Province of Brandenburg

Brandenburg Province of Prussia ← 1816–1946 →   →   → Flag Coat of arms Anthem Brandenburglied Brandenburg (red), within the Kingdom of Prussia (blue), within the German Empire Capital Potsdam (1815- 1827) Berlin (1827-1843) Potsdam (1843-1918) Charlottenburg (1918-1920) Berlin (1920-1946) History  - Established 1816  - Greater Berlin Act 1 October 1920  - Disestablished 1946 Area  - 1939 38,275 km2 (14,778 sq mi) Population  - 1939 3,023,443       Density 79 /km2  (204.6 /sq mi)

The Province of Brandenburg (German: Provinz Brandenburg) was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia and the Free State of Prussia from 1815 to 1946.

History

The first people who are known to have inhabited Brandenburg were the Suevi. They were succeeded by the Slavonians, whom Henry II conquered and converted to Christianity in the early part of the 10th century. The government was first conferred on a Saxon count, and did not become hereditary until the time of Albert, whose son succeeded to the dignity of elector in 1180. This line becoming extinct, Charles IV assigned the electorate to his son Sigismund. The Elector of Brandenburg held the seventh rank among the electors of the empire and had five votes in the Council of Princes.

Sigismund sold the region to Frederick, Burgrave of Nuremberg, the first member of the House of Hohenzollern to rule the Margraviate of Brandenburg. After the Margraves inherited the Duchy of Prussia in 1618, the Margraviate formed the core of the Brandenburg-Prussian state. Frederick William the Great made various accessions to the territory, the Treaty of Königsberg of 1656 marking a significant turn in its evolution. It eventually became the Kingdom of Prussia.

In 1815, the Kingdom's administration was divided into several provinces. Most of the Margraviate's territory was incorporated into the new province of Brandenburg, most notably the Mittelmark between the rivers Elbe and Oder and the Neumark east of the Oder. However, the Altmark on the western bank of the Elbe was incorporated into the Province of Saxony. The province of Brandenburg also encompassed the formerly separate territory of Lower Lusatia. The province was subdivided into two governorates named after their respective capitals, Potsdam and Frankfurt upon Oder. The provincial government was at first situatated at Potsdam. In 1827, the provincial government was moved to Berlin, returned to Potsdam in 1843 and in 1918 finally settled in Charlottenburg.

Berlin originally formed part of the province but on 1 April 1881 was made a city district (Stadtkreis Berlin) separate from Brandenburg. In 1920, the Greater Berlin Act expanded the borders of Berlin, incorporating numerous surrounding districts and towns from Brandenburg to form Greater Berlin (German: Groß-Berlin), including Charlottenburg, the seat of Brandenburg's provincial government.

In 1946, after World War II, the section of Brandenburg east of the Oder-Neisse line was ceded to Poland to form the Zielona Gora Voivodeship (became Lubusz Voivodeship in 1998). The remaining territory became part of the Soviet occupation zone and was transformed into the state of Brandenburg, with Potsdam becoming state capital. In 1949, the state of Brandenburg became part of East Germany and, along with the other states of Eastern Germany, in 1952 was dissolved and divided into administrative districts. Brandenburg's territory roughly corresponded with the districts of Potsdam, Frankfurt/Oder and Cottbus. In 1990, following German reunification, Brandenburg was re-established as a state of the Federal Republic of Germany.

Administration

The Prussian central government appointed for every province an Upper President carrying out central prerogatives on the provincial level and supervising the implementation of central policy on the lower levels of administration.

Since 1875, with the strengthening of self-rule within the provinces, the urban and rural counties elected representatives for the provincial diets (Provinziallandtage). These parliaments legislated within the competences transferred to the provinces. The provincial diet of Brandenburg elected a provincial executive body (government), the provincial committee (Provinzialausschuss), and a head of province, the land director (Landesdirektor).

