Districts of Mainz on the right bank of the Rhine
Coordinates: 50 ° 0 ′ N , 8 ° 19 ′ E
State capital Mainz,
Rhineland-Palatinate
State capital Wiesbaden,
Hesse
Entrance sign until 2006
today
Legal Rheinische districts of Mainz were the 1908-1930 unincorporated neighborhoods Amöneburg , Kastel and Kostheim north of the Main River Delta and Bischofsheim , Gustavsburg and Ginsheim south of the Main River Delta. In the six districts lived the smaller part of Mainz's population (21.1 percent), but they represented 50.4 percent of the city area. Due to the demarcation between the American and French occupation zones after the Second World War , they remained with the People's State of Hesse, the one after the re-establishment of the states in Germany in Greater Hesse , today's Hesse , rose, while Mainz on the left bank of the Rhine came to the newly created state of Rhineland-Palatinate . The three southern Main districts today belong to the Hessian district of Groß-Gerau , the three northern Main districts to the city of Wiesbaden .
The six former districts
Today over 56,000 people live in the six former districts of Mainz on the right bank of the Rhine. These are in detail:
| coat of arms | Surname | Incorporation | Residents | today's commune | description | image |
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Amöneburg | 1908 | 1400 | Wiesbaden | The northernmost and smallest of the six districts is characterized by the chemical industry ( Albertwerke ) and the tracks of the Wiesbaden-Ost freight yard . |
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Bischofsheim | 1930 | 12,600 | Bischofsheim | Bischofsheim is also characterized by industry and the railroad: directly to the east is the huge Opel factory in Rüsselsheim , and Mainz-Bischofsheim station is the central marshalling yard for the entire Rhine-Main area. |
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Ginsheim | 1930 | 8500 | Ginsheim-Gustavsburg | The southernmost of the six former districts is primarily a residential area. The Ginsheimer Altrhein , its meadows and river islands form an important local recreation area. |
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Gustavsburg | 1930 | 7500 | Ginsheim-Gustavsburg | Gustavsburg was not built until the Thirty Years' War , when King Gustav Adolf had a fortress built right at the mouth of the Main . From around 1860 it developed into an important industrial and port location. The railway crosses the Rhine via the south bridge to Mainz main station. |
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Kastel | 1908 | 12,400 | Wiesbaden | Kastel is located on the banks of the Rhine directly opposite the old town of Mainz and, like it, is a Roman foundation. Even then there was a bridge over the Rhine, the beginning of Elisabethenstrasse in the Roman city of Nida in what is now Frankfurt. Kastel has been an important military base for over 200 years. |
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Kostheim | 1913 | 14,100 | Wiesbaden | Kostheim is located directly north of the Main estuary ( Maaraue ). Emperor Friedrich Barbarossa held one of the largest festivals of the Middle Ages here in 1184 ( Mainzer Hoftag ). The town center is oriented towards the Main, where the last Main lock and bridge are located before the mouth. |
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Administrative starting point
The city of Mainz had belonged to the Grand Duchy of Hesse (-Darmstadt) since the Congress of Vienna and, after 1918, to the People's State of Hesse . Mainz was the capital of the province of Rheinhessen there . The neighboring city of Wiesbaden on the right bank of the Rhine, a former Nassau residence, had been part of the Prussian province of Hesse-Nassau since the Prussian-Austrian War of 1866/67 . Through the peace treaty of 3 September 1866 between Prussia and Hessen-Darmstadt, "all [...] north of the Main [...]" areas of Hessen-Darmstadt, that is to say in addition to the province of Upper Hesse , Kastel (including today's Amöneburg) and Kostheim, in contrast to the rest of the Rheinhessen area, part of the North German Confederation .
The expansion of Mainz on the right bank of the Rhine
The past also in the Grand Duchy of Hesse, but rechtsrheinischen neighboring communities Kastel and Amöneburg were in the city of Mainz on April 1, 1908 incorporated . Kastel is the historic bridgehead of Mainz directly opposite the old town and has been linked to Mainz by the Roman bridge since Roman times, so it was closely linked to Mainz long before it was incorporated.
Amöneburg had an important chemical industry, the industrial area went seamlessly into that of the neighboring town of Biebrich in the Prussian province of Hesse-Nassau. After Biebrich was incorporated into Wiesbaden in 1926, the border between the two major cities, which was also the Prussian-Hessian state border, ran along Albertstrasse , which separated the Kalle chemical factory in Biebrich and the Albert chemical works in Amöneburg. After the war, both companies were taken over by Hoechst AG , which they merged in 1988 to form a joint Kalle / Albert plant . The plant has been part of the Kalle-Albert industrial park since 1997 , but the former state border is still recognizable from the course of the road.
On January 1, 1913, the municipality of Kostheim, located directly in front of its mouth on the north bank of the Main, became a district of Mainz. On January 1, 1930, the towns of Ginsheim, Gustavsburg and Bischofsheim, located south of the Main, were incorporated. The Mainz urban area was located on both sides of the Rhine and on both sides of the Main, the mouth of the Main with the Main Point thus belonged entirely to the district of Mainz.
The division of the city
After the end of the Second World War in 1945, the area of the German Reich that remained after the separation of the eastern territories and the Saarland was divided into four zones of occupation. In accordance with the zone protocol , the Rhine was used as a natural border in the Mainz / Wiesbaden area. On the left of the Rhine was the French and on the right of the Rhine the American occupation zone . As in Frankfurt (Oder) , Guben or Görlitz, for example, the victorious Allied powers only proceeded from practical considerations and were not interested in whether an urban area was divided by this demarcation. In contrast to the other cities mentioned, the citizens of Mainz were able to travel back and forth between the two occupation zones relatively easily after a while.
