People and State

Sources:

Bayerisches Hauptstaatsarchiv, Hochstift Freising Documents 14 (formerly: Kaiserselekt 859; so-called Ostarrichi-Urkunde, 996). Bayerisches Hauptstaatsarchiv, Kurpfalz certificates 1 (Golden Bulle, 1356). Bayerischer Hauptstaatsarchiv, Bayerischer Landtag 10190 (Constitution, 1808). Bayerischer Hauptstaatsarchiv, Bayerischer Landtag 10295 (Bayerische Constitution, 1818). Bayerischer Hauptstaatsarchiv, MA 102010/I (Bamberger Constitution, 1919). Bayerischer Hauptstaatsarchiv, StK 10907 (undated preliminary draft to the constitution of the Bavarian State, [1946]).

Points of attachment:

What documents define the identity of a state? How do these documents look? Is it always a matter of documents that have arisen in the government order? What is a state? Who or what is the people? Was Bayern always Bavaria? Does the idea of state identity change?

Important for a city, country or region is the first mention – a kind of “birth certificate”. For Austria, this first mention is located in Munich in the Bavarian Main State Archive. Why? In the document from 996, the country “Austria” is not in the center, it appears rather random. The Bishop of Freising receives from Emperor Otto III. Land given “in the region mentioned in the People’s mouth Ostarrichi” (Latin: regione vulgari vocabulo Ostarrichi). The document thus secured rights to the Freisinger Church and was therefore in the archives of the Hochstift Freising. This archive was transferred to the archive of the Kurfürstentum Bayern after the lifting of the Hochstift 1802. As the archive of the Hochstifts Freising, numerous ecclesiastical documents came into the possession of the Kurfürstentum in the course of secularisation – that is to say the abolition of ecclesiastical dominations. Kingdom of Bavaria.

A fundamental law of the Holy Roman Empire of the German nation is called the Golden Bull. With this document, the German king's election was fixed in 1356. Until the end of the Holy Roman Empire of the German nation in 1806, the regulations remained formally in force. The rights of subjects or people's representation are still in vain.

In the Bavarian Main State Archive, the central constitutional documents of Bavaria of 19 and 20 will be published. preserved.

The Bavarian Constitution of 1808 must first be called the first real Bavarian constitution. However, a central element of this constitution, the popular representation, that is to say Parliament, has not been implemented. Then the constitution of 1818, for the first time a parliament is facing the king. This constitution should last for 100 years – until the revolution of 1918. The Constitution grants the subjects rights: security of the person and property, freedom of conscience and emigration.

After its establishment, the first democratic Bavarian constitution of 1919 is called the “Bamberger Constitution”. For the first time in Bavarian history there are not Duke or King at the top of the state, but the elected representatives of the citizens. Comparing the constitutional documents of 1818 and 1918, there are distinct external differences. The 1818 constitution is a magnificent document with velvet and the great Bavarian majestic seal. The Bamberger Constitution never produced a representative copy. The draft on simple paper with deletions and corrections was signed and prepared by the President of the State, the members of the government and the Prime Minister.

After the end of the Third Reich, Bavaria needed a new constitution. The preparation was commissioned by the American military government Wilhelm Hoegner and the constitutional state assembly. Hoegner was able to draw on drafts he had drafted earlier. In a referendum, the new constitution was adopted in December 1946. The Constitution was published in the state indicator and entered into force. What is no longer present is a signed original, whether there has ever been one, you don't know...

Course reference:

Methodology competence, judgment competence, orientation competence Bavarian Identity, State and Cultural Heritage (Gymnasium, Class 8), Human Rights yesterday and today (Gymnasium, Class 9), Bavaria and Democracy (Gymnasium, Class 9), Education and School in the Mirror of History (Gymnasium, Class 6), Cross-disciplinary Educational Project with Social Science (Gymnasium, Class 10), Society between Inequality and Equality (Gymnasium, Class 11), Society

Further information:

www.bavarikon.de/verfassung1818 www.gda.bayern.de (full digitization of the constitutions) https://austria-forum.org (Austrian knowledge network, here also link to Austria Lexikon AEIOU)