ALSACE - LORRAINE
See also ROMAN CATHOLIC HIERARCHY IN ALSACE - LORRAINE 1871 - 1945
GERMAN REICHSLAND ELSASS - LOTHRINGEN
In 1871 parts of the French historical regions of Alsace and Lorraine - occupied by the Germans since the year before - were formally ceded to Germany and organized as the Reichsland Elsass-Lothringen (Imperial Land of Alsace-Lorraine). (1) In 1879 Elsass-Lothringen was made directly subordinated to the German Emperor and in 1911 it was granted some internal autonomy, which became however largely nominal after the outbreak of WWI. (1) The annexed territories were : - the French Department of the Bas-Rhin - parts of the French departments of the Haut-Rhin, the Meurthe, the Moselle and the Vosges. They formed the Districts (Bezirke) of Lothringen, Ober- and Unterelsass. __________________________________________________________________________________GERMAN CHIEF ADMINISTRATORS
Head of the III Section (for Alsace Lorraine) of the Office of the Imperial Chancellor (in Berlin) Leiter der Abteilung III (Elsaß-Lothringen) im Reichskanzleramt 1871 - 1876 Karl Joseph Benjamin Herzog 1827 - 1902 Secretary of State for Alsace-Lorraine in the Office of the Imperial Chancellor Staatssekretär des Reichskanzleramtes für Elsaß-Lothringen (in Berlin) 1877 - 1879 Karl Joseph Benjamin Herzog s.a. Chief President of Alsace-Lorraine Oberpräsident von Elsass-Lothringen (in Strassburg) 1871 - 1879 Eduard von Möller 1814 - 1880 1879 : The Secretariat of State for Alsace-Lorraine in the Office of the Imperial Chancellor and the Chief Presidency of Alsace-Lorraine were abolished and replaced by a Statthalter and a Ministry of Alsace-Lorraine (Ministerium für Elsass-Lothringen) headed by a Secretary of State, both in Strassburg. Reichsstatthalter (directly subordinated to the Emperor) 1879 - 1885 GenFieldMarsh. Rochus Edwin Freiherr von Manteuffel 1809 - 1885 1885 ...* 1885 - 1894 Chlodwig Karl Viktor Fürst zu Hohenlohe- Schillingsfürst 1819 - 1901 1894 - 1907 Hermann Ernst Franz Fürst zu Hohenlohe- Langenburg und Graf von Gleichen 1832 - 1913 1907 - 1913 CavGen. Karl Leo Julius Graf von Wedel 1842 - 1919 1914 - 1918 Johann "Hans" Nikolaus Michael Louis von Dallwitz 1855 - 1919 1918 Rudolf Schwander 1868 - 1950 __________________________________________________________________________________SECRETARIES
Secretaries of State of the Ministry for Alsace-Lorraine Staatssekretäre des Ministeriums für Elsaß-Lothringen 1879 - 1880 Karl Joseph Benjamin Herzog s.a. 1880 - 1887 Karl (1882 von) Hofmann 1827 - 1910 1887 - 1901 Maximilian von Puttkamer* 1881 - 1906 1901 - 1908 Ernst Matthias von Köller 1841 - 1928 1908 - 1914 Hugo Freiherr Zorn von Bulach 1851 - 1921 1914 - 1916 Siegfried Friedrich Wilhelm Erdmann Graf von Rödern 1870 - 1954 1916 - 1918 Georg Freiherr von Tschammer und Quaritz 1869 - 1918 Karl Hauss 1871 - 1925
INDEPENDENT ALSACE - LORRAINE 1918
As soon as the news of the revolutions in Kiel and Northern Germany reached Elsass -Lothringen, Soldiers- and Workers Soviets were established in many places (Colmar, Mulhouse, Strassburg, ...). The most important was the Soviet of Strassburg who on nov 11 proclaimed an independent Republic of Alsace-Lorraine At the same time the Alsace-Lorraine parliament - the Landtag - proclaimed itself the National Council (Nationalrat) of Alsace-Lorraine and the sole legal authority of the country. The next day it toke over all functions of the Statthalter and of the Secretary of State and proclaimed the sovereignty of Alsace-Lorraine. (1) (1) The legal justification given for both proclamations was that Elsass- Lothringen had been directly subordinated to the Emperor and that as he was gone the country had no further link with Germany. __________________________________________________________________________________CHIEF ADMINISTRATORS
Chaiman of the Executive Committee of the Soviet 1918 ... Rebholz Presidents of the Administrative Board of the National Council Präsidenten des Verwaltungsausschuss des Nationalrates 1918 Eugen Ricklin 1862 - 1935 1918 Jacques Peirotes 1869 - 1935 At the arrival of the French on nov 21 both administrations ceased functioning. (2) (2) All that remained of the republican movement was an Executive Committee of the Rebublic Elsass-Lothringen (Exekutiv-Komitee der Republik Elsass- Lothringen) in exile in Baden. Leaders 1919 - 192. -René Ley -Kaspar Muth -... Graf Rapp
FRENCH ALSACE - LORRAINE 1918 - 1944
In 1918 French troops occupied Alsace-Lorraine and the region was immediately (nov 22) annexed to France without any consultation or treaty. (1) Although Alsace-Lorraine was only formally abolished as an administrative unit in 1919 it had by then already de facto been divided into the departments of the Bas- Rhin, the Haut-Rhin and the Moselle. Until 1925 these departments remained however under the supervision of a Commissioner General of Alsace-Lorraine, in charge of the liquidation of what remained of the German administration and of the administrative, economical and political integration of the departments into France. (1) The Peace Treaty of Versailles of 1919 later retroactively assigned it to France as from nov 11. __________________________________________________________________________________FRENCH CHIEF ADMINISTRATORS
Commander of the IV French Army Commandant de la 4eme Armée 1918 - 1919 DivGen. Henri Joseph Etienne Gouraud 1867 - 1946 High Commissioner Huat Commissaire 1918 - 1919 ... Maringer Commissioners General Commissaires Généraux (subordinated to the Under Secretary of State at the Presidency of the Council) 1919 - 1920 Etienne Alexandre Millerand (a member of the French government mar - sep 1919) 1859 - 1943 1920 - 1924 Gabriel Ferdinand Alapetite 1854 - 1932 1924 - 1925 Henri Richard Cacaud* 1875 - 1961 The Commissariate General was abolished in 1925 as the region was by now fully integrated into France. (2) In 1940 - 1944 Alsace and part of Lorraine were again occupied and ruled by Germany, but this time under separate administrations : Lothringen and Elsass. (2) All that now remained as a separate administration for Alsace and Lorraine was a General Direction of the Offices of Alsace-Lorraine at the Presidency of the Council of Ministers, which existed until 1935. Director General of the Offices of Alsace - Lorraine Directeur général des Services de l'Alsace - Lorraine. 1925 - 1935 Pierre Paul Valot 1899 - 1959
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