Back in the 1920s, as the Kaiser is gone and the Weimar Republic is cleaning up the mess left.....there's this odd topic laying on the floor. What to do about property owned by the Kaiser, and his family? You had all of these grounds, castles, and palaces. So there was a law that was created in 1919 which basically said you (the nation-state) could take the property, but you had to offer compensation for what you took. The compensation part of this discussion really hindered anyone from getting 'frisky' about taking over property.
For several years, this was dragged out and various opposition parties were hyping this in the public arena. They wanted full seizure of property, with NO compensation.
In general, the Communist Party of Germany, with several socialist parties, were involved in this demand.
So it finally came up as a national referendum....set to 20 June 1926.
Here's the odd thing. There are 39-million Germans registered to vote. This is a one-topic only election....not a legislative-type election. At the conclusion of the vote....96-percent of the voters agreed on NO compensation. But a problem is laying there....ONLY 39-percent of the public showed up to vote.
Yes, a massive vote in favor of no compensation, and just seizing the Kaiser's properties. But it failed because German law dictated that you need a majority of registered voters to certify the vote. That didn't happen.
Laying out just another failure of the weak marginalized Weimar Republic? Yes.
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