Administrative divisions of East Germany
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Theadministrative divisions of the German Democratic Republic(commonly referred to asEast Germany) were constituted in two different forms during the country's history. The GDR first retained the traditional German division intofederated statescalledLänder,but in 1952 they were replaced with districts calledBezirke.Immediately beforeGerman reunificationin 1990, theLänderwere restored, but they were not effectively reconstituted until after reunification had completed.
Division intoLänder
[edit]General background
[edit]
In May 1945, following its defeat inWorld War II,Germany was occupied by theUnited States,Britain,Franceand theSoviet Union.All four occupation powers reorganised the territories by recreating theLänder(states), the constituting parts of federal Germany. The state ofPrussia,whose provinces extended to all four zones and covered two thirds of Germany, wasabolishedin 1947.[1]
Special conditions were assigned toBerlin,which the four powers divided into four sectors. A united German state government existed in the city until it broke apart in 1948. After 1949, bothWest BerlinandEast Berlin(officially only called Berlin) were in effect incorporated into theFederal Republic of Germanyand the German Democratic Republic, respectively, despite not legally being part of these countries.
Länderin East Germany
[edit]In theSoviet occupation zone,fiveLänderwere established which roughly corresponded to the preexisting states and provinces. (The territories east of theOder–Neisse linehad been transferred from the Soviet occupation zone to the Polish authorities as agreed upon at thePotsdam Conference.) The five states were:
- Brandenburgwas created out of the major part of the Prussian province of that name
- Mecklenburg-Vorpommernwas created out of the state ofMecklenburg(reunited out of Mecklenburg-Schwerin and Mecklenburg-Strelitz only in 1934) and theWestern partsof the Prussianprovince of Pomerania
- Saxony(Sachsen) was augmented by the westernmost parts of the Prussianprovince of Lower Silesia.Also, the town ofReichenauwas ceded toPoland.
- Saxony-Anhalt(Sachsen-Anhalt) was created out of most of the PrussianProvince of Saxonyand theFree State of Anhalt
- Thuringia(Thüringen) was augmented by neighbouring parts from the Prussian provinces ofSaxonyandHesse-Nassau.
In 1949, theSoviet occupation zonewas transformed into the German Democratic Republic. The fiveLänder(andEast Berlin,though the latter only with consultative votes) participated in the legislative branch through theLänderkammer(Chamber of States), which was elected by theLandtage(state parliaments). However, theLänderwere not constituting entities forming afederal republic(as in West Germany) but rather decentralised administrative entities of a quasi-unitary state.
As a nod to thelegal fictionthat East Berlin was still occupied territory, it was counted neither as part of Brandenburg, nor as a state in its own right. East Germany claimed East Berlin as its capital, a status recognised by virtually all Eastern Bloc countries. However, theWestern Allies(theUS,UK,andFrance) never formally acknowledged the authority of the East German government to govern East Berlin; the official Allied protocol recognised only the authority of theSoviet Unionin East Berlin in accordance with the occupation status of Berlin as a whole.[2][3]
Division intoBezirke
[edit]
On 23 July 1952, a law combined the GDR's municipal districts (Kreise) into 14 regional districts (Bezirke), and subsequently, on 25 July 1952, the state governments transferred their administrative tasks to the new regional districts.[5]
With this law, theLänderwere in effect dissolved, and the GDR had become a highly centralized state. While they formally remained in existence, they no longer had any political or administrative functions. TheBezirkewere drawn without regard to the borders of theLänderand each named after their capitals, from north to south:Rostock,Neubrandenburg,Schwerin,Potsdam,Frankfurt (Oder),Magdeburg,Cottbus,Halle,Leipzig,Erfurt,Dresden,Karl-Marx-Stadt(named Chemnitz until 1953),GeraandSuhl.
TheLänderkammeralso remained in existence and its members were elected in 1954 by combined sessions of theBezirkstage(district assemblies) in eachLandand in 1958 directly by theBezirkstage.However, on 8 December 1958, theLänderkammerandLänderwere formally dissolved with no objections being raised by theLänderkammer.
