Danzig (region)
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300px, Administrative regions of West Prussia: The Danzig Region (Regierungsbezirk Danzig) was a '' government region'', within the
Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an ...
n Provinces of
West Prussia The Province of West Prussia (german: Provinz Westpreußen; csb, Zôpadné Prësë; pl, Prusy Zachodnie) was a province of Prussia from 1773 to 1829 and 1878 to 1920. West Prussia was established as a province of the Kingdom of Prussia in 177 ...
and of Prussia. The regional capital was Danzig (Gdańsk). Prussian government regions were not bodies of regional self-rule of the districts and cities comprised, but shear top-to-down government agencies to apply federal or state law and supervise local entities of self-rules, such as municipalities, rural and urban districts.


History

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, w ...
westerly
Royal Prussia Royal Prussia ( pl, Prusy Królewskie; german: Königlich-Preußen or , csb, Królewsczé Prësë) or Polish PrussiaAnton Friedrich Büsching, Patrick Murdoch. ''A New System of Geography'', London 1762p. 588/ref> (Polish: ; German: ) was a ...
was annexed by the easterly
Kingdom of Prussia The Kingdom of Prussia (german: Königreich Preußen, ) was a German kingdom that constituted the state of Prussia between 1701 and 1918. Marriott, J. A. R., and Charles Grant Robertson. ''The Evolution of Prussia, the Making of an Empire''. ...
during the late 18th century Partitions of Poland, with the city of Danzig becoming part of the Prussian Kingdom in 1793. The territory was administered in the new province of West Prussia (1772-1829, 1878-1920) and the new
Province of Prussia The Province of Prussia (; ; pl, Prowincja Prusy; csb, Prowincjô Prësë) was a province of Prussia from 1829 to 1878. Prussia was established as a province of the Kingdom of Prussia in 1829 from the provinces of East Prussia and West Prussia ...
(1829-1878). In 1815, after the
Napoleonic Wars The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...
, West Prussia was divided into the Regions of Marienwerder and Danzig. While the governor and provincial authorities were based in Danzig, the was in the town of Marienwerder in West Prussia (Kwidzyn). West Prussia was reorganised into districts (Kreise) within each government region from 1815–18. The Danzig Region included the urban districts (''Stadtkreise'') of Danzig and Elbing (Elbląg) (since 1874), as well as the rural districts of , , , Karthaus, Marienburg, , and . In 1887 a number of districts changed in the Danzig Region. The rural district of Danzig was divided into the rural districts of Danziger Höhe (Danzig Heights) and ; the seats of each district were in the city of Danzig. Two more new districts were formed, the southern parts of the former Danzig District became part of the new
Dirschau Tczew (, csb, Dërszewò; formerly ) is a city on the Vistula River in Eastern Pomerania, Kociewie, northern Poland with 59,111 inhabitants (December 2021). The city is known for its Old Town and the Vistula Bridge, or Bridge of Tczew, which pl ...
District. The northern areas of the Neustadt District were partitioned off to form the new . As a result of
World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, the
Treaty of Versailles The Treaty of Versailles (french: Traité de Versailles; german: Versailler Vertrag, ) was the most important of the peace treaties of World War I. It ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers. It was signed on 28 June ...
allocated most of West Prussia to the Second Polish Republic, and the Danzig Region was dissolved in 1920. The city of Danzig and its environs became the Free City of Danzig. A few eastern areas of the Danzig Region remained in the
Free State of Prussia The Free State of Prussia (german: Freistaat Preußen, ) was one of the constituent states of Germany from 1918 to 1947. The successor to the Kingdom of Prussia after the defeat of the German Empire in World War I, it continued to be the domina ...
in
Weimar Germany The Weimar Republic (german: link=no, Weimarer Republik ), officially named the German Reich, was the government of Germany from 1918 to 1933, during which it was a constitutional federal republic for the first time in history; hence it is als ...
, however. In 1920 the rural districts of Elbing and Marienburg in West Prussia as well as the city of Elbing were added to the truncated Marienwerder Region, which in 1922 was renamed as ''West Prussia Region'' for reason of tradition when it was transferred from the defunct Province of West Prussia to the
Province of East Prussia East Prussia ; german: Ostpreißen, label=Low Prussian; pl, Prusy Wschodnie; lt, Rytų Prūsija was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1773 to 1829 and again from 1878 (with the Kingdom itself being part of the German Empire from 1871 ...
.


