Municipality (Germany)

Vertical state structure of Germany

The municipalities of Germany plus the borders of the municipality-free areas, the municipal associations, the (rural) districts and comparable administrative areas, the independent cities or urban districts, the administrative districts and the states (as of January 1, 2013)

In the political system of Germany, the municipality (or municipality ) as a regional authority is the lowest level of administrative structure and the administrative body of local self-government .

Cities are (mostly populous) municipalities with city rights , whereby this refers to the entire municipality including any associated suburbs ( agglomeration ).

General

In the administrative structure of the Federal Republic of Germany (see Figure 1), the municipalities form their own pillar. The municipalities are not part of the state (regional) administration, but they manage themselves. In addition to their self-administration tasks, they are also given state tasks, e.g. B. Registration or registry offices, transferred. Since the reform of the Basic Law, the federal government has been prohibited from assigning further tasks to the municipalities.

Municipalities are the territorially defined units of the political system to which, according to the constitution, the regulation of “matters of the local community within the framework of the law is under their own responsibility” ( Art. 28 Paragraph 2 of the Basic Law). Local parliaments and political administrations, as formal political bodies, are responsible for structuring this task. As part of self-government, they are bound by laws and ordinances, but not by ministerial decrees and business instructions or district council resolutions. In the GDR , the communities had been reduced to the lowest level of state administration since 1957.

The municipalities are local authorities and have legal personality . They have sovereignty and " universal responsibility ". This means that they are basically responsible for all matters relating to their area. This is restricted by state and federal law. In addition, the principle of " all membership " applies : this means the membership of all persons in the (regional) body. For natural persons , membership results from the place of residence , for legal persons from their seat . In order to secure the communal existence in the long term, the federal legislature has authorized the states to exempt the communes from the generally applicable bankruptcy law and to declare them incapable of insolvency ( Section 12 (1) no. All Länder have made use of this option in their municipal regulations .

federalism

Germany is a state with extensive federalism . Therefore there are many differences in organization, nomenclature, legislature and executive in:

States and city-states
Administrative districts
Counties and urban districts
Municipalities and municipal associations

This federalism also exists in other states, such as B. in Austria and Switzerland, but with different or fewer differences between the individual levels of the state and administrative structure.

Municipal ordinances

The municipal ordinances are the constitutions of the municipalities. They regulate the work of the municipal bodies such as administration, municipal council and mayors . All municipal constitutions have in common the existence of a municipal council , which is responsible for central municipal decisions. There are differences in the position of the main administrative officer, the mayor. A distinction is made between four types of municipal constitution : the southern and northern German council constitution , the mayor's constitution and the magistrate's constitution .

Within the legal framework of the municipal ordinances, the municipalities regulate their structure and processes through the main statute and the rules of procedure of the council .

Collaboration between communities

Amalgamation of municipalities

Development over time of the number of municipalities per country

After the modern phase of community formation, especially at the beginning of the 19th century, there were repeated individual incorporations, mainly in the area of the rapidly growing industrial cities that were merged with neighboring communities. In the old FRG, especially in the first half of the 1970s, most of the countries decreed numerous and area-wide parish mergers and incorporations under the heading of " territorial reform " , often against the will of the old parishes involved. It is sometimes difficult to identify a tangible difference between the concepts of (hierarchical) incorporation and the (equal) consolidation of municipalities. Similar territorial reforms and community mergers have been carried out in the countries on the territory of the former GDR since 1990. In the old Federal Republic, after the amalgamations of the 1970s, there were only seldom incorporations. Most of the time, economic reasons were the decisive factor, for example when Tennenbronn was incorporated into Schramberg on May 1, 2006, the first case of a municipal change of territory in Baden-Württemberg since 1977.

