Lower Elbe Law
The law on the reorganization of communal borders in the Prussian Lower Elbe region of July 8, 1927, also known as the Lower Elbe Act or Groß-Altona Act , regulated the amalgamation of several cities and rural communities in the Hamburg area . The cities and communities affected were part of the Prussian provinces of Hanover and Schleswig-Holstein .
Altona
The incorporation of neighboring rural communities in the Pinneberg district into the independent Prussian town of Altona was intended to enable structural and economic development in order to remain competitive with neighboring Hamburg as an industrial and port location.
prehistory
Altona had already been expanded to include the town of Ottensen in 1889 and the neighboring communities to the west of Bahrenfeld , Othmarschen and Övelgönne in 1890 , and as a result had more than quadrupled its area, while the population only increased by 34% (from 85,000 to 114,000). However, the strong industrial growth not only in fish processing and the port economy continued to lead to a strong population increase. Therefore, Lord Mayor Franz Adickes negotiated with the Elbe village Großflottbek as early as 1891 about a further westward expansion of the city; these talks broke off when Adickes left for Frankfurt / Main. Similar negotiations, which Lord Mayor Bernhard Schnackenburg led from 1911 with the communities of Eidelstedt , Stellingen - Langenfelde and Lokstedt along the Altona – Kiel railway , were about to be successfully concluded (only the issue of tax distribution was still a disagreement) when the outbreak of the First World War temporarily interrupted these plans.
For and against Groß-Altona
In the early years of the Weimar Republic , the shortage of space in the city led to ever greater densification and unhealthy living conditions (population density in the core of the old town: around 80,000 inhabitants / km²), exacerbated by the immediate vicinity of industry (increase 1895-1923: from 684 to 1132 Businesses) and apartments. Only wealthy citizens could afford it financially and in terms of distance to escape these conditions by moving to the later so-called Elbe suburbs .
An advertising committee for a larger Altona , to which several dignitaries from politics, administration, economy and other social areas belonged, was founded and drummed up publicity for further incorporations.
In this situation, the Prussian state government announced by decree of October 13, 1921 that it would support Altona and its neighboring communities in solving their problems.
The later Altona Senator for Construction Gustav Oelsner drew up a general development plan from 1923 , which not only included Altona, but also the bordering Prussian areas around Hamburg and, along the railway lines to the west and north, mainly commercial-industrial, and in the spaces between the axes mainly residential and residential areas provided generous green areas. This plan was developed in close professional exchange with Oelsner's Hamburg colleague Fritz Schumacher .
However, since no concrete steps were taken to implement it, Lord Mayor Max Brauer ( SPD ) requested as one of his first official acts in October 1924 that the government should enlarge Altona at Pinneberg's expense - and in the summer of 1926 Brauer also included Blankenese in his demands.
This intention was by no means only met with approval in the affected communities: numerous petitions to the government testify in particular to the massive resistance in Blankenese. This place with a long history was not only the most populous, due to the wealth of many of its residents, who often owned companies in Altona or Hamburg, it also had an excellent infrastructure (lyceum and high school, hospital, nursing home and children's home, own electricity and gas works, rail connection to Altona). The Pinneberger district committee also protested violently and issued a popular advertising pamphlet ( "Not to Altona!" ). Also joined Lokstedt , Niendorf and Schnelsen to an enlarged community Lokstedt together to protect themselves from incorporation.
Legislative process and content
The Prussian coalition government under Otto Braun was also divided on the Groß-Altona question: the SPD favored a solution that would solve the problems of the region in terms of enlarging Hamburg. Only after the center threatened to leave the government, also at the personal intervention of the social democrat Max Brauer, did the latter introduce several laws in the early summer of 1927, which the state parliament then passed on June 29, 1927 in the third reading with 248 to 131 votes two abstentions decided:
- a law on the expansion of the Altona port,
- a special financial equalization law: Altona was allowed to withhold the state's share of income and corporation tax for costs of administrative amalgamation and necessary infrastructure measures,
- the Lower Elbe Act , Section 1 of which concerned Altona.
