1932 Prussian state election

State elections were held in the Free State of Prussia on 24 April 1932 to elect all 423 members of the Landtag of Prussia.[1] The election saw the Nazi Party become the largest party in Prussia, winning 36% of the vote. The coalition of the Social Democratic Party, Centre Party, and German Democratic Party (now the German State Party), which had governed Prussia since 1919, lost its majority. The SPD, DNVP, and DVP all suffered huge losses. The Wirtschaftspartei lost all its seats, while the DVP and DStP were left with only a handful each. The Centre Party stayed steady, and the Communist Party made minor gains.

1932 Prussian state election

24 April 1932
All 423 seats in the Landtag of Prussia 212 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	82.10% ( 5.71)
Party Leader % Seats ± NSDAP 36.67% 162 +156 SPD 21.19% 94 -43 Centre 15.28% 67 -4 KPD 12.89% 57 +1 DNVP 6.98% 31 -51 DVP 1.70% 7 -35 DStP 1.51% 2 -19 CSVD 1.16% 2 New DHP 0.29% 1 -3 This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below.
Top: results by constituency. Bottom: winning party in each constituency.
Minister-President before Minister-President after Otto Braun SPD Otto Braun (caretaker) Office abolished (20 July 1932)

The resulting Landtag was divided between the SPD–Zentrum–DStP coalition, the Nazi–DNVP bloc, and the Communist Party. Prussia used the constructive vote of no confidence, meaning a government could be removed from office only if there was a positive majority for a prospective successor. No parliamentary force held a majority, but since none were willing to cooperate with any of the others, the SPD-led coalition could not be removed. It continued in office as a minority government.

This situation ended with the Preußenschlag on 20 July 1932. Reich President Paul von Hindenburg, on the advice of Reich Chancellor Franz von Papen, issued an emergency decree under Article 48 of the Weimar Constitution dissolving the Prussian government and giving von Papen direct control over Prussia as Reichskommissar.[2] Prussia remained under direct control of the federal government until April 1933 when, at the behest of Adolf Hitler under the Enabling Act of 1933, state elections were held. The Nazis failed to win a majority, but the subsequent ban of the Communist Party and arrest of opposition deputies allowed them to secure control of the Landtag regardless, and Hermann Göring became Minister-President. The federal structure of Germany was effectively dissolved under the Nazi regime, and the Prussian government existed only symbolically. After the conclusion of the Second World War, Prussia was dissolved by a declaration of the Allied Control Council on 25 February 1947.

Results

Party		Votes	%	Swing	Seats	+/–
	National Socialist German Workers Party (NSDAP) National Socialist German Workers Party (NSDAP) Farmers, Home and Landowners Nationalist German Workers Party Greater German List Schmalix	8,091,072 8,007,384 67,533 11,605 4,550	36.67 36.29 0.31 0.05 0.02	+34.60 +34.45 +0.15 New New	162 162 0 0 0	+156 +156 0 New New
	Social Democratic Party (SPD)	4,675,173	21.19	–7.81	94	–43
	Prussian Centre Party (Zentrum)	3,371,932	15.28	+0.05	67	–4
	Communist Party of Germany (KPD) Communist Party of Germany (KPD) Interest Group of Small Pensioners and Inflation Victims	2,845,306 2,819,763 25,543	12.89 12.78 0.12	+1.02 +0.91 New	57 57 0	+1 +1 New
	German National People's Party (DNVP) German National People's Party (DNVP) Radical Middle Class National Gathering Karl Andres	1,540,716 1,524,230 9,883 6,603	6.98 6.91 0.04 0.03	–10.41 –10.48 New New	31 31 0 0	–51 –51 New New
	German People's Party (DVP) German People's Party (DVP) People's Justice Party (VRP)	374,509 330,745 43,764	1.70 1.50 0.20	–8.05 –7.00 –1.05	7 7 0	–35 –33 –2
	National Front of German Estates Reich Party of the German Middle Class (WP) German Farmers (Christian-National Peasants' and Farmers' Party) National Front of German Estates, Young Rights National Officials, Employees and Free Professionals	362,272 191,021 153,542 13,861 3,848	1.64 0.87 0.70 0.06 0.02	–4.28 –3.59 –0.77 New New	0 0 0 0 0	–29 –21 –8 New New
	German State Party (DStP)	332,490	1.51	–2.95	2	–19
	Christian Social People's Service (CSVD)	255,177	1.16	New	2	New
	Socialist Workers' Party of Germany (SAPD)	80,392	0.36	New	0	New
	German-Hanoverian Party (DHP)	63,731	0.29	–0.70	1	–3
	National Minorities of Germany (NMD) Polish People's Party Schleswig and Frisian Home Prussian-Lithuanian People's Party	59,943 57,285 2,298 360	0.27 0.26 0.01 0.00	–0.13 –0.12 0.00 0.00	0 0 0 0	0 0 0 0
	National Opposition of United Reichsbank Creditors and Mark Victims National Opposition of United Reichsbank Creditors and Mark Victims People's Justice and Economic Party of the Dispossessed Middle Class German Combat Party Against Inflation and False Monetary Policy Activist Emergency Community of Mortgagees, etc.	6,896 5,197 1,151 312 236	0.03 0.02 0.01 0.00 0.00	New New New New New	0 0 0 0 0	New New New New New
	Party of the Unemployed for Work and Bread	3,463	0.02	New	0	New
	German Unity Party for Defence of the Economy, Idealistic Movement of Germany	1,341	0.01	New	0	New
	German National Community (Völkisch Revolutionary Economic Movement)	1,014	0.00	New	0	New
Invalid/blank votes		127,560	0.57	–	–	–
Total		22,065,427	100	–	423	–27
Registered voters/turnout		27,031,562	82.10	+5.71	–	–
Gonschior.de