Development of the number of municipalities per country over time (source: Statistical Yearbooks for the Federal Republic of Germany, figures since 1982 on January 1, previously on June 30)
year	BW BW	BY BY	BE BE *	HB HB	HH HH	HE HE	NI NI	NW NW	RP RP	SL SL	SH SH	BRD old	BB BB	MV MV	SN SN	ST ST	TH TH	FRG new	Germany as a whole
1952	3,382	7.123	1	2	1	2,706	4,276	2,381	2,912		1,392	24,175							24,175
1953	3,384	7.128	1	2	1	2,707	4,284	2,382	2,917		1,394	24.199							24.199
1954	3,383	7.126	1	2	1	2,707	4,283	2,383	2,919		1,395	24.199							24.199
1955	3,383	7.127	1	2	1	2,706	4,283	2,383	2,919		1,396	24,200							24,200
1956	3,383	7.125	1	2	1	2,706	4,282	2,383	2,919		1,399	24,200							24,200
1957	3,382	7.126	1	2	1	2,705	4,279	2,372	2,918		1,399	24,184							24,184
1958	3,381	7.126	1	2	1	2,701	4,276	2,372	2,918		1,400	24,177							24,177
1959	3,380	7.118	1	2	1	2,700	4,273	2,371	2,919	346	1,399	24,509							24,509
1960	3,381	7.116	1	2	1	2,700	4,273	2,371	2,918	347	1,395	24,504							24,504
1961	3,381	7.116	1	2	1	2,699	4,278	2,365	2,919	347	1,395	24,503							24,503
1962	3,381	7.110	1	2	1	2,697	4,275	2,364	2,920	347	1,393	24,490							24,490
1963	3,381	7.107	1	2	1	2,697	4,264	2,364	2,920	347	1,392	24,476							24,476
1964	3,382	7.101	1	2	1	2,695	4,256	2,370	2,920	348	1,392	24,468							24,468
1965	3,382	7.097	1	2	1	2,693	4,249	2,362	2,921	347	1,389	24,444							24,444
1966	3,380	7,087	1	2	1	2,693	4,244	2,355	2,920	347	1,381	24,411							24,411
1967	3,379	7,083	1	2	1	2,689	4,236	2,334	2,916	347	1,380	24,368							24,368
1968	3,379	7,077	1	2	1	2,684	4.231	2,277	2,905	347	1,378	24,282							24,282
1969	3,375	7,067	1	2	1	2,662	4.158	2,049	2,592	347	1,375	23,629							23,629
1970	3,350	7.004	1	2	1	2,622	4,088	1,276	2,588	346	1,272	22,550							22,550
1971	3,350	7.004	1	2	1	2,622	4,091	1,277	2,544	346	1,272	22,510							22,510
1972	2,439	5.110	1	2	1	1,123	3,987	1,139	2,476	345	1,258	17,881							17,881
1973	2.147	4,383	1	2	1	848	2,571	984	2,469	345	1,258	15.009							15.009
1974	1,868	4,301	1	2	1	741	1,038	984	2,371	50	1,177	12,534							12,534
1975	1,119	4.177	1	2	1	598	1,035	393	2,350	50	1,170	10,896							10,896
1976	1,113	4.037	1	2	1	598	1,032	395	2,325	50	1,164	10,718							10,718
1977	1,111	3,913	1	2	1	423	1,030	396	2,321	50	1,158	10,406							10,406
1978	1,111	2,052	1	2	1	423	1,030	396	2,320	50	1,132	8,518							8,518
1979	1,111	2,053	1	2	1	423	1,030	396	2,303	50	1,132	8,502							8,502
1980	1,111	2,048	1	2	1	427	1,029	396	2,303	50	1,132	8,500							8,500
1981	1,111	2,050	1	2	1	427	1,031	396	2,303	50	1,132	8,504							8,504
1982	1,111	2,050	1	2	1	427	1,031	396	2,303	52	1,131	8,505							8,505
1983	1,111	2,050	1	2	1	427	1,031	396	2,303	52	1,131	8,505							8,505
1984	1,111	2,052	1	2	1	427	1,031	396	2,303	52	1,131	8,507							8,507
1985	1,111	2,051	1	2	1	427	1,031	396	2,303	52	1,131	8,506							8,506
1986	1,111	2,051	1	2	1	427	1,031	396	2,303	52	1,131	8,506							8,506
1987	1,111	2,051	1	2	1	427	1,031	396	2,303	52	1,131	8,506							8,506
1988	1,111	2,051	1	2	1	426	1,030	396	2,303	52	1,131	8,504							8,504
1989	1,111	2,051	1	2	1	426	1,031	396	2,303	52	1,131	8,505							8,505
1990	1,111	2,051	1	2	1	426	1,031	396	2,304	52	1,131	8,506							8,506
year	BW BW	BY BY	BE BE *	HB HB	HH HH	HE HE	NI NI	NW NW	RP RP	SL SL	SH SH	BRD old	BB BB	MV MV	SN SN	ST ST	TH TH	FRG new	Germany as a whole
1991	1,111	2,051	1	2	1	426	1,031	396	2,304	52	1,131	8,506	1,794	1,124	1,626	1,367	1,710	7,621	16,127
1992	1,111	2,051	1	2	1	426	1,030	396	2,304	52	1,131	8,505	1,793	1,123	1,623	1,361	1,690	7,590	16,095
1993	1,111	2,051	1	2	1	426	1,030	396	2,304	52	1,131	8,505	1,813	1,100	1,614	1,354	1,657	7,538	16,043
1994	1,111	2,051	1	2	1	426	1,031	396	2,304	52	1,131	8,506	1,700	1,084	1,564	1,330	1,586	7,264	15,770
1995	1,111	2,056	1	2	1	426	1,031	396	2,305	52	1,131	8,512	1,700	1,080	968	1,304	1,241	6,293	14,805
1996	1,111	2,056	1	2	1	426	1,032	396	2,305	52	1,131	8,513	1,696	1,079	860	1,300	1,179	6.114	14,627
1997	1,111	2,056	1	2	1	426	1,032	396	2,305	52	1,131	8,513	1,696	1,079	808	1,299	1,063	5,945	14,458
1998	1,111	2,056	1	2	1	426	1,032	396	2,305	52	1,131	8,513	1,565	1,077	802	1,298	1,053	5,795	14.308
1999	1,111	2,056	1	2	1	426	1,032	396	2,305	52	1,130	8,512	1,489	1,069	779	1,295	1,053	5,685	14,197
2000	1,111	2,056	1	2	1	426	1,032	396	2,306	52	1,130	8,513	1,479	1.010	545	1,289	1,018	5,341	13,854
2001	1,111	2,056	1	2	1	426	1,032	396	2,306	52	1,130	8,513	1,474	1,000	544	1,289	1,017	5,324	13,837
2002	1,111	2,056	1	2	1	426	1,026	396	2,306	52	1,130	8,507	1,092	989	539	1,272	1,017	4,909	13,416
2003	1,111	2,056	1	2	1	426	1,026	396	2,306	52	1,129	8,506	886	979	535	1,235	1.007	4,642	13,148
2004	1,111	2,056	1	2	1	426	1,026	396	2,305	52	1,125	8,501	436	964	525	1,197	1.006	4.128	12,629
2005	1,111	2,056	1	2	1	426	1,026	396	2,305	52	1,125	8,501	421	873	519	1,118	998	3,929	12,431
2006	1,111	2,056	1	2	1	426	1,025	396	2,306	52	1,125	8,501	420	851	514	1,056	998	3,839	12,340
2007	1.110	2,056	1	2	1	426	1,024	396	2,306	52	1,125	8,499	420	849	510	1,042	992	3.813	12,312
2008	1.109	2,056	1	2	1	426	1,024	396	2,306	52	1,124	8,497	420	849	502	1,027	968	3,766	12,263
2009	1.109	2,056	1	2	1	426	1,024	396	2,306	52	1,119	8,492	420	848	496	1.012	959	3,735	12,227
2010	1.102	2,056	1	2	1	426	1,024	396	2,306	52	1,116	8,482	419	817	488	836	951	3,511	11,993
2011	1.102	2,056	1	2	1	426	1,024	396	2,306	52	1,116	8,482	419	814	485	300	942	2,960	11,442
2012	1.101	2,056	1	2	1	426	1.010	396	2,306	52	1,116	8,467	419	805	468	220	913	2,825	11,292
2013	1.101	2,056	1	2	1	426	1.007	396	2,306	52	1,115	8,463	419	780	438	219	878	2,734	11,197
2014	1.101	2,056	1	2	1	426	991	396	2,306	52	1.110	8,442	418	777	432	218	849	2,694	11,136
2015	1.101	2,056	1	2	1	426	971	396	2,305	52	1.110	8,421	418	755	430	218	849	2,670	11.091
2016	1.101	2,056	1	2	1	426	971	396	2,305	52	1.110	8,421	417	753	426	218	849	2,663	11,084
2017	1.101	2,056	1	2	1	426	944	396	2,305	52	1.110	8,394	417	753	423	218	849	2,660	11,054
2018	1.101	2,056	1	2	1	423	943	396	2,304	52	1.106	8,385	417	750	421	218	821	2,627	11,012
2019	1.101	2,056	1	2	1	423	943	396	2,304	52	1.106	8,383	417	745	419	218	664	2,465	10,848
2020	1.101	2,056	1	2	1	422	942	396	2,302	52	1.106	8,381	417	726	419	218	634	2,414	10,795
year	BW BW	BY BY	BE BE *	HB HB	HH HH	HE HE	NI NI	NW NW	RP RP	SL SL	SH SH	BRD old	BB BB	MV MV	SN SN	ST ST	TH TH	FRG new	Germany as a whole

