Province of Brandenburg

The province comprised large parts of the North German Plain, stretching from the Elbe river in the west to beyond the Oder in the east, where the Neumark region bordered on the Prussian Grand Duchy of Posen (Province of Posen from 1848). Other neighbouring provinces were Pomerania in the northeast, Silesia in the southeast, and Prussian Saxony in the southwest. Brandenburg also shared a common border with the grand duchies of Mecklenburg-Schwerin and Mecklenburg-Strelitz in the northwest as well as with Anhalt in the west. Beside the Elbe and Oder river areas, the province covered large parts of the Spree and Havel basin. The largest cities were Berlin, located in the centre together with the growing suburbs of Spandau, Charlottenburg, Schöneberg and Neukölln. Larger towns were the royal residence Potsdam and the regional capital Frankfurt (Oder), furthermore Landsberg (present-day Gorzów Wielkopolski) in the east, the historic capital Brandenburg an der Havel as well as Cottbus, Forst and Guben (Gubin) in Lower Lusatia. == History ==

The first people who are known to have inhabited Brandenburg were the Germanic Suebi. During the Migration Period, they were succeeded by the Polabian Slavs, whose fortress at Brandenburg an der Havel was conquered by the German king Henry the Fowler in 928/29. Henry subdued the Slavic tribes up to the Oder river and his son Otto I established the marca Geronis on their territory, with the government first conferred to the Saxon count Gero. of then-fragmented Poland. Territories annexed by Brandenburg from Poland marked in yellow (Lubusz Land) and green (northwestern Greater Poland) The Northern March was split off in 965, however, large parts were again lost in the Great Slav Rising of 983, and the margravial title did not become hereditary until the time of Albert the Bear, another Saxon count from the noble House of Ascania, who established the Margraviate of Brandenburg in 1157. His son Margrave Otto I already achieved the dignity of an Arch-Chamberlain of the Holy Roman Empire in 1177. Emperor Charles IV by the Golden Bull of 1356 confirmed the electoral dignity of the Brandenburg margraves and in 1373 assigned the electorate to his son Wenceslaus in 1373. The Elector of Brandenburg held the seventh rank among the electors of the Empire and had five votes in the Council of Princes. In 1415 Brandenburg was acquired by Burgrave Frederick of Nuremberg, the first member of the Swabian House of Hohenzollern to rule the margraviate. Some Polish activists fled German arrest or conscription to the German army to Poland. During the German invasion of Poland, which started World War II in September 1939, persecution further intensified with mass arrests of Polish leaders, activists, editors, entrepreneurs, etc., who were deported to concentration camps, expulsions and closure of remaining Polish organizations, schools and enterprises. During the war, Germany operated several prisoner-of-war camps, including Stalag III-A, Stalag III-B, Stalag III-C, Stalag III-D, Oflag II-A, Oflag III-A, Oflag III-B, Oflag III-C, Oflag 8 and Oflag 80 for Polish, Belgian, British, Dutch, French, Serbian, Italian, American, Czechoslovak, Soviet, Romanian, Greek, Bulgarian and other Allied POWs with numerous forced labour subcamps in the province. In early 1945, the death marches of prisoners of various nationalities from various dissolved camps passed through the region. In the late days of World War II it was the site of the bloody encounters of the Seelow Heights, at Halbe and finally the Battle of Berlin, won by the Soviet and Polish armies. In 1945, after the war, the Neumark territory east of the Oder–Neisse line was ceded to