Wehlau district

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The district of Wehlau was a Prussian district in the province of East Prussia , which existed from 1818 to 1945. On January 1, 1945, the district included the three cities of Allenburg , Tapiau and Wehlau as well as 112 other communities with fewer than 2000 inhabitants and three manor districts (forests).

Administrative history

Kingdom of Prussia

With the Prussian administrative reforms after the Congress of Vienna , the district of Wehlau in the administrative district of Königsberg in the province of East Prussia was created on February 1, 1818 .

This included the parishes:

The district office was in Wehlau.

On April 1, 1819, the Allenburg parish was incorporated from the Friedland district into the Wehlau district. Since December 3, 1829, the district - after the merger of the previous provinces of Prussia and West Prussia - belonged to the new province of Prussia with the seat in Königsberg i. Pr.

North German Confederation and German Empire

Since July 1, 1867, the district belonged to the North German Confederation and from January 1, 1871 to the German Empire . After the division of the province of Prussia into the new provinces of East Prussia and West Prussia, the Wehlau district became part of East Prussia on April 1, 1878.

On January 9, 1884, the Michelau estate - an enclave in the Wehlau district - was ceded by the Labiau district to the Wehlau district.

On December 10, 1895, Heinrichshof , which had previously been mistakenly counted as part of the Friedland district, was transferred from the Friedland district to the Wehlau district.

On September 30, 1929, a regional reform took place in the Wehlau district in line with the development in the rest of Prussia, in which almost all previously independent manor districts were dissolved and assigned to neighboring rural communities. At the same time, the Elisenau-Frisching estate, Forst from the Bartenstein district to the Wehlau district. In 1933, the Wehlau district covered an area of ​​1063 square kilometers, with 47,704 inhabitants.

In the spring of 1945 the district was occupied by the Red Army and then came under Soviet administration. The resident German population, if they had not already fled, was subsequently expelled . Today the former district area belongs to the Russian Kaliningrad Oblast .

Local constitution

The district of Wehlau was initially divided into town communities, rural communities and - until they were almost completely eliminated - in independent manor districts.

With the introduction of the Prussian Municipal Constitution Act of December 15, 1933, there was a uniform municipal constitution for all municipalities from January 1, 1934. The previous municipalities Allenburg, Tapiau and Wehlau now carried the name city .

With the introduction of the German Municipal Code of January 30, 1935, the municipal constitution valid in the German Reich came into force on April 1, 1935, according to which the previous rural municipalities were now referred to as municipalities . These were grouped together in administrative districts .

The community of Schenken was incorporated into the community of Leipen in 1939.

A new district constitution was no longer created; The district regulations for the provinces of East and West Prussia, Brandenburg, Pomerania, Silesia and Saxony from March 19, 1881 continued to apply .

District administrators

Districts (1874–1945)

Gut Genslack around 1860, Alexander Duncker collection

Between 1874 and 1945, the district of Wehlau - in addition to the three cities of Allenburg , Tapiau and Wehlau - was subdivided into administrative districts, to which the individual rural communities and manor districts were assigned:

Name (until 1945) Today's name Name (until 1945) Today's name
Bieberswalde Rutschji Koppershagen
Bonslack Cremates Losovoye
Bürgersdorf Gordoje Kuglacken Kudrjawzewo
Drusken Neumühl Kostromino
Ice wagon Bely Jar Partners Krasny Jar
Friedrichsdorf Paterswalde Bolshaya Polyana
Gauleden (forest) Tumanowka Plauen
(until 1874: Leißienen ( Rodniki )) 		Fedotovo
Genslack Prudy Plibischken Glushkovo
Goldbach Slavinsk Pomauden Luschki
Grauden
(until 1938: Papu rails ) 		Pomedia Pruschaly
Great Allendorf Kostromino Pregelswalde Zarechye
Groß Engelau Demyanovka Rockelkeim
Groß Fritschienen
until 1928 also: Greib (forest) 		Ostrikovo Sandits Lunino
Big Schirrau Dalneje Starkenberg ,
until 1928 also: Kapkeim 		Krasny Bor ,
Vishnevoe
Grünhayn Krasnaya Gorka Taplacken Talpaki
Green linden tree Yershovo Trimmau Novoye
Imten (forest) Weidlacken Jelniki
Kleinhof Weissensee Bolshie Gorky
Klein Nuhr Suchodolye

Place names

In 1938, extensive changes to old Prussian place names took place in the Wehlau district. Since mostly "not German enough", these were phonetic adjustments, translations or free inventions, for example:

literature

  • Gustav Neumann : Geography of the Prussian State. 2nd edition, Volume 2, Berlin 1874, p. 10, point 3.
  • Adolf Schlott: Topographical-statistical overview of the government district of Königsberg, according to official sources . Hartung, Königsberg 1861, pp. 221–233.
  • Prussian Ministry of Finance: The results of the property and building tax assessment in the Königsberg administrative region : Berlin 1966, Wehlau district, pp. 1–43.
  • Werner Lippke (Hrsg.): Home book of the district Wehlau - Alle-Pregel-Deime area . Leer 1975. (Complete PDF version)
  • Leopold Krug : The Prussian Monarchy - represented topographically, statistically and economically . Part 1: East Prussia Province. Berlin 1833, pp. 296-361.

Web links

Commons : Kreis Wehlau  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The Big Brockhaus . 15th edition, 20th volume, Leipzig 1935, p. 101.
  2. ↑ Acta Borussica Volume 8 / II (1890–1900), p. 494 (PDF; 2.19 MB)
  3. ↑ Rolf Jehke: Cities and administrative districts in the district of Wehlau