Administrative divisions of East Germany

The administrative divisions of the German Democratic Republic (commonly referred to as East Germany) were constituted in two different forms during the country's history. The GDR first retained the traditional German division into federated states called Länder, but in 1952 they were replaced with districts called Bezirke. Immediately before German reunification in 1990, the Länder were restored, but they were not effectively reconstituted until after reunification had completed.

Division into Länder

General background

The GDR (in red) with its original Länder.

In May 1945, following its defeat in World War II, Germany was occupied by the United States, Britain, France and the Soviet Union. All four occupation powers reorganised the territories by recreating the Länder (states), the constituting parts of federal Germany. The state of Prussia, whose provinces extended to all four zones and covered two thirds of Germany, was abolished in 1947.^[1]

Special conditions were assigned to Berlin, which the four powers divided into four sectors. A united German state government existed in the city until it broke apart in 1948. After 1949, both West Berlin and East Berlin (officially only called Berlin) were in effect incorporated into the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic, respectively, despite not legally being part of these countries.

Länder in East Germany

In the Soviet occupation zone, five Länder were established which roughly corresponded to the preexisting states and provinces. (The territories east of the Oder–Neisse line had been transferred from the Soviet occupation zone to the Polish authorities as agreed upon at the Potsdam Conference.) The five states were:

Brandenburg was created out of the major part of the Prussian province of that name
Mecklenburg-Vorpommern was created out of the state of Mecklenburg (reunited out of Mecklenburg-Schwerin and Mecklenburg-Strelitz only in 1934) and the Western parts of the Prussian province of Pomerania
Saxony (Sachsen) was augmented by the westernmost parts of the Prussian province of Lower Silesia. Also, the town of Reichenau was ceded to Poland.
Saxony-Anhalt (Sachsen-Anhalt) was created out of most of the Prussian Province of Saxony and the Free State of Anhalt
Thuringia (Thüringen) was augmented by neighbouring parts from the Prussian provinces of Saxony and Hesse-Nassau.

In 1949, the Soviet occupation zone was transformed into the German Democratic Republic. The five Länder (and East Berlin, though the latter only with consultative votes) participated in the legislative branch through the Länderkammer (Chamber of States), which was elected by the Landtage (state parliaments). However, the Länder were not constituting entities forming a federal republic (as in West Germany) but rather decentralised administrative entities of a quasi-unitary state.

As a nod to the legal fiction that East Berlin was still occupied territory, it was counted neither as part of Brandenburg, nor as a state in its own right. East Germany claimed East Berlin as its capital, a status recognised by virtually all Eastern Bloc countries. However, the Western Allies (the US, UK, and France) never formally acknowledged the authority of the East German government to govern East Berlin; the official Allied protocol recognised only the authority of the Soviet Union in East Berlin in accordance with the occupation status of Berlin as a whole.^[2]^[3]

Division into Bezirke

Bezirke of the GDR (1952–1990).^[4]

On 23 July 1952, a law combined the GDR's municipal districts (Kreise) into 14 regional districts (Bezirke), and subsequently, on 25 July 1952, the state governments transferred their administrative tasks to the new regional districts.^[5]

With this law, the Länder were in effect dissolved, and the GDR had become a highly centralized state. While they formally remained in existence, they no longer had any political or administrative functions. The Bezirke were drawn without regard to the borders of the Länder and each named after their capitals, from north to south: Rostock, Neubrandenburg, Schwerin, Potsdam, Frankfurt (Oder), Magdeburg, Cottbus, Halle, Leipzig, Erfurt, Dresden, Karl-Marx-Stadt (named Chemnitz until 1953), Gera and Suhl.

The Länderkammer also remained in existence and its members were elected in 1954 by combined sessions of the Bezirkstage (district assemblies) in each Land and in 1958 directly by the Bezirkstage. However, on 8 December 1958, the Länderkammer and Länder were formally dissolved with no objections being raised by the Länderkammer.

Due to its special status, East Berlin was originally not counted as a Bezirk. In 1961, after the construction of the Berlin Wall, East Berlin came to be recognised in GDR administration as a 15th district, though it retained a special status until the adoption of the 1968 Constitution formally designated it as Bezirk Berlin.^[6]

The Bezirke (with the exception of East Berlin, which consisted of a single municipality) were subdivided into rural districts (Landkreise) and urban districts (Stadtkreise):