until 1990 without East Berlin

Municipalities by residents

As of January 1, 2020, there are 10,795 parishes in Germany. 2054 municipalities have city rights. The following table groups the municipalities by inhabitants. The basis is the population figures as of September 30, 2019 (for the four communities that were created at the turn of the year 2019/2020, the population figures of the communities that have merged were added).

Residents	without St.-R.	with St.-R.	total
<100	201		201
≥100, <200	460		460
≥200, <500	1432	3	1435
≥500, <1,000	1730	7th	1737
≥1,000, <2,000	1781	52	1833
≥2,000, <5,000	1867	314	2181
≥5,000, <10,000	865	488	1353
≥10,000, <20,000	369	524	893
≥20,000, <50,000	36	475	511
≥50,000, <100,000		110	110
≥100,000, <200,000		41	41
≥200,000, <500,000		26th	26th
≥500,000, <1,000,000		10	10
≥1,000,000, <2,000,000		3	3
≥2,000,000, <5,000,000		1	1

The table shows that Germany has 3 + 1 = 4 cities with a million inhabitants and 41 + 26 + 10 + 3 + 1 = 81 large cities . According to the table, the largest municipality in Germany without town charter has fewer than 50,000 inhabitants; it is Seevetal in the Harburg district in Lower Saxony with 41,506 inhabitants. The smallest town in Germany is Arnis in the Schleswig-Flensburg district in Schleswig-Holstein with 284 inhabitants.

The 378 largest municipalities in Germany together have roughly as many inhabitants (41,494,138) as the other 10,417 smallest municipalities in Germany (41,503,889). The 378th largest municipality in Germany is Kreuztal with 31,187 inhabitants. This means that half of the German population live in a municipality the size of at least Kreuztal, the other half in a smaller municipality than Kreuztal.

The largest municipality alone ( Berlin ) has roughly as many inhabitants (3,644,826) as the 5,204 smallest municipalities (that is 48.2% of all municipalities in Germany) together (3,644,265).

