Potsdam district

Basic data
Administrative headquarters:	Potsdam
Area :	12,568 km²
Residents :	1,123,800 as of 1989
License plate :	`D, P`
map

The Potsdam district was the largest of 14 districts in the German Democratic Republic (GDR). It was established by a law of the state of Brandenburg of July 25, 1952 in the course of the dissolution of the states in the GDR through the administrative reform of 1952 and covered a large part of western Brandenburg. The Potsdam district also owes its size and shape to the fact that a single district should deal with issues of border security to West Berlin; only the Potsdam district bordered directly on West Berlin. At the same time, parts of the originally Brandenburg district of Westprignitz went to the new district of Schwerin, in order not to burden the Potsdam district with the border to West Germany. The latter areas were reassigned to Brandenburg in 1992.

The district had no coat of arms, but the city arms of Potsdam were occasionally used as a symbol for the district. With the re-establishment of the states through the reunification of Germany on October 3, 1990, the districts were dissolved, whereupon the Potsdam district re-opened in the state of Brandenburg.

For the history and regional studies of the Potsdam district see under Mark Brandenburg .

Administrative division

The Potsdam district comprised the urban districts of Potsdam and Brandenburg an der Havel as well as the following districts:

Population development

year	Residents
1961	1,146,700
1970	1,133,631
1985	1,121,539

Administrative and party leaders

Chair of the District Council

1952–1953: Curt Wach (1906–1974)
1953–1957: Josef Stadler (1906–1984)
1957–1960: Herbert Rutschke (1905–1978)
1960–1962: Franz Peplinski (1910–1991)
1962–1971: Herbert Puchert (1914–1997)
1971–1974: Günter Pappenheim (* 1925)
1974–1977: Werner Eidner (* 1923)
1977–1990: Herbert Tzschoppe (* 1927)

First secretaries of the SED district leadership

1952–1956: Kurt Seibt (1908–2002)
1956–1957: Eduard Götzl (1921–1986) officiating
1957–1964: Kurt Seibt (1908–2002)
1964–1976: Werner Wittig (1926–1976)
1976–1989: Günther Jahn (1930–2015)
1989–1990: Heinz Vietze (* 1947)

literature

Lothar Person: District Assembly and Council of the District of Potsdam (1952–1990), Findbuch, online

Individual evidence

↑ ^a ^b 40 years of the GDR . State Central Administration for Statistics, May 1989

[Jahre-1] 40 years of the GDR . State Central Administration for Statistics, May 1989