The Region of Stralsund (, i.e. "government region of Stralsund") belonged to the
Prussian Province of Pomerania and existed from 1818 to 1932.
History
The ''
Regierungsbezirk
A ' (, 'governmental district') is a type of administrative division in Germany. Currently, four of sixteen ' (states of Germany) are split into '. Beneath these are rural and urban districts
' (plural, ) serve as regional mid-level local gov ...
of Stralsund'' was formed in 1818 as one of three Pomeranian government districts. It covered
Swedish Pomerania
Swedish Pomerania (; ) was a dominions of Sweden, dominion under the Sweden, Swedish Crown from 1630 to 1815 on what is now the Baltic Sea, Baltic coast of Germany and Poland. Following the Polish-Swedish War, Polish War and the Thirty Years' War ...
(
New Hither Pomerania ">ka New Western Pomerania and
Rügen
Rügen (; Rani: ''Rȯjana'', ''Rāna''; , ) is Germany's largest island. It is located off the Pomeranian coast in the Baltic Sea and belongs to the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.
The "gateway" to Rügen island is the Hanseatic ci ...
) which had fallen to Prussia in 1815. The special legal position of this territory was the reason for the creation of what was then the smallest government region in the whole of
Prussia
Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...
. Unlike the rest of the
Province of Pomerania, neither
General Prussian State Law nor the laws and ordinances of the so-called
Stein-Hardenberg reforms (such as the Local Government Act of 1808), as they were called at the time, applied here. An alignment of the legal position was only gradually achieved in the second half of the 19th century, and was largely completed on the introduction of the
Civil Code
A civil code is a codification of private law relating to property law, property, family law, family, and law of obligations, obligations.
A jurisdiction that has a civil code generally also has a code of civil procedure. In some jurisdiction ...
(BGB) in January 1900. But in some areas, special legal forms continued to exist, a situation that was unlike anywhere else in Prussia and
Germany
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
and which even went back to the time of Swedish rule, for example, the so-called '. As a result, the , which moved from
Wismar
Wismar (; ), officially the Hanseatic City of Wismar () is, with around 43,000 inhabitants, the sixth-largest city of the northeastern German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, and the fourth-largest city of Mecklenburg after Rostock, Schwerin and ...
via
Stralsund
Stralsund (; Swedish language, Swedish: ''Strålsund''), officially the Hanseatic League, Hanseatic City of Stralsund (German language, German: ''Hansestadt Stralsund''), is the fifth-largest city in the northeastern German federal state of Mecklen ...
to
Greifswald
Greifswald (), officially the University and Hanseatic City of Greifswald (, Low German: ''Griepswoold'') is the fourth-largest city in the German state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania after Rostock, Schwerin and Neubrandenburg. In 2021 it surpa ...
in 1802/03, still operated under this name when seated in Greifswald and continued as the final arbiter of proper jurisdiction for the region until 1848.
The first regional government was inaugurated on 5 January 1818 by the
upper president of the Province of Pomerania, , in his office. This followed several years of discussion about the status of the region. That produced three options:
# Form a separate province of New Hither Pomerania and Rügen
# Form a separate government region within the Province of Pomerania
# Immediately integrate it into the existing
Region of Stettin
An appeal by the
districts
A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions ...
and towns to the king against the formation of the government region was dismissed. However, the Prussian system of taxation was only introduced in New Hither Pomerania following a royal cabinet order of 19 November 1821.
Because of its small size the ''Region of Stralsund'' was one of those Prussian government regions which was up for re-negotiation from the outset. Only a few years after its formation there were further discussions about its future. In the end it was its aforementioned special legal status that prevented its dissolution time and again. Not until 1 October 1932 was it merged in the Stettin Region.
Administrative divisions in the mid-19th century
The Stralsund government region is divided into four counties, three of which take their name from the towns in which the district councils are located. The fourth, however, takes its name after the island of Rügen, of which it is composed alone. New Hither Pomerania has three districts: , , . Rügen forms the district of Rügen.
In ecclesiastical terms the government region is divided into eleven
superintendencies, of which three cover the Franzburg district, two the Grimmen district, three the Greifswald district and three the island of Rügen.
All parishes are Protestant. Only in Stralsund is there a Catholic church, to which all Catholics in the government region belong.
Population growth in the 19th century
* 1805: 118,112
* 1825: 142,312
* 1840: 169,114
* 1849: 185,426
* 1861: 208,429
* 1871: 208,276
* 1880: 216,130
[Handbuch für Neu-Vorpommern und das Fürstenthum Rügen auf das Jahr 1888, p. 166]
Districts in 1900
In 1900 the ''Region of Stralsund'' comprised one urban (''Stadtkreis'') and four rural districts (''Kreise''). It covered an area of 4,010.88 km
2, on which there were 873 towns and villages and in which 216,340 inhabitants lived.
* ''Stadtkreis'':
**
Stralsund
Stralsund (; Swedish language, Swedish: ''Strålsund''), officially the Hanseatic League, Hanseatic City of Stralsund (German language, German: ''Hansestadt Stralsund''), is the fifth-largest city in the northeastern German federal state of Mecklen ...
(from 1873): 31,076 inhabitants
*''Kreise'':
** : 41,704 inhabitants
** : 61,840 inhabitants
** : 35,540 inhabitants
**
Rügen
Rügen (; Rani: ''Rȯjana'', ''Rāna''; , ) is Germany's largest island. It is located off the Pomeranian coast in the Baltic Sea and belongs to the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.
The "gateway" to Rügen island is the Hanseatic ci ...
(seat:
Bergen on Rügen): 46,270 inhabitants
Districts in 1925
In 1925 the population of the ''Region of Stralsund'' was 246,941.