Municipalities by country

Source of the community figures: lists below (as of January 1, 2017)

country	Communities	including cities	average population ( median )	Area in km² (median)
Baden-Württemberg	1.101	313	4,658	23.32
Bavaria	2,056	317	2,768	26.40
Berlin	1	1	3,469,849	891.69
Brandenburg	417	112	1,676	44.10
Bremen	2	2	330,944	209.69
Hamburg	1	1	1,762,791	755.30
Hesse	426	191	7,778	41.22
Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania	753	84	663	23.09
Lower Saxony	944	158	2,317	30.74
North Rhine-Westphalia	396	271	20,824	74.85
Rhineland-Palatinate	2,305	128	559	5.75
Saarland	52	17th	14,451	41.91
Saxony	423	170	3,895	34.96
Saxony-Anhalt	218	104	3,767	68.00
Schleswig-Holstein	1.110	63	675	10.68
Thuringia	849	126	646	10.00
Germany	11,054	2,059	1,719	18.73

Baden-Württemberg

Bavaria

Berlin

Unified municipality , no separation of the tasks of the municipality and the state

Brandenburg

Bremen

Hamburg

Unified municipality , no separation of the tasks of the municipality and the state

Hesse

Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania

Lower Saxony

North Rhine-Westphalia

Rhineland-Palatinate

Saarland

Saxony

Saxony-Anhalt

Schleswig-Holstein

Thuringia

Tasks and achievements

The municipalities are committed to the public good, so that their activities both serve a public purpose and serve the general interest .

In addition to compulsory tasks (such as registration , waste disposal , street cleaning ), there are voluntary services (mostly in the social and cultural area such as theater, sports, city library). Which voluntary tasks a municipality performs depends on its (financial) ability and is determined by the local political will.

There are mixed forms: the municipal family policy , which has been gaining in importance since the 2000s, consists of both compulsory and voluntary tasks.

Economy and finance

The majority of the municipalities take care of the municipal supply and disposal independently. This gives the municipalities their influence in pricing , personnel , procurement and environmental policy . Furthermore, the municipalities secure the permanent transfer of annual surpluses and trade taxes into the city budget through their own municipal utilities . The political attempt municipally owned public utility to sell, has been called "dumping of silverware often rejected" in recent years by the citizens and citizen initiatives or referendums successfully prevented.

The aim of the municipalities is not to maximize profit , but to be profitable , increasing the common good . In particular, the cost recovery principle prevents municipalities from levying charges that exceed costs and lead to profits.

In accounting , the municipalities have so far mainly worked with payment-oriented cameralistics . Since July 2009 provides for this in Germany the relevant Haushaltsgrundsätzegesetz (HGrG) in § 1a para. 1 HGrG a cameralistic or "government double entry" accounting ( " double-entry ") before. There is also the project New Municipal Financial Management –NKF– (for example in NRW). In the case of “state double-entry”, this must follow the provisions of the Commercial Code (HGB) according to Section 7a (1) HGrG , in particular with regard to ongoing bookkeeping , inventory , accounting and financial statements. The conversion resulted in considerable costs (approx. 50–70 euros per inhabitant). This will pay off by the fact that due to the then possible cost comparison many administrative tasks (eg. B. Property management , personnel administration , social administration) in the future all or part of the cost-effective private sector will be awarded ( outsourcing ). A municipal year -end analysis based on business indicators enables insights into one's own economic status in comparison with other municipalities.

Due to constantly growing tasks and a significant drop in income since the peak income year 2000, a strict reduction in new debt is currently inevitable in many municipalities . The financial pressure is so high that in many (especially in the larger) municipalities, management reforms and cost-cutting measures (e.g. lean, process-oriented administration, lean government or lean administration ) are no longer sufficient to balance municipal budgets. The municipalities try to save by reducing indirect tasks (e.g. financial administration, personnel administration, management levels, controlling, etc.) in order to be able to continue to finance the tasks that directly benefit citizens (e.g. social assistance, culture , Schools, sports). Since 1995, the municipalities have also tried to improve their budget revenues through risky financing instruments such as cross-border leasing , foreign currency loans or CMS ladder swaps , but have mostly suffered losses.

Despite a possible compulsory administration by the municipal supervisory authority, bankruptcy is not possible because the municipalities are incapable of bankruptcy according to Section 12 InsO . In Germany there are still no examples of compulsory administration by the local authority (“ Staatskommissar ”). The states are trying vehemently to prevent the appointment of a state commissioner, since even a (state commissioned) state commissioner would not know how even the most necessary (since legally prescribed) expenses could be covered in view of the emptiness in the municipal coffers. The municipalities are therefore increasingly saving themselves in cash loans .

Outsourcing and insourcing

The municipalities perform their tasks in a wide variety of public and private legal and organizational forms. The trend towards outsourcing administrative areas is increasing. Often more than half of all communal expenditures or sales, investments and employees are attributable to the investments, the majority of which operate as own operations or GmbH. The municipal decision-makers expect the spin-offs to be more effective and economical. Exemplary reasons for outsourcing in detail: more flexible management, more flexible and more cost-effective human resources management, higher motivation, reduction of liability risks, better financing and cooperation options, more effective auditing, use of tax advantages, circumvention of public procurement law and contract law. In the meantime, the municipalities (not only from Germany, but also, for example, from Great Britain, where privatization under the Thatcher government began much earlier) have more and more experience as to whether these expectations are met or not. In recent years, due to disappointed expectations, there have already been the first municipalities to reverse outsourcing through insourcing .

Types of municipality according to position in the administrative structure

In the relevant legal norms (especially local law , administrative law ), the legislature (mainly those of the federal states) has defined a large number of different types of municipalities that are difficult to understand. A distinction is made between communities that do not take on district tasks from those that also take on district tasks. The different names of these municipalities are explained in more detail below.

Communities without district duties

The following municipality types and names exist for politically independent municipalities that have not taken on any district tasks.