Due to its special status, East Berlin was originally not counted as aBezirk.In 1961, after the construction of theBerlin Wall,East Berlin came to be recognised in GDR administration as a 15th district, though it retained a special status until the adoption of the1968 Constitutionformally designated it asBezirk Berlin.[6]
TheBezirke(with the exception of East Berlin, which consisted of a single municipality) were subdivided into rural districts (Landkreise) and urban districts (Stadtkreise):
| Bezirk | subdivisions |
|---|---|
| Cottbus | Urban districts:Cottbus |
| Rural districts:Bad Liebenwerda·Calau·Cottbus-Land·Finsterwalde·Forst·Guben (Wokrejs Gubin)·Herzberg·Hoyerswerda·Jessen·Luckau·Lübben·Senftenberg·Spremberg·Weißwasser | |
| Dresden | Urban districts:Dresden·Görlitz |
| Rural districts:Bautzen·Bischofswerda·Dippoldiswalde·Dresden-Land·Freital·Görlitz-Land·Großenhain·Kamenz·Löbau·Meißen·Niesky·Pirna·Riesa·Sebnitz·Zittau | |
| Erfurt | Urban districts:Erfurt·Weimar |
| Rural districts:Apolda·Arnstadt·Eisenach·Erfurt-Land·Gotha·Heiligenstadt·Langensalza·Mühlhausen·Nordhausen·Sömmerda·Sondershausen·Weimar-Land | |
| Frankfurt (Oder) | Urban districts:Frankfurt (Oder)·Eisenhüttenstadt·Schwedt/Oder |
| Rural districts:Angermünde·Bad Freienwalde·Beeskow·Bernau·Eberswalde·Eisenhüttenstadt·Fürstenwalde·Seelow·Strausberg | |
| Gera | Urban districts:Gera·Jena |
| Rural districts:Eisenberg·Gera-Land·Greiz·Jena·Lobenstein·Pößneck·Rudolstadt·Saalfeld·Schleiz·Stadtroda·Zeulenroda | |
| Halle | Urban districts:Halle·Dessau·Halle-Neustadt(from 12 May 1967) |
| Rural districts:Artern·Aschersleben·Bernburg·Bitterfeld·Eisleben·Gräfenhainichen·Hettstedt·Hohenmölsen·Köthen·Merseburg·Naumburg·Nebra·Quedlinburg·Querfurt·Roßlau·Saalkreis·Sangerhausen·Weißenfels·Wittenberg·Zeitz | |
| Karl-Marx-Stadt | Urban districts:Karl-Marx-Stadt·Plauen·Zwickau·Johanngeorgenstadt(until 1957)·Schneeberg(until 1958) |
| Rural districts:Annaberg·Aue·Auerbach·Brand-Erbisdorf·Flöha·Freiberg·Glauchau·Hainichen·Hohenstein-Ernstthal·Karl-Marx-Stadt-Land·Klingenthal·Marienberg·Oelsnitz·Plauen-Land·Reichenbach·Rochlitz·Schwarzenberg·Stollberg·Werdau·Zschopau·Zwickau-Land | |
| Leipzig | Urban districts:Leipzig |
| Rural districts:Altenburg·Borna·Delitzsch·Döbeln·Eilenburg·Geithain·Grimma·Leipzig-Land·Oschatz·Schmölln·Torgau·Wurzen | |
| Magdeburg | Urban districts:Magdeburg |
| Rural districts:Burg·Gardelegen·Genthin·Halberstadt·Haldensleben·Havelberg·Kalbe (Milde) (until December 1987)·Klötze·Loburg (until June 1957)·Oschersleben·Osterburg·Salzwedel·Schönebeck·Seehausen (until July 1965)·Staßfurt·Stendal·Tangerhütte (until December 1987)·Wanzleben·Wernigerode·Wolmirstedt·Zerbst | |
| Neubrandenburg | Urban districts:Neubrandenburg(from January 1969) |
| Rural districts:Altentreptow·Anklam·Demmin·Malchin·Neubrandenburg-Land·Neustrelitz·Pasewalk·Prenzlau·Röbel/Müritz·Strasburg·Templin·Teterow·Ueckermünde·Waren | |
| Potsdam | Urban districts:Potsdam·Brandenburg an der Havel |
| Rural districts:Belzig·Brandenburg·Gransee·Jüterbog·Königs-Wusterhausen·Kyritz·Luckenwalde·Nauen·Neuruppin·Oranienburg·Potsdam·Pritzwalk·Rathenow·Wittstock·Zossen | |
| Rostock | Urban districts:Rostock·Greifswald(from January 1974)·Stralsund·Wismar |
| Rural districts:Bad Doberan·Greifswald Land·Grevesmühlen·Grimmen·Ribnitz-Damgarten·Rostock-Land·Rügen·Stralsund·Wismar·Wolgast | |
| Schwerin | Urban districts:Schwerin |
| Rural districts:Bützow·Gadebusch·Güstrow·Hagenow·Ludwigslust·Lübz·Parchim·Perleberg·Schwerin-Land·Sternberg | |
| Suhl | Urban districts:Suhl |
| Rural districts:Bad Salzungen·Hildburghausen·Ilmenau·Meiningen·Neuhaus·Schmalkalden·Sonneberg·Suhl-Land |
List ofBezirke
[edit]From north to south, theBezirkewere:
