1925 German presidential election

Presidential elections were held in Germany on 29 March 1925, with a runoff on 26 April. They were the first direct elections to the office of President of the Reich (Reichspräsident), Germany's head of state during the 1919–33 Weimar Republic. The first President, Friedrich Ebert, who had died on 28 February 1925, had been elected indirectly, by the National Assembly, but the Weimar Constitution required that his successor be elected by the "whole German people". Paul von Hindenburg was elected as the second president of Germany in the second round of voting.

1925 German presidential election

29 March 1925 (first round) 26 April 1925 (second round)
Turnout	68.87% (first round) 77.56% (second round)
Candidate Paul von Hindenburg Wilhelm Marx Ernst Thälmann Party Independent Supported by: Reichsblock DNVP DVP BVP NSDAP WP BB DHP Stahlhelm JDO Centre Supported by: Volksblock SPD Centre DDP KPD Popular vote 14,655,641 13,751,605 1,931,151 Percentage 48.29% 45.31% 6.36%
President before election Friedrich Ebert SPD Elected President Paul von Hindenburg Independent

Hindenburg was the candidate of a broad coalition of the political right. Many on the right hoped that once in power he would destroy Weimar democracy from the inside and restore the pre-Weimar status quo. The two other candidates who were believed to have a chance of winning were Otto Braun of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and Wilhelm Marx of the Centre Party. Both the SPD and Centre were members of the Weimar Coalition, the group of parties regarded as most committed to the Weimar system. Only Marx proceeded to the second round of the election.

The election was important because of the turbulent times in which it occurred and because, under the Weimar Constitution, the head of state wielded considerable power. Hindenburg would be again returned in the 1932 election and would play an important role during the rise to power of the Nazi Party. However, many of Hindenburg's 1925 backers were subsequently disappointed. Although in the years that followed his election many questioned the constitutionality of certain of his actions, Hindenburg never attempted to overthrow the Weimar constitution outright.

Background

President Friedrich Ebert died on 28 February 1925. On 9 March, the Reichstag selected to hold the first round on 29 March and the second round on 26 April. Walter Simons was selected to serve as acting president on 10 March. This was the first direct election of the president.

Electoral system

During the Weimar Republic, the law provided for a modified two-round system, such that if no candidate received an absolute majority of votes (i.e. more than half) in the first round of a presidential election then a second ballot would occur in which the candidate with a plurality of votes would be deemed elected. It was permitted for a group to nominate an alternative candidate in the second round.

Candidates

First round

The Communist Party (KPD) was the first party to nominate a candidate. The central committee selected Ernst Thälmann on 3 March. Karl Jarres was nominated as the joint candidate of the German People's Party (DVP) and German National People's Party (DNVP) on 12 March.

Loebell-Ausschutz, a right-wing committee with representatives from the DVP, DNVP, and Bavarian parties, considered supporting the Centre, but only if Adam Stegerwald was nominated. The German Democratic Party (DDP) suggested that Loebell-Ausschutz and Social Democratic Party (SPD) could support Simons. Loebell-Ausschutz invited the DDP and Centre to a conference to discuss the presidential nomination. The right-wing refused to support Simons and Wilhelm Marx while the DDP refused to support Jarres. Otto Gessler was proposed as a compromise candidate, but this failed.

Most right-wing völkisch movement parties supported Jarres as a compromise candidate, but Adolf Hitler had the Nazi Party support Ludendorff. Hitler later supported Hidenburg. Hitler later punished the völkisch parties that opposed his decision and issued an order in May 1925 prohibiting Nazis from working with them.

Otto Braun, the SPD's candidate, was a former Minister-President of Prussia and a well known and respected figure. The Centre Party's candidate, Wilhelm Marx, was the chair of the party and a former chancellor. The other significant candidates was Willy Hellpach of the DDP. The German Völkisch Freedom Party (DVFP) put forward Erich Ludendorff but secured only a negligible share of the vote.

Second round

The Centre renominated Marx for the second round and he received the support of the DDP and SPD. Marx was made the candidate of the Volksblock on 3 April.

On 1 April, the DVP's executive committee unanimously endorsed Jarres. Paul von Hindenburg, who twice declined to run, announced his candidacy on 8 April, after being convinced by Alfred von Tirpitz. The Bavarian People's Party endorsed him and strongly promoted his candidacy.