Bezirk	subdivisions
Cottbus	Urban districts: Cottbus
Cottbus	Rural districts: Bad Liebenwerda · Calau · Cottbus-Land · Finsterwalde · Forst · Guben (Wokrejs Gubin) · Herzberg · Hoyerswerda · Jessen · Luckau · Lübben · Senftenberg · Spremberg · Weißwasser
Dresden	Urban districts: Dresden · Görlitz
Dresden	Rural districts: Bautzen · Bischofswerda · Dippoldiswalde · Dresden-Land · Freital · Görlitz-Land · Großenhain · Kamenz · Löbau · Meißen · Niesky · Pirna · Riesa · Sebnitz · Zittau
Erfurt	Urban districts: Erfurt · Weimar
Erfurt	Rural districts: Apolda · Arnstadt · Eisenach · Erfurt-Land · Gotha · Heiligenstadt · Langensalza · Mühlhausen · Nordhausen · Sömmerda · Sondershausen · Weimar-Land
Frankfurt (Oder)	Urban districts: Frankfurt (Oder) · Eisenhüttenstadt · Schwedt/Oder
Frankfurt (Oder)	Rural districts: Angermünde · Bad Freienwalde · Beeskow · Bernau · Eberswalde · Eisenhüttenstadt · Fürstenwalde · Seelow · Strausberg
Gera	Urban districts: Gera · Jena
Gera	Rural districts: Eisenberg · Gera-Land · Greiz · Jena · Lobenstein · Pößneck · Rudolstadt · Saalfeld · Schleiz · Stadtroda · Zeulenroda
Halle	Urban districts: Halle · Dessau · Halle-Neustadt (from 12 May 1967)
Halle	Rural districts: Artern · Aschersleben · Bernburg · Bitterfeld · Eisleben · Gräfenhainichen · Hettstedt · Hohenmölsen · Köthen · Merseburg · Naumburg · Nebra · Quedlinburg · Querfurt · Roßlau · Saalkreis · Sangerhausen · Weißenfels · Wittenberg · Zeitz
Karl-Marx-Stadt	Urban districts: Karl-Marx-Stadt · Plauen · Zwickau · Johanngeorgenstadt (until 1957) · Schneeberg (until 1958)
Karl-Marx-Stadt	Rural districts: Annaberg · Aue · Auerbach · Brand-Erbisdorf · Flöha · Freiberg · Glauchau · Hainichen · Hohenstein-Ernstthal · Karl-Marx-Stadt-Land · Klingenthal · Marienberg · Oelsnitz · Plauen-Land · Reichenbach · Rochlitz · Schwarzenberg · Stollberg · Werdau · Zschopau · Zwickau-Land
Leipzig	Urban districts: Leipzig
Leipzig	Rural districts: Altenburg · Borna · Delitzsch · Döbeln · Eilenburg · Geithain · Grimma · Leipzig-Land · Oschatz · Schmölln · Torgau · Wurzen
Magdeburg	Urban districts: Magdeburg
Magdeburg	Rural districts: Burg · Gardelegen · Genthin · Halberstadt · Haldensleben · Havelberg · Kalbe (Milde) (until December 1987) · Klötze · Loburg (until June 1957) · Oschersleben · Osterburg · Salzwedel · Schönebeck · Seehausen (until July 1965) · Staßfurt · Stendal · Tangerhütte (until December 1987) · Wanzleben · Wernigerode · Wolmirstedt · Zerbst
Neubrandenburg	Urban districts: Neubrandenburg (from January 1969)
Neubrandenburg	Rural districts: Altentreptow · Anklam · Demmin · Malchin · Neubrandenburg-Land · Neustrelitz · Pasewalk · Prenzlau · Röbel/Müritz · Strasburg · Templin · Teterow · Ueckermünde · Waren
Potsdam	Urban districts: Potsdam · Brandenburg an der Havel
Potsdam	Rural districts: Belzig · Brandenburg · Gransee · Jüterbog · Königs-Wusterhausen · Kyritz · Luckenwalde · Nauen · Neuruppin · Oranienburg · Potsdam · Pritzwalk · Rathenow · Wittstock · Zossen
Rostock	Urban districts: Rostock · Greifswald (from January 1974) · Stralsund · Wismar
Rostock	Rural districts: Bad Doberan · Greifswald Land · Grevesmühlen · Grimmen · Ribnitz-Damgarten · Rostock-Land · Rügen · Stralsund · Wismar · Wolgast
Schwerin	Urban districts: Schwerin
Schwerin	Rural districts: Bützow · Gadebusch · Güstrow · Hagenow · Ludwigslust · Lübz · Parchim · Perleberg · Schwerin-Land · Sternberg
Suhl	Urban districts: Suhl
Suhl	Rural districts: Bad Salzungen · Hildburghausen · Ilmenau · Meiningen · Neuhaus · Schmalkalden · Sonneberg · Suhl-Land

List of Bezirke

From north to south, the Bezirke were:

Bezirk	Area (km²)	Population (1989)	Population density (people/km²)	Licence plates	Internal divisions (1989)	Municipalities (Gemeinden)
Rostock	7,075	916,500	130	A	10 Landkreise, 4 Stadtkreise	360
Schwerin	8,672	595,200	69	B	10 Landkreise, 1 Stadtkreis	389
Neubrandenburg	10,948	620,500	57	C	14 Landkreise, 1 Stadtkreis	492
Potsdam	12,568	1,123,800	89	D, P	15 Landkreise, 2 Stadtkreise	755
Frankfurt (Oder)	7,186	713,800	99	E	9 Landkreise, 3 Stadtkreise	438
Magdeburg	11,526	1,249,500	108	H, M	17 Landkreise, 1 Stadtkreis	655
Cottbus	8,262	884,700	107	Z	14 Landkreise, 1 Stadtkreis	574
Halle	8,771	1,776,500	203	K, V	20 Landkreise, 3 Stadtkreise	684
Leipzig	4,966	1,360,900	274	S, U	12 Landkreise, 1 Stadtkreis	422
Erfurt	7,349	1,240,400	169	L, F	13 Landkreise, 2 Stadtkreise	719
Dresden	6,738	1,757,400	261	R, Y	15 Landkreise, 2 Stadtkreise	594
Karl-Marx-Stadt*	6,009	1,859,500	309	T, X	21 Landkreise, 3 Stadtkreise	601
Gera	4,004	742,000	185	N	11 Landkreise, 2 Stadtkreise	528
Suhl	3,856	549,400	142	O	8 Landkreise, 1 Stadtkreis	358
Berlin**	403	1,279,200	3,174	I	11 Stadtbezirke	1
DDR	108,333	16,669,300	154	–	191 Landkreise, 27 Stadtkreise (+ Ost-Berlin)	7,570

*) The Bezirk Karl-Marx-Stadt was named Bezirk Chemnitz for a short period at both the beginning and end of the republic, corresponding with the renaming and reversal of the city Chemnitz. Between 10 May 1953 and 30 May 1990, both the city and Bezirk were named Karl-Marx-Stadt.
**) East Berlin was not officially a Bezirk, but from 1961 was provided with the function of one.

Reconstitution of the Länder

The reconstituted Länder in 1990, with borders in red. The purple borders show the original borders pre-1952.

On 23 August 1990 — just over a month before German reunification on 3 October — East Germany reconstituted the five original Länder. Legally, it was these Länder that then acceded to the Federal Republic of Germany.^[5]

In reality, the restored Länder did not fully reconstitute themselves until after reunification. On 14 October 1990, elections to the Landtage (state parliaments) were held in the five new states, initiating the formation of state governments.

Since changes to the boundaries of municipal districts were not reversed, and also due to considerations of expediency, the territorial make-up of the restored Länder differed somewhat from the borders before 1952.

Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt initially retained the rural and urban districts as administrative entities (Regierungsbezirke). Saxony-Anhalt later abolished them in 2003, while Saxony transformed them into directorates in 2008.

References

^ Orlow, Dietrich (1986-12-15). Weimar Prussia, 1918–1925: The Unlikely Rock of Democracy. University of Pittsburgh Pre. pp. 3. ISBN 9780822976400. prussia 1947.
^ "Helpful Hints for US Visitors to East Berlin" (PDF). Headquarters, U.S. Command Berlin. 1981-11-09. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
^ Architecture, Politics, and Identity in Divided Berlin, Emily Pugh, University of Pittsburgh Press, 2014, pages 159
^ Grieder, Peter (2012-11-02). The German Democratic Republic. Palgrave Macmillan. pp. xviii. ISBN 9780230356863.
^ ^a ^b Illing, Falk (2014-10-07). Die sächsische FDP seit 1990: Auf dem Weg zur etablierten Partei? (in German). Springer-Verlag. p. 71. ISBN 9783658046576.
^ Horváth, Gyula (2014-08-21). Spaces and Places in Central and Eastern Europe: Historical Trends and Perspectives. Routledge. p. 109. ISBN 9781317917540.

External links

Media related to Subdivisions of the German Democratic Republic at Wikimedia Commons

[1] Orlow, Dietrich (1986-12-15). Weimar Prussia, 1918–1925: The Unlikely Rock of Democracy. University of Pittsburgh Pre. pp. 3. ISBN 9780822976400. prussia 1947.

[2] "Helpful Hints for US Visitors to East Berlin" (PDF). Headquarters, U.S. Command Berlin. 1981-11-09. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)

[3] Architecture, Politics, and Identity in Divided Berlin, Emily Pugh, University of Pittsburgh Press, 2014, pages 159

[4] Grieder, Peter (2012-11-02). The German Democratic Republic. Palgrave Macmillan. pp. xviii. ISBN 9780230356863.

[:0-5] Illing, Falk (2014-10-07). Die sächsische FDP seit 1990: Auf dem Weg zur etablierten Partei? (in German). Springer-Verlag. p. 71. ISBN 9783658046576.

[6] Horváth, Gyula (2014-08-21). Spaces and Places in Central and Eastern Europe: Historical Trends and Perspectives. Routledge. p. 109. ISBN 9781317917540.

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