District of Meiningen

This article deals with the district of Meiningen between 1868 and 1952. For the district of the same name that existed between 1952 and 1994, see Kreis Meiningen

Location of the district of Meiningen in Thuringia in 1922

The district of Meiningen was a district in the southwest of what is now Thuringia , which existed from 1868 to 1952. The district seat was the royal seat of Meiningen .

The landscape of the district was varied, but was dominated by the Werra Valley , which stretched through the entire district from Leutersdorf in the south to Bad Salzungen in the north. In the west of the district were parts of the Rhön mountain ranges and in the east of the Thuringian Forest . Parts of the grave field took up the south .

Seal of the district administrator before 1918

history

During a structural reorganization of the Duchy of Saxony-Meiningen in 1869, the Meiningen district became one of four districts from the Meininger Unterland . Meiningen, the capital of Saxony-Meiningen, also became a district town. The other three districts were Hildburghausen , Sonneberg and Saalfeld . In 1882 District Administrator Rudolf Ziller founded the Kreissparkasse Meiningen .

Georgstrasse in Meiningen, 1905

After the abdication of Duke Bernhard III. on November 10, 1918, the duchy became the Free State of Saxony-Meiningen , which continued until 1920. Then the district of Meiningen came to the newly founded state of Thuringia. During the Thuringian district reform of 1922 , the district gave the communities of Bernshausen , Dietlas , Kaltenlengsfeld and Oberellen to the Eisenach district . At the same time, the city of Ostheim vor der Rhön and the communities Birx , Frankenheim / Rhön , Helmershausen , Melpers , Sondheim vor der Rhön , Stetten, Urspringen, Wohlmuthausen and Zillbach were added to the district from the dissolved administrative district of Dermbach . After the dissolution of the urban district of Zella-Mehlis in 1936, the city of Zella-Mehlis was also incorporated into the district as an exclave . Due to an area consolidation in the formation of the occupation zones in Germany after the Second World War, the district ceded the city of Ostheim vor der Rhön and the communities of Sondheim vor der Rhön, Stetten and Urspringen to the Bavarian district of Mellrichstadt in 1945 .

On July 1, 1945, the district of Herrschaft Schmalkalden gave the exclave Barchfeld to the district of Meiningen and on October 1, 1945 the town of Zella-Mehlis was reclassified from the district of Meiningen to the district of Schleusingen . On July 1, 1946, the communities of Birx, Frankenheim / Rhön and Melpers moved to the Eisenach district .

The first major territorial reform in the GDR took place on July 1, 1950. The district of Meiningen gave its northern part with the city of Bad Salzungen to the new district of Bad Salzungen and the municipality of Möckers to the district of Suhl . At the same time, the town of Brotterode and the communities of Elmenthal , Fambach , Herges-Auwallenburg , Herrenbreitungen , Heßles , Hohleborn , Pappenheim , Laudenbach , Trusen and Wahles came from the dissolved Schmalkalden district to the Meiningen district.

During the administrative reform of 1952 in the GDR , the district gave a large part of its territory to the Schmalkalden district . The remaining district continued as Meiningen district in the Suhl district .

Seal of the district office after 1920

population

In 1900, 65,595 people lived in 124 parishes in an area of ​​749 square kilometers. Other cities besides Meiningen were Wasungen and Bad Salzungen. The larger towns also included Bad Liebenstein , Alten- and Frauenbreitungen , Schweina , Wernshausen and Walldorf . In 1925 the district with the newly added Ostheim vor der Rhön had 84,750 inhabitants and in 1939 after the incorporation of Zella-Mehlis in 1936 105,862 inhabitants.

traffic

In traffic, the district could be reached via the Reichsstrasse 19 ( Eisenach- Meiningen- Würzburg ), 89 (Meiningen- Kronach ) and 285 ( Dorndorf - Mellrichstadt ). The construction of the Reichsautobahn Eisenach – Meiningen– Bamberg ( route 85 ), which would have crossed and opened up the district via Breitungen / Werra, Niederschmalkalden , Meiningen and Rentwertshausen , was stopped after the beginning of the war in 1940 and was not completed later.

