Reichsrat (Germany)

The Reichsrat was the German upper house of parliament from 1919 until 1934, with representatives from the various states of the Reich.

It was established with the end of German monarchy and the founding of the Weimar Republic. Prussia sent almost half the representatives, being the largest state by far. The Reichsrat was first deprived of its powers and later formally abolished by the Nazi Gleichschaltung which turned Germany into a centralized state.

The Bundesrat was a similar, but more powerful institution between 1871 and 1918, consisting of the local monarchs or their delegates; in postwar Germany, the corresponding institution has again become more powerful than it was during the Weimar time and has again been known as Bundesrat.