Official community

District municipality that also belongs to an office . The office is a kind of community association in the states of Brandenburg , Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Schleswig-Holstein . In these states, municipalities belonging to the same district, in Schleswig-Holstein also across districts, can combine to form an office (corporation under public law). The office carries out certain defined tasks for the municipalities involved. In contrast, one speaks of an unofficial municipality or an unofficial city - there these tasks are carried out on their own responsibility. There are also official cities (municipalities with municipal rights), for example Arnis or Marne .

Official municipality

District community that does not belong to any office . It performs all communal tasks below the districts, depending on their status (for example, a large city belonging to the district ), including parts of their tasks. They exist in the states of Brandenburg , Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Schleswig-Holstein . In contrast to this the official city or official municipality .

Unified Church

This is the slang term for all independent municipalities, especially for those municipalities that consist of several districts. "The communities A, B and C were united to a new unitary community D." In Saarland, such communities are referred to as large communities (such as Gersheim ).
In some federal states it is the official name for all municipalities belonging to a district that are not members of an administrative community (in Bavaria and Saxony ), joint municipality (in Lower Saxony ) or association municipality (in Saxony-Anhalt ). You carry out all municipal tasks on your own responsibility.
In Hamburg and Berlin it is the constitutional term for the fact that the tasks of the municipality and the state are not separated.

District community

District municipalities and cities are spatially and organizationally assigned to a district or district. Depending on the capacity of the community, the latter performs more or fewer tasks for them. This usually includes the area of building regulations, youth care, school sponsorship for special needs schools and vocational schools, hospitals, waste disposal, traffic safety and monitoring. The municipalities are subject to the legal supervision of the (rural) district in self-administration matters. In contrast, the independent city is responsible for all tasks of the municipality as well as the (rural) district. 99% of the municipalities in Germany are municipalities belonging to the district.

Member parish

The term member municipality is often used for municipalities that are part of an administrative cooperation. This is the case in Baden-Württemberg for a municipality that belongs to an administrative community - an agreed administrative community or community administration association - as is the case with the administrative communities in Bavaria , Saxony and Thuringia , with the integrated communities in Lower Saxony and with the association communities in Saxony-Anhalt .

in Baden-Württemberg a municipality that belongs to an administrative community, see agreed administrative community and community administration association
in Bavaria a municipality that belongs to an administrative community, see administrative community (Bavaria)
in Lower Saxony a municipality that belongs to a joint municipality, see joint municipality
in Saxony a municipality that belongs to an administrative community, see administrative community (Saxony)
in Saxony-Anhalt a municipality that belongs to a collective municipality, see Verbandsgemeinde (Saxony-Anhalt)
in Thuringia a municipality that belongs to an administrative community, see administrative community and fulfilling municipality (Thuringia)

Local parish

In Rhineland-Palatinate , this is the name for all municipalities that belong to a collective municipality and are not a city. The legislature wanted to differentiate the general term “municipality” more from the “Verbandsgemeinde” as a special type of administrative unit.

Regional association members or (cities) regional municipality / city

Municipality that belongs to the Saarbrücken regional association , the Hanover region or the Aachen city region . These are local associations of a special kind . Their member communities are comparable to the “district communities” of the districts.

Sponsoring community

This is the managing church in an office.

Association member municipality / city

Congregations that belong to an association congregation in Rhineland-Palatinate . The municipalities retain their legal independence. In Saxony-Anhalt the expression is rarely used, but rather the terms “municipality” or “member municipality of an administrative association”.

Association-free municipality / city

In Rhineland-Palatinate, this is a municipality that is part of a district that does not belong to any association municipality and therefore handles all tasks under its own responsibility. In contrast to this, the local congregation is a community member. Cities can also be municipalities belonging to or not belonging to the association.

Administrative community member municipality

District municipality that belongs to an administrative community that performs certain tasks for them - in contrast to the "administrative community-free municipality", which does all tasks under its own responsibility. There are administrative communities in Baden-Württemberg , Bavaria , Saxony and Thuringia , although the term is used extremely rarely. One speaks here only of “communities” or “member communities of an administrative community”. The church that performs the tasks for the other is often referred to as the fulfilling church .

Municipalities with district responsibilities

Above all, densely populated municipalities have taken over all or part of the tasks of the district.

Large city belonging to the district

Large city belonging to a district is a term from the municipal law of the states of Brandenburg , North Rhine-Westphalia , Rhineland-Palatinate , Schleswig-Holstein and Thuringia . Cities with more than 60,000 inhabitants , in Brandenburg with more than 45,000 inhabitants and in Rhineland-Palatinate and Thuringia in some cases with 20,000 inhabitants already have this designation. In Brandenburg, according to the municipal code for the state of Brandenburg § 2, towns belonging to a district receive the status by ordinance of the Minister of the Interior if they reach the required number of 45,000 inhabitants on three consecutive reference days (June 30, December 31). This status is also withdrawn by ordinance if the required number of inhabitants is undercut by more than ten percent on five consecutive reference days and the city has applied for the withdrawal. In North Rhine-Westphalia there is a similar regulation as in Brandenburg. According to Section 4 of the municipal code for the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, the threshold of 60,000 inhabitants applies; the state government, as large cities belonging to the district, determines those cities that exceed this threshold on three consecutive reference days (June 30th, December 31st). This status is also deleted by ordinance, either at the request of the city if the required number of inhabitants is undercut by more than ten percent on five consecutive reference days, or ex officio if the required number of inhabitants is undercut by more than twenty percent on five consecutive reference days becomes. Larger cities belonging to the district also perform tasks for which the district is responsible for smaller communities. Large cities belonging to a district perform a more extensive range of tasks according to their performance compared to the medium-sized cities belonging to a district. Some cities belonging to the district have a special status .