Results

The first ballot was held on 29 March, with a turnout of 68.9%. Although Jarres received the most votes in the first round, he was well short of a majority. He subsequently withdrew in favour of Hindenburg, who was a committed monarchist and popular former general. Although Hindenburg had no interest in seeking public office and was especially uneasy with the prospect of becoming Germany's head of state, he reluctantly agreed to stand, supposedly only after first consulting with the deposed Kaiser. His major supporters were the German People's Party (DVP), the German National People's Party (DNVP) and the BVP. The DVP, and especially its leader Gustav Stresemann, had reservations about the idea of a Hindenburg presidency because of its possible repercussions for German foreign policy, but eventually came on board. Hindenburg was also endorsed by the German Völkisch Freedom Party (DVFP), the National Socialist German Workers' Party (NSDAP) and the Agricultural League (RLB).

On the left, the Centre Party (Zentrum) refused to support Braun from the Social Democratic Party (SPD), so Braun withdrew. The SPD agreed to support Marx (Centre) as the common candidate to ensure the defeat of Hindenburg. The German Democratic Party also reluctantly withdrew its candidate and supported Marx. As Marx's supporters included both the moderate left and the political centre, he was believed to have a high chance of winning. The three participants in the second round were therefore Hindenburg, Marx, and Thälmann of the Communist Party. The pro-Marx forces styled themselves the Volksblock (People's Bloc) in response to the Reichsblock which supported Hindenburg, comprising the DNVP, DVP, BVP, other bourgeois parties, and right-wing nationalist organisations such as the Stahlhelm.

The second round was held on 26 April, with a turnout of 77.6%. Hindenburg won on a plurality of the vote, with 48.3% to Marx's 45.3%. Marx's loss was attributed to the fact that the Bavarian People's Party, a sister party of the Centre, endorsed Hindenburg as a protest against the Marx's cooperation with the Social Democrats. Some also attributed Marx's loss to the candidature of Ernst Thälmann of the Communist Party of Germany, who did not drop out in the second round. However, historian Peter Fritzsche rejected this view, calling the claim "far-fetched" and arguing that "given the explicit enmity of this party toward the Weimar "capitalist state," it would have been completely unrealistic to expect the KPD to support the candidate of the Weimar system". Fritsche instead found that the BVP's endorsement of Hindenburg was crucial to Marx's defeat.

Candidate		Party	First round		Second round
			Votes	%	Votes	%
	Karl Jarres	German People's Party	10,416,658	38.77
	Otto Braun	Social Democratic Party	7,802,497	29.04
	Wilhelm Marx	Centre Party	3,887,734	14.47	13,751,605	45.31
	Ernst Thälmann	Communist Party	1,871,815	6.97	1,931,151	6.36
	Willy Hellpach	German Democratic Party	1,568,398	5.84
	Heinrich Held	Bavarian People's Party	1,007,450	3.75
	Erich Ludendorff	German Völkisch Freedom Party	285,793	1.06
	Paul von Hindenburg	Independent			14,655,641	48.29
Other candidates			25,761	0.10	13,416	0.04
Total			26,866,106	100.00	30,351,813	100.00
Valid votes			26,866,106	99.44	30,351,813	99.29
Invalid/blank votes			150,654	0.56	216,061	0.71
Total votes			27,016,760	100.00	30,567,874	100.00
Registered voters/turnout			39,226,138	68.87	39,414,316	77.56
Source: Gonschior

