TheFree State of Coburg (German:Freistaat Coburg) was a small, short-lived (1918–1920) central German state during the early years of theWeimar Republic. It was formed following the dissolution of theDuchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha during theGerman revolution of 1918–1919. DukeCharles Edward abdicated, and Coburg separated from Saxe-Gotha due in large part to political differences with its more radical neighbor. After Coburg's peaceful transition to a republican government, the majority of the population rejected a union withThuringia, and Coburg merged instead withBavaria on 1 July 1920.
The predecessor of the Free State of Coburg was the Duchy ofSaxe-Coburg and Gotha. It was initially a double duchy, ruled inpersonal union, but with the enactment of the Constitution of 1852, the tie became areal union. The duchy from that point shared state ministers and had a commonLandtag (state legislature), 11 of whose members represented Coburg and 19 Gotha. Saxe-Coburg and Gotha became a constituent state of theGerman Empire in 1871, with two seats in theReichstag and one in theBundesrat. Its last ruler wasDuke Charles Edward (1900–1918).[1][2]
The Duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha broke apart during therevolution of 1918–1919, which brought down theGerman Empire and all of Germany's royal houses at the end ofWorld War I. The revolution began at the end of October 1918 with asailors' mutiny at Kiel. The rebellious sailors set up aworkers' and soldiers' council and in early November spread the revolt across the rest of Germany. EmperorWilhelm II fled to Holland on 10 November, and councils quickly took power from the existing military, royal and civil authorities with little resistance or bloodshed.[3]
The revolution reached Saxe-Coburg and Gotha on 8 November 1918 when soldiers atGotha's military airfield set up a workers' and soldiers' council with the support of Gotha Reichstag member Wilhelm Bock. The next day, on Gotha's main market square, Bock proclaimed the council to be the provisional government of the new Gotha Republic and declaredDuke Charles Edward deposed. A council of the people's deputies, all of whose members belonged to the radical leftIndependent Social Democratic Party (USPD), then took control in Gotha.[4][5]
The situation in Coburg developed less dramatically. On 9 November a soldiers' council was formed, but only in response to orders from the acting Army General Command inKassel. The council was led by Reinhold Artmann of the moderateSocial Democratic Party (SPD).[6] A formal workers' council, headed byJohann Stegner, also a member of the SPD, was not set up until 12 November. Until then the workers were represented by a provisional committee.[7]
On 11 November a demonstration in Coburg organized by the SPD took place peacefully. Lieutenant Colonel Hans von Erffa, commander of the army reserve battalion stationed in the city, resigned at the request of the workers' and soldiers' representatives. The mayor of Coburg, confronted with the demand that he allow the representatives to oversee the city administration, quickly agreed. At the state ministry, however,Hermann Quarck [de] andErnst Fritsch [de] refused to recognize the revolutionary committees but agreed to cooperate with them while remaining in control of the state government.[8]
The Free State of Coburg. The gray-shaded region to the south isBavaria ('Bayern' in German).
At a session of the joint parliament ofSaxe-Coburg and Gotha on 14 November, members received a document signed by the Duke stating that he would relinquish his government duties but not that he was abdicating. Members of the USPD and the Gotha workers' and soldiers' councils then tried unsuccessfully to abolish the Duchy's constitution and replace it with asoviet republic. Following the vote, the combined parliament dissolved itself.[4][5] That and the Duke's abdication removed two of the major links that had bound Coburg and Gotha together. Given their political differences, the separation of the two halves of the former duchy became all but inevitable.[7]
The Coburg workers' and soldiers' council then formed a three-member executive committee. Along with the state ministry which it had allowed to continue in office, it made up the Coburg government. In the eyes of some historians, what had taken place in Coburg was not a true revolution:[7]
One cannot speak of a real revolution, since the old elites remained in office and retained their honours. The fact that no real revolution took place can probably best be explained by the absence of an industrial proletariat in Coburg.