From Meiningen there were railway lines to Erfurt , Eisenach, Schweinfurt , Sonneberg and Römhild .

Bad Salzungen 1900

Bad Liebenstein (around 1900)

Market, town church and town hall in Meiningen around 1900

economy

The main economic occupations in the district of Meiningen were arable farming (potatoes, grain, tobacco), cattle breeding (Rhön, Werratal), forestry, textile production (Niederschmalkalden), several breweries (Meiningen), the spa in Salzungen and Liebenstein, and the construction industry (Meiningen ) and rail vehicle and mechanical engineering (Meiningen, Zella-Mehlis). With a number of major banks, the district town was an important financial center in Germany. As the state capital , Meiningen also had a number of authorities and institutions . The Meininger Hoftheater and the Meininger Hofkapelle achieved European fame in the cultural sector .

cities and communes

In 1939 the district of Meiningen comprised five cities and 90 other municipalities:

Allendorf, village Allendorf, monastery Bad Liebenstein 1 Bad Salzungen , City 2 Bairoda Bauerbach Belrieth Berkach Bettenhausen Bibra Birx Bonndorf Breitungen / Werra 3 30 acre Eckardts Einhausen Solitude Ellingshausen Frankenheim / Rhön Friedelshausen Geba Georgenzell Gleimershausen Graefen-Nitzendorf

Gumpelstadt Haselbach Helmers Helmershausen Henneberg Hermannsfeld Herpf Hohleborn Hümpfershausen Immelborn Jüchsen Kaltenborn Langenfeld Leimbach Leutersdorf Mehmels Meimers Meiningen , city Melkers Melpers Metzels Möckers Möhra Neubrunn

Neuendorf Niedermalkalden Nordheim Oberharles Oberkatz Ober Maßfeld-Grimmenthal Oberrohn 4 Oepfershausen Ostheim vor der Rhön , city Queienfeld Rentwertshausen Rippershausen Ritschenhausen pink Rossdorf Surge Schwarzbach Schweina Schwickershausen Seeba Solz Sondheim before the Rhön Stedtlingen Steinbach

Stepfershausen Stetten Sülzfeld Träbes Unterharles Subcat Undersize field Unterrohn Urspringen Utendorf Vachdorf Madness Forest fish Wallbach Walldorf Wasungen , city Wernshausen Wildsprachtroda Witzelroda Wohlmuthausen Wölfershausen Zella-Mehlis , city Zillbach

¹The community was called Liebenstein until 1907

²The city was called Salzungen until 1923

³The municipality Breitungen was called Alten- und Frauenbreitungen until the 1920s

^4thThe municipality of Oberrhon was called Röhrigs- und Hüttenhof until the 1920s

By 1938, several municipalities lost their independence through incorporation:

• Ettmarshausen , to Immelborn in 1938
• Helba , in Meiningen in 1923
• Hermannsroda , in Leimbach in 1923
• Knollbach , 1938 on Breitungen
• Übelroda , in Immelborn in 1938
• Welkershausen , 1936 in Meiningen

literature

• Statistics of the German Reich from December 1, 1910, Volume 240, Berlin 1915.
• Statistics of the German Reich of June 16, 1925, Volume 401, Berlin 1928.
• Statistics of the German Reich of May 17, 1939, Volume 552, Berlin 1942.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Gov.genealogy.net: District of Meiningen
2. ^ First ordinance on the district division of the state of Thuringia
3. ^ Sixth ordinance on the subdivision of the state of Thuringia
4. ^ Tenth ordinance on the subdivision of the state of Thuringia from September 26, 1946
5. ↑ 1. Ordinance on the implementation of the law amending the district and municipal boundaries in the state of Thuringia of April 26, 1950
6. ^ Correction of the 1st regulation
7. ↑ Law on the further democratization of the structure and functioning of state organs in the state of Thuringia of July 25, 1952
8. ^ Michael Rademacher: German administrative history from the unification of the empire in 1871 to the reunification in 1990. meiningen.html. (Online material for the dissertation, Osnabrück 2006).