A new era for Hamburg begins on October 13, 1946:In a largely destroyed city, the population votes for the Hamburg Parliament for the first time since the end of the Second World War.
by Marc-Oliver Rehrmann, NDR.de
Not enough plywood for the ballot boxes, not enough pencils for the crosses on the ballot papers and not enough candles for the sealing wax on the envelopes:the state elections in Hamburg on October 13, 1946 are held under extremely adverse circumstances. It is not just any election, but the first free election in the Hanseatic city after the Second World War. Before that, the people of Hamburg had to wait for more than 14 years - since April 1932 - for an election worthy of the name. It is also the first free vote in Greater Hamburg. Because the city limits had changed significantly with the Greater Hamburg Law of 1937. The election of 1946 should then produce a mayor who will lead the fortunes of the city for a long time.
"It was an extreme time"
In 1946, large parts of Hamburg are still in ruins:tens of thousands of people live in tin barracks, the so-called Nissen huts.In the fall of 1946, the Hanseatic city looks more like a field of rubble than a big city. 60 percent of the apartments are destroyed or badly damaged. 900,000 Hamburgers had lost all their belongings. And 280,000 Hamburgers who were evacuated during the war years still live outside the city. The British military government forbids them to return. "It was an extreme time when the first general election took place," says Christoph Strupp from the Research Center for Contemporary History in Hamburg. At that time, 90 percent of the population were considered undernourished. There is a lack of building materials and fuels such as coal everywhere. And yet the choice can be made - thanks to ingenuity. Instead of wooden ballot boxes, thousands of converted ammunition boxes are used, which the British have brought from Bad Segeberg.
Invisible top candidate at SPD
Max Brauer was considered one of the most important mayors in Germany during the Weimar Republic - in 1946 he returned to Hamburg from exile.In the general election, the SPD and the CDU hope for victory. The Christian Democrats are running with a top candidate:incumbent Mayor Rudolf Petersen - a younger brother of former Hamburg Mayor Carl Petersen. The overseas merchant had accepted the office in May 1945 - shortly after the capitulation - "with a heavy heart". Rudolf Petersen did not see himself as a politician, but eventually gave in because no other suitable candidate was in sight. It was only in 1946 that he joined the CDU. For their part, the Social Democrats are campaigning with an "invisible" top candidate. One thing is clear:if the SPD should win, Max Brauer would take over the office of mayor. But the former mayor of Altona (1924 to 1933) does not appear on the election posters - and he also largely stays out of the election campaign. Probably also because Brauer only has American citizenship after his exile in the USA.
Election campaign in times of hunger and need
"In the fall of 1946 there was no election campaign as we know it today," says historian Strupp. "The parties did not have different approaches to solving the serious problems such as the lack of housing and food supplies." The CDU even does without an election program. She relies on presenting the socialist and liberal worldview as a threat to the Christian-occidental tradition. The SPD, on the other hand, drew up a work program with 28 points - with the keywords socialism, planned economy and democracy:only a socialist Hamburg "could become a healthy and then once again a flourishing Hamburg". The most important target group is of course the workforce. At a mass SPD election rally in August 1946, 50,000 people flock to the Planten un Blomen park.
Many former NSDAP members were allowed to vote
Anyone over the age of 21 can vote. But there is one hurdle - the past in the Third Reich:More than 14,000 Hamburgers are excluded from the election for political reasons. This applies, for example, to everyone who has ever belonged to the Gestapo or the SS. All leading NSDAP officials must also stay at home. However, those citizens of Hamburg who only became members of the NSDAP after March 1, 1933 are allowed to vote. Many former employees of the Nazi apparatus cannot go to the ballot box. But the regulations are not always logical:for example, "cleaning women" from the NS war victims' pension scheme are excluded from the right to vote, while "cleaning women" from the NSDAP are entitled to vote.
"Victory of the Alphabet"
A curiosity about the citizenship election can be found on the ballot papers:the candidates are not sorted by party, but strictly alphabetically. That's what the British want. This leads to the phenomenon that candidates who are first in the alphabet and thus higher on the ballot paper are more likely to be elected to the citizenship. "One can almost say:The alphabet has triumphed over the choice of personality, at least within each party," said the author of a special election edition of the State Statistical Office in the summer of 1947. "The candidates of each party who were listed first usually received more votes than their fellow party members."
The 1946 election result
This is how the people of Hamburg voted in the state elections on October 13, 1946:
SPD 43.1% - 83 seats
CDU 26.7% - 16 seats
FDP 18.2% - 7 seats
KPD 10.4% - 4 seats
Other/ individual applicants 1.6%
The turnout was 79 percent.