On 7 June 1919, Duke Charles Edward finalized a settlement with the Free State of Coburg over his properties and compensation. He was allowed to keepCallenberg Castle and a few smaller properties and received 1.5 millionmarks for the remainder that was taken over by the state, some of which went directly to Coburg and some to the Coburg State Foundation (Coburger Landesstiftung).[9]
The weak position of the workers' and soldiers' council allowed Hermann Quarck at the state ministry to assume control of affairs in Coburg by 21 November.[10] At the council's request, he set 9 February 1919 as the date for an election to a new state parliament. The voting was held under universal (male and female), equal and secret suffrage usingproportional representation.[11] The SPD won 58.6% of the votes; the remaining 41.4% went to a combined list of the liberalGerman Democratic Party (DDP), the conservativeGerman National People's Party (DNVP) and the Coburg Farmers' Association.[12]
On 10 March 1919, the newly elected state assembly passed a constitution for Coburg based on a draft written by Quarck. It established a republican government with a one-chamber legislature (theLandtag) and a three-member ministerial government dependent on the confidence of theLandtag. Quarck, as both lead minister and head of the administration, continued in his dominant role.[13] That ended on 11 July when the constitution was altered to prohibit a personal union of the ministerial and administrative leadership. The SPD forced Quarck out on 19 July 1919 .[10] Franz Klinger of the SPD took over as head of the ministry, and a member of the DDP took Klinger's previous ministerial position.[14]
Despite the abdication of the ducal family and the dissolution of the combined parliament, Coburg and Saxe-Gotha remained tied together by their shared judiciary and joint representation at the federal level. An agreement on the regulation of their common affairs was signed on 12 April 1919, but it took until 1924 for all of the necessary work to be completed. Technically, "Coburg was no longer part of the Reich, which adhered to the system of states of the empire, but was considered an independent state within the loose confederation of Thuringian states."[15]
Coburg's leadership knew that the state was too small to be economically viable. Initially, three possibilities presented themselves: union withPrussia, with the newly forming state ofThuringia, or withBavaria. Prussia was indifferent, Thuringian interests could offer statements of intention but no guarantees, but Bavaria willingly made concessions regarding improved transportation links, Coburg's integration into Bavaria's food economy, and retention of its existing rights respecting such cultural institutions as schools, museums and theaters.[16]
TheLandtag had decided to leave the decision on whether to join Thuringia or Bavaria to the people. On 30 November 1919, the first democratic referendum in Germany[17] was held to determine Coburg's future. With a voter turnout of 75%, 88% of the population voted against becoming part of Thuringia and therefore to merge with Bavaria. One key reason behind the outcome was that many Coburgers hoped that Bavaria, with its strong agricultural sector, could best help end the five years of war-related food shortages under which they were still suffering.[18][16]
The exclave of Königsberg
The Bavarian parliament approved the agreement with Coburg on 11 March 1920; Coburg'sLandtag followed on the 18th. The final approval came from the federalReichsrat, the upper house of Germany's parliament which represented the interests of the states. That took place on 20 April, the same day on which it passed the legislation that created Thuringia.[16]
With the union of the Free States of Coburg and Bavaria on 1 July 1920, almost 600 years of political autonomy of theCoburger Land came to an end. According to the treaty, the Free State of Coburg was assigned to the administrative district ofUpper Franconia (Oberfranken). The exclave Königsberg region with the town ofKönigsberg, as well as the communities of Altershausen, Dörflis, Erlsdorf, Hellingen, Kottenbrunn and Nassach, became part of the district ofHofheim inLower Franconia (Unterfranken).[16]
Reinhold Artmann (1870 – 1960) from Coburg, carpenter
Erhard Kirchner (1866 – 1927) from Neustadt bei Coburg, manager atAllgemeine Ortskrankenkasse [General Local Health Insurance] (AOK) and President of the State Assembly
Franz Xavier Klingler (1875 – 1933) from Coburg, editor of the newspaper, theCoburger Volksblatt [Coburger People's Bulletin]
Bernhard Lauer (1867 – 1927) from Neustadt bei Coburg, employee at AOK
Hermann Mämpel (1866 – 1944) from Coburg, administrative assistant at AOK
Johann Stegner (1866 – 1954) from Frohnlach, brewer and innkeeper
Carl Wendt (1887 – 1936) from Rodach, machinist
Other parties and independents:
Max Oscar Arnold (1854 – 1938) from Neustadt bei Coburg, manufacturer of dolls
Hans Woldemar Schack (1878 – 1946) from Coburg, Judge of the District Courts
Ernst Külbel (1863 – 1938) from Coburg, maltmaker
Gustav Hess (1874 – 1940) from Neuses bei Coburg, farmer
^Sturm, Reinhard (23 December 2011)."Vom Kaiserreich zur Republik 1918/19" [From Empire to Republic 1918/19].Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung (in German). Retrieved23 August 2025.
^Hambrecht, Rainer (11 June 2006)."Freistaat Coburg, 1918–1920. Trennung von Gotha" [The Free State of Coburg, 1918–1920. Separation from Gotha].Historisches Lexikon Bayerns (in German). Retrieved8 September 2025.
^abcdHambrecht, Rainer (11 May 2006)."Vereinigung Coburgs mit Bayern, 1. Juli 1920" [Coburg's Unification with Bavaria, 1 July 1920].Historisches Lexikon Bayerns (in German). Retrieved8 September 2025.
