Otto Braun

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Otto Braun (28 January 1872 - 14 December 1955) was a German Social Democratic politician who was Prime Minister of Prussia.

Originally from Königsberg in East Prussia, Braun became a leader of the Social Democratic Party there, and was elected to the Prussian Diet in 1913. In 1919, he was elected to the Constituent Assembly in Weimar. He became most noted as Minister-President of Prussia, a position in which he served almost continually from 1920 to 1932. He was also the Social Democratic presidential candidate in the first round of presidential elections in 1925, leading the vote count in the first round of elections but withdrawing his name for the second and final round when the candidate of the left-middle lost to Hindenburg. Had Braun remained in the 1925 race, then he, a devoted democrat, and not Hindenburg, would have led Germany and might have effectively counteracted the rising Nazi Party.

In the latter years of the Weimar Republic, Braun's Social Democratic led coalition government in Prussia was one of the strongest bastions of democracy. It was overthrown in a coup in July 1932 by the national government of Franz von Papen. Braun remained, however, in opposition to the new nationally appointed government of Prussia until after Hitler's appointment as Chancellor in January 1933, when he emigrated to Switzerland, where he died in Locarno 22 years later.

After the end of WW II from his exile Braun approached the victorious allies to reinstate the legal Prussian government, but the occupation allies declined due to their plans to abolish the state of Prussia.

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Preceded by: Paul Hirsch	Prime Minister of Prussia 1920–1921	Succeeded by: Adam Stegerwald
Preceded by: Adam Stegerwald	Prime Minister of Prussia 1921–1925	Succeeded by: Wilhelm Marx
Preceded by: Wilhelm Marx	Prime Minister of Prussia 1925–1932	Succeeded by: Franz von Papen