Great county seat

In Baden-Wuerttemberg , Bavaria and Saxony there are cities belonging to the district, some of which take on the tasks of the district. If they have exceeded a certain population limit, they receive the special title of large district town from the respective state government at the request of the city . With the award of the title, the additional tasks are also transferred. A major district town is not necessarily a district town (of its district), because there can also be several major district towns within a district. On the other hand, there can be district towns, i.e. towns that are the seat of a district administration, but which are not large district towns (such as Tauberbischofsheim , district town of the Main-Tauber district ; however, there are two other towns in the Main-Tauber district, Bad Mergentheim and Wertheim , Large district towns). The population limit is regulated differently. In Baden-Württemberg and Saxony it is 20,000, in Bavaria 30,000. The applications of the respective city are usually granted. In the case of municipalities that previously did not have city rights , this declaration is automatically linked to city law. The latest example from Baden-Württemberg: The municipality of Remseck am Neckar , district of Ludwigsburg, has been a “major district town” since January 1, 2004 and can therefore call itself “City of Remseck am Neckar”. In Bavaria, the status of "large district town" was introduced with the 1972 regional reform. At that time, Bavaria still had a large number of independent cities that were to be incorporated into the districts. Nevertheless, they wanted to leave certain tasks to them. There are therefore cities with fewer than 30,000 inhabitants that have the status of "large district town" because they were independent before 1972, such as Deggendorf or Rothenburg ob der Tauber . In Saxony, the title of "large district town" was introduced after 1990 in the course of the re-establishment of the states based on Baden-Württemberg municipal law.

Big independent city

In Lower Saxony , “ large independent cities ” are cities belonging to the district, some of which take on the tasks of the district. They are finally listed in Section 10 of the Lower Saxony Municipal Code. These are the seven cities of Celle , Cuxhaven , Goslar , Hameln , Hildesheim , Lingen (Ems) and Lüneburg . As a rule, they have more than 50,000 inhabitants and, due to their additional tasks, are in large part equal to the “independent cities”.

District-free city

Larger municipalities - mostly large cities or larger medium-sized towns - generally do not belong to a district / district . They are therefore called " urban districts ". You carry out all tasks that the respective district does in the case of municipalities belonging to a district, on your own responsibility.

Mittelstadt

A middle town is

In the statistics, a city with more than 20,000 but less than 100,000 inhabitants
In Saarland cities with "more than 30,000 inhabitants who are not district towns". This legal term is therefore de facto reserved for the two cities of St. Ingbert and Völklingen . Both cities are members of the district or regional association, but due to their size have partly taken over the tasks of the district. They were thus almost equated with the district towns by the legislature. As a special feature, they even have a separate license plate (IGB or VK), which is normally only reserved for rural districts or urban districts.

Middle district city

The status of middle district town only exists in North Rhine-Westphalia and Brandenburg for district communities with more than 20,000 and 25,000 inhabitants respectively. For the procedure in Brandenburg and North Rhine-Westphalia, see “large city belonging to the district”.

Independent municipality

Is an independent community

Colloquially a community in contrast to the district or residential area
In Lower Saxony, a city, municipality or joint municipality belonging to a district that partially takes on the tasks of the district. According to Section 12 of the Lower Saxony Municipal Code, all municipalities with more than 30,000 inhabitants have this legal status, provided they are not “large independent cities” or “independent cities”. If the population falls below the limit of 30,000, the municipality still retains its status as an “independent municipality”. Municipalities with between 20,000 and 30,000 inhabitants can also be declared "independent municipalities" by the state government upon application. If this happens, it will be published in the Ministerialblatt. If the number of inhabitants falls below the limit of 20,000, however, the status of “independent municipality” can be withdrawn again.

Special status city

In Hesse , cities that partially take on the tasks of the district have the title of special status city . These are the seven cities with a population between 50,000 and 100,000: Bad Homburg vor der Höhe , Fulda , Gießen , Hanau , Marburg , Rüsselsheim am Main and Wetzlar . Some were urban districts before 1972 or 1974.

Urban district

Stadtkreis is the name for a "district-free city" in Baden-Württemberg.

City-states

The term “city-state” is common for municipalities that also have state quality. It is used for the states of Berlin and Hamburg , which each form a municipality, and for the state of Bremen , in which the municipality of Bremerhaven also exists in addition to the city of Bremen .

Other types and names of parishes

There are also other, more or less common and common names for types of communities or parts of communities. Many cities use additional (self) designations on their place-name signs or in advertising for characterization. These terms have no administrative significance. Individual names such as Goldstadt Pforzheim or Reiterstadt Verden are not included in the following alphabetically sorted list.

Modern names

Federal city

Bundesstadt is the title that the city of Bonn in Germany has had since April 26, 1994. This title is one of the concessions made to the former seat of government after the German government moved to Berlin. Associated with this title are various privileges under the Berlin / Bonn Act such as the official second seat of the Federal President and Chancellor and the majority of the jobs in the Federal Ministries.

Tourist community, climatic health resort, resort

For municipalities with a high level of tourism, there are the state-assigned designations: tourist municipality , climatic health resort and resort .

Big city

All cities with more than 100,000 inhabitants are counted as “ big cities ” according to a resolution of the International Statistics Conference of 1887 .

