District Association of the Palatinate
The District Association of the Palatinate is a higher municipal association in the Palatinate in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate . The political body of this regional authority is the Palatinate District Parliament . Its members are drawn up by the political groups represented in the municipalities and elected by the people in a proportional representation. The political roots of the district association go back to the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries.
geography
The district association covers the entire Palatinate with around 5450 km² and around 1.4 million inhabitants. In this area are the eight independent cities Frankenthal (Pfalz) , Kaiserslautern (seat of the central administration and the district council), Landau in der Pfalz , Ludwigshafen am Rhein , Neustadt an der Weinstrasse , Pirmasens , Speyer and Zweibrücken as well as the eight districts Bad Dürkheim , Donnersbergkreis , Germersheim , Kaiserslautern , Kusel , Rhein-Pfalz-Kreis , Südliche Weinstrasse and Südwestpfalz .
history
French time
In the course of the French Revolutionary Wars , in 1797/98 the entire area to the left of the Rhine, including today's Palatinate, fell to France. The Palatinate territories were combined with today's Rheinhessen in the newly formed Département du Mont-Tonnerre ("Donnersberg") and administered as an integral part of the French state. The administrative structures taken over by France led in November 1800 to the formation of the General Council ( Conseil général ) of the Donnersberg department. It had no democratic legitimation because its 20 members were not elected, but were appointed by the First Consul ( Napoleon Bonaparte ) from among the 600 most taxed persons. His competencies were very limited and were mainly in the area of tax collection and distribution. "The General Council was not an institution of self-administration, but an auxiliary body of the tax authorities ."
Bavarian time
After the transition of today's Palatinate and Saar-Palatinate area as the Rhine district to the Kingdom of Bavaria in May 1816, the administrative structures and legal norms introduced by the French (e.g. the Civil Code ) were largely retained.
The Bavarian King Maximilian I Joseph decreed on September 24, 1816 the renewed convocation of the General Council under the new name "Landrath". Its 20 members, each nominated by the king for three years, came from the upper classes. They did not pursue a politics of interests, but committed themselves sustainably to the common good; first district council president was Christian David Sturtz (1753–1834) from Zweibrücken. The district councilor of the Palatinate regularly used his right to point out Palatinate matters. In doing so, he campaigned intensively for the development and promotion of the Palatinate and its institutions. For example, he took care of the construction of roads, community needs, better salaries for teachers, fire insurance issues, the construction of a central prison in Kaiserslautern and the construction of dams on the Rhine. In 1825 he founded a deaf-mute institute in Frankenthal under the direction of the specially trained pedagogue Augustin Violet , today's Palatinate Institute for Hearing and Communication (PIH), which is the oldest institution of the district association. A good two decades later, the district insane asylum near Klingenmünster (today the Palatinate Clinic for Psychiatry and Neurology ) was added, which opened its doors in 1857. Although there were tendencies towards self-government , the district councilor was still a strictly state body that the Bavarian monarch convened once a year. In 1828 the district councilor of the Palatinate was the godfather for the district councils created throughout Bavaria, the later Bavarian district days .
By the “law concerning the district councils” of May 28, 1852, each administrative district formed a district municipality to which the immediate cities and district communities belonged. The self-government law of May 22, 1919 made the circles to corporations under public law with the right to self-government. The district assemblies as the successors to the district councilors were now elected for five years in a general, equal and direct election. After Otto Strobel , President of the District Assembly , was arrested by the French military government in February 1923 , the Palatinate District Assembly with President Michael Bayersdörfer experienced a great moment on October 24, 1923, when its members resisted the French occupiers and the establishment of an autonomous Palatinate state with reference to the did not consent to constitutional incompetence.
time of the nationalsocialism
In 1933 the National Socialists subjected the Palatinate district council to conformity . Although the district assembly continued to exist in a reduced form with 13 people until 1943 (as a district association assembly since 1939 ), in fact it had lost all self-administration competence; for its members belonged to it exclusively by appointment, not by election, and met only rarely. In 1940, all rights of the district council passed to the district association president appointed by the interior minister.
