History of the administrative structure of Thuringia
This article describes the development of the administrative structure in the area of what is now the German state of Thuringia from the 19th century to the present day. Before 1920 the area was split up into various small states. In 1922, districts were formed for the first time in the newly founded state of Thuringia . In 1945 the Prussian areas in the north of the country became part of Thuringia, before it was dissolved in 1952 and the three districts of Erfurt , Gera and Suhl were formed. In 1990 the state of Thuringia was re-established, followed in 1994 by a district reform in which the 17 districts were formed in their current form.
Before 1920
Before the state of Thuringia was founded in 1920, the small states of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach , Saxe-Coburg and Gotha , Saxe-Meiningen , Saxe-Altenburg , Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt , Schwarzburg-Sondershausen , Reuss younger line and Reuss older line existed in the area of today's Free State of Thuringia. In addition, larger parts of today's Thuringia also belonged to Prussia , especially the former administrative district of Erfurt . Smaller areas belonged to the administrative districts of Merseburg , Kassel and Hildesheim . In the east of Thuringia there were some Saxon exclaves , as well as exclaves of Thuringian states in the west of Saxony and in Lower Franconia.
The administrative units in the list below existed in Prussia and Sachsen-Weimar-Eisenach since 1815, in the three other Ernestine duchies since 1826, in Reuss since 1848 and in Schwarzburg since the Stadtilm Treaty of 1599.
- 1 Weimar was designated as the 1st administrative district, the following as the 2nd to 5th administrative district.
- 2 In a referendum on November 30, 1919, the citizens of the Coburg region voted for annexation to Bavaria , which took place on July 1, 1920.
- 3 In Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, the independent cities were referred to as immediate cities . You have been self-employed since 1858.
- 4 Altenburg became a district in 1900 and the Ronneburg district office existed from 1900.
- 5 The city of Rudolstadt left the district of the Rudolstadt District Office in 1893.
- 6 The Arnstadt administrative district was dissolved in 1912. Arnstadt was appointed to the city district. All other communities were reclassified to the district of Gehren.
- 7 The Ebeleben administrative district existed from 1850 to 1882 and again from 1897 to 1912, then its area was incorporated into the Sondershausen district. At the same time, the Sondershausen district was formed in 1912 and existed until 1922.
- 8 In 1880 what was then the Ebersdorf District Office was renamed the Schleiz District Office.
- 9 Mühlhausen was spun off from the Mühlhausen district in 1892.
- 10 Nordhausen was spun off from the Nordhausen district in 1882.
- 11 The districts of Eckartsberga (around 50:50) and Sangerhausen (around 30:70) were divided into Thuringia and Saxony-Anhalt in the course of the formation of the federal states in 1990.
From 1920 to 1945
Until 1945, both the state of Thuringia and the Prussian areas mentioned above were located in the area of today's Free State of Thuringia .
Thuringian part of the country
The state of Thuringia was founded in 1920 through the unification of several small states . For a transitional period, the seven predecessor states still existed as self-governing, higher-order local authority associations . They each had an area government and an area council. The powers of these areas gradually passed to the country until they were completely dissolved on April 1, 1923.
After the district reform of 1922, the state of Thuringia was divided into sixteen districts (including the Camburg district department ) and initially nine urban districts. In 1926, the number of urban districts rose to ten due to the renewed freedom of the city of Zella-Mehlis, but decreased again to nine after its reintegration into the Meiningen district in 1936. With the incorporation of the Camburg district department into the Stadtroda district, the number of districts was reduced to fifteen in 1939.
In 1928 there was an exchange of territory and a border adjustment between the Free State of Saxony and the State of Thuringia. Altogether 1778 ha with 2900 inhabitants came to Thuringia and 1115 ha with 4890 inhabitants to Saxony.