Industrial city

In a narrower sense, the term “ industrial city ” is used to describe a place that was created in the course of industrialization in the 19th and early 20th centuries. The purpose of the settlement was almost exclusively to provide workers and employees with living space close to their industrial workplace. The cities of Wolfsburg and Eisenhüttenstadt can be described as typical industrial cities of the 20th century . In fact, however, almost all major German cities and most of the larger medium-sized cities are industrial cities in the sense that they owe their growth to increasing industrialization at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century. In the minds of the majority of the German population, some large cities are purely industrial cities that owe their emergence solely to the settlement of heavy industry, although, like Duisburg or Dortmund , they are among the oldest cities in Germany.

County seat

District town is the name of a municipality that is the seat of the (rural) district administration and, if applicable, other central institutions. In principle, the title of district town does not give rise to any special rights. If the municipality that houses a district office or a district administration does not have city rights, it is a district capital . Garmisch-Partenkirchen is currently the only district capital in Germany. There used to be Westerstede ( Ammerland district ) and Wittlage (now part of the municipality of Bad Essen) in Lower Saxony , Brake in Lippe (now part of the city of Lemgo) in North Rhine-Westphalia and Berchtesgaden , Mallersdorf , Roding and Wegscheid Kreishauptorte in Bavaria .

Spa town, spa town, bath

Communities that own spa facilities often call themselves a spa , spa town , health resort or climatic spa . The addition “ Bad ” is awarded by the government. Numerous coastal communities in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania call themselves a seaside resort .

State capital

State capital is the official name of the capitals in the territorial states of the Federal Republic of Germany. Corresponding regulations result from the respective municipal ordinances or municipal constitutions .

Trade fair city

Messestadt is usually a self-conferred distinctive title for cities with a regularly held (usually nationally known) business fair . Examples: Hanover , Cologne and Leipzig .

University town / university town / university location

Erlangen town sign with the addition of university town

Aschaffenburg town sign with the addition of university town

Cities that have a university sometimes call themselves university cities . Examples (in the place-name sign): Bamberg , Eichstätt , Greifswald , Halle (Saale) , Constance , Mannheim , Marburg , Saarbrücken , Siegen , Trier , Tübingen , Ulm or Würzburg . In addition, the station announcement in Gießen , Göttingen , Halle (Saale), Jena , Lüneburg , Oldenburg , Paderborn is always "Welcome to the university town ...".

Cities with a university of applied sciences carry the name “University of Applied Sciences” on place-name signs and in station announcements (for example Aschaffenburg or Deggendorf ), municipalities with a university carry the name “university location ” (for example Neuendettelsau ), Neubiberg with the University of the Bundeswehr is called “ Universitätsgemeinde Neubiberg "and Iffeldorf with the Limnological Institute of the Technical University of Munich / Weihenstephan are also called" Universitätsgemeinde "on the town signs.

Other names

Mountain town

A town in which mining was or is being carried out was previously allowed to call itself a " mountain town ". This designation can be retained even if the city no longer has an active mine. This gives the city special rights, especially the Bergregal . Examples of mining towns: Annaberg-Buchholz , Clausthal-Zellerfeld and Freiberg .

stains

Flecken is a historically transmitted name for a larger municipality belonging to a district with city-like rights. The title “ Flecken ” was originally associated with special rights, such as market law. After these rights have been regulated otherwise, the designation stains no longer has any meaning. However, according to the applicable state law (e.g. Section 20 (2) Lower Saxony Municipal Constitutional Law NKomVG), municipalities may use their traditional names. There are spots mainly in Lower Saxony ( see: List of spots in Lower Saxony ) and Saxony-Anhalt (e.g. Diesdorf or Calvörde ). In Schleswig-Holstein the term existed until 1934. At that time, the last town of Arnis was raised to the status of a town.

See also: Minor city , "freedom", "market, market village, market town, market town, market place", " Weichbild , Wigbold"

freedom

Freedom is a historically handed down name for a larger municipality belonging to a district with city-like rights. The title “Freedom” was mainly used in Westphalia , but is mostly no longer used because the affected communities have meanwhile become a “city” or have been incorporated into another city / community; see. “Flecken” and Minority . The term “Freiung” or “Freyung”, which appears mainly in Bavaria, could also fall into this category. B. "Freiyung Zeil". (The town of Freyung in the Freyung-Grafenau district should also be able to derive its name from this old name.) In Hesse there is also the town of Freigericht , which also belongs to this category and was directly imperial during the time of the Staufer emperors.

Free town

The two cities of Bremen and Hamburg traditionally bear the addition of “ Free City ” as an expression of their statehood, which in part still exists (compare Free State ). These former free imperial cities and city republics thus bear the title of Free (and) Hanseatic City (until 1937 also Lübeck ).

Port city

Cities that have a port sometimes call themselves “ port cities ”.

Hanseatic city

Cities in the Middle Ages a member of the Cities of the " Hanse were" call sometimes still " Hanseatic city ". Including Bremen , Hamburg and Lübeck , some of which were among the first members of the Hanseatic League and took over its inheritance as trustees. In addition to these so far officially named Hanseatic cities, another 15 cities have been added since 1990 (as of 2009), which have this addition in front of the city name and thus acknowledge their former Hanseatic tradition. Some of the license plates have the peculiarity that they begin with an "H" ( HB , HGW , HH , HL , HRO , HST and HWI ).

