Bezirk Lothringen

Department of Lorraine Bezirk Lothringen (German) Présidence de Lorraine (French)
Department of Alsace-Lorraine
1871–1918
Flag Coat of arms
Lorraine department with its districts in different colours (1890)
Capital	Metz
Area
• 1900	6,223 km2 (2,403 sq mi)
• 1910	6,228 km2 (2,405 sq mi)
Population
• 1900	564829
• 1910	655211
History
Government
• Type	regional administration
Bezirkspräsident
• 1871–1872	G.H. von Donnersmarck
• 1872–1873	Botho zu Eulenburg
• 1875–1876	Robert von Puttkamer
Präsident des Bezirkstags (speaker of parl.)
• 1874–1881	Auguste-François Adam
• 1881–1911	Édouard Jaunez
• 1911–1918	Georges Ditsch
Legislature	Bezirkstag (parliament)
Historical era	19th and 20th century
• Franco-Prussian War	1870–1871
• seized to Germany	19 May 1871
• reorganisation acc. to German standards	1871
• Bezirkstag est.	1874
• reg. carsign VI C	1906
• French occupation	1918–1920
• seized to France Versailles Tr. (effective)	10 January 1918
• reconstituted as Moselle dept.	1920
Political subdivisions	8 rural districts (as of 1901) 1 urban district (Metz)
Preceded by Succeeded by Moselle (old) Meurthe (department) Moselle (department)
Today part of	France

Part of a series on
Lorraine
Flag of Lorraine since the 13th century
History Mediomatrici & Leuci Gallia Belgica Lotharingia Duchy of Lorraine Duchy of Bar Three Bishoprics Lorraine and Barrois German Empire Lorraine department Third Reich Lorraine department Lorraine region Grand Est
Culture Coat of arms Flag Symbol People Languages Lorrain Lorraine Franconian Low Alemannic Demographics Musée lorrain
Religion Roman Catholicism: Diocese of Metz (Immediately subject to the Holy See) Diocese of Nancy Diocese of Saint-Dié Diocese of Verdun Protestantism: Union of Protestant Churches of Alsace and Lorraine (Moselle) Lutheranism: Protestant Church of the Augsburg Confession of Alsace and Lorraine (Moselle) Calvinism: Reformed Church of Alsace and Lorraine (Moselle) United Protestant Church of France (rest of Lorraine) Jewish consistories: Metz (Moselle) Nancy (rest of Lorraine)
Law Local law in Alsace-Moselle Concordat in Alsace-Moselle (1801)
Administrative divisions Meurthe-et-Moselle (54) Capital: Nancy Arrondissement of Briey Arrondissement of Lunéville Arrondissement of Nancy Arrondissement of Toul Meuse (55) Capital: Bar-le-Duc Arrondissement of Bar-le-Duc Arrondissement of Commercy Arrondissement of Verdun Moselle (Lothringen, 57) Capital: Metz Arrondissement of Forbach-Boulay-Moselle Arrondissement of Metz Arrondissement of Sarrebourg-Château-Salins Arrondissement of Sarreguemines Arrondissement of Thionville Vosges (88) Capital: Épinal Arrondissement of Épinal Arrondissement of Neufchâteau Arrondissement of Saint-Dié
Lorraine in the EU European Parliament elections Constituency
Related topics Politics of France Politics of Germany Politics of the European Union
v t e

Bezirk Lothringen (today's French: Présidence ^[1] de la Lorraine, at the time translated into French: Département de la Lorraine^[2] i.e. Department of Lorraine), also called German Lorraine (Deutsch Lothringen), was a government region ("Bezirk") in the western part of Alsace-Lorraine when it was part of the German Empire from 1871 to 1918.

History

The Department of Lorraine was unlike Prussian government regions no simple governorate but a corporation of self-rule of the pertaining rural and urban districts and cantons, similar to regions in the then neighbouring Bavaria (Palatinate), which had been formed after the French model départements into which that region had been divided under French annexation. Thus the district parliaments delegated deputies to the General Council (parliament), the Bezirkstag von Lothringen (French: Conseil Général de la Lorraine). The capital of the Department of Lorraine was Metz.

Territorial composition

The department comprised the districts ("Kreise") of :

1. Metz, independent city (Stadtkreis)
2. "Kreis Bolchen", seated in Bolchen (Boulay)
3. "Kreis Château-Salins", seated in Château-Salins
4. "Kreis Diedenhofen-Ost", seated in Diedenhofen (Thionville)
5. "Kreis Diedenhofen-West", seated in Diedenhofen (Thionville)
6. "Kreis Forbach", seated in Forbach
7. "Kreis Metz-Land", seated in Metz
8. "Kreis Saarburg",^[3] seated in Saarburg (Sarrebourg)
9. "Kreis Saargemünd", seated in Saargemünd (Sarreguemines)

The department of Lorraine corresponds exactly to the current département of Moselle. After the outbreak of the Second World War and the defeat of France in 1940, the département of Moselle, renamed CdZ-Gebiet Lothringen, was added to the Gau Westmark on 30 November 1940.^[4]

Department presidents

(German: Bezirkspräsident/today's French: Président de district)

• 1871-1872 : Guido Henckel von Donnersmarck, as préfet/Präfekt
• 1872-1873 : Botho zu Eulenburg, as department president
• 1873-1874 : Adolf von Arnim-Boitzenburg
• 1875-1876 : Robert von Puttkamer
• 1877-1880 : Friedrich Albrecht Karl Johann von Reitzenstein
• 1881-1882 : Adalbert von Flottwell
• 1883-1900 : Hans von Hammerstein-Loxten
• 1901-1912 : Johann Friedrich Alexander von Zeppelin-Aschhausen
• 1913-1918 : Karl von Gemmingen-Hornberg

Bibliography

• Amtsblatt für den Bezirk Lothringen / Recueil officiel des actes administratifs du Département de la Lorraine (departmental legal gazette; appeared December 1870 to 1918)
• Ernst Bruck, Das Verfassungs- und Verwaltungsrecht von Elsaß-Lothringen: 3 vols., Straßburg im Elsass: Trübner, 1908–1910.
• Stefan Fisch, „Das Elsaß im deutschen Kaiserreich (1870/71–1918)“, in: Das Elsass: Historische Landschaft im Wandel der Zeit, Michael Erbe (ed.), Stuttgart: Kohlhammer Verlag, 2003, pp. 123–146. ISBN 3-17-015771-X.
• Georg Lang, Der Regierungs-Bezirk Lothringen: statistisch-topographisches Handbuch, Verwaltung-Schematismus und Adressbuch, Metz: Lang, 1874
• Verhandlungen des Bezirkstages von Lothringen / Procès-verbaux des délibérations du Conseil Général de la Lorraine, Metz (proceedings of the departmental parliament sessions, appeared from 1874 to 1918)

External links

• "Bezirk Lothringen" on territorial.de

References

49°02′N 6°39′E / 49.033°N 6.650°E / 49.033; 6.650

This page was last edited on 13 November 2023, at 00:25