In particular, Thuringia received the Ziegenhierdsche Ländchen near Gera, consisting of several Saxon exclaves, with the municipalities and fields Lengefeld , Liebschwitz , Lietzsch , Niebra , Pösneck and Taubenpreskel, as well as the neighboring municipalities Hilbersdorf , Loitzsch , Rückersdorf , Thonhausen and Grobsdorf . In addition, the municipality of Bocka near Altenburg and Kauritz near Gößnitz as well as the Frohnsdorf corridor of the municipality of Ziegelheim and parts of the municipality and corridors of Obergrünberg were incorporated into the state. Near Greiz came the Stelzen corridor (part of the Reuth municipality ), part of the municipality and Noßwitz corridor, the Sachswitz corridor (part of the Elsterberg municipality ) and partly the Cunsdorf corridor (part of the Reichenbach municipality ).
In exchange, some exclaves of the former Duchy of Saxony-Altenburg came to Saxony , namely the community of Rußdorf near Limbach-Oberfrohna , the communities of Neukirchen , Wickersdorf and Harthau near Waldenburg , but also the communities of Untergötzenthal and Waldsachsen near Meerane and part of the community of Ponitz who have favourited Hallway Gosel . Near Plauen , among other things, the Caselwitz corridor , part of the Greiz municipality, the Görschnitz municipality and corridor, and part of the Schönbach municipality and corridor were assigned to the Free State of Saxony.
- 1 The urban district of Zella-Mehlis was incorporated into the district of Meiningen in 1936.
- 2 The district of Stadtroda was initially formed as the district of Jena-Roda in October 1920, renamed the district of Roda in November 1920 and finally in 1925 as the district of Stadtroda .
- 3 The population includes the area of the district of Stadtroda including the Camburg district department, which was incorporated into the district of Stadtroda in 1939 (1925: 9,771 inhabitants).
Prussian part of the country
Most of the rest of today's Thuringia was made up of the Erfurt administrative region, which had belonged to the Prussian province of Saxony since 1815. It comprised three urban and eight rural districts. In 1944 the administrative district of Erfurt with the district of Herrschaft Schmalkalden, previously the administrative district of Kassel, was subordinated to the Reich Governor of Thuringia.
- 1) The district of Erfurt was incorporated into the district of Weißensee in 1932.
- 2) The district of Ilfeld was divided between the districts of Grafschaft Hohenstein and Wernigerode in 1932.
- 3) The district office was relocated from Schleusingen to Suhl in 1929.
- 4) The district of Herrschaft Schmalkalden belonged to the administrative district of Erfurt from 1944
1945 to 1952
After 1945 there were some border changes between the zones of occupation . As part of the Wanfrieder Agreement , an exchange of territory on the important north-south railway line Göttingen – Bebra, the Hessian villages Sickenberg , Asbach , Vatterode and Weidenbach / Hennigerode came to the district of Heiligenstadt and the Thuringian villages of Neuseesen and Werleshausen to the district of Witzenhausen in Hesse . As an exchange for the eastern part of the Blankenburg district in the Harz, the municipalities of Bad Sachsa and Tettenborn from the former administrative district of Erfurt were incorporated into the Osterode am Harz district ( Lower Saxony ). In addition, were broom Hausen at Kirchgandern in the district Goettingen incorporated (Lower Saxony) and the exclave Ostheim assigned to the Free State of Bavaria.
The border corrections by the occupying powers were never clarified under national law between the state governments involved. Since then, there has been a de facto state of administrative integration of the areas concerned into the respective countries.
Incidentally, the enlarged state of Thuringia was formed in 1945 within the Soviet occupation zone, consisting of the state of Thuringia from 1920, but without the Allstedt exclave of the district of Weimar, which was incorporated into the new state of Saxony-Anhalt , and also from the area of the former Prussian administrative district Erfurt including the district of Herrschaft Schmalkalden. In addition, as part of a reorganization on July 1, 1950, parts of the districts of Eisenach (in the west) and Meiningen (in the east) became the district of Bad Salzungen .
From 1952 to 1990
In 1952 the state of Thuringia was dissolved. The three districts of Erfurt , Gera and Suhl were formed. The urban and rural districts have been redistributed. The number of urban districts was reduced from twelve to four, while the number of rural districts was increased from 23 to 35. The district of Altenburg and the district of Schmölln came to the district of Leipzig and the new district of Artern , consisting of areas of the state of Thuringia and the state of Saxony-Anhalt , to the district of Halle .
