EAST PRUSSIA
PRUSSIAN PROVINCES OF PRUSSIA AND OF EAST PRUSSIA
East Prussia (Ostpreussen) - then inhabited by Baltic peoples like the Prussians and the Lithuanians - was conquered by the Swordbrothers Order (Schwertbrüderorden) in the course of the 13th century and later succesively became part of the possessions of the Teutonic Order, of the Duchy and later Kingdom of Prussia (since 1701). (1) In 1773 the two administrative units then existing for East Prussia - the Litauische Kammerdepartment of Gumbinnen and the Ostpreussische Kammerdepartment of Königsberg - were united to form the Province of East Prussia. (2) Unlike most of the rest of the Kingdom of Prussia, East Prussia was no part of the Holy Roman Empire and - except for a brief period in 1848 - 1851 - also not of the German Confederation. It was however included into the Confederation of Northern Germany (1867) and the German Empire (1871)(3). The province ceased to exist in 1945 when it was partitioned between Poland and the USSR (s.b.) (1) All that finally remained of the Baltic presence in the 19th century was an important Lithuanian community in so-called Lithuania Minor. (2) The existence of the province was confirmed in 1815, but from 1824/1829 to 1878 it was united with West Prussia to form a new Province of Prussia of which it was the center. (3) In 1914 parts of the province - especially the District of Gumbinnen in the East - were briefly occupied by Russian forces. Commander of the 1st Russian Army (operating in the East) 1914 Gen. Pavel (Paul) Karlovich von Rennenkampf 1854 - 1918 Commander of the 2nd Russian Army (operating in the South) 1914 Gen. Aleksandr Vasilyevich Samsonov, commited suicide after his disastrous defeat at Tannenberg resulting in the end of the Russian presence. 1859 - 1914 A military administration for occupied East Prussia was planned and a Gen. ... Kurlov (...) was appointed Governor General of the area. But as the Russians were rapidly drived out of the province he seems never to have actually taken office. __________________________________________________________________________________CHIEF ADMINISTRATORS
PRUSSIA Oberpräsidenten 1842 - 1848 Carl Wilhelm von Boetticher 1791 - 1868 1848 - 1849 Rudolf Ludwig Cäsar von Auerswald 1795 - 1866 1849 - 1850 Eduard Heinrich von Flottwell* 1786 - 1865 1850 - 1868 Franz August Eichmann 1793 - 1879 1869 - 1878 Carl Wilhelm Heinrich Georg von Horn 1807 - 1889 EAST PRUSSIA Oberpräsidenten 1878 - 1882 Carl Wilhelm Heinrich Georg von Horn s.a. 1882 - 1891 Albrecht Heinrich Carl von Schlieckmann 1835 - 1891 1891 - 1895 Udo Graf zu Stolberg-Wernigerode 1840 - 1910 1895 - 1901 Wilhelm "Bill" Otto Albrecht Graf von Bismarck-Schönhausen 1852 - 1901 1901 - 1903 Hugo Samuel Louis Erdmann Reginald Freiherr von Richthofen 1842 - 1904 1903 - 1907 Friedrich Ludwig Elisa von Moltke 1852 - 1927 1907 - 1914 Ludwig Hubert von Windheim 1857 - 1935 1914 - 1916 Adolf Max Johannes Tortilowicz von Batocki-Friebe 1868 - 1944 1916 - 1918 Friedrich Wilhelm Bernhard von Berg- Markienen 1866 - 1939 1918 - 1919 Adolf Max Johannes Tortilowicz von Batocki-Friebe (2x) 1919 - 1920 August Winnig, also Imperial and State Commissioner for East and West Prussia (Reichs- und Staatskommissar für Ost - und Westpreussen) with extraordinary powers 1878 - 1956 1920 Arnold Hasse* 1873 - 1933 1920 - 1932 Ernst Siehr 1869 - 1945 1932 - 1933 Wilhelm Kutscher 1876 - 1962 1933 - 1945 Erich Koch, also Imperial Commissioner (Reichskommissar) for Ukraine 1941 - 1944 and Chief of the Civil Administration of the Bialystok District 1941 - 1944 1896 - 1986 __________________________________________________________________________________PARTY LEADER