^Sandner, Harald (2000).Coburg im 20. Jahrhundert [Coburg in the 20th Century] (in German). Coburg: Neue Presse. p. 70.ISBN978-3-00006-732-7.
(in German) Harald Bachmann, “75 Jahre Coburg bei Bayern” [“Coburg’s 75 Years with Bavaria”], in:Frankenland. Zeitschrift für fränkische Landeskunde und Kulturpflege 1995 [Franconia: Journal of Cultural Studies and Preservation 1995],Heft [Issue] 3, ISSN 0015-9905, p. 143–150(PDF; 1,56 MB).
(in German) Carl-Christian Dressel,Die Bestimmungen des Staatsvertrags. Entwicklung, Hintergründe, Folgen - unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der Leistung von Franz Klingler [The Provisions of the Treaty: Development, Background, Consequences – with Special Emphasis on the Performance of Franz Klingler], Thesis in History, GymnasiumCasimirianum Coburg, Class Years of 1987–1989 (Coburg: Author, 1989)
(in German) Jürgen Erdmann,Coburg, Bayern und das Reich 1918–1923 [Coburg, Bavaria and the Empire 1918–1923] (Coburg:Druckhaus und Vesteverlag [Printing and Publishing House of] A. Rossteutscher, 1969), (Coburger Heimatkunde und Landesgeschichte Reihe 2, 22 [Coburger Studies of State and Local History Series 2, Nr 22], ZDB-ID 1151614-8) (simultaneously:University of Würzburg, Dissertation, 1969:Coburg in den Anfangsjahren der Weimarer Republik 1918–1923 [Coburg in the Beginning of the Weimar Republic Years 1918–1923])
(in German) Rainer Hambrecht, ed.,Nicht durch Krieg, Kauf oder Erbschaft [Not by War, Sale or Inheritance]:Ausstellung des Staatsarchivs Coburg anlasslich der 75. Wiederkehr der Vereinigung Coburgs mit Bayern am 1. Juli 1920 [Catalogue of the Exhibition at the State Archives of Coburg for the 75th Anniversary of the Union of Coburg with Bavaria on 1 July 1920] (München:Staatlichen Archive Bayern [Bavarian State Archives], 1995).
(in German) Esther Reinhart, Max Oscar Arnold (1854-1938). Leben und Wirken für das Coburger Land [Life and Work for the Coburger Land] (Coburg:Historische Gesellschaft [Historical Society of] Coburg, 2007),ISBN3-9810350-3-8, (Schriftenreihe der Historischen Gesellschaft Coburg e.V., 21 Band [Series of the Historical Society of Coburg, Inc., Volume 21).
(in German) Harald Sandner,Coburg im 20. Jahrhundert. Die Chronik über die Stadt Coburg und das Haus Sachsen-Coburg und Gotha vom 1. Januar 1900 bis zum 31. December 1999 – von der „guten alten Zeit“ bis zur Schwelle des 21. Jahrhunderts. Gegen das Vergessen [Coburg in the 20th Century: The Chronicle of the City of Coburg and the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha from 1 January 1900 to 31 December 1999 – from the “Good Old Days” to the Dawn of the 21st Century. Lest We Forget] (Coburg:Verlagsanstalt Neue Presse [New Press Publishing Co.], 2002),ISBN3-00-006732-9
(in German) Jörg Siegmund, “Zwischen Konsens und Blockadepolitik. Die Übergangsparlamente in Sachsen-Gotha und Sachsen-Coburg” [“Between Consensus and Obstructionism: The Transitional Parliament in Saxe-Gotha and Saxe-Coburg”], in: Harald Mittelsdorf (ed.):Die vergessenen Parlamente. Landtage und Gebietsvertretungen in den Thüringer Staaten und Gebieten 1919 bis 1923 [The Forgotten Parliaments: State Parliaments and Regional Representation in the Thuringian States and Territories from 1919 to 1923],Herausgegeben vom Thüringer Landtag [Publication of the State Parliament of Thuringia] (Rudolstadt, Germany: Verlag Hain, 2002),ISBN3-89807-038-7, (Schriften zur Geschichte des Parlamentarismus in Thüringen [Writings on the History of Parliamentarianism in Thuringia] 19), p. 121–160.
(in German) Rainer Hambrecht,"Freistaat Coburg, 1918-1920" ["Free State of Coburg, 1918–1920"], in:Historisches Lexikon Bayerns [Historical Dictionary of Bavaria], 25 March 2013, retrieved on 9. August 2013.
(in German) Rainer Hambrecht,"Vereinigung Coburgs mit Bayern, 1. Juli 1920" ["Union of Coburg with Bavaria, 1 July 1920"], in: Historisches Lexikon Bayerns [Historical Dictionary of Bavaria], 8 April 2011, retrieved on 9 August 2013.
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