Border adjustments were made in which individual cities and municipalities were incorporated into neighboring districts, which also shifted the district boundaries compared to the former state borders.
- There was in the Erfurt district
- the district of Nordhausen transfers the communities Benneckenstein and Sorge to the district of Wernigerode and the community of Bösenrode to the district of Sangerhausen .
- The town of Heringen / Helme and the communities of Auleben , Bielen , Görsbach , Hain , Hamma , Herrmannsacker , Rodishain , Steinbrücken , Stempeda , Sundhausen , Uthleben and Windehausen were taken over from the Sangerhausen district .
- For the district of Sondershausen it was found that the places Bad Frankenhausen , Borxleben , Esperstedt , Göllingen , Günserode , Ichstedt , Oldisleben , Ringleben , Rottleben , Seega , Seehausen , Steinthaleben and Udersleben of the former principality of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt belong to the new district of Artern in the Halle district were submitted.
- The new Sömmerda district received the municipalities of Altenbeichlingen , Bachra , Backleben , Battgendorf , Beichlingen , Burgwend , Frohndorf , Griefstedt , Großmonra , Kölleda , Leubingen , Ostramondra , Roldisleben , Rothenberga , Schafau and from the dissolved district of Kölleda (formerly Eckartsberga) from the administrative district of Merseburg Schillingstedt and the district of Apolda the place Auerstedt .
- There were the following changes in the area in the Gera district:
- From the district of Weißenfels ( district of Halle ) the communities Böhlitz, Großhelmsdorf, Kischlitz, Launewitz, Lindau, Nautschütz, Rudelsdorf, Willschütz and the town of Schkölen were reassigned to the district of Stadtroda , as well as the communities of Aue, Casekirchen, Cauerwitz, Crauschwitz, Crölpa-Löbschütz, Freiroda , Heiligenkreuz, Janisroda, Kaatschen, Kleingestewitz, Köckenitzsch, Leislau, Molau, Neidschütz, Prießnitz, Schieben, Seidewitz, Seiselitz, Sieglitz, Tultewitz and Utenbach to form the Weißenfels district .
- The communities Nickelsdorf and Silbitz and the town of Crossen an der Elster were reassigned from the Zeitz district ( Halle district ) to the Eisenberg district .
- The districts of Seelingstädt and Zwirtzschen were reassigned to the Gera-Land district from the district of Zwickau ( Chemnitz district ) and the communities of Großpillingsdorf and Mannichswalde were spun off to the Werdau district ( Chemnitz district ).
- From the district of Greiz the community was Fraureuth to the district Werdau ( district of Chemnitz ) and the community Fröbersgrün to the district Plauen-Land ( district of Chemnitz outsourced).
- The district of Plauen ( Chemnitz district ) became the district of Schleiz, the communities Langenbach , Langenbuch , Dröswein and Mühltroff , the district of Zeulenroda, the communities Ebersgrün , Ranspach , Thierbach , Unterreichenau and the town of Pausa / Vogtl. (with Bad Linda, Oberreichenau, Wallengrün) and the district of Greiz, the communities of Cunsdorf , Görschnitz , Noßwitz , Pansdorf , Tremnitz and the city of Elsterberg (with Gippe) reassigned.
- 1) The city of Suhl was spun off from the Suhl district in 1968 and became an independent city.
From 1990 to 1994
In 1990 the Free State of Thuringia was formed from the three districts of Erfurt , Gera and Suhl as well as the districts of Altenburg and Schmölln of the district of Leipzig and the district of Artern of the district of Halle . Due to the former district boundaries, the new land was approximately 600 km² larger than it was in 1952. The districts of the former GDR existed until 1994.
The former Saxon communities listed below, which were assigned to the Gera district in 1952, came to the then Plauen district of the Free State of Saxony in 1992 following a referendum in accordance with a state treaty of Thuringia: The municipalities of Stadt Elsterberg with Noßwitz and Görschnitz from the district of Greiz, the communities of Langenbach, City of Mühltroff and Thierbach from the Schleiz district and the communities of Ebersgrün, Pausa / Vogtl., Ranspach and Unterreichenau from the Zeulenroda district. In 1994 the municipality of Cunsdorf (district of Greiz) followed, which was previously part of Schönbach .