| Map | Bezirk | Area (km²) | Population (1989) |
Population density (people/km²) |
Licence plates |
Internal divisions (1989) |
Municipalities (Gemeinden) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Rostock | 7,075 | 916,500 | 130 | A | 10Landkreise, 4Stadtkreise |
360 |
|
Schwerin | 8,672 | 595,200 | 69 | B | 10Landkreise, 1Stadtkreis |
389 |
|
Neubrandenburg | 10,948 | 620,500 | 57 | C | 14Landkreise, 1Stadtkreis |
492 |
|
Potsdam | 12,568 | 1,123,800 | 89 | D, P | 15Landkreise, 2Stadtkreise |
755 |
|
Frankfurt (Oder) | 7,186 | 713,800 | 99 | E | 9Landkreise, 3Stadtkreise |
438 |
|
Magdeburg | 11,526 | 1,249,500 | 108 | H, M | 17Landkreise, 1Stadtkreis |
655 |
|
Cottbus | 8,262 | 884,700 | 107 | Z | 14Landkreise, 1Stadtkreis |
574 |
|
Halle | 8,771 | 1,776,500 | 203 | K, V | 20Landkreise, 3Stadtkreise |
684 |
|
Leipzig | 4,966 | 1,360,900 | 274 | S, U | 12Landkreise, 1Stadtkreis |
422 |
|
Erfurt | 7,349 | 1,240,400 | 169 | L, F | 13Landkreise, 2Stadtkreise |
719 |
|
Dresden | 6,738 | 1,757,400 | 261 | R, Y | 15Landkreise, 2Stadtkreise |
594 |
|
Karl-Marx-Stadt* | 6,009 | 1,859,500 | 309 | T, X | 21Landkreise, 3Stadtkreise |
601 |
|
Gera | 4,004 | 742,000 | 185 | N | 11Landkreise, 2Stadtkreise |
528 |
|
Suhl | 3,856 | 549,400 | 142 | O | 8Landkreise, 1Stadtkreis |
358 |
|
Berlin** | 403 | 1,279,200 | 3,174 | I | 11Stadtbezirke | 1 |
| DDR | 108,333 | 16,669,300 | 154 | – | 191Landkreise, 27 Stadtkreise (+ Ost-Berlin) |
7,570 |
*) TheBezirk Karl-Marx-Stadtwas namedBezirk Chemnitzfor a short period at both the beginning and end of the republic, corresponding with the renaming and reversal of the cityChemnitz.Between 10 May 1953 and 30 May 1990, both the city andBezirkwere namedKarl-Marx-Stadt.
**) East Berlin was not officially aBezirk,but from 1961 was provided with the function of one.
Reconstitution of theLänder
[edit]
On 23 August 1990 — just over a month beforeGerman reunificationon 3 October — East Germanyreconstituted the five originalLänder.Legally, it was theseLänderthat then acceded to theFederal Republic of Germany.[5]
In reality, the restoredLänderdid not fully reconstitute themselves until after reunification. On 14 October 1990, elections to theLandtage(state parliaments) were held in the five new states, initiating the formation of state governments.
Since changes to the boundaries of municipal districts were not reversed, and also due to considerations of expediency, the territorial make-up of the restoredLänderdiffered somewhat from the borders before 1952.
Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt initially retained the rural and urban districts as administrative entities (Regierungsbezirke). Saxony-Anhalt later abolished them in 2003, while Saxony transformed them into directorates in 2008.
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^Orlow, Dietrich (1986-12-15).Weimar Prussia, 1918–1925: The Unlikely Rock of Democracy.University of Pittsburgh Pre. pp.3.ISBN9780822976400.
prussia 1947.
- ^"Helpful Hints for US Visitors to East Berlin"(PDF).Headquarters, U.S. Command Berlin. 1981-11-09.
{{cite journal}}:Cite journal requires|journal=(help) - ^Architecture, Politics, and Identity in Divided Berlin,Emily Pugh, University of Pittsburgh Press, 2014, pages 159
- ^Grieder, Peter (2012-11-02).The German Democratic Republic.Palgrave Macmillan. pp. xviii.ISBN9780230356863.
- ^abIlling, Falk (2014-10-07).Die sächsische FDP seit 1990: Auf dem Weg zur etablierten Partei?(in German). Springer-Verlag. p. 71.ISBN9783658046576.
- ^Horváth, Gyula (2014-08-21).Spaces and Places in Central and Eastern Europe: Historical Trends and Perspectives.Routledge. p. 109.ISBN9781317917540.
External links
[edit]
Media related toSubdivisions of the German Democratic Republicat Wikimedia Commons