GAULEITER OF THE NSDAP Gau Leader of the Gau East Prussia Gauleiter des Gaues Ostpreussen 1928 - 1945 Erich Koch s.a. See here for the local leaders of the annexed Memel Territory __________________________________________________________________________________ALLIED COMMANDERS AND ADMINISTRATORS
In Jan 1945 East Prussia was occupied by Soviet forces. (4) At first the whole region was under Soviet military rule, but later it was divided into two zones : - a northern zone which remained under Soviet administration and later became the Oblast Kenigsberg, renamed Kaliningrad in 1946, - a southern zone which was transferred to the authority of the Polish Provisional Government and was organized into the Provisional Polish District of Königsberg (Okreg Krolewiec), which was however soon renamed District of Warmia (= Ermland) and Mazuria (Okreg Warminsko-Mazurski) Soviet Commanders Commanders of the 3rd Belarussian Front 1945 ArmyGen. Ivan Danilovich Chernyakhovsky 1906 - 1945 1945 Marsh. of the SU Aleksandr Mikhaylovich Vasilevsky 1895 - 1977 1945 Gen. Ivan Khristoforovch Bagramyan 1897 - 1982 Polish Administrators Liaison Officers of the Polish Government assigned to the 3rd Belarussian Front 1945 Jerzy Sztachelski 1945 Col. Jakub Prawin Government Plenipotentiary of the Republic Poland for the Provisional District of Warmia and Mazuria 1945 Col. Jakub Prawin s.a. (4) All organized resistance ended in Apr 1945 when the fortress of Königsberg [Festungskommandant : LtGen. Otto Lasch (1893 - 1971)] surrendered.
ADMINISTRATIVE DIVISIONS AND TERRITORIAL CHANGES
In 1918 East Prussia included 3 Government Districts (Regierungsbezirke) : - Allenstein - Gumbinnen - Königsberg Later were added : - Westpreussen (in 1922) - Zichenau (in 1939) Each of these districts was divided into a number of Kreise (Circles). __________________________________________________________________________________ALLENSTEIN
The District of Allenstein was created in 1905 out of the southern parts of the two pre-existing districts. TERRITORIAL EVENTS 1920 Jan 10 : In execution of the Treaty of Versailles of Jun 28 1919 part of the Kreis of Neidenburg - the so-called Soldauer Land - was ceded to Poland without any consultation or compensation. The Treaty also imposed a plebiscite in the Kreise of Allenstein-Land, Allenstein-Stadt, Johannisburg, Lötzen, Lyck, Ortelsburg, Osterode, Rössel, Sensburg, in the part of Neidenburg which had remained German and in the Gumbinnen Kreis of Oletzko. Feb 12 : The Inter-Allied Control Commission for the plebiscite in Allenstein toke over the administration and the defence of the concerned area. Jul 11 : An overwhelming majority of the population voted in favour of Germany. Aug 16 : The Allenstein plebiscite zone was returned to the Prussian administration. 1939 Oct 16 : After the German occupation of Poland, Soldau was reannexed to Allenstein and later again transferred to the Kreis Neidenburg. Chairman of the Inter-Allied Control Commission 1920 Sir Ernest Amelius-Rennie (UK) German Imperial Commissioner and Chairman of the Plebiscite Commission 1920 Wilhelm Freiherr von Gayl 1879 - 1950 Commander of the British Forces in Allenstein (units from the Royal Irish Regiment detached from the Army of the Rhine) 1920 ... ADMINISTRATORS Regierungspräsidenten 1905 - 1908 Eduard Wilhelm von Hegel 1849 - 1925 1908 Friedrich Karl Feodor Oskar Gramsch 1908 - 1918 ... von Hellmann 1918 - 1924 ... von Oppen 18.. - 1924 1924 - 1932 ... von Ruperti 1933 - 1945 Karl Schmidt __________________________________________________________________________________GUMBINNEN
