Minister President of Prussia

Minister-President of Prussia
Ministerpräsident
Coat of arms of Prussia
Longest serving Otto von Bismarck 23 September 1862–1 January 1873 9 November 1873–20 March 1890
Residence	Berlin
Appointer	King of Prussia (1848–1918) Landtag of Prussia (1918–1933)
Precursor	Chief minister of Prussia
Formation	19 March 1848
First holder	Adolf Heinrich von Arnim-Boitzenburg
Final holder	Hermann Göring
Abolished	23 April 1945

The office of Minister-President (German: Ministerpräsident), or Prime Minister, of Prussia 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: Heinrich Rüdiger von Ilgen
• 1728–1739: Friedrich Wilhelm von Grumbkow
• 1739–1749: Heinrich von Podewils
• 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)
• 180600000: Count Christian Heinrich Kurt von Haugwitz (2nd term)
• 1806–1807: Carl Friedrich von Beyme
• 180700000: 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: Otto von Voß
• 1823–1841: Count Carl Friedrich Heinrich, Graf von Wylich und Lottum
• 1841–1848: Ludwig Gustav von Thile

List of minister-presidents of Prussia (1848–1945)

Minister-presidents of the Kingdom of Prussia (1848–1918)

Political party:   Zentrum   None

Portrait		Name (Birth–Death)	Term of office			Political party
			Took office	Left office	Days
		Count Adolf Heinrich von Arnim-Boitzenburg (1803–1868)	19 March 1848	29 March 1848	10	Non-partisan
		Gottfried Ludolf Camphausen (1803–1890)	29 March 1848	20 June 1848	83	Non-partisan
		Rudolf von Auerswald (1795–1866)	25 June 1848	8 September 1848	75	Non-partisan
		Ernst von Pfuel (1779–1866)	21 September 1848	1 November 1848	41	Non-partisan
		Count Friedrich Wilhelm von Brandenburg (1792–1850)	2 November 1848	6 November 1850	734	Non-partisan
		Baron Otto Theodor von Manteuffel (1805–1882)	9 December 1850	6 November 1858	2889	Non-partisan
		Prince Karl Anton von Hohenzollern (1811–1885)	6 November 1858	12 March 1862	1222	Non-partisan
		Prince Adolf zu Hohenlohe-Ingelfingen (1797–1873)	17 March 1862	23 September 1862	190	Non-partisan
		Prince Otto von Bismarck (1815–1898) First term	23 September 1862	1 January 1873	3753	Non-partisan
		Count Albrecht von Roon (1803–1879)	1 January 1873	9 November 1873	312	Non-partisan
		Prince Otto von Bismarck (1815–1898) Second term	9 November 1873	20 March 1890	5975	Non-partisan
		Count Leo von Caprivi (1831–1899)	20 March 1890	22 March 1892	733	Non-partisan
		Count Botho zu Eulenburg (1831–1912)	22 March 1892	26 October 1894	948	Non-partisan
		Prince Chlodwig zu Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst (1819–1901)	29 October 1894	17 October 1900	2179	Non-partisan
		Prince Bernhard von Bülow (1849–1929)	17 October 1900	14 July 1909	3192	Non-partisan
		Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg (1856–1921)	14 July 1909	13 July 1917	2921	Non-partisan
		Georg Michaelis (1857–1936)	14 July 1917	1 November 1917	110	Non-partisan
		Count Georg von Hertling (1843–1919)	1 November 1917	30 September 1918	333	Centre
		Prince Maximilian von Baden (1867–1929)	3 October 1918	9 November 1918	37	Non-partisan

Minister-presidents of the Free State of Prussia (1918–1945)

Political party:   SPD   USPD   Zentrum   NSDAP   None

Portrait		Name (Birth–Death)	Term of office			Political party
			Took office	Left office	Days
Minister-presidents of the Free State of Prussia in the Weimar Republic
		Paul Hirsch (1868–1940)	12 November 1918	27 March 1920	501	Social Democratic Party of Germany
		Heinrich Ströbel (1869–1944) Co-prime minister	12 November 1918	9 January 1919	29	Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany
		Otto Braun (1872–1955) First term	27 March 1920	21 April 1921	390	Social Democratic Party of Germany
		Adam Stegerwald (1874–1945)	21 April 1921	5 November 1921	198	Centre Party
		Otto Braun (1872–1955) Second term	5 November 1921	18 February 1925	1201	Social Democratic Party of Germany
		Wilhelm Marx (1863–1946)	18 February 1925	6 April 1925	47	Centre Party
		Otto Braun (1872–1955) Third term	6 April 1925	20 July 1932	2662	Social Democratic Party of Germany
		Franz von Papen (1879–1969)	Reichskommissar		136	Non-partisan
			20 July 1932	3 December 1932
		Kurt von Schleicher (1882–1934)	Reichskommissar		56	Non-partisan
			3 December 1932	28 January 1933
		Franz von Papen (1879–1969)	Reichskommissar		70	Non-partisan
			30 January 1933	10 April 1933
		Adolf Hitler (1889–1945)	Reichsstatthalter		730	Nazi Party
			30 January 1933	30 January 1935
Minister-president of the Free State of Prussia in Nazi Germany
		Hermann Göring (1893–1946)	Ministerpräsident		4396	Nazi Party
			10 April 1933	23 April 1945
			Reichsstatthalter		3736
			30 January 1935	23 April 1945

Timeline

See also

• Deputy Prime Minister of Prussia
• Minister-president
• List of monarchs of Prussia
• Constitution of Prussia (1848)
• List of chancellors of Germany