After the bloody massacre of World War II, the western part of Germany, which was the occupation zone of the allies (Great Britain, the USA and France), began to rise from the ruins. This also applied to the state structure of the country, which had learned the bitter experience of Nazism. The Constitution of Germany, adopted in 1949, approved a parliamentary republic, which was based on the principles of civil liberties, human rights and federalism.
Of great interest is the fact that initially this document was adopted as a temporary basic law of the transitional period, valid until the complete political unification of the two parts of the state. Which was stated in the preamble. But subsequently, the German constitution of 1949 was recognized as the most successful in German history. Following the reunification of Germany, the provisional clause of this document was deleted from the preamble. Thus, the post-war constitution is still valid today.
The Federal Republic of Germany, in accordance with the principles of its construction and the legal norms declared in it, has become an extremely progressive document that has had a significant impact on the development of a democratic free society in a renewed Germany. No wonder its first nineteen articles describe in detail the rights of citizens of the newly created state and a clear commitment to the principles of democracy.
With these provisions, the FRG constitution seems to erase the dark Nazi past from the history of the German people. Providing citizens of the country with ample opportunities to exercise their rights, the fundamental law simultaneously prohibits any action that poses a potential threat to the democratic system and the foundations of civilized European society. In 1951, a constitutional court was introduced in Germany. This was another significant step on the difficult path of building a democratic society in a country that had only recently experienced the triumphs and fiasco of National Socialism.
It was also very indicative that, according to the new constitution, not only the activities of various neo-Nazi parties, but also the Communists, were banned throughout West Germany. The latter can be regarded as a kind of curtsy towards the victorious allied powers. Also, the FRG constitution of 1949 establishes several dominant principles of democracy: the dominant role of law and order, socially oriented institutions of state power and the federal structure of the country.
At the same time, to make any amendments, changes and additions to the fundamental law, their approval and approval by at least two-thirds of the members of the Bundestag and the Bundesrat were required. However, some fundamental provisions of the constitution could not be amended even in this case. The lessons learned from the rise to power of the Nazis and the fruits of their activities are already clearly affecting here.
The principle of federalism, where the subjects of the state are the lands, is historically traditional for Germany. This form of state building has gone a long way from centralized federalism to the modern model of cooperative federalism, in which each land is an equal participant in state political life, having its own government, constitution, and other attributes of statehood. Such a device was also declared in the post-war constitution, as it most fully meets the historical traditions of the German people. Now Germany also boasts the most developed labor legislation in Europe.