The District of Gumbinnen was formed in 1815 out of the pre-existing Litauische Kammerdepartment of Gumbinnen. TERRITORIAL EVENTS 1920 Jan 10 : In execution of the Treaty of Versailles of Jun 28 1919 the parts of the Kreise of Heydekrug, Niederung, Ragnit, Tilsit-Land and Tilsit-Stadt on the right bank of the Memel river, were ceded to the Allies without any consultation or compensation. They then became part of the Memel Territory. 1920 Feb 18 : The Kreis of Oletzko having been included by the Allies in the plebiscite zone of Allenstein (s.a.), its administration was temporarily transferred to the District of Allenstein. Jul 11 : An overwhelming majority of the population having voted for Germany, the situation of before 1920 was restored. 1939 Mar 22 : The whole area of the former Memel Teritory was annexed to Gumbinnen. Nov 11 : The Sulwaki (Sudauer) area of the Bialystok Territory, until then part of the USSR was transferred to Gumbinnen. ADMINISTRATORS Regierungspräsidenten 1846 - 1851 Gustav Reinhold Ludwig von Saltzwedel 1851 - 1859 Fedor von Byern 1859 - 1863 Eduard Moritz von Kries 1863 - 1870 Friedrich Wilhelm Leberecht Maurach 1870 - 1871 ... Siehr* 1871 - 1875 Robert Victor von Puttkamer 1828 - 1900 1875 - 1879 Otto Franz Victor Graf von Westarp 1... - 1879 1879 - 1881 Albrecht Heinrich Carl von Schlieckmann s.a. 1881 - 1894 Otto Ludwig Eberhard Steinmann 1833 - 1894 1894 - 1905 Eduard Wilhelm von Hegel s.a. 1905 - 1913 Hermann August Wilhelm Stockmann 1913 - 1915 Friedrich Karl Feodor Oskar Gramsch s.a. 1915 - 1919 Georg Franz Wilhelm Freiherr von der Wenge und Graf von Lambsdorff 1863 - 1919 - 1920 Magnus Alexander Maximilian Freiherr von Braun-Neucken 1920 - 1932 Hermann Otto Rosencrantz 1933 - 1945 Herbert Rohde See here for the local administrators of the former Memel Territory. __________________________________________________________________________________KÖNIGSBERG
The District of Königsberg was created in 1815 out of the pre-existing Ostpreussische Kammerdepartment of Königsberg. TERRITORIAL EVENTS 1920 Jan 10 : In execution of the Treaty of Versailles of Jun 28 1919 the Kreise of Memel -Land and of Memel-Stadt were ceded to the Allies without any consultation or compensation. They became part of the Memel Territory. ADMINISTRATORS Regierungspräsidenten 1844 - 1850 Karl Wilhelm von Boetticher s.a. 1850 - 1659 Franz August von Eichmann s.a. 1869 - 1880 Carl Wilhelm Heinrich Georg von Horn s.a. 1880 - 1882 Adolf Ernst Karl von Schmeling 1807 - 1886 1882 - 1887 Konrad Gustav von Studt 1887 - 1889 Eberhard Freiherr von der Recke von der Horst 1847 - 1911 1889 - 1894 ... von Heydebrand und der Lasa 1894 - 1899 Theodor Bernhard Tieschowitz von Tieschowa 1841 - 1909 1899 - 1903 Wilhelm Hans August von Waldow-Reitzenstein 1856 - 1937 1903 - 1909 Hans Nicolaas von Werder 1910 - 1915 Robert Graf von Keyserlingk-Cammerau 1915 - 1919 Friedrich Karl Fedor Artur Gramsch s.a. 1919 - 1920 ... von Oppen s.a. 1920 - 1924 ... Bolck 1925 - 1932 Max K. R. von Bahrfeldt 1932 - 1936 Werner Friedrich 1936 - 1941 Paul Hoffmann (* 1936 - 1937) 1941 - 1945 Kurt Angermann __________________________________________________________________________________WESTPREUSSEN
See here. __________________________________________________________________________________ZICHENAU
The District of Zichenau was created in 1939 out of the parts of the former Polish Voivodship of Warszawa that had been annexed to the German Empire. In 1941 it was enlarged with the Ostrolenka (Schafenweisse) area of the Bialystok Voivodship, until then a part of the USSR. Regierungspräsidenten 1939 Hermann Bethke* 19.. - 1939 1940 - 194. Paul Dargel, also Deputy Imperial Commissioner for Ukraine 1941 - 194. 1903 -
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