the Republic of Poland to form the Zielona Gora Voivodeship (initially part of Poznan Voivodeship between 1945 and 1950, became Lubusz Voivodeship in 1998 after merging with Gorzów Voivodeship). The remaining territory became part of the Soviet occupation zone and was transformed into the state of Brandenburg, with Potsdam becoming state capital. In 1949, the state of Brandenburg became part of East Germany and, along with the other states of Eastern Germany, in 1952 was dissolved and divided into administrative districts. Brandenburg's territory roughly corresponded with the districts of Potsdam, Frankfurt/Oder and Cottbus. In 1990, following German reunification, Brandenburg was re-established as a state of the Federal Republic of Germany. == Administration ==

The Prussian central government appointed for every province an Oberpräsident ("Upper President") carrying out central prerogatives on the provincial level and supervising the implementation of central policy on the lower levels of administration. Since 1875, with the strengthening of self-rule within the provinces, the urban and rural districts (Kreise) elected representatives for the provincial Landtage diets. These parliaments legislated within the competencies transferred to the provinces. The provincial diet of Brandenburg elected a provincial executive body (government), the provincial committee (Provinzialausschuss), and a head of province, the Landesdirektor ("Land Director"). Upper Presidents of Brandenburg • 1815–1824: Georg Friedrich Christian von Heydebreck (1765–1828) • 1825–1840: Friedrich Magnus von Bassewitz (1773–1858) • 1840–1842: vacancy • 1842–1848: August Werner von Meding (1792–1871) • 1848–1849: Robert von Patow (1804–1890), per pro • 1849–1850: vacancy • 1849–1850: August Hermann Klemens Freiherr Wolff von Metternich (1803–1872), per pro • 1850–1858: Eduard Heinrich von Flottwell (1786–1865) • 1859–1862: Eduard Heinrich von Flottwell (1786–1865) • 1862: Werner Ludolph Erdmann von Selchow (1806–1884) • 1862–1879: Gustav Wilhelm von Jagow (1813–1879) • 1879–1899: Heinrich von Achenbach (1829–1899) • 1899–1905: Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg (1856–1921) • 1905–1909: August von Trott zu Solz (1855–1938) • 1909–1910: Friedrich Wilhelm von Loebell (1855–1931) • 1910–1914: Alfred von Conrad (1852–1914) • 1914–1917: Rudolf von der Schulenburg (1860–1930) • 1917–1919: Friedrich Wilhelm von Loebell (1855–1931) • 1919–1933: Adolf Maier (1871–1963), DDP • 1933–1936: Wilhelm Kube (1887–1943), NSDAP • 1937–1945: Emil Stürtz (1892–1945), NSDAP, since 1936 per pro Land Directors of Brandenburg • 1876–1896: Albert Erdmann Karl Gerhard von Levetzow (1827–1903), German Conservative Party • 1896–1912: Otto Karl Gottlob von Manteuffel (1844–1913), German Conservative Party • 1912–1930: Joachim von Winterfeldt-Menkin (1865–1945) • 1930–1933: Hugo Swart (1885–1952) • 1933–1944: Dietloff von Arnim (1876–1945), NSDAP == Subdivisions ==

From 1822 the province of Brandenburg was divided into two (governorates): Frankfurt and . Between 1816 and 1822 there was a third governorate – the – comprising the urban district of Berlin, the city of Charlottenburg and the municipalities of Gesundbrunnen, Lichtenberg, and Stralau. In 1822 the Berlin region merged into the Potsdam region. Regierungsbezirk Berlin Established in 1816 this governorate, an enclave in the Potsdam region, merged into the latter in 1822. Regierungsbezirk Frankfurt Urban districts () • Cottbus (1886–1950, and from 1954; 1947–1952, and from 1990 part of Brandenburg state) • Forst (Lusatia) (1897–1950; quarters west of the Oder merged in Cottbus district; from 1947 part of Brandenburg state) • Frankfurt (Oder) (until 1827, 