Results by constituency

Constituency	First round														Second round
	Jarres DVP		Braun SPD		Marx Zentrum		Thälmann KPD		Hellpach DDP		Held BVP		Ludendorff DVFP		Hindenburg Reichsblock		Marx Volksblock		Thälmann KPD
	Votes	%	Votes	%	Votes	%	Votes	%	Votes	%	Votes	%	Votes	%	Votes	%	Votes	%	Votes	%
1 East Prussia	550,294	58.41	228,012	24.20	70,050	7.44	45,276	4.81	32,759	3.48	2,837	0.30	11,352	1.20	715,093	66.90	302,740	28.32	50,344	4.71
2 Berlin	329,003	30.13	398,510	36.50	56,638	5.19	180,734	16.55	121,390	11.12	1,357	0.12	4,010	0.37	384,361	32.47	654,487	55.29	144,879	12.24
3 Potsdam II	372,996	42.34	261,740	29.71	37,953	4.31	84,516	9.59	118,309	13.43	1,206	0.14	3,977	0.45	427,358	44.22	467,709	48.39	71,206	7.37
4 Potsdam I	394,333	45.93	287,263	33.46	26,188	3.05	84,196	9.81	58,933	6.86	1,784	0.21	5,266	0.61	464,550	49.20	403,596	42.75	75,722	8.02
5 Frankfurt (Oder)	439,818	56.47	227,546	29.22	51,340	6.59	23,319	2.99	27,740	3.56	1,785	0.23	6,499	0.83	532,597	61.47	307,914	35.54	25,513	2.94
6 Pomerania	530,287	63.92	213,942	25.79	10,862	1.31	33,483	4.04	26,929	3.25	2,268	0.27	10,879	1.31	656,822	71.08	224,486	24.29	42,276	4.58
7 Breslau	354,431	39.49	314,880	35.08	167,398	18.65	18,668	2.08	33,439	3.73	2,499	0.28	5,490	0.61	451,792	45.34	520,907	52.28	23,335	2.34
8 Liegnitz	240,523	42.26	204,339	35.90	48,365	8.50	11,667	2.05	59,333	10.42	1,602	0.28	2,904	0.51	321,295	50.47	298,431	46.88	16,629	2.61
9 Opole	145,053	30.58	46,391	9.78	220,914	46.57	45,552	9.60	8,980	1.89	2,064	0.44	4,640	0.98	224,914	39.84	293,213	51.94	46,041	8.16
10 Magdeburg	411,748	47.74	347,615	40.30	17,734	2.06	38,670	4.48	37,901	4.39	1,511	0.18	6,677	0.77	485,357	52.21	404,361	43.50	39,584	4.26
11 Merseburg	334,877	50.00	143,680	21.45	10,836	1.62	136,951	20.45	33,195	4.96	1,446	0.22	8,395	1.25	411,234	57.41	164,671	22.99	140,153	19.56
12 Thuringia	496,699	49.07	305,481	30.18	47,224	4.67	101,681	10.05	42,234	4.17	2,159	0.21	15,857	1.57	621,652	55.21	393,621	34.96	110,108	9.78
13 Schleswig-Holstein	373,731	53.18	231,841	32.99	10,398	1.48	37,035	5.27	41,915	5.96	1,715	0.24	5,404	0.77	478,509	59.78	283,379	35.40	38,177	4.77
14 Weser-Ems	227,045	38.02	172,108	28.82	127,345	21.32	19,144	3.21	41,452	6.94	4,737	0.79	4,863	0.81	335,057	46.95	355,227	49.78	23,030	3.23
15 East-Hanover	221,367	50.85	142,595	32.76	7,302	1.68	14,289	3.28	14,560	3.34	30,873	7.09	3,526	0.81	336,885	64.05	172,725	32.84	16,026	3.05
16 South-Hanover-Brunswick	386,535	41.55	379,569	40.80	53,094	5.71	28,813	3.10	36,836	3.96	35,942	3.86	8,716	0.94	540,077	50.94	488,544	46.08	31,226	2.95
17 Westphalia-North	268,355	27.97	228,155	23.78	379,875	39.60	48,625	5.07	22,613	2.36	3,852	0.40	6,892	0.72	389,507	35.44	660,770	60.13	48,267	4.39
18 Westphalia-South	320,109	27.50	320,581	27.55	350,105	30.08	108,686	9.34	52,245	4.49	3,083	0.26	8,157	0.70	461,725	35.67	737,311	56.97	94,922	7.33
19 Hessen-Nassau	383,931	36.11	347,647	32.70	193,695	18.22	43,924	4.13	80,484	7.57	4,022	0.38	8,576	0.81	546,580	44.96	622,037	51.17	46,502	3.83
20 Cologne-Aachen	140,202	17.50	142,960	17.84	429,945	53.66	51,675	6.45	25,661	3.20	3,861	0.48	6,259	0.78	212,795	22.84	670,238	71.94	48,278	5.18
21 Koblenz-Trier	100,172	21.29	57,996	12.33	280,929	59.72	12,420	2.64	11,466	2.44	2,561	0.54	3,998	0.85	166,151	30.59	362,622	66.76	14,015	2.58
