List of German administrative units 1945–1949

This is a list of German administrative units from the period 1945 to 1949 , i.e. from the collapse of the Third Reich to the establishment of the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic .

Preliminary remark

The list is arranged according to today's federal states ; the individual administrative units are assigned to the federal states in which the majority of their territory was located, so the exact demarcation may differ. A reference is appropriate in the event of larger overlaps. Within today's federal state, the sequence is as chronological as possible.

The highest administrative units (states, provinces ...) that were actually active in any way between 1945 and 1949 are given. B. by appointing a head of administration for the area concerned. In particular, Prussia is not listed, although it was not formally dissolved until the Control Council Act of 1947, because a Prussian administration in no way existed from 1945 onwards.

Baden-Württemberg

State of Baden (southern Baden) : entire period (treated as a state by the French occupying power from the start)
Hohenzollernsche Land : until October 1945
State of Württemberg: until September 1945 (American zone) or October 1945 (French zone)
State of Württemberg-Baden : from September 1945 (previously under American occupation in North Baden only the state district commissioners in Mannheim and Karlsruhe)
State of Württemberg-Hohenzollern (French zone): from October 1945 State Secretariat for the French-occupied area of Württemberg and Hohenzollern , from May 1947 constitutional State of Württemberg-Hohenzollern

Bavaria

Free State of Bavaria : entire period

Berlin

Greater Berlin : entire period
- East Berlin : from December 1948 - further under the name Greater Berlin - under its own administration (so-called Democratic Magistrate )
- West Berlin : from December 1948 - also under the name Greater Berlin - continuation of a magistrate and a city council assembly, which, however , could only be elected in the western sectors on December 5, 1948

Brandenburg

Province of Brandenburg (from July 1945 Province of Mark Brandenburg ): until February 1947
State of Brandenburg (until June 1947, Land Mark Brandenburg ): from February 1947

Bremen

Free Hanseatic City of Bremen : entire period

Hamburg

Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg : entire period

Hesse

State of Hesse (area of the former people's state in the American zone): until September 1945
Province / administrative district Kurhessen : until September 1945
Province / administrative district Nassau : until September 1945
State of Greater Hessen : from September 1945 (from December 1946 under the name of Hessen )

Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania

State of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania (from January 1947 State of Mecklenburg ): from July 1945

Lower Saxony

State of Braunschweig : until October 1946
Province / Country Hannover until August 1946 province , then to October 1946 Country
State of Oldenburg : until October 1946
State of Schaumburg-Lippe : until October 1946
State of Lower Saxony : from October 1946

North Rhine-Westphalia

Land Lippe : until January 1947
Rhine Province : until June 1945
North Rhine Province or North Rhine : June 1945 - October 1946
Province of Westphalia : until October 1946
State of North Rhine-Westphalia : from August 1946 (extended to include Lippe in January 1947 )

Rhineland-Palatinate

( Rhine Province , see North Rhine-Westphalia)
Provincial government of Saar-Palatinate and Rheinhessen: May - June 1945
Oberregierungspräsidium Mittelrhein-Saar : June - September 1945 (but see Saarland from August 1945)
Rhineland-Hesse-Nassau Province : September / December 1945 - May 1947
Upper Presidium of Hesse-Palatinate : September 1945 - May 1947 (from October 1946 onwards, when Rheinhessen became part of Rhineland-Hesse-Nassau, it was effectively limited to the Palatinate)
State of Rhineland-Palatinate : from May 1947

Saarland

( Saar-Palatinate and Rheinhessen , see Rhineland-Palatinate)
( Oberregierungspräsidium Mittelrhein-Saar , see Rhineland-Palatinate)
Saarland : from August 1945

Saxony

State of Saxony : entire period

Saxony-Anhalt

Province of Saxony (including Anhalt, called Saxony-Anhalt from October 1946 ): May 1945 - January 1947
State of Saxony-Anhalt : from January 1947

Schleswig-Holstein

Province / Land Schleswig-Holstein : Province until August 1946, then State

Thuringia

State of Thuringia : entire period

Individual evidence

(if not in the articles linked in the text)

↑ See: Clemens Moser (Politiker, 1885) .
↑ See: Württemberg-Hohenzollern .
↑ OMGUS Handbook: The American Military Government in Germany 1945-1949, page 477 .
↑ State history and contemporary history: End of the war in 1945 and a new democratic beginning, page 211 .
↑ See: Arthur Werner .
↑ See: Ludwig Bergstrasse .
↑ See: Eberhard Hagemann and Hinrich Wilhelm Kopf .
↑ ^a ^b ^c See: Province of Rhineland-Hesse-Nassau .
↑ The State of Saxony-Anhalt 1945–1952, page 140 .
↑ The Prussian administrative district of Erfurt had already been incorporated into Thuringia by the American occupying power. See: Report by District President Hermann Brill on the situation (in Thuringia), July 4, 1945 .

[1] See: Clemens Moser (Politiker, 1885) .

[2] See: Württemberg-Hohenzollern .

[3] OMGUS Handbook: The American Military Government in Germany 1945-1949, page 477 .

[4] State history and contemporary history: End of the war in 1945 and a new democratic beginning, page 211 .

[5] See: Arthur Werner .

[6] See: Ludwig Bergstrasse .

[7] See: Eberhard Hagemann and Hinrich Wilhelm Kopf .

[RHN-8] See: Province of Rhineland-Hesse-Nassau .

[9] The State of Saxony-Anhalt 1945–1952, page 140 .

[10] The Prussian administrative district of Erfurt had already been incorporated into Thuringia by the American occupying power. See: Report by District President Hermann Brill on the situation (in Thuringia), July 4, 1945 .