The Provinces of Prussia ( German : Provinzen Preußens ) were the main administrative divisions of Prussia from 1815 to 1946. Prussia's province system was introduced in the Stein-Hardenberg Reforms in 1815, and were mostly organized from duchies and historical regions . Provinces were divided into several Regierungsbezirke , sub-divided into Kreise (districts), and then into Gemeinden (townships) at the lowest level. Provinces constituted the highest level of administration in the Kingdom of Prussia and Free State of Prussia until 1933, when Nazi Germany established de facto direct rule over provincial politics, and were formally abolished in 1946 following World War II . The Prussian provinces became the basis for many federal states of Germany , and the states of Brandenburg , Lower Saxony , and Schleswig-Holstein are direct successors of provinces.
20-457: The Province of Halle-Merseburg (German: Provinz Halle-Merseburg ) was a province of the Free State of Prussia from 1944 to 1945. The provincial capital was the city Merseburg . Halle-Merseburg was created on 1 July 1944, out of Regierungsbezirk Merseburg , an administrative region from the former Province of Saxony . The governor of the new province was Joachim Albrecht Eggeling ,
40-608: A modern and highly effective public administration structure, they served as a model for the present-day districts of Germany In the aftermath of World War I , the Prussian districts of Eupen and Malmedy (Belgium) were annexed by Belgium in 1925, thereby causing the presence of a German-speaking minority. After the Napoleonic Wars and the 1815 Congress of Vienna , the Prussian lands were re-arranged into ten provinces, three of them— East Prussia , West Prussia and
60-713: The Gauleiter of the Nazi Gau Halle-Merseburg. In 1945, the Province of Halle-Merseburg was dissolved into a recreated Province of Saxony. Provinces of Prussia Following the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806 and the Congress of Vienna in 1815, the various German states gained nominal sovereignty. However, the reunification process that culminated in the creation of
80-691: The German Empire in 1871, produced a country that was constituted of several principalities and dominated by one of them, the Kingdom of Prussia after it had ultimately defeated its Austrian rival. Its territory covered some 60 percent of the territory that was to become the German Reich . The German Confederation was established at the Congress of Vienna in 1815 and the Kingdom of Prussia
100-590: The Grand Duchy of Posen —beyond the borders of the German Confederation . The provinces were internally divided into up to six Regierungsbezirke and further into the districts on local level, headed by a Landrat administrator. The districts usually took the name of their capital ( Kreisstadt ), seat of the administrative office ( Landratsamt ). A typical district had a rough diameter of 20 to 40 miles (32 to 64 km), in order to ensure that even
120-599: The Rhine Province was created from the merger of the Lower Rhine and Jülich-Cleves-Berg provinces. Eastern Provinces ( East Elbia ): In 1829 the Province of Prussia was created by the merger of East Prussia and West Prussia , lasting until 1878 when they were again separated. Congruent with the Kingdom of Prussia proper (i.e. former Ducal and Royal Prussia ), its territory, like the province of Posen,
140-805: The Saar Territory (formerly in the Rhineland). Following the Nazi seizure of power in 1933, the Law on the Reconstruction of the Reich was enacted on 30 January 1934. This formally de-federalized the German Reich and created a centralized state. Prussia and its provinces formally continued to exist, but the state Landtag and provincial parliaments were abolished and governance was placed under
160-623: The Austro-Prussian War put an end to the aspirations of a grand unified state consisting of all German-speaking states. Instead the North German Confederation was created under Prussian leadership. Following the Franco-Prussian War and the incorporation of the southern states of Bavaria , Baden and Württemberg into the confederation, the German Empire was proclaimed in 1871. From 1875
180-429: The Kingdom of Prussia was reconstituted with a republican government as the Free State of Prussia . The Free State promoted the democratisation of the provinces, the provincial parliaments (Provinziallandtage) were elected in direct elections by the voters, unlike before when elected county councillors chose from their midst members for the provincial parliaments. Prussia had to cede virtually all territory belonging to