From September 1945 the military governments of the occupying powers, each in its own zone, reformed the German states as the basis for the new democratic rebuilding in Germany. Since the state of Prussia was to be dissolved for political reasons, the parts of the state of Hesse on the right bank of the Rhine, parts of the Prussian province of Nassau (excluding the district of Montabaur) and the former Prussian province of Kurhessen became the state of Greater Hesse, today's state of Hesse American occupying power established. The French occupation forces made little later from the left-bank part of the People's State of Hesse, the fallen also the French zone part of Hesse-Nassau ( administrative region Montabaur ), the southern part of the Prussian Rhine province and the former Bavarian Palatinate , the state of Rhineland-Palatinate.
The city districts of Mainz on the right bank of the Rhine had lost their point of reference for local politics when the new border was drawn in July 1945. The three districts north of the Main, Amöneburg, Kastel and Kostheim, were incorporated into Wiesbaden by the American occupying forces, following a Wiesbaden proposal. There was no "fiduciary administration" for the city of Wiesbaden. However, this was requested several times by the Mainz side and confirmed in isolated cases by agencies on the right bank of the Rhine, failing to recognize the legal situation. This also applies to the districts of Bischofsheim, Ginsheim and Gustavsburg located south of the Main. They were removed from Mainz and became part of the Hessian district of Groß-Gerau. Ginsheim and Gustavsburg merged to form the community of Ginsheim-Gustavsburg , which had already existed before the incorporation.
Kastel and Amöneburg were ruled from Mainz for 37 years, Kostheim for 32 years, and Bischofsheim, Ginsheim and Gustavsburg for 15 years. All efforts to resolve the so-called AKK conflict in the sense of a relegation at least from Amöneburg, Kastel and Kostheim to Mainz have remained fruitless to this day.
The situation today
As before, the three current districts of the state capital Wiesbaden located north of the Main are prefixed with the name of the old mother city Mainz and they have the official names Mainz-Kastel, Mainz-Kostheim and Mainz-Amöneburg. This corresponds to an agreement of the Lord Mayors in the fourteen-point paper of September 8, 1945. In Amöneburg, the name Wiesbaden-Amöneburg is sometimes used. At the train stations, not only “Mainz-Kastel” continues to be called this (exception: network map of the Rhein-Main-Verkehrsverbund , there it is only called “Kastel”), the train stations in the communities of Bischofsheim and (Ginsheim-) Gustavsburg still carry the railways to this day the names " Mainz-Bischofsheim " and " Mainz-Gustavsburg ".
Mainz-Kastel (55252) and Mainz-Kostheim (55246) are supplied by mail via the letter center 55 in Mainz-Hechtsheim and therefore have “Mainz” postcodes. The postal service from Mainz-Amöneburg (65203) takes place via the letter center 65 for Wiesbaden, which is in turn in Mainz-Kastel. The districts Mainz-Kastel and Mainz-Kostheim share 06134 , which is also valid in Gustavsburg, and are therefore "independent" (Mainz has the area code 06131), Mainz-Amöneburg is assigned to Wiesbaden by telephone with the area code 0611 .
The question of the separated districts of Mainz (predominantly those north of the Main) is still the subject of fierce local political debates (see also the AKK conflict ). This topic is addressed again and again to this day in the Mainz Carnival, which is also celebrated on the right of the Rhine . In practice, the topic is still relevant today, because the separation changed the communal and state affiliation, but the land, etc. including the public areas are initially and partly still owned by the city of Mainz. Nevertheless, the neighboring provincial capitals have been working closely together on many municipal matters for a long time, for example in local public transport or in the fire service . At the beginning of June 2013, the Lord Mayor of Wiesbaden, Sven Gerich , in coordination with the Mayor of Mainz, Michael Ebling, published the statement that both sides assume that the status of AKK will not change until further notice.
Legal options for reunification
The national border, which is now over 70 years old, represents an almost insurmountable obstacle to restitution, as a change of country affiliation would only be possible in accordance with Article 29 of the Basic Law . By changing this article with regard to the number of residents affected (limit is now 50,000), it would be possible today, similar to the Neuhaus office , to change the nationality in the entire area of both federal states only by means of a state treaty and without a prior mandatory referendum, However, this has so far never got beyond the pure phase of public thought games, since the Hessian side had always signaled rejection.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Eike-Christian Kersten: Mainz - the divided city (dissertation), regional culture publisher, Ubstadt-Weiher, Heidelberg a. a. 2014, p. 54 f.
- ↑ Peace Treaty between Prussia and Hesse on Verfassungen.de, Article XIV, Paragraph 2.
- ^ Regulations for the implementation of the electoral law for the North German Confederation, Appendix C., "Directory of constituencies", "III. 2. Grand Duchy of Hesse"
- ↑ Kersten, Mainz, p. 49 f. and p. 143.
- ↑ Kersten, Mainz, p. 51 f. and p. 196 f.
- ↑ Kersten, Mainz, p. 56.
- ↑ Former Mainz suburbs remain near Wiesbaden. In Rhein-Zeitung Mainz from June 2, 2013.
Web links
- United Mainz - Association for the "reunification" of Mainz with its suburbs on the right bank of the Rhine