Market, market village, market town, market town, market town

Markt (market village, market place) was originally a name for a municipality that had the right to hold markets ( market right ). Larger markets were also referred to as "market towns". These communities then had city-like rights ( minor city ). After the market law has been regulated differently (in principle every municipality can hold markets ), the term “market” no longer has any special meaning. In Bavaria, on the other hand, larger municipalities belonging to the district can still be officially declared a "market" by the Bavarian state government at their request . In this respect, Bavarian municipal law differentiates between cities, markets and municipalities for municipalities belonging to a district. The term “Marktgemeinde” is not an official name for a municipality in Bavaria. It happens there, however, that the term "market" is an official part of the municipality name, e.g. B. Market Berolzheim , Markt Bibart , Markt Einersheim .

city

“Cities” are municipalities which are allowed to use the title “ City ” without being entitled to any other rights or obligations. In the past, the city elevation was associated with many privileges (e.g. market rights, the right to raise taxes). Municipalities that use the title “city” from historical times can continue to use it (for example, City of Blankenberg ). In the course of the community reform , it could even happen that the title of “city” from a previous community was “transferred” to the newly formed community (e.g. the city of Gochsheim (Baden) merged with other communities to form the new Kraichtal community in 1971 ; the new community has since been allowed to call itself “Stadt Kraichtal”). On the other hand, it could be that the title “city” no longer applies to the new municipality, but the former city may continue to use this title as today's district (e.g. the municipality of Wachtendonk in North Rhine-Westphalia; the district of Wachtendonk may still call itself “Stadt Wachtendonk”). Newly formed municipalities can be elevated to cities by the respective state government. Usually this happens at the request of the respective municipality. The prerequisite is that a certain number of inhabitants (around 10,000; in North Rhine-Westphalia 25,000) and an "urban character" are shown. Some municipalities deliberately renounce their city rights, compare Haßloch .

Soft image (wigbold)

" Weichbild " (compare Dutch wijk "Ortsteil", "Viertel") is a historically handed down name for a larger municipality belonging to a district with city-like rights. The Westphalian variant Wiegbold or Wigbold was still in use in the 20th century.

Municipality

A municipality is an administrative community structure ( canton ) that was introduced in the French-occupied areas of Germany under Napoléon Bonaparte at the beginning of the 19th century.

various

location

List on Sylt

Selfkant

Goerlitz

Oberstdorf

Places of the Zipfelbund

List on Sylt is the northernmost municipality in Germany, Selfkant the westernmost, Oberstdorf the southernmost and Neißeaue the easternmost municipality. Due to their location, these communities have joined forces in the Zipfelbund , with Görlitz being a member instead of Neißeaue . Feldberg is around 1277 m above sea level. NN is the municipality with the highest village center, followed by the Winklmoos-Alm district of Reit im Winkl at around 1170 m and the Oberjoch district of Bad Hindelang at around 1136 m. The municipality with the highest point is Grainau with the Zugspitze , over whose 2962 m high summit the border between Germany and Austria runs, which is also the southern municipality border. The community with the lowest point in the area (3.5 m below sea level) is Neuendorf-Sachsenbande in Schleswig-Holstein.

Location of Büsingen am Hochrhein in the German-Swiss border area

A German community in Switzerland

Büsingen am Hochrhein is a German municipality on the right bank of the Rhine in the district of Konstanz in Baden-Württemberg . The place, however, is completely surrounded by Swiss national territory. When Austria in 1770 his rights to the villages Ramsen and Dörflingen to the federal Zurich sold, was Buesingen an enclave in the Swiss Confederation and since then 680 meters distance separating Buesingen from his motherland Germany.

Municipality names without localities of the same name

Not every municipality has a settlement with the same name, for example Ahorntal and Baiern .

Name peculiarities

The alphabetical order of the independent communities is led by Aach in Baden-Württemberg and Aach in Rhineland-Palatinate and ends with Zwönitz in Saxony.

There is no municipality with just one letter, the municipality with the shortest name is Au in Baden-Württemberg (as well as the municipalities of Au in der Hallertau in Bavaria, Au an der Sieg in North Rhine-Westphalia and Au am Rhein in Baden-Wuerttemberg with name extensions ). There are 23 parishes with three letters, 17 of them without extension ( Alf , Aub , Aue , Ayl , Bäk , Ehr , Elz , Hof (BY), Hof (RP), Huy , Lam , Löf , Lug , Ney , Rom , Ueß and Ulm ) and 7 with extensions ( Auw bei Prüm , Auw an der Kyll , Egg an der Günz , Rot am See , Rot an der Rot , Wyk auf Föhr ). The community with the longest name (without name additions) is Hellschen-Heringsand-Unterschaar with 32 characters, the community with the longest name in one word is Heiligenstedtenerkamp with 21 characters.

Web links

Wiktionary: Municipality - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

↑ The population figures as of September 30, 2019 are currently the most recent (as of March 2020). They can be accessed via the statistics portal and have all been entered into Wikidata and evaluated using it. See also administrative structure in Germany .

↑ Federal Statistical Office ( Memento of the original dated November 14, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (As of December 31, 2014) @1@ 2

↑ Federal Statistical Office ( Memento of the original dated November 14, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (As of December 31, 2014), for the calculation minus the unincorporated areas @1@ 2

[1] The population figures as of September 30, 2019 are currently the most recent (as of March 2020). They can be accessed via the statistics portal and have all been entered into Wikidata and evaluated using it. See also administrative structure in Germany .