It was created in 1815, when Prussia reorganised its internal administration. It comprised the mostly rural eastern part of Brandenburg, including the New March and Lower Lusatia. From 1871 Prussia itself was part of the newly founded German Empire.
In 1938 the districts of Arnswalde and Friedeberg [de] were disentangled from the Frankfurt Region and merged into the new government region called Frontier of Posen-West Prussia, which was incorporated into the Province of Pomerania. At the same time the districts of Meseritz and Schwerin (Warthe), were transferred out of what had previously been defined as the Province of Posen-West Prussia, now becoming part of the Frankfurt Region.
In aggregate these changes reduced the land area of the Frankfurt Region from 20,731 km2 to 18,390 km2.[1]
In 1945 the part of the region to the east of the Oder and Western Neisse rivers (the Oder–Neisse line) became part of Poland while the western part fell within the Soviet Zone of occupation in Germany. West of the Oder–Neisse line, the Land of Brandenburg, created in 1946, was not administratively subdivided into "government regions". Three years later, however, the newly evolving East German state undertook further administrative reforms in 1952 and the western areas of the former Frankfurt Region became part of the new Frankfurt Bezirk (district).
Demographics
According to the Prussian census of 1890, the Frankfurt Region had a population of 1,137,157, of which 1,090,794 (95.92%) spoke German, 36,720 (3.23%) spoke Sorbian, 4,813 (0.42%) spoke Polish, 413 (0.04%) spoke Czech, and 3,993 (0.35%) identified as bilingual (speaking German and another language).[2]
Guben [de] (1818–1950; from 1947 part of Brandenburg state), based in Guben
Königsberg (New March) [de] (1816–15 March 1946, remainder west of the Oder merged into Angermünde [de], Lebus and Oberbarnim districts [de]), based in Königsberg in the New March
Lebus [de] (1816–1950; from 1947 part of Brandenburg state), based in Frankfurt upon Oder
Luckau [de] (1816–1952; from 1947 part of Brandenburg state), based in Luckau
Lübben (Spreewald) [de] (1816–1952; in 1835 Beeskow area ceded to Beeskow-Storkow [de]; from 1947 part of Brandenburg state), based in Lübben in Spreewald/Lubin (Błota)
Meseritz (1818–1945; till 1938 part of Posen-West Prussia), based in Meseritz
Sorau (Lusatia) [de] (1816–1 April 1946, remainder west of the Oder merged into Cottbus, Forst and Spremberg districts), based in Sorau in Lower Lusatia
Spremberg (Lusatia) [de] (1818–1993; in 1825 southern area ceded to the Silesian Hoyerswerda [de]; 1947–1952, and from 1990 part of Brandenburg state), based in Spremberg
Sternberg [de], (1816–1873; partitioned into Ost- and Weststernberg), based in Zielenzig (till 1852), thereafter in Drossen
Weststernberg [de], (1873–1945; partitioned from Sternberg district), based in Drossen (till 1904), thereafter in Reppen
Züllichau-Schwiebus [de]; (1818–1945), based in Züllichau
Regional presidents (Regierungspräsidenten)
Sealing stamp of the Frankfurt Region, Weimar period
1848–1849: Karl Otto von Raumer [de]
1850–1851: Karl Otto von Manteuffel [de]
1851–1855: Carl Wilhelm von Bötticher [de]
1856–1862: Werner von Selchow [de]
1862–1867: Ferdinand von Münchhausen [de]
1867–1873: Ferdinand von Nordenflycht [de]
1890–1902: Jesco von Puttkamer [de]
1902–1903: Ludwig von Windheim [de]
1903–1906: Kurt von Dewitz [de]
1906–1908: Rudolf von Valentini [de]
1908–1918: Count Friedrich von Schwerin [de]
1918–1919: Carl von Fidler [de]
1919–1930: Ludwig Bartels [de]
1930–1932: Wilhelm Fitzner [de]
1932–1933: Kurt Schönner [de]
1933–1935: Felix Eichler [de]
1935–1936: Hermann Bresgen [de]
1937–1945: Heinrich Refardt [de]
References
^"Statistische Jahrbücher für das Deutsche Reich". DigiZeitschriften. Archived from the original on 19 July 2012. Retrieved 16 August 2009.
^Belzyt, Leszek (1998). Sprachliche Minderheiten im preussischen Staat: 1815 - 1914; die preußische Sprachenstatistik in Bearbeitung und Kommentar. Marburg: Herder-Inst. ISBN 978-3-87969-267-5.
^As of 1939 Nazi centralism levelled terminological regional peculiarities and Prussian rural Kreise were — like their non-Prussian comparable administrative units — all uniformly termed as Landkreise.