The Composition of the German Bundestag, 1950

• Published date: 01 December 1950
• DOI: 10.1177/106591295000300407
• Date: 01 December 1950
• Author: Otto Kirchheimer
• Subject Matter: Articles

590

THE

COMPOSITION

OF

THE

GERMAN

BUNDESTAG,

1950*

OTTO

KIRCHHEIMER

Washington,

D. C.

INTRODUCTION

*The

author

gratefully

acknowledges

the

collaboration

of

Mr.

Wallace

F.

Doer,

of the

Department

of

State,

in

the

compilation

of

the

statistical

material.

1

Election

law

for

the

first

Bundestag

and

the

first

Bundesversammlung

of

the

Federal

Republic

of

Ger-

many

of

June

15,

1949;

BGBL,

p.

25,

par.

1

(3).

2

Ibid.,

par.

2

(3)

and

(4).

In

the

US

Zone,

where

denazification

was

more

severe

than

in

the

other

Western

Zones,

100,000

people

had

been

temporarily

deprived

and

25,000

permanently

deprived

of

their

civil

rights,

including

the

right

to

vote.

However,

by

August,

1949

many,

if

not

the

majority,

of

the

100,000

had

regained

their

status

as

full-fledged

citizens,

e.g.,

in

Hesse,

only

13,000

from

a

total

of

2,901,000

eligible

voters

have

remained

disqualified

as

of

August,

1949.

FTER

A

SEVENTEEN-YEAR

interval

without

parliamentary

gov-

ernment,

Western

Germany

elected

a

representative

assembly

on

~

August

14,

1949.

Though

German

enthusiasm

over

the

election

was

not

excessive,

electoral

participation

(78

per

cent

of

those

eligible

to

vote)

compared

favorably

with

that

under

the

Weimar

Republic.

Invalid

ballots

(3.1

per

cent)

were

higher

than

under

the

Weimar

regime

(

per

cent)

but

not

high

enough

to

attest

to

any

appreciable

opposition

to

the

convocation

of

the

parliament.

The

election

boycott

called

for

by

a

few

rightist

organizations

failed

to

materialize,

despite

the

fact

that

the

parlia-

ment

was

elected

within

the

framework

of

a

provisional

constitution

which,

while

drafted

by

a

German

Parliamentary

Council,

owed

its

existence

to

Allied

sanction.

Moreover,

the

election

law

set

a

very

low

residence

requirement-three

months

in

the

territory

of

the

Republic1-thus

enabling

most

of

the

refugees,

with

the

probable

exception

of

a

few

thousand

who

had

just

arrived

from

the

Soviet

Zone,

to

participate

in

the

elections.

The

number

of

those

excluded

from

voting

through

decisions

of

the

denazifi-

cation

tribunals

or

of

Allied

authorities

did

not

amount

to

more

than

0.2

to

0.4

per

cent

of

the

total

electorate.2

2

For

these

reasons,

the

Bundestag,

in

spite

of

the

assertions

of

East

German

propagandists,

can

justifiably

be

called

a

truly

representative

body.

What

kind

of

representatives

did

the

West

German

electorate

send

to

the

Bundestag?

Did

they

emphasize

the

need

for

a

clean

break

with

the

past,

or

did

they

endorse

former

Nazis

or

old-time

politicians

from

the

Weimar

period?

To

what

extent

did

their

choices

follow

their

economic

interests?

How

did

the

refugees

fare?

These

are

questions

which

are

answered

by

the

data

presented

in

this

essay.

AGE

OF

COMPOSITION

OF

MEMBERS

The

present

Bundestag

is

no

gerontocracy,

although

16.2

per

cent

of

its

members

are

over

sixty

years

of

age.

The

average

age

of

members

at

the

time

of

the

election

was

fifty,

as

it

was

for

the

&dquo;Indian

Summer&dquo;