# Bezirksamtmann

Bezirksamtmann (plural Bezirksamtleute) is a German administrative title of gubernatorial or lower rank, roughly translating as equivalent to the British District Officer. It is derived from Bezirk ("district") + Amtmann ("official").

## Colonial use

The title was used for colonial officials in the following minor German Schutzgebiete (i.e. colonial possessions of various status) in the Pacific: (probably incomplete list)
* Jaluit (Marshall Islands), subordinate of the colonial governor of German New Guinea
** 1906 - 30 April 1907 Victor Berg (b. 1861 - d. 1907)
** 1907 Joseph Siegwantz (acting)
** 1908 - November 1909 Wilhelm Stuckhardt (d. 1909)
** November 1909 - 1910 Berghausen (interim)
** 1910 - 1911 Georg Merz; he stayed on as only Stationsleiter ('Station chief') (1911 - 3 October 1914), subordinate to the Eastern Caroline islands district, see below
* Nauru, until 1888 a tribal protectorate, till 1889 under a Reichskommissar
** 2 October 1888 - May 1889 Robert Rasch (acting)
** May 1889 - 1895 Christian Johannson
** 1895 - 1898 Fritz Jung
** 1899 - 1906 Ludwig Kaiser (b. 1862 - d. 1906); afterwards the jurisdiction was downgraded and administered by Station Chiefs (Stationsleiter), from 1911 subordinated to the administrators of Ponape district (in the Eastern Carolinas, cfr. infra)
* Marianen Inseln (German for 'Marianas Islands', i.e. the Northern Marianas, sold by Spain), as subordinate of the colonial governor of German New Guinea :
** November 1899 - April 1907 Georg Fritz (on Saipan)
** 1904 - 1907 Volker Reichel (on Rota island); afterwards administered by a Stationsleiter ('Station chief') who was subordinated to a district officer in Micronesia and thus to his superiors
* in Micronesia, which was 18 July 1899 - 7 October 1914 under the authority of the governors of German New Guinea (and their Vice-governors of German New Guinea, which had the general supervision over the island districts), there were two island districts, under District officers which from 1889 were styled Bezirksamtmann:
** Western Caroline Islands (Yap and Palau [and from 1907 Saipan)
*** 29 June 1886 - 18.. Manuel de Elisa
*** before November 1897 - after November 1898 S. Cortes
*** 1899 - 1909 Arno Senfft (b. 1864 - d. 1909)
*** 1909 Rudolf Karlowa
*** 1909 - 1910 Georg Fritz
*** 1910 - 1911 Hermann Kersting
*** 1911 - 1914 Baumert
** Eastern Caroline islands (Ponape [and from 1911 the Marshall Islands, cfr. supra])
*** June 1886 - 1887 Capriles
*** 14 March 1887 - 1887 Isidro Posadillo (d. 1887)
*** October 1887 - January 1891 Luis Cadarso y Rey (d. 1898)
*** c.1894 Concha
*** before November 1897 - after November 1898 J. Fernandez de Cordoba
*** 12 October 1899 - August? 1901 Albert Hahl (b. 1868 - d. 1945)
*** 1 September 1901 - 30 April 1907 Victor Berg (b. 1861 - d. 1907)
*** 1907 - 1908? Girschner (acting)
*** 1908 - 1909 Georg Fritz
*** 1909 - 18 October 1910 Gustav Boeder (d. 1910)
*** 1910 - 7 October 1914 August Überhorst ...

## German speaking countries
### Germany

The Bezirksamtmann used to be the head officer of the Bezirksamt (district) in Bavaria and the Palatinate between 1862 and 1920.

### Switzerland

Several cantons in Switzerland have a Bezirksamtmann or Bezirksammann as head officer of the Bezirksamt (district).

## Sources and references

* WorldStatesmen- links to each nation