Frankfurt am Main administrative district
The administrative district of Frankfurt am Main was a short term from June to October 1945 existing administrative district in the American occupation zone in the area of the future state of Hesse .
history
On June 22, 1945, with the 3rd EAC Zone Protocol, the boundaries of the zones of occupation in Germany were finally determined. The US occupation power divided the area under its administration into two military districts: an eastern one, which consisted of Bavaria (excluding the Palatinate ), and a western one, which included the rest of the area, which later became Greater Hesse and Württemberg-Baden . The internal structure of the western military district remained controversial between the various departments of the US Army . As early as May 28, Darmstadt's administrative director Ludwig Bergsträsser , later supported by Frankfurt trade union official Willi Richter , Hanau mayor Kurt Blaum and Frankfurt local politician, proposed to the military government that the Rhine-Main area should be merged into a new province including the Aschaffenburg area . This contrasted with the wish of the headquarters of the US armed forces in Europe to receive a special status based on the District of Columbia for its headquarters in Frankfurt am Main . With a directive of June 3, 1945, the military government ordered the formation of a Frankfurt administrative district , which was to be separated from the general military administration and placed directly under the headquarters. In addition to the city of Frankfurt, the district should include the districts and cities within a radius of about 10 miles . These areas had previously been part of the Nassau Province and part of the People's State of Hesse .
On June 13, 1945, the American district commander presented a map of the intended Frankfurt district to the district administrators who had gathered in Höchst . On June 14, 1945, the deputy city commandant of Frankfurt, Major Sheehan, ordered " that all business of the district president in Wiesbaden, insofar as they are in the area of the city of Frankfurt am Main, be carried out by Mayor Hollbach until the final territorial regulation ." the other affected former state and Reich authorities instructed. The formation of the Frankfurt administrative district had not previously been discussed with the German civil authorities or the subordinate agencies of the American military government. It was therefore partially met with incomprehension.
A decision by the American Deputy Governor General Lucius D. Clay on June 24, 1945 to form three states in the western military district, namely Württemberg-Baden, Hessen-Nassau with the three administrative districts of Kassel, Wiesbaden and Frankfurt, and Hesse from the , also contributed to the confusion Darmstadt administrative district. Clay's goal was to respect the historical boundaries of the former territories, but this was no longer realistic as a result of the decisions already made. Hesse and Nassau had already lost significant areas, as the western Nassau districts of Oberwesterwald , St. Goarshausen , Unterlahn and Unterwesterwald as well as the areas on the left bank of Rheinhessen had been added to the French occupation zone. The formation of the Frankfurt administrative district led to further area shifts between Hesse and Hesse-Nassau. The remaining people's state of Hesse only lost 730,000 of the former 1.45 million inhabitants, almost all of its urban areas (except for the badly destroyed Darmstadt ) and most of its industry. He was not considered viable in this form.
After the US military administration recognized this, they considered what a meaningful structure could look like and also asked German authorities about it. An overwhelming majority spoke out in favor of a unified Hessian state. On September 19, 1945, the final administrative restructuring of the Hessian area took place with the proclamation No. 2 of the Commander-in-Chief of the American Armed Forces in Europe, General Dwight D. Eisenhower , with which the state of Greater Hesse was created. This consisted of the administrative district of Kassel (the former province of Kurhessen ), the administrative district of Darmstadt (the part of the People's State of Hesse belonging to the American zone) and the administrative district of Wiesbaden (the part of the Nassau province belonging to the American zone ). In the course of this decision, the formation of the Frankfurt administrative district was reversed. According to a note in the Frankfurt magistrate files, “the spin-off and integration of the city of Frankfurt am Main” from the Wiesbaden district took place “from June 14, 1945 to October 8, 1945”.
territory
The Frankfurt administrative region consisted of the following administrative units
| City / district | Population (1939) | Outsourced |
|---|---|---|
| City district of Frankfurt | 553.464 | Wiesbaden administrative district |
| Hanau district | 40,260 | Wiesbaden administrative district |
| Hanau district | 60,153 | Wiesbaden administrative district |
| Main-Taunus-Kreis | 71,235 | Wiesbaden administrative district |
| Obertaunuskreis | 53,021 | Wiesbaden administrative district |
| Friedberg district | 95,071 | Province of Upper Hesse |
| Offenbach district | 104,427 | Starkenburg Province |
| Offenbach district | 95,071 | Starkenburg Province |
| Frankfurt administrative district | 1,027,702 | Hessen-Nassau / Hessen |
literature
- Frolinde Balser : From ruins to a European center: History of the city of Frankfurt am Main 1945–1989 . Ed .: Frankfurter Historical Commission (= publications of the Frankfurter Historical Commission . Volume XX ). Jan Thorbecke, Sigmaringen 1995, ISBN 3-7995-1210-1 .
- Walter Mühlhausen: The founding of the state of Hesse in 1945 . Ed .: Hessian State Center for Political Education (= Blickpunkt Hessen . Volume 4 ). Wiesbaden 2005, ISBN 3-927127-60-4 ( Online [PDF; 2.0 MB ; accessed on September 29, 2015]).