Time after World War II
When the state of Rhineland-Palatinate was founded after the Second World War , the Palatinate's right to self-government was enshrined in the state constitution under pressure from the French occupying power, which the people adopted on May 18, 1947. On November 22, 1949, the district ordinance came into force, which was based on the Bavarian district ordinance of 1927. In its version from 1949, the district order granted all five Rhineland-Palatinate government districts that existed at the time the opportunity to form district associations. This option was only drawn and implemented by the then administrative district of Palatinate . The 35 members of the state parliament from the administrative region of Palatinate met on January 16, 1950 for the constituent meeting of the first district assembly of the Palatinate. The first election for the District Assembly, which now has 29 members, took place on April 29, 1951. Since the second district day election on November 9, 1952, the people of the Palatinate have been voting for their district day in the Rhineland-Palatinate municipal elections. Since then, the electoral term has lasted five years.
An amendment to the district regulations in 1994 enabled the district association of the Palatinate, whose business had been run by the district government of Rheinhessen-Pfalz in Neustadt an der Weinstrasse, to set up its own administration based in Kaiserslautern.
coat of arms
The Palatinate District Association has had its own coat of arms since 1986. It refers to the Palatinate through the use of the Electoral Palatinate colors black and gold, through the Palatinate lion , which, like the Bavarian lion , goes back to the Wittelsbach family , and through the vertical wavy line on the heraldic right side, which symbolizes the Rhine .
tasks
overview
As a higher municipal association, the Palatinate District Association is responsible for matters that are below the state level and above the level of the eight independent cities and the eight districts of the Palatinate. The headquarters building is in Kaiserslautern.
For this purpose, the District Association of the Palatinate maintains facilities at various locations. In addition, through participations it supports numerous public and private initiatives that have to do with Palatine history and folklore, with culture and art, with environmental protection or with tourism, and awards a whole range of corresponding prizes .
The Liselotte magazine - the magazine for the whole of the Palatinate - was published by the district association for a long time . The name had reminded of the Palatinate princess Liselotte of the Palatinate . She lived from 1652 to 1722 and acquired historical and literary importance through her extensive correspondence - 5,000 of an estimated 60,000 letters have survived.
However, the district association continues to publish the magazine Chaussee . Journal for literature and culture in the Palatinate. It appears twice a year and is available by subscription and in bookshops.
All editions of the Chaussee as well as publications of the Institute for Palatinate History and Folklore and teaching materials are available in the online shop of the district association .
Facilities
- Institute for Palatinate History and Folklore , Kaiserslautern
- Agricultural Investigation and Research Institute Speyer (LUFA Speyer), Speyer
- Training and research institute for livestock husbandry, Neumühle estate, Münchweiler an der Alsenz
- Master School for Craftsmen Kaiserslautern (MHK)
- Palatinate Academy , Lambrecht
- Palatinate Library , Kaiserslautern
- Museum Pfalzgalerie Kaiserslautern
- Palatinate Forest Nature Park , Lambrecht
- Palatinate Institute for Hearing and Communication, Frankenthal
- Palatinate Clinic for Psychiatry and Neurology , Klingenmünster
- Pfalztheater , Kaiserslautern
- Tobacco construction expert for the Palatinate, Speyer
Institute for Palatinate History and Folklore
Agricultural investigation and research institute
Palatinate Clinic for Psychiatry and Neurology
Pfalztheater
Holdings
- German Shoe Museum , Hauenstein
- German Road Museum , Germersheim
- Dynamikum , Pirmasens
- Society for soil advice, laboratory testing and quality testing, Speyer
- Hambach Castle , Neustadt an der Weinstrasse
- Historama Hornbach Monastery , Hornbach
- Historical Museum of the Palatinate , Speyer
- Zweibrücken State Stud
- Palatinate Museum for Natural History , Bad Dürkheim and Kusel
- Pfalzwerke Aktiengesellschaft, Ludwigshafen am Rhein
- Villa Denis , Kulturhaus, Frankenstein
German Shoe Museum
Dynamic
Historical Museum of the Palatinate
Palatinate Museum for Natural History, GEOSKOP branch
Awards
All Palatinate Prizes (except Palatinate Youth and Sport Prize) are awarded as main and side prizes and are endowed with 10,000 and 5,000 euros respectively.