Local reforms reduced the number of municipalities in Thuringia from 1708 at the end of 1991 to 992 in 2006.
From 1994 to 2009
Since the district reform of July 1, 1994, Thuringia has consisted of 17 districts and five independent cities. On January 1st, 1998 Eisenach was added as the sixth independent city. The number of communities has been decreasing almost every year since 1994, as the state government supports voluntary community associations.
district | Administrative headquarters | Area (2005) |
1994 residents |
Residents Sept. 30, 2006 |
Municipalities 1994 |
Municipalities 2008 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
District Altenburger Land A | Altenburg | 569 | 121,559 | 105.131 | 50 | 42 |
Eichsfeld district | Heiligenstadt | 940 | 117,790 | 109,327 | 101 | 90 |
City of Eisenach 1 | Eisenach | 104 | 46.008 | 43,761 | - | 1 |
City of Erfurt | Erfurt | 269 | 213,472 | 202.352 | 1 | 1 |
City of Gera | Gera | 152 | 126.035 | 103.226 | 1 | 1 |
District of Gotha | Gotha | 936 | 148,437 | 142,833 | 74 | 63 |
District of Greiz | Greiz | 843 | 127,861 | 115.025 | 79 | 62 |
Hildburghausen district | Hildburghausen | 937 | 75,478 | 70,428 | 51 | 43 |
Ilm district | Arnstadt | 843 | 123.834 | 116.015 | 50 | 44 |
City of Jena | Jena | 114 | 102.204 | 102.005 | 1 | 1 |
Kyffhäuserkreis | Sondershausen | 1,035 | 98,785 | 87,491 | 74 | 50 |
Nordhausen district | Nordhausen | 711 | 102.405 | 92,899 | 55 | 33 |
Saale-Holzland district B | Eisenberg | 817 | 91,793 | 90.058 | 103 | 95 |
Saale-Orla district | Schleiz | 1,148 | 102,875 | 92,403 | 116 | 76 |
District of Saalfeld-Rudolstadt C | Saalfeld | 1,035 | 140.112 | 124.008 | 93 | 41 |
Schmalkalden-Meiningen district | Meiningen | 1,210 | 147.860 | 136.261 | 83 | 67 |
Sömmerda district | Sömmerda | 804 | 82,667 | 76,364 | 55 | 55 |
Sonneberg district | Sonneberg | 433 | 71,454 | 63,337 | 19th | 16 |
City of Suhl | Suhl | 103 | 54,379 | 42,131 | 1 | 1 |
Unstrut-Hainich district | Mulhouse | 975 | 122,713 | 113.019 | 62 | 47 |
Wartburg district | Bad Salzungen 2 | 1,305 | 149,472 3 | 137.118 | 82 | 62 |
City of Weimar | Weimar | 84 | 62,233 | 64,532 | 1 | 1 |
District Weimarer Land D. | Apolda | 803 | 88,350 | 87,464 | 89 | 76 |
- 1 Eisenach has been an independent city since January 1st, 1998.
- 2 The sole district seat was relocated to Bad Salzungen on January 1, 1998. Before that, Bad Salzungen and Eisenach were district towns.
- 3 Eisenach's population is not taken into account here.
- A Until August 10, 1994, the district of Altenburger was called the district of Altenburg.
- B Up until September 28, 1994, the Saale-Holzland district was called Holzlandkreis.
- C Until September 28, 1994 the district of Saalfeld-Rudolstadt was called Schwarza-Kreis.
- D Until November 4, 1994, the district of Weimarer Land was called the district of Weimar-Land.
Since 2009
For the legislative period 2009–2014, the parties Die Linke and SPD planned extensive district area reforms. In the black-red coalition of CDU and SPD, changes in the administrative structure of Thuringia should continue to take place, albeit to a lesser extent at the level of the municipalities. The coalition agreement did not provide for concrete plans for a district reform.
