1920 in Germany

Events in the year 1920 in Germany.

The Treaty of Versailles in the previous year resulted in Germany losing several provinces. The most important changes were the loss of Alsace-Lorraine to France and of a large stretch of territory in West Prussia, Posen, and Upper Silesia to Poland. The territory ceded to Poland amounted to nearly 20,000 square miles (50,000 km²), and, coupled with the establishment of Danzig as an independent state, which was also imposed upon Germany, this had the effect of cutting off East Prussia from the main territory of Germany.

Danzig and Memel were to be ceded to the Allies, their fate to be subsequently decided. A portion of Silesia was to be ceded to Czechoslovakia. The treaty also provided for plebiscites to be held in certain areas to decide their destinies. Certain districts of East Prussia and West Prussia were to be polled to decide whether they should belong to Germany or to Poland. A third portion of Silesia, which was in dispute between Germany and Poland, was to exercise the right of self-determination. The small districts of Eupen and Malmedy were to decide whether they would belong to Belgium or to Germany. The middle and southern districts of the province of Schleswig, which had been annexed to Prussia in 1866, were to decide their own destinies. Finally, the coal-producing valley of the Saarland, which had been provisionally separated from Germany, was to be the subject of a referendum after the lapse of fifteen years.

Raoul Hausmann, George Grosz, Hannah Höch and other artists helped establish the Berlin wing of the Dada movement, an avant garde artistic movement that defied the established forms of classical art. Photomontage, a technique Hausmann claims to have originated with Höch in 1918, becomes associated with Berlin Dada style.

After the revolution, Alsace-Lorraine was returned to France, and the two principalities of Reuss united into a single state. The Duchy of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha split apart; Coburg voluntarily united with Bavaria, and Saxe-Gotha entered into negotiations with a number of the other small states of central Germany to bring about a general union of the little republics concerned. Six states took part in the negotiations: Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, Schwarzburg-Sondershausen, Reuss, Saxe-Gotha, Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, Saxe-Meiningen and Saxe-Altenburg. The new State of Thuringia was formed on 1 May 1920 with Weimar as its capital.The total population of Thuringia was just over 1,600,000, and its area was just over 4,500 square miles (11,700 km²).

From the time of the revolution until the end of 1919, the Liberal and Radical parties in combination with the so-called Majority Social Democratic Party had held power continuously, and were confirmed in their position by the general election held in January 1919. The results were similar to those for the old Reichstag in the time of the Empire.

In March, following months of instability, the president asked Hermann Müller, who had previously held the office of minister for foreign affairs, to form an administration. Within forty-eight hours it was announced that Müller had succeeded in forming a cabinet, which included (as did the previous administration) members of all the three moderate parties, the Catholic Centre Party, the Democrats, and the Majority Social Democrats. The new cabinet was composed as follows:

Müller's tenure of the Foreign Office was only temporary, and before the middle of April he relinquished that position to Dr. Adolf Köster.