*''Stadtkreise'':
**
Stralsund
Stralsund (; Swedish language, Swedish: ''Strålsund''), officially the Hanseatic League, Hanseatic City of Stralsund (German language, German: ''Hansestadt Stralsund''), is the fifth-largest city in the northeastern German federal state of Mecklen ...
: 39,469
**
Greifswald
Greifswald (), officially the University and Hanseatic City of Greifswald (, Low German: ''Griepswoold'') is the fourth-largest city in the German state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania after Rostock, Schwerin and Neubrandenburg. In 2021 it surpa ...
(from 1912): 27,622
*''Kreise'':
** Franzburg: 45,721
** Greifswald: 40,085
** Grimmen: 40,150
** Rügen: 53,894
In 1925 the seat of the council for the Franzburg district was moved to Barth. From 1 February 1928 the district was officially renamed "Franzburg-Barth". In 1939 all rural districts in Germany were uniformly termed as Landkreis (i.e. rural district), whereas before in Prussia the term Kreis prevailed. However, this played no role for the Stralsund Region which was already absorbed in 1932.
Regional presidents (''Regierungspräsidenten'')
* 1818–1825:
* 1825–1833:
* 1833–1834:
Adolf Heinrich von Arnim-Boitzenburg
Adolf Heinrich Graf von Arnim-Boitzenburg (10 April 1803 – 8 January 1868) was a German statesman. He served as the first Minister-President of Prussia for ten days during the Revolution of 1848.
Early life
Arnim was born in the Prussian ...
* 1834–1848:
* 1848–1851:
* 1852–1869:
* 1869–1883:
* 1884–1888:
* 1888–1899:
* 1899–1908:
* 1908–1917:
* 1917–1919:
* 1919–1932: (DDP)
Post-1945
In 1946, Stralsund became the seat of the virtually unchanged district of Franzburg-Barth which
was renamed on this occasion as rural district of Stralsund. In 1952 on the occasion of
redistricting East Germany into new administrative units the eastern part of the Franzburg-Barth became the within the likewise new
Region (''Bezirk'') of Rostock of the
GDR
East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from its formation on 7 October 1949 until its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on 3 October 1990. Until 1989, it was generally vie ...
. The western part went to the newly formed . The old district of Grimmen lost its southern part around
Loitz
Loitz () is a town in the Vorpommern-Greifswald district, in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Germany. It is situated on the river Peene, 10 km northeast of Demmin, and 22 km southwest of Greifswald.
Notable people
* Erich Gülzow (18 ...
in 1952, which went to the in the new
Region of Neubrandenburg, as did the southern part of the old district of Greifswald which went to the new and thus also to the Neubrandenburg Region. In 1952 the eastern part of the old district of Greifswald around
Wolgast
Wolgast () is a town in the district of Vorpommern-Greifswald, in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. It is situated on the bank of the river (or strait) Peenestrom, vis-a-vis the island of Usedom on the Baltic Sea, Baltic coast that can be accessed ...
formed the new along with that part of the island of
Usedom
Usedom ( , ) is a Baltic Sea island in Pomerania, divided between Germany and Poland. It is the second largest Pomeranian island after Rügen, and the most populous island in the Baltic Sea.
It lies north of the Szczecin Lagoon estuary of the ...
that remained within East Germany post-1945. The district of Rügen was divided in 1952 into the and , but they were merged again already in 1955. While Stralsund city maintained its independence as urban district through these changes, Greifswald was meanwhile integrated into the district of Greifswald until the 1970s.
In 1994, the districts of Grimmen, Ribnitz-Damgarten and Stralsund, now in the state of
Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (aka Mecklenburg-Hither Pomerania), were merged into the new district of
Northern Hither Pomerania, whilst the districts of Anklam, Greifswald and Wolgast joined
Eastern Hither Pomerania. Rügen remained unchanged, Greifswald and Stralsund also retained their independence.
As part of the planned local government reform, from 2011 the districts of Rügen and Northern Hither Pomerania, and the town of Stralsund formed a reshaped district of Northern Hither Pomerania, and the
districts of Uecker-Randow, together with the town of Greifswald and parts of the district of Demmin, became
Hither Pomerania-Greifswald.
Footnotes
Literature
* Joachim Wächter: ''Die Bildung des Regierungsbezirkes Stralsund''. In: ''Greifswald-Stralsunder Jahrbuch''. Bd. 10 (1972/73), S. 127–137.
* Landeszentrale für politische Bildung des Landes Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (Hrsg): ''Historisch und geographischer Atlas von Mecklenburg und Pommern''. Bd. 2: ''Mecklenburg und Pommern: Das Land im Rückblick''. Karte 18, o. O. u. J.
chwerin, 1996 S. 80–81.
* Johannes Hinz: ''Pommern. Lexikon'', Würzburg 2001.
Statistical reference books (State handbooks)
* ''Staats-Kalender für Pommern und Rügen'', Stralsund 1808–1816.
* ''Staatskalender für Neu-Vorpommern und Rügen'', Stralsund 1817–1820.
* ''Provinzial-Kalender für Neu-Vorpommern und das Fürstenthum Rügen'', Stralsund 1821–1873.
* ''Provinzial-Handbuch für Neu-Vorpommern und das Fürstenthum Rügen'', Stralsund 1874–1879.
* ''Handbuch für Neu-Vorpommern und das Fürstenthum Rügen'', Stralsund 1883–1907.
{{coord missing, Germany
Stralsund
Stralsund Regierungsbezirk
Stralsund
Stralsund (; Swedish language, Swedish: ''Strålsund''), officially the Hanseatic League, Hanseatic City of Stralsund (German language, German: ''Hansestadt Stralsund''), is the fifth-largest city in the northeastern German federal state of Mecklen ...
Stralsund Regierungsbezirk
Stralsund Regierungsbezirk