The coalition agreement concluded between the CDU and the SPD after the state elections in 2009 provided for a medium to long-term functional and territorial reform (with a possible district reform) to be examined by a commission of experts, which, however, was not to be passed in the legislature until 2014. In January 2013, the commission presented a proposal that provides for the reduction from 17 to 8 districts and the retention of only Erfurt and Jenas as independent cities, whereby the layout of the districts is based on the already existing planning regions and these are each divided into two districts . A minimum circle size of 150,000 inhabitants was assumed, which should not be undercut in 2050 either. The Schmalkalden-Meiningen district is to be the only district to be split into two successor districts in the model. Another commission, consisting of six cabinet members from the state government, should examine the proposals of the expert commission and determine how to proceed. The discussion also called for historical references to be taken into account in the future district structure.
In the new coalition agreement 2014 between the three parties Die Linke, SPD and Bündnis 90 / Die Grünen there is the following formulation: “The administrative, functional and territorial reform should be pushed forward in such a way that it can take effect no later than the upcoming district and municipal council elections . "
The concept for the functional and territorial reform was presented on September 22, 2015 and approved on December 22. A size of 130,000 to a maximum of 230,000 inhabitants for future districts was announced. An area of 3,000 square kilometers should not be exceeded in mergers. The districts should be merged as a whole and only broken up in exceptional cases. District-free cities were considered sustainable if they had a population of 100,000. Only Erfurt and Jena achieved this . The basis was the population forecast for the year 2035. On June 23, 2016, the preliminary law was passed by the state parliament. Exceptions should be possible in particularly poorly populated areas.
By April 2017, four proposals for the reorganization of districts had been presented, all of which provided for the formation of eight districts and were based on the provisions of the preliminary law.
In November 2017, the coalition committee declared the merger of counties to be no longer feasible. Instead, the districts should cooperate more closely.
The number of municipalities was reduced by 185 from 849 in 2013 to 664 in 2019 (−21.8%) through voluntary mergers within the framework of two restructuring laws. At the same time, the number of administrative communities decreased by 22 from 69 in 2013 to 47 in 2019 (−31.9%).
List of independent cities
- Altenburg (1900 to 1950)
- Apolda (1922 to 1950)
- Arnstadt (1912 to 1950)
- Coburg (1858 to 1920, then in Bavaria)
- Eisenach (1922 to 1950; since 1998)
- Erfurt (1816 to 1818; since 1872)
- Gera (since 1922)
- Gotha (1858 to 1950)
- Greiz (1922 to 1950)
- Jena (since 1922)
- Königsberg in Franconia (1858 to 1920, then in Bavaria)
- Meiningen (until 1868)
- Mühlhausen (1892 to 1950)
- Neustadt (1858 to 1920, then in Bavaria)
- Nordhausen (1882 to 1950)
- Ohrdruf (1858 to 1922)
- Rodach (1858 to 1920, then in Bavaria)
- Rudolstadt (1893 to 1922)
- Sondershausen (1912 to 1922)
- Suhl (since 1968)
- Waltershausen (1858 to 1922)
- Weimar (since 1922)
- Zella-Mehlis (1920 to 1922, 1926 to 1936)
List of district towns
- Altenburg
- Apolda (1868 to 1922 and since 1952)
- Arnstadt (until 1912 and since 1922)
- Artern (1952 to 1994)
- Bad Frankenhausen (until 1922)
- Bad Langensalza (1956 to 1994, previously Langensalza )
- Bad Salzungen (since 1952, see also Salzungen )
- Camburg (1829 to 1868 and 1922 to 1939)
- Coburg (until 1920, then in Bavaria)
- Dermbach , Kreishauptort (1850 to 1922)
- Ebeleben (1850 to 1882 and 1897 to 1912)