Upper Presidents of Brandenburg

• 1815–1824: Georg Friedrich Christian von Heydebreck (1765–1828)
• 1825–1840: Friedrich Magnus von Bassewitz (1773–1858)
• 1840–1842: vacancy
• 1842–1848: August Werner von Meding (1792–1871)
• 1848–1849: Robert von Patow (1804–1890), per pro
• 1849–1850: vacancy
• 1849–1850: August Hermann Klemens Freiherr Wolff von Metternich (1803–1872), per pro
• 1850–1858: Eduard Heinrich von Flottwell (1786–1865)
• 1859–1862: Eduard Heinrich von Flottwell (1786–1865)
• 1862: Werner Ludolph Erdmann von Selchow (1806–1884)
• 1862–1879: Gustav Wilhelm von Jagow (1813–1879)
• 1879–1899: Heinrich von Achenbach (1829–1899)
• 1899–1905: Theobald von Bethmann-Hollweg (1856–1921)
• 1905–1909: August von Trott zu Solz (1855–1938)
• 1909–1910: Friedrich Wilhelm von Loebell (1855–1931)
• 1910–1914: Alfred von Conrad (1852–1914)
• 1914–1917: Rudolf von der Schulenburg (1860–1930)
• 1917–1919: Friedrich Wilhelm von Loebell (1855–1931)
• 1919–1933: Adolf Maier (1871–1963)
• 1933–1936: Wilhelm Kube (1887–1943), NSDAP
• 1937–1945: Emil Stürtz (1892–1945), NSDAP, since 1936 per pro

Land Directors of Brandenburg

• 1876–1896: Albert Erdmann Karl Gerhard von Levetzow (1827–1903), German Conservative Party
• 1896–1912: Otto Karl Gottlob von Manteuffel (1844–1913), German Conservative Party
• 1912–1930: Joachim von Winterfeldt-Menkin (1865–1945)
• 1930–1933: Hugo Swart (1885–1952)
• 1933–1944: Dietloff von Arnim (1876–1945), NSDAP
• 1944–1946: vacant?

Administrative subdivisons

Administrative map as of 1905

The province of Brandenburg was divided into two Regierungsbezirke (governorates), Frankfurt and Potsdam.

Regierungsbezirk Frankfurt

Urban districts (Stadtkreise)

1. Cottbus (from 1886)
2. Forst (Lausitz) (from 1897)
3. Frankfurt an der Oder (from 1826)
4. Guben (from 1884)
5. Landsberg (Warthe) (from 1892)

Rural districts (Landkreise)

1. Calau
2. Cottbus
3. Crossen (Oder)
4. Guben
5. Königsberg Nm.
6. Landsberg (Warthe)
7. Lebus
8. Luckau
9. Lübben (Spreewald)
10. Meseritz
11. Oststernberg
12. Schwerin (Warthe)
13. Soldin
14. Sorau (Lausitz)
15. Spremberg (Lausitz)
16. Weststernberg
17. Züllichau-Schwiebus

Regierungsbezirk Potsdam

Urban districts (Stadtkreise)

1. Lichtenberg (1908-1920; from 1912: known as Berlin-Lichtenberg; after 1920: part of Groß-Berlin)
2. Schöneberg (1899-1920; from 1912: known as Berlin-Schöneberg; after 1920: part of Groß-Berlin)
3. Wilmersdorf (1907-1920; from 1912: known as Berlin-Wilmersdorf; after 1920: part of Groß-Berlin)
4. Brandenburg (Havel) (from 1881)
5. Charlottenburg (1877-1920; then a part of Groß-Berlin)
6. Eberswalde (from 1911)
7. Neukölln (1899-1920; then a part of Groß-Berlin)
8. Potsdam (from 1809)
9. Rathenow (from 1925)
10. Spandau (1886-1920; then a part of Groß-Berlin)
11. Wittenberge (from 1922)

Rural districts (Landkreise)

1. Angermünde
2. Beeskow-Storkow
3. Jüterbog-Luckenwalde
4. Niederbarnim (mostly incorporated into Groß-Berlin in 1920)
5. Oberbarnim
6. Osthavelland (mostly incorporated into Groß-Berlin in 1920)
7. Ostprignitz
8. Prenzlau
9. Ruppin
10. Teltow (mostly incorporated into Groß-Berlin in 1920)
11. Templin
12. Westhavelland
13. Westprignitz
14. Zauch-Belzig

External links

• Further information (in German)
• Population breakdown of Brandenburg province, 1910 (in German)