Office governance

From the 19th century to 1938, the administrative districts of the lower level in the Kingdom or Free State of Saxony were called Amtshauptmannschaft .

Emergence

The Amtshauptmannschaften were ordered in the course of the first Saxon administrative reform after the heavy territorial losses of the kingdom at the end of the Napoleonic period in June 1816 in order to better meet the requirements of a modern administration. The offices of the early modern corporate state seemed no longer suitable for this purpose, primarily due to their inconsistent size and structure, in particular also due to their territorial inconsistency (overlapping of areas of responsibility, fragmentation, see the list of districts and other areas of Electoral Saxony ). Even after the Saxon administrative reforms of the 1830s, they remained in their old form as one-man authorities. As before, their sphere of activity extended to supervision and control over a clearly delimited administrative district. There the governors had to take care of both general administration and the judiciary of the lowest instance. The separation of justice and administration was one of the demands of the revolution of 1848/49 .

1850s

Through the law of August 11, 1855, jurisdiction was transferred in the first instance from the old traditional offices to newly established court offices and district courts. In addition to judicial sovereignty, the court offices also had administrative sovereignty. Although there was still no separation of judiciary and administration at the lowest level, the innovations made by this law nevertheless represented a turning point for local state administration, because the establishment of court offices had made it possible to dissolve the medieval constitution of offices. In 1856 the old offices were replaced by 14 administrative authorities, which were above the court offices in administrative matters, while the new 19 district courts were now responsible for judicial matters on the second level.

Former seat of the Pirna administration

The rapid upswing of the Saxon economy in the age of industrial capitalism and the growth of the population required more intensive and differentiated work in local administration. The sub-instances created in 1856 with the still not removed and modern administrative principles contradicting the connection of justice and administration could no longer meet the increased requirements. Another administrative reform finally brought about the long overdue separation of the two departments at the lowest level, which had been announced years earlier. The judicial offices lost their administrative sovereignty and were only judicial authorities. The administrative authorities took their place as the lowest administrative authorities. They became firmly organized, bureaucratic authorities headed by the governor. The staff consisted of one or more lawyers and secretaries as well as the necessary office staff. As the lowest instance of the state administration, its sphere of activity extended to all matters for which the municipal authorities were not responsible or for which there were no special authorities. They supervised the communities, supervised the local police administration or, insofar as it was not left to the community, carried out this themselves. In addition to the security police, the police affairs for which the authorities were responsible also included poor and medical welfare, supervision of trade, industry, and agriculture and forestry. In addition, there were construction and fire police, insurance matters and savings banks as well as staffing. In addition, they took over the business of the previous road and hydraulic engineering commissions.

1870s

In view of the new tasks assigned to the authorities in 1873, the authorities had far more work to do than before. Therefore their number had to be increased and the administrative boundaries in Saxony had to be redrawn. Since 1874, the country was divided into 25 main office teams, which in turn four circular main teams were subordinated. In addition there were the independent city districts of Leipzig, Dresden and Chemnitz as well as the Schoenburg lordships, which were not yet fully integrated into the state administration .

Two or three administrative teams were grouped together in so-called district associations, for which a district assembly was elected as local representative. Until 1918, strict census voting was in place .

First Free State of Saxony

After the November 1918 Revolution, little changed at the lowest level of local government. The Council of People's Representatives (name of the new revolutionary government in 1918/19) confirmed the old order. The administrative authorities continued to receive their instructions only from the responsible ministries. For a transitional period, they were subject to additional control by the workers 'and soldiers' councils. Representatives of these councils were therefore to be involved in all important negotiations, or they had to take part in all meetings of the district committees. The government of the People's Representatives did not allow the councils to intervene in actual administrative activities. After the Saxon People's Chamber and the municipal councils had been democratically elected in February 1919 , the workers 'and soldiers' councils no longer had any control over the administrative authorities.

In July 1919 the election of the new district assemblies to be formed from 40 members took place on a democratic basis according to the principles of proportional representation. The district assembly elected a chairman and his deputy. In agreement with the governor, the chairman had to convene the district assembly. The presidency was in charge of the meetings. The governor attended the meetings.

Third Reich

After 1933, the National Socialists also eliminated all democratic administrative principles at the level of the administrative authorities. From March 1935 on, eligibility for the district assembly was tied to membership in the NSDAP . Two years later, the legal dissolution and complete disempowerment of the self-governing bodies took place. The district days were canceled. Their powers passed to the governors. With the Third Ordinance on the Rebuilding of the Reich of November 28, 1938, the Amtshauptmannschaften were renamed as Landkreis and the Amtshauptmann as Landrat from January 1, 1939 .

List of administrative authorities

The list of the administrative authorities existing around 1900 can be found under Kingdom of Saxony .

swell

Law relating to the future establishment of the first instance authorities for the administration of justice and administration, of August 11, 1855. In: Law and Ordinance Gazette for the Kingdom of Saxony from 1855, pp. 144 ff.
Ordinance concerning the formation of the judicial districts of the state of September 2, 1856. In: Law and Ordinance Gazette for the Kingdom of Saxony from 1856, p. 243 ff.
Law concerning the organization of the authorities for internal administration of April 21, 1873. In: Law and Ordinance Gazette for the Kingdom of Saxony of 1873, pp. 275 ff.
Law on the elections to the district assemblies, district committees, district committees and within these corporations, of July 5, 1919. Law and Ordinance Gazette for the Free State of Saxony from 1919, pp. 145 ff.
Law amending the municipal code, the law on the organization of the authorities of internal administration and the law on elections to the district assemblies, district committees, district committees and within these bodies, of March 18, 1935.Sächsisches Gesetzblatt of 1935, p. 35 ff .
Law on the amendment of the district law and the state financial equalization law as well as on the repeal of the district committees, of July 13, 1937. Saxon Law Gazette of 1937, p. 65 ff.

literature

Erich Merkel: Saxon citizenship. A general outline of the constitution and administration in Saxony and the German Empire. Leipzig 1913.
Erwin Jacobi: The changes in the constitution and administration in Saxony. In: Yearbook of Public Law. 19 (1920). Pp. 163-170.
The administrative laws for the Kingdom of Saxony since the reorganization of the administration, together with the relevant Reich laws and taking into account the relevant ministerial orders. 2 vols. Leipzig 1874 and 1875.