200-560: The Prussian government. The provinces of Prussia were further subdivided into government districts ( Regierungsbezirke ), subject to the High Commissioner. As to self-rule each province also had a provincial diet ( Provinziallandtag in German), the members of which were elected in indirect election by county councillors and city councillors of the constituent rural counties and independent cities. Western Provinces: In 1822
220-541: The defeat and the division of Germany following the end of World War II in 1945 and was formally abolished in February 1947 by Control Council Law No. 46 . Several of its provinces attained statehood or became a part of other post-war states in East Germany and West Germany. Districts of Prussia Prussian districts ( German : Kreise , lit. 'circles') were administrative units in
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#1732775259648240-538: The direct control of a Reichsstatthalter (Reich Governor). In addition, the Law on the Abolition of the Reichsrat of 14 February 1934 removed the right of the state and its provinces to participate in the Reich legislative process. They previously had controlled 26 of the 66 Reichsrat seats. The following is a summary of the changes in the Prussian provinces between 1919 and 1945: Prussia did not survive
260-514: The former Kingdom of Prussia , part of the German Empire from 1871 to 1918, and its successor state , the Free State of Prussia , similar to a county or a shire . They were established in the course of the Stein-Hardenberg Reforms from 1815 to 1818 at an intermediate level, between the higher provinces and the government districts ( Regierungsbezirke ), and the lower municipal governments ( Gemeinden ). Then part of
280-530: The help of a Prussian government-appointed provincial council ( German : Provinzialrat ). In 1881 the final province of the Kingdom of Prussia was established when Berlin was separated from Brandenburg. In 1918 following World War I the German Empire was dissolved and replaced by the Weimar Republic . The following were the existing Prussian provinces: After the fall of the German Empire
300-904: The provinces of Posen and West Prussia to the newly created state of Poland and the League of Nations mandate of the Free City of Danzig . Smaller areas had been ceded to Belgium ( East Cantons , formerly in the Rhineland), Czechoslovakia ( Hlučín Region , formerly in Silesia), Denmark ( Northern Schleswig , formerly in Schleswig-Holstein), the League of Nations mandate of the Memel Territory (formerly in East Prussia), Poland (eastern Upper Silesia , formerly in Silesia), and
320-561: The provinces were bodies combining regional home rule through representatives delegated from each rural and urban district ( German : Landkreis and Stadtkreis ), forming the provincial diet ( German : Provinziallandtag ) with a 6-year term, which elected from its midst a head of this self-administration, the Landesdirektor (with a 6 to 12-year term), and a provincial government ( German : Provinzialausschuss , lit. ' provincial committee ' ) as well as part of
340-435: The remotest villages could be reached by carriage within a day, though few were circular in shape. In some areas, larger districts were split into two smaller districts or were resized with neighboring ones. Larger cities usually retained their self-administration according to traditional German town law and formed exempt urban districts ( Stadtkreise ) comparable to independent cities . Often these cities also served as
360-435: The superordinated overall Prussian royal administration, supervising - on a provincial range - the self-governing municipalities and counties as well as each governorate ( German : Regierungsbezirk , mere supervising bodies of the Prussian government). For this purpose, the respective Prussian minister of interior affairs appointed a High Commissioner ( German : Oberpräsident ) to each province, who fulfilled his task with
380-469: Was a member until the dissolution in 1866 following the Austro-Prussian War . The Prussian state was initially subdivided into ten provinces. The Prussian government appointed the heads of each province known as Oberpräsident (i.e. High Commissioner). The Oberpräsident represented the Prussian government in the province, and was busy with implementing and supervising central prerogatives of
400-580: Was not part of the German Confederation. In 1850 the Province of Hohenzollern in Southern Germany , was created from the annexed principalities of Hohenzollern-Hechingen and Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen . In 1866, following the Austro-Prussian War, Prussia annexed several German States that had been allied with Austria and, together with previously occupied Danish territory, organized them into three new provinces: The outcome of
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