Otto Braun
Otto Braun (28 January 1872 – 15 December 1955) was a politician of the
Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) during the
Weimar Republic. From 1920 to 1932, with only two brief interruptions, Braun was
Minister President of the
Free State of Prussia. The continuity of personnel in high office resulted in a largely stable government in Prussia, in contrast to the sometimes turbulent politics of the Reich. During his term of office, Prussia's public administration was reorganized along democratic lines. He replaced many monarchist officials with supporters of the Weimar Republic, strengthened and democratized the Prussian police, and made attempts to fight the rise of the
Nazi Party.
On 20 July 1932, in the
Prussian coup d'état (),
Reich Chancellor Franz von Papen ousted Braun's government from power following its loss of a parliamentary majority to the Nazis and the
Communist Party of Germany. After
Adolf Hitler seized power at the end of January 1933, Prussia lost its democratic constitution and Braun went into exile. After
World War II, he had little or no political influence and was largely forgotten by the time he died in 1955.
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