PDF file: History - Advanced Higher - Germany - Education Scotland

Source G
Article 48, Weimar Constitution, 1919.
If any state does not fulfil the duties imposed upon it by the Constitution or the laws of
the Reich, the Reich President may enforce such duties with the aid of the armed
forces.
In the event that public order and security are seriously disturbed or endangered, the
Reich President may take the measures necessary for their restoration…
Source H
The Constitution of 1919 included numerous basic welfare rights. Welfare provision
was a contentious issue throughout the history of the Weimar Republic.
Article 161, Weimar Constitution, 1919.
In order to maintain public health and the ability to work, to protect motherhood and
to make provision against the economic consequences of old age, infirmity and the
vicissitudes of life, the Reich will provide a comprehensive system of insurance, in
which those insured will make a vital contribution.
Article 163, Weimar Constitution, 1919.
Every German has the moral obligation, his personal freedom notwithstanding, to
exercise his mental and physical powers in a manner required by the welfare of all.
Every German shall be given the opportunity to earn his living through productive
work. If no suitable opportunity for work can be found, the means necessary for his
livelihood will be provided. Further particulars will be given in subsequent
legislation.
Source I
Hugo Preuss, a prominent architect of the 1919 Constitution, expresses his concern
about how the German people will cope with the new democratic political order.
I have often listened to debates with real concern, glancing rather timidly to the
gentlemen of the Right, fearful lest they say to me: ‘Do you hope to give a
parliamentary system to a nation like this, one that resists it with every sinew of its
body? Our people do not comprehend at all what such a system implies.’ One finds
suspicion everywhere; Germans cannot shake off their old political timidity and their
deference to the authoritarian state. They do not understand that the new government
must be blood of their blood, flesh of their flesh, that their trusted representatives will
have to be an integral part of it. Their constant worry is only: ‘how can we best keep
our constituted representatives so shackled that they will be unable to do anything?’
(Hugo Preuss, Staat, Recht und Freiheit [1926] as translated in Republican and
Fascist Germany, J Hilden, Longman 1996)
History: Germany: Versailles to the Outbreak of World War II - 1918-1939 (AH) 52