The Greater Hamburg Act (german: Groß-Hamburg-Gesetz), in full the Law Regarding Greater Hamburg and Other Territorial Readjustments (german: Gesetz über Groß-Hamburg und andere Gebietsbereinigungen), was passed by the government of

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

on 26 January 1937, and mandated the exchange of territories between

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; nds, label=Hamburg German, Low Saxon, Hamborg ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg (german: Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg; nds, label=Low Saxon, Friee un Hansestadt Hamborg),. is the List of cities in Germany by popul ...

and 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 ...

. It became effective on 1 April 1937.With the exception of paragraph 2 (unifying Hamburg to a single ''Gemeinde'') which according to paragraph 15 had to be put into effect separately at a date determined by the minister of the interior no later than 1 April 1938, and with the exception of paragraph 10, which became effective immediately

Greater Hamburg

Hamburg lost most of its exclaves, including

Geesthacht Geesthacht () is the largest city in the District of the Duchy of Lauenburg (Herzogtum Lauenburg) in Schleswig-Holstein in Northern Germany, south-east of Hamburg on the right bank of the River Elbe. History A church was built in what is today ...

and

Cuxhaven Cuxhaven (; ) is an independent town and seat of the Cuxhaven district, in Lower Saxony, Germany. The town includes the northernmost point of Lower Saxony. It is situated on the shore of the North Sea at the mouth of the Elbe River. Cuxhaven ...

. In return, Hamburg was enlarged by including formerly Prussian towns like Altona,

Wandsbek Wandsbek () is the second-largest of seven boroughs that make up the city and state of Hamburg, Germany. The name of the district is derived from the river Wandse which passes through here. Wandsbek, which was formerly an independent city, is ur ...

, and

Harburg-Wilhelmsburg Harburg-Wilhelmsburg was a city in the Prussian Province of Hanover briefly in existence from 1927 and 1937, resulting from the merger of the cities of Harburg and Wilhelmsburg. In 1937, Harburg-Wilhelmsburg, along with the cities from the Prussi ...

as well as a number of villages. Altona and

had been part of the Prussian province of

Schleswig-Holstein Schleswig-Holstein (; da, Slesvig-Holsten; nds, Sleswig-Holsteen; frr, Slaswik-Holstiinj) is the northernmost of the 16 states of Germany, comprising most of the historical duchy of Holstein and the southern part of the former Duchy of Sc ...

, while

had been a part of the Prussian

province of Hanover The Province of Hanover (german: Provinz Hannover) was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia and the Free State of Prussia from 1868 to 1946. During the Austro-Prussian War, the Kingdom of Hanover had attempted to maintain a neutral position ...

. This represented the formal merger of what had previously been referred to as the "Four-City Region".

Lübeck

Besides the regulations for Hamburg, the law incorporated most of the

Free City of Lübeck The Free and Hanseatic City of Lübeck (german: Freie und Hansestadt Lübeck) was a city-state from 1226 to 1937, in what is now the German states of Schleswig-Holstein and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. History Imperial Free City and the Hanseatic ...

into the Prussian province of

, though some smaller villages were included in the State of Mecklenburg. This constituted a victory for the

Gauleiter A ''Gauleiter'' () was a regional leader of the Nazi Party (NSDAP) who served as the head of a '' Gau'' or '' Reichsgau''. ''Gauleiter'' was the third-highest rank in the Nazi political leadership, subordinate only to '' Reichsleiter'' and to ...

(regional party leader) of

, who had competed with the neighbouring Gauleiter of

Mecklenburg Mecklenburg (; nds, label= Low German, Mękel(n)borg ) is a historical region in northern Germany comprising the western and larger part of the federal-state Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The largest cities of the region are Rostock, Schweri ...

for control of the city ever since 1933. Until the Greater Hamburg Act, Lübeck had been a separate member state of the Reich. Two reasons for ending this status are cited:

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Germany from 1933 until his death in 1945. He rose to power as the leader of the Nazi Party, becoming the chancellor in 1933 and the ...

had a distaste for Lübeck ever since the city council forbade him to campaign there in 1932., and Lübeck formed part of the compensation given to Prussia for its losses to Hamburg (besides Lübeck, Prussia also gained Hamburg's territories of

, which was also incorporated into the province of Schleswig-Holstein, and Ritzebüttel (including

), which went to the

Province of Hanover The Province of Hanover (german: Provinz Hannover) was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia and the Free State of Prussia from 1868 to 1946. During the Austro-Prussian War, the Kingdom of Hanover had attempted to maintain a neutral position ...

Notes and references

External links

Text of the law
{{in lang, de
German website on history of Lübeck
1930s in Hamburg History of Lübeck 20th century in Schleswig-Holstein Prussian law 20th century in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania 1937 in law 1937 in Germany Hamburg law

Greater Hamburg

Lübeck

Notes and references

Further reading

External links