22 Düsseldorf-East	296,687	34.06	160,616	18.44	227,266	26.09	151,676	17.41	24,782	2.85	1,872	0.21	7,273	0.84	410,664	41.07	441,654	44.16	147,527	14.75
23 Düsseldorf-West	174,808	25.58	115,614	16.92	304,263	44.52	67,603	9.89	13,351	1.95	2,489	0.36	4,931	0.72	252,830	32.83	455,808	59.19	61,165	7.94
24 Upper-Bavaria-Swabia	200,085	23.52	183,845	21.61	11,461	1.35	25,562	3.00	20,965	2.46	372,778	43.81	33,890	3.98	630,348	65.42	306,161	31.77	26,549	2.76
25 Lower-Bavaria	36,481	10.66	44,754	13.08	10,175	2.97	7,300	2.13	6,431	1.88	227,215	66.41	8,738	2.55	260,721	67.98	113,543	29.60	8,736	2.28
26 Franconia	355,635	36.69	278,354	28.72	13,835	1.43	23,318	2.41	36,512	3.77	227,950	23.52	32,399	3.34	673,243	58.69	447,529	39.01	25,769	2.25
27 Palatinate	90,074	29.26	87,512	28.43	39,771	12.92	23,575	7.66	19,777	6.43	43,099	14.00	3,674	1.19	166,873	45.29	179,232	48.64	22,188	6.02
28 Dresden-Bautzen	396,242	43.44	366,081	40.14	17,557	1.92	36,636	4.02	88,088	9.66	2,099	0.23	5,079	0.56	511,213	51.49	416,036	41.90	65,148	6.56
29 Leipzig	267,707	40.05	275,551	41.23	6,501	0.97	67,663	10.12	44,424	6.65	1,884	0.28	4,346	0.65	332,075	48.04	276,464	39.99	82,206	11.89
30 Chemnitz-Zwickau	360,616	44.29	292,761	35.96	7,380	0.91	99,864	12.26	36,733	4.51	2,301	0.28	14,228	1.75	490,277	53.63	284,600	31.13	138,647	15.16
31 Württemberg	348,640	34.72	206,518	20.57	241,525	24.05	56,521	5.63	137,059	13.65	3,971	0.40	9,023	0.90	544,104	45.73	588,027	49.42	57,056	4.80
32 Baden	241,357	27.62	198,494	22.71	295,183	33.78	39,152	4.48	88,091	10.08	3,744	0.43	6,508	0.74	375,272	35.63	635,787	60.36	41,578	3.95
33 Hessen-Darmstadt	188,108	33.26	210,545	37.22	98,491	17.41	20,951	3.70	42,351	7.49	1,689	0.30	3,271	0.58	274,384	41.33	366,321	55.18	22,998	3.46
34 Hamburg	214,200	36.86	214,888	36.98	12,368	2.13	67,566	11.63	65,415	11.26	1,504	0.26	4,603	0.79	294,156	45.63	281,312	43.64	68,718	10.66
35 Mecklenburg	224,509	52.07	164,113	38.06	3,768	0.87	15,104	3.50	16,045	3.72	1,691	0.39	5,493	1.27	275,170	59.55	170,142	36.82	16,633	3.60
Total	10,416,658	38.77	7,802,497	29.04	3,887,734	14.47	1,871,815	6.97	1,568,398	5.84	1,007,450	3.75	285,793	1.06	14,655,641	48.29	13,751,605	45.31	1,931,151	6.36

See also

• History of Germany

Further reading

• Cary, Noel D. (1990), "The Making of the Reich President, 1925: German Conservatism and the Nomination of Paul von Hindenburg", Central European History, 23 (2–3): 179–204, doi:10.1017/S0008938900021348, S2CID 145119910.
• Falter, Jürgen W. "The Two Hindenburg Elections of 1925 and 1932: A Total Reversal of Voter Coalitions" Historical Social Research / Historische Sozialforschung. Supplement, No. 25, (2013), pp. 217–232 online
• Zeender, John K. “The German Catholics and the Presidential Election of 1925.” The Journal of Modern History 35, no. 4 (1963): 366–81. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1899040.

Works cited

• Orlow, Dietrich (1969). The History of the Nazi Party: 1919-1933. University of Pittsburgh Press. SBN 822931834.
• Graper, Elmer (1925). "The German Presidential Election". American Political Science Review. 19 (3). American Political Science Association: 592–600. doi:10.2307/2939137. JSTOR 2939137.