Altkreis
The term Altkreis is a common abbreviation for a former district .
The so-called district either no longer exists or at least existed in the period under review within significantly different, mostly smaller, borders than today. In the latter case, the designation Altkreis serves as an important distinguishing feature and is therefore particularly common in this context.
When using the term old district , one usually does not refer to the former district as an institution , but as an area with the boundaries of the former district.
Example: Warendorf district (in North Rhine-Westphalia )
- Old districts in today's district until 1974 :
- Today's (larger) district since the regional reform of 1975 :
- The term Warendorf district can thus encompass two different sized areas. The term Altkreis Warendorf for the smaller area in the north of today's district avoids confusion.
Events that are linked with this term do not necessarily have to be in the past, but can also be in the present or future. This can e.g. B. be the case for culture-bearing associations whose activities are limited to a certain geographical sub-area of today's district.
Although the name Altkreis is not official, it is widely used in areas affected by territorial reforms.
Related terms
A new eponymous district, which in the context of local government reform replaces the former is sometimes to distinguish Neukreis called.
Similar word creations with Alt- also exist on other geographical levels, if a core area has expanded its name to the entire area after considerable territorial gains, e.g. B.
- at the state or landscape level, e.g. B. Altbaiern to distinguish from Bavaria ,
- at community level, e.g. B. Alt-Lotte (in North Rhine-Westphalia ) to differentiate the village Lotte from the entire municipality Lotte , which is significantly larger.