Friedrich Ebert
Friedrich Ebert (; 4 February 1871 28 February 1925) was a German politician of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) and the first President of Germany from 1919 until his death in office in 1925.
Legal status of Germany
After the "Machtergreifung" of the Nazi Party in 1933, state power had been personified more and more within Reich Chancellor ("Reichskanzler") Adolf Hitler, who upon the death of Reich President Paul von Hindenburg on 2 August 1934 simultaneously served as head of government and as head of state (styled "Führer" and "Reichskanzler"). Furthermore, by the final months of the war, governmental functions at all levels within Nazi Germany had been assimilated into the apparatus of the Nazi Party. Following Hitler's suicide on April 30, 1945, the successor regime appointed in his political testament resigned during the cabinet's May 2 session. Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz, appointed Reich President in Hitler's testament, gave the task of forming a political administration to Leading Minister Lutz Graf Schwerin von Krosigk; however, the consequent Flensburg Government did not possess any "de facto" central governmental authority within Germany, nor was it recognised by any Axis, Allied or neutral government.