A ceremony today commemorates the constitutional convention in the Old Castle on Herrenchiemsee 75 years ago. In 1948 a group of men met where King Ludwig II once dined. Their task: a draft for a constitution.
When you board the ferry on the shore of Lake Chiemsee and a little later set foot on Herreninsel, the hustle and bustle is far away. Today like 75 years ago.
At that time, two telephones were the only connection to the outside world for the members of the Herrenchiemsee Constitutional Convention. The task: to prepare a constitution for a West German state. The location: the old castle on Herreninsel in Lake Chiemsee. Room No. 7, the former dining room of the Bavarian King Ludwig II, has been converted into a conference room. An enormous challenge for the politicians and legal experts who got to work here from August 10, 1948. They wrote a draft of the Basic Law that still has an impact today.
It started in the “zero hour”
May 1945, it was the “zero hour” after the Second World War. Nazi Germany was defeated, the victorious powers divided the country into four zones of occupation. The states with their elected state parliaments and prime ministers emerged fairly quickly. The conflict between East and West grew steadily. A prominent example of this is the Berlin blockade by the Soviet Union and the “airlift” of the other Allies.
On July 1, 1948, the three western allies instructed the prime ministers of the western federal states to convene a constituent assembly to draft a democratic and federal constitution. The “Parliamentary Council” in Bonn was to take over this task from September 1, 1948. 61 men and four women were its members, elected by the state parliaments.
Little time for advice
So there wasn’t much time between the assignment in July and the opening meeting of the Parliamentary Council in Bonn in September. However, a certain amount of preparation was required. A small circle of politicians and legal experts took over on behalf of the prime minister. In August 1948 in Herrenchiemsee they got to work. The convention had 26 representatives, eleven of whom were voting members, one for each West German state. The only thing that was clear was that the content should be about a fully-fledged constitution. With a view to a possible reunification of a divided Germany, however, it is a provisional arrangement, i.e. a temporarily applicable constitution.
Result: Draft for a basic law
At that time, the population did not take much notice of the constitutional convention on Herrenchiemsee. The press echo was mixed, the newspapers assumed it was more of a detached expert chat. But in just 13 days, the convention drafted the “Chiemsee draft – basic law for a federation of German states”. It comprised 149 articles. Even the mere number is close to the later adopted Basic Law with its 146 articles.
What is more important, however, is that the structure is very similar, with a catalog of basic rights at the beginning and the following rules on state organization. And there are also many similarities in the content, which are still part of the essence of the Basic Law today.
human dignity and “Forever Guarantee”
The first sentence of the Herrenchiemsee draft in Article 1 is particularly interesting. It reads: “The state exists for the sake of the people, not the people for the sake of the state.” A 180-degree turn compared to the Nazi regime, and a clear departure from its image of the state and man. The very next sentence says: “The dignity of the human personality is inviolable.” Hardly any difference to the later first sentence of the Basic Law, which reads: “Human dignity is inviolable.”
The Chiemsee Convention formulated an alternative to the Nazi regime.
And: The basic rights should be directly applicable law for all state powers that are bound by them. A Federal Constitutional Court is to decide whether the state violates fundamental rights. In addition to essential elements for the structure of the state, the draft also regulates what is known to this day as the “eternity guarantee” in the Basic Law (Article 79 Paragraph 3). It states that the main pillars of the constitution (e.g. human dignity, democracy, the rule of law, federalism) cannot be changed, not even with a two-thirds majority.
Adenauer spoke of one non-binding Draft
At the end of the convention, it was completely open whether the draft would be well received. From September 1, 1948, six members of the Convention also sat on the Parliamentary Council. Its chairman Konrad Adenauer emphasized that it was a non-binding draft that would of course be examined.
Konrad Adenauer signs the Basic Law on May 23, 1949 at 5 p.m. in Bonn. It came into force on May 24 at midnight.
Even if it was of course not adopted one-to-one – compared to these very muted reactions, the impact of the Herrenchiemsee draft is far greater than many would have expected. At the end of May 23, 1949, the Basic Law drawn up by the Parliamentary Council came into force after the Allies and the state parliaments of the federal states had agreed. From the very beginning, it was a full-fledged constitution with basic rights and central rules for the organization of the state. Since reunification through the accession of the GDR to the Federal Republic, the Basic Law is no longer provisional.
Alcohol, tobacco and wives
For the anniversary, the permanent exhibition about the convention at Herrenchiemsee was redesigned and made more digital than before. It’s about the big lines, for example on the subject of federalism. But also for a look behind the scenes and the logistical challenges in the post-war period. “If the gentlemen want to bring their wives with them, that can’t be denied,” says an original document, slightly worried. And: Each member was entitled to one liter of beer, half a bottle of wine, 12 cigarettes or three cigars every day – this is also documented.