Otto Braun started his political career in Prussia during the Kaiserreich, serving as a member of the Prussian parliament from 1913 to 1918. In 1919, Braun was elected to the constituent National Assembly. Yet he became particularly well known and played a key political role as the Minister-President of Prussia. He served in this capacity in 1920 and, with a brief interruption, from 1921 to 1932. He stayed in office for so long that he came to be known as Prussia’s “Red Czar”. Prussia was Germany’s largest and most populous state by far. As such, its government’s long period of political stability was a major source of support for the Weimar Republic throughout its crises. Braun’s cabinet could not be shaken until finally, with the Papen government’s Preußenschlag (Prussian coup d’état), it was dismissed and its political power was transferred to commissioners. The Preußenschlag made it easier for the Nazis to seize power because they were able to take advantage of the provision in 1933.

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Zeigner was born in Erfurt and studied law and economics in Leipzip from 1905 to 1913. After obtaining a doctoral degree, he started working as an assessor in Leipzig’s public prosecutor’s office. In 1918, he was appointed public prosecutor. He joined the SPD and was appointed judge the following year. In 1921, he was appointed Minister of Justice in Minister-President Wilhelm Buck’s cabinet. Zeigner became well known because of his controversial decisions as Saxony’s Minister-President. These included his move in October 1923 to appoint two KPD (Communist Party) politicians to his cabinet. Reichspräsident Friedrich Ebert imposed imperial authority over Saxony and dismissed Zeigner’s SPD-KPD cabinet. Zeigner was accused of political corruption and sentenced to three years in prison. Yet after one year, he was released on parole. After the Nazis seized power, Zeigner was arrested and released several times. In 1944, he was initially imprisoned in Sachsenhausen concentration camp, then transferred to Buchenwald. After the war, he was elected Mayor of Leipzig and became one of the founders of the SED (Socialist Unity Party of Germany) in Leipzig and Saxony.

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After studying law in Munich, Kahr first worked as an administrative lawyer. In 1902, he transferred to the Bavarian Ministry of the Interior. During World War I, he climbed the political ladder, becoming President of Upper Bavaria. In 1920, he became Bavaria’s Minister-President. He established Bavaria’s reputation as the German Reich’s “Ordnungszelle” (bastion of order) by introducing Einwohnerwehrs (citizens’ militias) and dissolving the workers’ and soldiers’ councils. After the 1921 Law for the Protection of the Republic was enacted, stipulating the dissolution of the Einwohnerwehrs, he resigned. At the end of September 1923, Kahr was appointed General State Commissioner and granted dictatorial powers. Shortly after taking office, he declared a state of emergency in Bavaria. During the Beer Hall Putsch, Kahr defied the putsch leaders’ expectations by working against it instead of participating in it. The Bavarian state police force managed to put an end to the putsch. In February 1924, Kahr stepped down from his political offices. During the Night of the Long Knives, Kahr was murdered by members of the SS.

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Born in Würzburg, Matthes worked as a journalist and became involved politics. This helped him get a job as the editor-in-chief of the SPD’s (Social Democrats’) party newspaper in Aschaffenburg. Yet in 1920, Matthes was excluded from the SPD. One year later, he was sentenced to six months in prison for libel and insults. Following this, he moved to the Rhine-Main area. O.C. there, he helped found separatist groups such as the Rheinischer Unabhängigkeitsbund (Rhenish independence league) and the Vereinigte Rheinische Bewegung (united Rhenish movement). In 1923, Matthes was a co-founder of the Free and Independent Rhineland Republic and became the Minister-President of the Rhenish Republic. Paul Tirard, the French High Commissioner and President of the Rhineland Commission, recognized Matthes’ cabinet as the region’s legitimate government. Yet its power relied solely on the French Rhineland-protection forces. Without backing for Matthes’ government from the people, his entire cabinet had to prematurely step down. Matthes then fled to France. After France’s capitulation, Matthes was extradited to the Nazi government and died in Dachau concentration camp in 1943.

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