Governing Mayor of Berlin
| Governing Mayor of Berlin | |
|---|---|
 | |
_by_Sandro_Halank.jpg) | |
| Inaugural holder | Ernst Reuter |
| Formation | 11 January 1951 |
| Website | [1] |
The Governing Mayor (Template:Lang-de) of Berlin is the head of government, presiding over the Berlin Senate. As Berlin is an independent city as well as one of the constituent States of Germany (Bundesländer), the office is the equivalent of the Ministers President of the other German states, except the states of Hamburg and Bremen, where the heads of government are called "First Mayor" and "President of the Senate and Mayor", respectively. The title Governing Mayor of Berlin is the equivalent of Lord Mayor in the meaning of an actual executive leader.
Overview
According to the Berlin Constitution, the Governing Mayor is member and head of the Berlin Senate. The ministers are called senators. The two deputies additionally hold the title of Mayor (Template:Lang-de, historically: burgomaster). The title Mayor is also held by the heads of the twelve boroughs of Berlin, although they do not actually preside over self-governmental municipalities.
The Governing Mayor is elected by the city's state parliament (Landtag), the Abgeordnetenhaus of Berlin, which also controls his policy guidelines and is able to enforce his resignation by a motion of no confidence. He is entitled to appoint and release the senators of his government.
The seat of the Senate is the city hall Rotes Rathaus in Mitte.
History
As capital of the Kingdom of Prussia, Berlin received its first Lord Mayor (Oberbürgermeister) according to the Prussian reforms after the retreat of the Napoleonic occupation troops in 1809, approved by King Frederick William III. He served as head of the city council called Magistrat. The two-stage administration and the office of the boroughs' mayors were implemented in the course of the wide-ranging incorporations by the 1920 Greater Berlin Act.
During the Allied occupation after World War II, the city assembly (Stadtverordnetenversammlung) elected the Social Democratic politician Ernst Reuter as Lord Mayor on 24 June 1947, who, however, did not obtain the affirmation by the Allied Kommandatura of Berlin[1] due to Soviet reservations. Following the Communist putsch in Berlin's city government in September 1948 a separate city parliament (still named Stadtverordnetenversammlung von Groß-Berlin), however, de facto only competent for the western occupation sectors of what was to become West Berlin was elected on 5 December 1948, electing two days later a separate city government and Ernst Reuter Lord Mayor for West Berlin. The Soviet administration had officially deposed the previous elected government for all of Berlin with effect only in the eastern sector and had installed the SED Lord Mayor Friedrich Ebert, Jr. in East Berlin already on 30 November 1948.
West Berlin introduced its own constitution (Verfassung von Berlin), accounting for the changed facts, with effect of 1 October 1950. This constitution provided for the renaming of the city parliament to "Abgeordnetenhaus von Berlin", of the city government into "Senate of Berlin" and the head of government into "Governing Mayor of Berlin".[2] Following the new constitution representatives were elected on 3 December 1950 and the new parliament re-elected Ernst Reuter as head of city government on 18 January 1951, with Reuter then adopting the new title. From 1951 to 1990, during the Cold War, the Governing Mayor was the head of government in West Berlin with his seat at Rathaus Schöneberg, while East Berlin de jure remained under Soviet occupation and de facto became a part and capital of the East Germany — not recognized by the NATO members, but actually condoned by the 1971 Four Power Agreement on Berlin and the German Basic Treaty of 1972.
The government of West Berlin claimed to be the legitimate government for all of Berlin within the borders established by the 1920 Greater Berlin Act until the Peaceful Revolution of 1989. Even before German reunification on 3 October 1990, the West Berlin Governing Mayor and the East Berlin Oberbürgermeister held common cabinet meetings, until Berlin-wide elections took place on 2 December 1990.
The following list of mayors of Berlin shows all the mayors (Oberbürgermeister, Regierender Bürgermeister) of Berlin, Germany since 1809:
List of Mayors of Berlin
Napoleonic Empire (1806–1809)
In 1806 the French occupants gathered 2,000 wealthy Berliners in St. Peter's Church, Berlin, in order to elect the Grand conseil (grand council) of sixty members again electing the Comité administratif (administrative committee). This body of seven elected burghers was the provisional city government competent to carry out the orders of the occupation power, especially to raise the French war contributions by levying them mostly from the 2,000 eligible voters. The président of the committee was the Berlin-based Prussian publisher:[3]
- François Théodore de Lagarde (1806–1809; *1756–1824*)
Prussia/Germany (1809–1935)
- Leopold von Gerlach (1809–1813)
- Johann Büsching (1814–1832)
- Friedrich von Bärensprung (1832–1834)
- Heinrich Wilhelm Krausnick (1834–1848)
- Franz Christian Naunyn (1848–1851)
- Heinrich Wilhelm Krausnick (1851–1862)
- Karl Theodor Seydel (1863–1872)
- Arthur Hobrecht (1872–1878)
- Max von Forckenbeck (1878–1892)
- Robert Zelle (1892–1898)
- Martin Kirschner (1899–1912)
- Adolph Wermuth (1912–1920)
- Gustav Böß (1921–1929)
- Arthur Scholz (1929–1931)
- Heinrich Sahm (1931–1935)
Nazi Germany (1935–1945)
The Nazi government introduced a new unitary municipal ordinance for all German municipalities and cities accounting for the de facto abolition of municipal democracy and autonomy since the Nazi takeover in 1933. According to the new ordinance the administrative head of the city was now titled Stadtpräsident (City President). The Oberbürgermeister remained in a ceremonial role.