"Big disappointment for the CDU"
The SPD is considered the winner of the elections - although they clearly missed the targeted absolute majority of the votes. The CDU and the FDP together even have a higher share of the vote. But due to the electoral system, the Social Democrats can get a three-quarters majority of seats in the city council with only 43.1 percent. For the CDU, on the other hand, the election ended in bitter disappointment. Mayor Petersen had hoped that voters would honor his commitment to the city since 1945. But that's not the case. The Christian Democrats have to be content with 16 deputies. Of the 110 seats in the first elected parliament after the war, 93 went to men and 17 to women.
Surprisingly high turnout
Voter turnout is 79 percent. There can be no talk of political indifference, contemporary observers judge with relief. "Despite concerns about the prisoners of war, about food and housing, despite the fact that many voters were former NSDAP members and despite the fact that the citizenry has only very limited powers alongside the military government, a surprisingly large number of voters went to the polls," writes a man from Hamburg Election Researcher.
The strong man of the SPD:Max Brauer
Max Brauer determined the fate of the city for a long time:In April 1953 he received the Federal Chancellor Konrad Adenauer (left) in the town hall.The post-war era of Max Brauer in Hamburg began with the election victory of the Social Democrats. At an SPD meeting shortly after the election, he was unanimously and "with unparalleled applause" chosen as the candidate for the office of mayor. "I will use all my strength for the difficult task that awaits me," says Max Brauer on October 21, 1946. His main focus is on fighting hunger in the city and creating "dignified, German homes." and the reconstruction of the port. The problem of citizenship remains for Max Brauer:only a German may become mayor of Hamburg. And so the SPD politician received his naturalization certificate on October 25th - from the hands of the then mayor Rudolf Petersen.
CDU is left out
Although the SPD is not dependent on a government partner, it has refrained from a sole government. This is how an alliance with the FDP and the KPD is formed. The CDU should also be on board initially, but the SPD breaks off the talks after a short time. The Christian Democrats insisted on taking over the economic department, the reason given. The CDU, for its part, claims that the SPD never seriously intended a coalition with the CDU. The FDP will hold three senator posts, and the KPD will provide one senator. With the SPD politician Paula Karpinski, a woman is a member of the Hamburg Senate for the first time - as a youth senator.
"More than a debating club"
In mid-November 1946, the new Senate elected Max Brauer as First Mayor. "He was seen as an authoritarian character, not only within his party," historian Strupp told NDR.de. "And as a former US citizen, he was able to express his views particularly forcefully to the British." In his government statement, Brauer called on the military government to provide sufficient food in the city, not to waste living space and to only export coal if the minimum demand in the country was covered. Even if the occupation was to last for some time:"The newly elected citizenship was more than a debating club," says Strupp. Gradually, powers were transferred from the British to the Senate - for example in the judiciary and the police.
Three months of permafrost:The hunger winter of 1946/47
For many families in Hamburg it was a matter of bare survival for a long time - especially in the harsh winter of 1946/47.What nobody could have guessed at the mayoral election:A few weeks later, a great period of suffering begins for the people of Hamburg. The winter of 1946/47 was to be one of the coldest of the 20th century. From mid-December to early March there is permafrost - at times with temperatures down to minus 25 degrees. 85 people freeze to death, almost 500 other Hamburgers die of pneumonia. Coal and food supplies are running low.
Therefore, on December 28, 1946, Max Brauer announced an emergency program:There is only two hours of electricity per day for private households. Cinemas, theaters and schools will remain closed until further notice. Public transport is very limited and shops are only open from 10am to 3pm. The situation remained dramatic for a long time, only with the thaw in March did the people of Hamburg regain hope. But only with the currency reform in the summer of 1948 did everyday life improve fundamentally. Now the shops are stocked with plenty of goods again, and there are enough building materials to rebuild the city.
"A remarkable feat accomplished"
Max Brauer after his election victory in 1957:three years later he hands over the mayoral office to his successor Paul Nevermann."The first parliament and the first senate after the war made a remarkable achievement given the circumstances of the time," said Hamburg election researcher Walter Tormin, who died in 2011. "They alleviated the distress before the currency reform as best they could."
The SPD also wins the next Hamburg general election in October 1949:Max Brauer can remain in office. Only from 1953 to 1957 did he have to take a forced break as mayor after an election defeat. Finally, in December 1960, at the age of 73, he relinquished his post to Paul Nevermann. On his departure, the University of Hamburg awarded him an honorary doctorate and the city council made him an honorary citizen.