Regierungsbezirk facts for kids
A Regierungsbezirk (say "reh-GEER-ungs-beh-zirk") is a special kind of government area in some parts of Germany. Think of it as a middle layer of government, helping to manage things between the main state government and smaller local areas.
These Regierungsbezirke are made up of smaller areas called districts (Kreise). Some districts are Landkreise, which are like rural areas or counties. Others are kreisfreie Städte, which are big cities that are important enough to be their own district. Each Regierungsbezirk has its own government office called a Bezirksregierung. It's led by a person called a Regierungspräsident, who is like the main manager for that region.
Not all German states (called Bundesländer) use this system. Some states go straight from the state government to the local districts. Right now, only five German states use Regierungsbezirke. There are 22 of these regions in total. Their populations can vary a lot, from big ones like Düsseldorf with over 5 million people, to smaller ones like Gießen with about 1 million people.
The states that have Regierungsbezirke are:
- Baden-Württemberg: It has four regions: Freiburg, Karlsruhe, Stuttgart, and Tübingen.
- Bavaria: This state has seven regions: Oberbayern, Niederbayern, Oberpfalz, Oberfranken, Mittelfranken, Unterfranken, and Schwaben.
- Hesse: This state has three regions: Darmstadt, Gießen, and Kassel.
- North Rhine-Westphalia: This state has five regions: Arnsberg, Cologne, Detmold, Düsseldorf, and Münster.
- Saxony: This state has three regions: Chemnitz, Dresden, and Leipzig.
How Regierungsbezirke Started
The very first Regierungsbezirke were created by the Kingdom of Prussia between 1808 and 1816. Prussia divided its larger areas, called provinces, into 25 of these new Regierungsbezirke. The Regierungsbezirke that exist today in North Rhine-Westphalia are directly connected to those original ones from 1815.
Other states in the German Empire later created similar types of administrative areas. For example, in Saxony, they were called Kreishauptmannschaft, and in Bavaria and Württemberg, they were called Kreis. It's important not to confuse these old Kreis areas with the Kreis or Landkreis (districts) we know today. During the time of the Third Reich, the government made all these different names the same, and since then, they have all been called Regierungsbezirk.
Changes Over Time
Over the years, some German states have decided to stop using Regierungsbezirke as a level of government.
- On January 1, 2000, the state of Rhineland-Palatinate got rid of its three Regierungsbezirke: Koblenz, Rheinhessen-Pfalz, and Trier. Instead, they created new state-wide offices to handle the tasks that the Regierungsbezirke used to do.
- On January 1, 2004, the state of Saxony-Anhalt also ended its three Regierungsbezirke: Dessau, Halle, and Magdeburg. Their jobs are now handled by a central state administration office with smaller branches in the old Regierungsbezirk cities.
- On January 1, 2005, Lower Saxony stopped using its four Regierungsbezirke: Braunschweig, Hanover, Lüneburg, and Weser-Ems.
Around 2005, North Rhine-Westphalia also thought about getting rid of its five Regierungsbezirke. They planned to create three new self-governing areas instead. The older, "Prussian-style" Regierungsbezirke didn't have their own self-governing bodies.
See also
In Spanish: Regierungsbezirk para niños