| No. | Portrait | Lord Mayor | Took office | Left office | Political party |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| style="background:Template:German People's Party/meta/color; color:white"| 1 | 
|
Oskar Maretzky | 19 December 1935 | 5 January 1937 | German People's Party |
| style="background:Template:Nazi Party/meta/color; color:white"| 2 | 
|
Julius Lippert | 5 January 1937 | July 1940 | National Socialist German Workers' Party |
| style="background:Template:Nazi Party/meta/color; color:white"| 3 | 
|
Ludwig Steeg | July 1940 | 2 May 1945 | National Socialist German Workers' Party |
Allied occupation (1945–1948)
Following Berlin's provisional post-war constitution, enacted under quadripartite Allied rule, the head of city government was titled again Oberbürgermeister (generally "Lord Mayor").
| No. | Portrait | Lord Mayor | Took office | Left office | Political party |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| style="background:Template:Independent politician/meta/color; color:black"| 1 | 
|
Arthur Werner | 17 May 1945 | 10 December 1946 | Non-partisan |
| style="background:Template:Social Democratic Party of Germany/meta/color; color:white"| 2 | 
|
Otto Ostrowski | 10 December 1946 | 11 June 1947 | Social Democratic Party |
| style="background:Template:Social Democratic Party of Germany/meta/color; color:white"| 3 | 
|
Louise Schroeder[4] | 11 June 1947 | 7 December 1948 | Social Democratic Party |
| style="background:Template:Christian Democratic Union (Germany)/meta/color; color:white"| 4 | 
|
Ferdinand Friedensburg[5] | 14 August 1948 | 1 December 1948 | Christian Democratic Union |
Partitioned Germany (1948–1990)
Reunified Germany (1990–present)
Continuation of the Mayor of West Berlin's office.
| No. | Portrait | Governing Mayor | Took office | Left office | Political party |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| style="background: Template:Social Democratic Party of Germany/meta/color; color:white"| 11 |
|
Walter Momper and Tino Schwierzina together[6] | 3 October 1990 | 24 January 1991 | Social Democratic Party |
| style="background: Template:Christian Democratic Union (Germany)/meta/color; color:white"| 12 | .jpg)
|
Eberhard Diepgen | 24 January 1991 | 16 June 2001 | Christian Democratic Union |
| style="background: Template:Social Democratic Party of Germany/meta/color; color:white"| 13 | 
|
Klaus Wowereit | 16 June 2001 | 11 December 2014 | Social Democratic Party |
| style="background: Template:Social Democratic Party of Germany/meta/color; color:white"| 14 | .jpg)
|
Michael Müller | 11 December 2014 | Incumbent | Social Democratic Party |
See also
Notes
- ^ The Allied control body for Berlin corresponding to the Allied Control Council for the rest of Germany.
- ^ Cf. articles 25 and 40 of Die Verfassung von Berlin (Constitution of Berlin [West]), Berlin (West): Landeszentrale für politische Bildungsarbeit Berlin, 1982, pp. 34 and 37.
- ^ Cf. Werner Gahrig, Unterwegs zu den Hugenotten in Berlin. Historische Spaziergänge, extended and corrected ed., Berlin: edition ost/Das Neue Berlin, 22000, p. 83. ISBN 3-360-01013-2
- ^ Schroeder replaced the Lord Mayor-elect Ernst Reuter, who was barred by Soviet veto.
- ^ Acting for Schroeder.
- ^ German Reunification Treaty, Artikel 16
External links
Berlin topics | |
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| Administration | |
| Culture | |
| Society | |
| Other topics | |
| Berlin1 (1809–1948) |
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.svg){kind=small} East Berlin1(1948–90) | ||
 West Berlin3(1948–90) | ||
| Berlin3 (1990–present) | ||
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