Districts


Urban districts

Danzig formed an urban district from the beginning, Elbing reached that status in 1874 and was thus partitioned from Elbing Rural District, and several times enlarged on the expense of the surrounding rural district. # 1818-1920: Stadtkreis Danzig (Gdańsk); thereafter persisting as urban district within Free Danzig # 1874-1920: Stadtkreis Elbing (Elbląg); thereafter persisting till 1945 as an urban district in Germany


Rural districts

The period when a district formed part of the Danzig Region is indicated by the years before the district names. # 1818-1920: Berent, seated in Berent in West Prussia (Kościerzyna); # 1818-1887: , seat: Russoschin (till 1828), Praust (till 1845), then Danzig; partitioned into the new districts of Danzig Heights, Lowlands and Dirschau # 1887-1920: Danziger Höhe (Heights), seat: Danzig; the district persisted till 1939 as part of Free Danzig # 1887-1920: , seat: Danzig; the district persisted till 1939 as part of Free Danzig # 1772–1818, 1887-1920:
Dirschau Tczew (, csb, Dërszewò; formerly ) is a city on the Vistula River in Eastern Pomerania, Kociewie, northern Poland with 59,111 inhabitants (December 2021). The city is known for its Old Town and the Vistula Bridge, or Bridge of Tczew, which pl ...
, seat: Dirschau (Tczew) # 1818-1920: , seat: Elbing; persisting till 1945 as a rural district in Germany, with its area west of the Nogat ceded to the new in Free Danzig # 1818-1920: Karthaus, seat: Carthaus/Karthaus in West Prussia (Kartuzy) # 1818-1920: Marienburg, seat: Marienburg (Malbork); persisting till 1945 as a rural district in Germany, with its area west of the Nogat ceded to Großes Werder district in Free Danzig # 1818-1920: Neustadt, seat: Neustadt (Wejherowo) # 1772-1920: Preußisch Stargard, seat: Preußisch Stargard (Starogard Gdański) # 1887-1920: , seated in Putzig (Puck); the district was partitioned from the Neustadt District, northern part


Demographics

The Danzig region had a
German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...
majority population with significant minorities of
Poles Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, who share a common history, culture, the Polish language and are identified with the country of Poland in C ...
and
Kashubians The Kashubians ( csb, Kaszëbi; pl, Kaszubi; german: Kaschuben), also known as Cassubians or Kashubs, are a Lechitic ( West Slavic) ethnic group native to the historical region of Pomerania, including its eastern part called Pomerelia, in nor ...
.


District presidents

Each of the nineteen ''Regierungsbezirke'' featured a non-
legislative A legislature is an assembly with the authority to make laws for a political entity such as a country or city. They are often contrasted with the executive and judicial powers of government. Laws enacted by legislatures are usually known ...
governing body A governing body is a group of people that has the authority to exercise governance over an organization or political entity. The most formal is a government, a body whose sole responsibility and authority is to make binding decisions in a taken ...
called a ''Regierungspräsidium'' or ''Bezirksregierung'' (district government) headed by a ''Regierungspräsident'' (district president), concerned mostly with administrative decisions on a local level for districts within its jurisdiction.Regional Governments in France, Germany, Poland and The Netherlands (HTML version of PowerPoint presentation)
– Cachet, A (coordinator), Erasmus University,
Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"Ne ...


Notes


References

*
Georg Hassel Johann Georg Heinrich Hassel (30 December 1770 in Wolfenbüttel – 18 January 1829 in Weimar) was a German geographer and statistician. He was an influential figure in the early 19th century and published several large books of geography and ...
. ''Vollständige und neueste Erdbeschreibung der Preußischen Monarchie und des Freistaates Krakau''. Weimar, 1819, pp. 577–586
online
. * H. Oelrichs. ''Statistische Mitteilungen über den Regierungsbezirk Danzig''. Danzig, 1867
online
. {{Gdańsk 1920 disestablishments West Prussia Government regions of Prussia
Region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics ( physical geography), human impact characteristics ( human geography), and the interaction of humanity an ...
States and territories established in 1815 1815 establishments in Prussia