- Ebersdorf (until 1824 and 1852 to 1880)
- Eisenach (1815 to 1997)
- Eisenberg (since 1952)
- Eisfeld (1829 to 1868)
- Erfurt (1816 to 1932 and 1952 to 1994)
- Gehren (1850 to 1922)
- Gera (until 1994)
- Gotha
- Gräfenthal (1829 to 1868)
- Greiz
- Greußen (1850 to 1858)
- Heiligenstadt (since 1816)
- Heldburg (1829 to 1842)
- Hildburghausen
- Ilfeld (1866 to 1932)
- Ilmenau (1952 to 1994)
- Jena (1952 to 1994)
- Kölleda (1824 to 1952)
- Königsee (1850 to 1922)
- Kranichfeld (1829 to 1867)
- Langensalza (1816 to 1956, then Bad Langensalza )
- Lobenstein (until 1848 and 1952 to 1994, now Bad Lobenstein )
- Meiningen (since 1826)
- Mühlhausen (since 1816)
- Neuhaus am Rennweg (1952 to 1994)
- Neustadt an der Orla (1815 to 1922)
- Nordhausen (since 1816)
- Ohrdruf (1858 to 1922)
- Pößneck (1952 to 1994)
- Ranis (1816 to 1952)
- Roda (1876 to 1925, then Stadtroda )
- Römhild (1829 to 1868)
- Ronneburg (1900 to 1922)
- Rudolstadt (until 1858 and 1868 to 1994)
- Saalfeld
- Salzungen (1829 to 1868, see also Bad Salzungen )
- Schleiz (until 1871 and from 1880)
- Schleusingen (1816 to 1929)
- Schmalkalden (1866 to 1950 and 1952 to 1994)
- Schmölln (1876 to 1881 and 1952 to 1994)
- Sömmerda (since 1952)
- Sondershausen
- Sonneberg (since 1826)
- Stadtroda (1925 to 1994, previously Roda )
- Straussfurt (1816 to 1841)
- Suhl (1929 to 1968)
- Waltershausen (1858 to 1922)
- Wasungen (1829 to 1868)
- Weimar (1815 to 1994)
- Weißensee (1841 to 1952)
- Worbis (1816 to 1994)
- Zella-Mehlis (1968 to 1994)
- Zeulenroda (1952 to 1994)
literature
Bernhard Post, Volker Wahl (ed.): Thuringia manual. Territory, constitution, parliament, government and administration in Thuringia 1920 to 1995 (publications from Thuringian state archives; 1). Weimar 1999, ISBN 3-7400-0962-4 .
Individual evidence
- ^ Bernhard Post, Volker Wahl: Thuringia Handbook. Territory, constitution, parliament, government and administration in Thuringia 1920 to 1995. Böhlau, Weimar 1999, p. 218.
- ↑ Thomas Herntrich: Thuringia - From the Thuringian small states after the collapse of the Old Empire to the Free State of Thuringia. A consideration under international law and constitutional law. Peter Lang, Frankfurt am Main 2010, p. 242.
- ^ Bernhard Post, Volker Wahl: Thuringia Handbook. Territory, constitution, parliament, government and administration in Thuringia 1920 to 1995. Böhlau, Weimar 1999, p. 31.
- ↑ Map with the exchange areas
- ↑ Bernhard Post, Volker Wahl (Ed.): Thuringia Handbook. Territory, constitution, parliament, government and administration in Thuringia 1920 to 1995 (= publications from Thuringian state archives; 1). Weimar 1999, ISBN 3-7400-0962-4 , p. 462.
- ↑ http://www.pds-fraktion-thueringen.de/presse/pm2009/pm141009c.html
- ↑ http://l4.spd-thl.de/dokumente/dok/20050919-grundsaetze-verwaltungsreform-thueringen.pdf
- ↑ http://www.mdr.de/thueringen/6779394.html ( Page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Territorial reform in Thuringia remains a contentious issue ( memento of October 20, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Thuringian territorial reform ( Memento of the original dated November 2, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed February 5, 2013
- ^ Government sets up new commission for administrative reform , accessed on February 5, 2013
- ↑ Steffen Raßloff : District reform Thuringia 2018. Reshaped "Land of Residences". In: Thüringer Allgemeine from October 22, 2016
- ^ Coalition agreement for the 6th electoral term of the Thuringian State Parliament ( Memento from April 15, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Mission statement "Sustainable Thuringia from September 2015" , accessed on October 5, 2016
- ↑ preliminary law. (PDF) In: Law and Ordinance Gazette for the Free State of Thuringia. July 2, 2016, pp. 242–244 , accessed December 29, 2018 .
- ↑ thueringen.de , accessed on April 19, 2017
- ↑ Article of the Thüringer Allgemeine , accessed on November 30, 2017