braun 27 March 1920 21 April 1921 Social Democratic Party of Germany Adam Stegerwald 21 April 1921 5 November 1921 Centre Party Otto Braun 5 November 1921 18 February 1925 Social Democratic Party of Germany Wilhelm Marx 18 February 1925 6 April 1925 Centre Party Otto Braun 6 April 1925 20 July 1932 Social Democratic Party of GermanyFranz von PapenNon-partisan 20 July 1932 3 December 1932Kurt von SchleicherNon-partisan 3 December 1932 28 January 1933Franz von PapenNon-partisan 30 January 1933 10 April 1933Adolf HitlerNazi Party 30 January 1933 30 January 1935 Minister-president of the Free State of Prussia in Nazi GermanyHermann GöringNazi Party 10 April 1933 23 April 1945 30 January 1935 23 April 1945
Timeline
See also Deputy Prime Minister of Prussia Ministry of the Royal Family (Prussia) List of Prussian monarchs Constitution of Prussia (1848) List of chancellors of Germany Minister president (Germany)
References