The regulations came into force on July 1, 1927 and made the following rural communities Altona suburbs:
| Altona's new districts | ||
|---|---|---|
| local community | Population as of 1925 |
Area (in hectares) |
| Cracks | 1,646 | 1,483 (a) |
| Sülldorf | 1,046 | 601 |
| Blankenese | 13,629 | 1,113 |
| Nienstedten | 2.986 | 257 |
| Osdorf | 1.938 | 803 |
| Lurup | 910 | 266 |
| Eidelstedt | 4,469 | 1,066 |
| Stellingen - Langenfelde | 6,903 | 612 |
| Groß Flottbek | 6.007 | 463 |
| Klein Flottbek | 2,232 | 240 |
As a result, the population of the city of Altona only increased by 25%, but its area has more than quadrupled (from around 2,000 to 9,200 ha). This created the space required for a later “detachment” of the inner city.
From Groß-Altona to Groß-Hamburg
Already around the First World War there had been advocates for a merger of these two cities in Altona as well as in Hamburg; this included the then mayor Schnackenburg as well as the Großhamburg workers and soldiers council in 1922 . Corresponding initiatives continued to exist in the second half of the 1920s, albeit no longer from the Altona town hall, especially since Prussia was also not interested in them. Until the Greater Hamburg Act , there was only equal cooperation between the neighboring cities (state planning, port and transport community) - Altona's incorporation (1938) was only completed by the National Socialists.
Lokstedt
The rural communities of Lokstedt , Niendorf and Schnelsen in the district of Pinneberg were united to form a new rural community of Lokstedt through Section 2 of the Lower Elbe Act .
Wandsbek
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Section 3 of the Lower Elbe Act incorporated the rural communities of Jenfeld and Tonndorf-Lohe , which had previously belonged to the Stormarn district, into the independent city of Wandsbek .
Rahlstedt
The rural communities of Alt-Rahlstedt , Neu-Rahlstedt , Oldenfelde and Meiendorf belonging to the Stormarn district were united to form the new rural community of Rahlstedt through Section 4 of the Lower Elbe Act .
Harburg-Wilhelmsburg
Under Section 5 of the Lower Elbe Act, the independent city of Harburg was combined with the city of Wilhelmsburg and the Kattwyk-Hoheschaar estate from the Harburg district to form the independent city of Harburg-Wilhelmsburg .
literature
- Law on the new regulation of communal borders in the Prussian Lower Elbe region of July 8, 1927 . In: Prussian collection of laws . 1927, no.24 (no.13254).
- Max Brauer: 300 years of Altona. Thoughts on an anniversary , in: Martin Ewald (Hrsg.): 300 years Altona. Contributions to its history , Hamburg 1964 (H. Christians).
- Paul Th. Hoffmann: Neues Altona 1919–1929 , 2 vol., Jena 1929 (E. Diederichs).
- Hans-Dieter Loose: Altona and the Greater Hamburg Question , in: Hartmut Hohlbein (ed.): From the four-city area to the unified community , Hamburg 1988 (state center for political education).
- Hans-Peter Strenge : Altona. 50 years of the Hamburg district , in: Hohlbein 1988 (as before).
- Irene Strenge : Area changes and changes in the administrative structure in Altona 1927 and 1937/38 , jur. Diss., Hamburg 1992.
- Advertising committee for a larger Altona (ed.): Voices on the question of a larger Altona. Hammerich & Lesser, Altona 1925
Individual evidence
- ↑ Law on the new regulation of communal borders in the Prussian Lower Elbe region of July 8, 1927, Preußische Gesetzsammlung 1927, No. 24
- ^ Jürgen Frantz: Lokstedt - Niendorf - Schnelsen: three Prussian rural communities become Hamburg districts: 85 years of the Prussian Lower Elbe Law; 75 years of Greater Hamburg Law . Ed .: Forum Kollau. Hamburg 2012, ISBN 978-3-00-037681-8 (with the appendix: Prussian Lower Elbe Law of 8 July 1927).