Popular Vote NSDAP   36.67% SPD   21.19% Zentrum   15.28% KPD   12.89% DNVP   6.98% DVP   1.70% DStP   1.51% CSVD   1.16% DHP   0.29% Other   2.33%

Landtag seats NSDAP   38.30% SPD   22.22% Zentrum   15.84% KPD   13.48% DNVP   7.33% DVP   1.65% DStP   0.47% CSVD   0.47% DHP   0.24%

Results by constituency

Constituency	NSDAP	SPD	Z	KPD	DNVP	DVP	DStP	CSVD	DHP
1. East Prussia	45.6	22.2	7.5	9.1	9.5	1.5	1.2	1.8	–
2. Berlin	24.1	30.2	3.9	29.4	6.8	0.5	2.2	0.5	–
3. Potsdam II	32.0	27.6	3.9	16.9	10.4	1.4	4.2	0.5	–
4. Potsdam I	36.1	28.1	2.4	16.9	9.5	1.0	2.1	0.6	–
5. Frankfurt an der Oder	43.8	25.4	6.2	7.3	10.3	1.3	1.4	0.8	–
6. Pomerania	44.2	23.6	1.2	7.7	17.2	1.2	1.6	0.8	–
7. Breslau	41.2	25.0	15.3	6.8	6.2	–	1.0	1.5	–
8. Liegnitz	45.2	27.6	7.0	5.9	6.8	–	2.1	1.5	–
9. Oppeln	30.4	7.5	35.6	12.2	7.5	–	0.5	0.4	–
10. Magdeburg	39.8	33.8	2.0	9.3	8.3	1.9	1.8	0.4	–
11. Merseburg	41.8	18.9	1.4	21.9	7.9	2.0	1.6	0.5	–
12. Erfurt	39.7	18.2	13.1	14.7	6.9	2.0	1.8	0.5	–
13. Schleswig-Holstein	50.8	27.5	0.9	8.8	5.3	2.3	2.0	0.9	–
14. Weser-Ems	37.5	17.6	25.3	4.7	5.2	1.8	1.5	2.1	2.4
15. Hanover East	46.7	25.1	1.3	6.6	7.9	1.8	1.7	0.9	5.7
16. Hanover South	43.8	31.8	5.8	5.6	4.6	2.3	1.5	0.7	2.1
17. Westphalia North	25.3	15.5	35.3	10.5	5.0	1.9	0.5	2.0	–
18. Westphalia South	29.1	17.6	24.3	16.2	4.5	1.6	1.0	3.0	–
19. Hesse-Nassau	42.1	21.5	14.4	9.5	3.4	2.4	1.8	2.0	–
20. Köln-Aachen	22.5	11.0	42.1	13.6	3.3	2.5	1.2	0.5	–
21. Koblenz-Trier	28.2	6.3	47.4	6.7	4.1	1.5	0.5	–	–
22. Düsseldorf East	32.9	11.8	20.8	22.7	4.2	1.9	0.8	1.7	–
23. Düsseldorf West	29.6	9.5	34.1	14.8	5.6	1.6	0.5	1.0	–

See also

• Elections in the Free State of Prussia
• Weimar Republic

Notes

References

1. Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p762 ISBN 978-3-8329-5609-7
2. Walter, Franz (2007-07-19), "Putsch am 20. Juli 1932: Wie der Mythos Preußen zerschlagen wurde" [The coup of 20 July 1932: How the myth of Prussia was smashed], Der Spiegel (in German), Hamburg, retrieved 4 May 2013:

   Ein Tag als Lehrstück: für die antidemokratische Skrupellosigkeit der Konservativen jener Jahre, für die Hilflosigkeit und Ermattung der stets nur rhetorisch kraftvoll auftretenden Sozialdemokratie, für die Erosion und den Zerfall der republiktreuen Mitte - schon Monate vor der Etablierung des NS-Regimes. [One day as an object lesson: in the antidemocratic unscrupulousness of the conservatives of those years, in the helplessness and fatigue of the Social Democrats, who only rhetorically ever seemed powerful, in the erosion and breakup of the republican center — months before the establishment of the Nazi regime.]