Prussian House of Lords
The Prussian House of Lords (German: Preußisches Herrenhaus) in Berlin was the upper house of the Landtag of Prussia (German: Preußischer Landtag), the parliament of Prussia from 1850 to 1918. Together with the lower house, the House of Representatives (Abgeordnetenhaus), it formed the Prussian bicameral legislature. The building is now used as the seat of the German Bundesrat.
Prussian House of Lords
Preußisches Herrenhaus
31 January 1850
15 November 1918
Modeled on the House of Lords of the United Kingdom,[1] the Herrenhaus was created following the 1848 revolution with the adoption of the Constitution of the Kingdom of Prussia imposed by King Frederick William IV on 5 December 1848.
A member of the House of Lords was known as a pair (see also pairie), or officially as a member of the Prussian House of Lords (Mitglied des preußischen Herrenhauses, or MdH). The House consisted of hereditary peers, life peers appointed by the King of Prussia, peers by virtue of position, representatives of cities and universities, etc. The majority of members were nobles, although the House also had commoners as members, especially among the representatives of cities and universities. The breakdown was as follows:
Free State[edit]
With the German Revolution of 1918–1919 and the fall of the Hohenzollern monarchy resulting from World War I, the Prussian House of Lords was dissolved on 15 November 1918 by the revolutionary Executive Council of Workers' and Soldiers' Councils (Vollzugsrat des Arbeiter- und Soldatenrats).[2] Under to the 1920 constitution of the Free State of Prussia it was replaced by the Staatsrat (state council) of representatives delegated by the Landtag assemblies of the Provinces. The Cologne mayor Konrad Adenauer served as president of the state council from 1921 until the Nazi Machtergreifung in 1933.