-
Palatinate Prize for Fine Arts (alternating between painting, graphics and sculpture)
since 1953, initially annually, later every two years -
Palatinate Prize for handicrafts
since 1975 -
Palatinate Prize for Literature
since 1959 -
Palatinate Prize for Palatinate History and Folklore
since 1986 -
Palatinate Future Prize
every two years since 2009 -
Palatinate media award
every two years since 1989 -
Palatinate Prize for Music (alternating between the musical theater, vocal and instrumental music and popular music categories)
every two years since 2010 -
Palatinate Prize for Youth and Sport (together with the Palatinate Sports Association )
since 1992 -
Ludwig Wagner Prize for tolerance and moral courage
every three years since 2016 -
Else-Lasker-Schüler-Dramatikerpreis ( Pfalztheater on behalf of the Rhineland-Palatinate Foundation for Culture )
has been the main prize every two years since 1993, endowed with € 15,000 -
Else-Lasker-Schüler-Stückepreis ( Pfalztheater on behalf of the Rhineland-Palatinate Foundation for Culture )
has been a sponsorship award every two years since 1993, endowed with 2500 €
organs
District Assembly and District Assembly Chairman
The organs of the District Association of the Palatinate are the District Assembly of the Palatinate and the District Assembly Chairman .
The district assembly takes the important political decisions of the local authority. This regional parliament is directly elected by the people of the Palatinate every five years in local elections. The 29 honorary members of the District Assembly elect a District Assembly Chairman and two deputies from among their number. The political work is prepared and partly decided by specialist committees.
Members of the District Assembly
The distribution of seats in the district assembly:
| choice | SPD | CDU | FDP | FWG | GREEN | REP | LEFT | AfD | total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 7th | 8th | 2 | 3 | 5 | - | 1 | 3 | 29 seats |
| 2014 | 9 | 11 | 1 | 2 | 3 | - | 1 | 2 | 29 seats |
| 2009 | 9 | 11 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | - | 29 seats |
| 2004 | 8th | 12 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 2 | - | - | 29 seats |
| 1999 | 13 | 16 | - | - | - | - | - | - | 29 seats |
In the 2019–2024 election period, the CDU, SPD and Greens form a coalition in the district assembly.
List of district council chairmen
(after the Second World War)
| 2004 until today | Theo Wieder , CDU |
| 1999 to 2004 | Joachim Stöckle , CDU |
| 1997 to 1999 | Winfried Hirschberger , SPD |
| 1979 to 1996 | Werner Ludwig , SPD |
| 1974 to 1979 | Wolfgang Brix , CDU |
| 1964 to 1974 | Werner Ludwig, SPD |
| 1962 to 1964 | Friedrich Graß , CDU |
| 1950 to 1962 | Franz Bögler , SPD |
literature
- Kurt Baumann: Jubilee of the District Association of the Palatinate . The history of a 150 year old self-governing body. In: Palatinate home sheets . tape 14 , no. 5 , 1966, pp. 33-35 .
- Fritz Dereser: The district councilor of the Palatinate in Vormärz . A contribution to the development of German self-government in the 19th century. Mainz 1954 (Phil. Diss., Uni Mainz ).
- Hans Fenske: From the general council of the Donnersberg to the district day of the Palatinate . Notes on self-government 1800–1950. In: Palatinate home . tape 51 , no. 1 , 2000, pp. 2-7 .
- Karl Heinz: 150 years of the Palatinate District Association 1816–1966 . A documentation for the 150th anniversary. Ed .: District Association of the Palatinate. Neustadt an der Weinstrasse 1966.
- Jürgen Keddigkeit and Regina Reiser: The Palatinate and their parliament . In: Michael Geiger (ed.): Geography of the Palatinate . Landau 2010, p. 328-335 .
- Werner Marx : The history of the Palatinate district administrator . One try. Speyer 1955.
Web links
- District Association of the Palatinate (with links to institutions, participations and Palatinate prices)
- Palatinate prices
Individual evidence
- ↑ Hans Fenske: From the General Council of the Donnersberg to the district day of the Palatinate . S. 2-7 .
- ↑ Chaussee on the BV website.
- ↑ BV online shop.
- ^ German Road Museum.
- ↑ BOLAP.
- ↑ State Stud Zweibrücken.
- ^ Palatinate Prize for Palatinate History and Folklore.
- ↑ Palatinate Future Prize.
- ↑ Ludwig Wagner Prize.
- ^ The Regional Returning Officer Rhineland-Palatinate: Municipal election 2014, district election.
- ↑ https://www.bv-pfalz.de/politik-verwaltung/ districtstag- pfalz-2-gek/bezirksvorstand /