1877–1950, and from 1952; 1947–1952, and from 1990 part of Brandenburg state) • Guben (1884–1950; quarters west of the Oder merged in Cottbus district; from 1947 part of Brandenburg state) • Landsberg (Warthe) (1892–1945) Rural districts () • (1818–1945; from 1938 part of Pomerania province) • (1818–1950; from 1947 part of Brandenburg state) • (1818–1952; from 1947 part of Brandenburg state) • (1818–1945) • (until 1836; merged into Königsberg district) • (i.e. in the New March; 1816–1945; from 1938 part of Pomerania province) • (1818–1950; from 1947 part of Brandenburg state) • (i.e. in the New March; 1816–15 March 1946, remainder west of the Oder merged into Angermünde, Lebus and Oberbarnim districts) • (1818–1945) • (1816–1950; from 1947 part of Brandenburg state) • (1816–1952; from 1947 part of Brandenburg state) • (1816–1952; in 1835 Beeskow area ceded to Beeskow-Storkow; from 1947 part of Brandenburg state) • Meseritz (1818–1945; until 1938 part of Posen-West Prussia) • Oststernberg (1873–1945; partitioned from Sternberg district) • Schwerin (Warthe) (1887–1945; until 1938 part of Posen-West Prussia) • (1818–1945) • (1816–1 April 1946, remainder west of the Oder merged into Cottbus, Forst and Spremberg districts) • (1818–1993; 1947–1952, and from 1990 part of Brandenburg state) • (1816–1873; partitioned into Ost- and Weststernberg) • (1873–1945; partitioned from Sternberg district) • (1818–1945) Regierungsbezirk Potsdam Urban districts () • Berlin (1822–1881; on 1 April 1881 the city was disentangled from the province of Brandenburg.) • Brandenburg (Havel) (from 1881; from 1947 part of Brandenburg state) • Charlottenburg (1877–1920; merged in Greater Berlin) • Eberswalde (1911–1950; merged in Oberbarnim district; from 1947 part of Brandenburg state) • Lichtenberg (1908–1920; from 1912: known as Berlin-Lichtenberg; merged in Greater Berlin) • Potsdam (from 1809; 1947–1952, and from 1990 part of Brandenburg state) • Rathenow (1925–1950; merged in Westhavelland district; from 1947 part of Brandenburg state) • Rixdorf (1899–1920; from 1912: known as Berlin-Neukölln; merged in Greater Berlin) • Schöneberg (1899–1920; from 1912: known as Berlin-Schöneberg; merged in Greater Berlin) • Spandau (1886–1920; merged in Greater Berlin) • Wilmersdorf (1907–1920; from 1912: known as Berlin-Wilmersdorf; merged in Greater Berlin) • Wittenberge (1922–1950; merged in Westprignitz district; from 1947 part of Brandenburg state) Rural districts () • (1818–1952; from 1947 part of Brandenburg state) • (1836–1950; combined from partitioned parts of Teltow-Storkow and Lübben; from 1947 part of Brandenburg state) • (renamed as Luckenwalde district in 1946; 1818–1952; from 1947 part of Brandenburg state) • (i.e. Lower Barnim; 1818–1952; widely merged in Greater Berlin in 1920; from 1947 remainder part of Brandenburg state) • (i.e. Upper Barnim; 1818–1952; from 1947 part of Brandenburg state) • (i.e. Eastern Havelland; 1816–1952; widely merged in Greater Berlin in 1920; from 1947 remainder part of Brandenburg state) • (i.e. Eastern Prignitz; 1818–1952; from 1947 part of Brandenburg state) • (1818–1952; from 1947 part of Brandenburg state) • (1818–1952; from 1947 part of Brandenburg state) • (1836–1952; partitioned from Teltow-Storkow; widely merged in Greater Berlin in 1920; from 1947 remainder part of Brandenburg state) • (1816–1835; partitioned into Teltow and Storkow, which merged with northern Lübben to Beeskow-Storkow) • (1818–1952; from 1947 part of Brandenburg state) • (i.e. Western Havelland; 1816–1952; from 1947 part of Brandenburg state) • (i.e. Western Prignitz; 1818–1952; from 1947 part of Brandenburg state) • (1817–1952; from 1947 part of Brandenburg state) == References ==