page_title: Province of Pomerania (1815–1945)
section_title: Creation and administration of the province within the Kingdom of Prussia
hierarchical_section_title: Province of Pomerania (1815–1945) / Creation and administration of the province within the Kingdom of Prussia
caption_attribution_description: English: Portrait of Karl August von Hardenberg (1750-1822)
context_page_description: The Province of Pomerania was a province of Prussia from 1815 to 1945. Pomerania was established as a province of the Kingdom of Prussia in 1815, an expansion of the older Brandenburg-Prussia province of Pomerania, and then became part of the German Empire in 1871. From 1918, Pomerania was a province of the Free State of Prussia until it was dissolved in 1945 following World War II, and its territory divided between Poland and Allied-occupied Germany.
  Stettin was the provincial capital.
context_section_description: Although there had been a Prussian Province of Pomerania before, the Province of Pomerania was newly constituted in 1815, based on the "decree concerning improved establishment of provincial offices" (German: Verordnung wegen verbesserter Einrichtung der Provinzialbehörden), issued by Karl August von Hardenberg on 30 April, and the integration of Swedish Pomerania, handed over to Prussia on 23 October.
  The Hardenberg decree reformed all Prussian territories, which henceforth formed ten (later eight) provinces with similar administrations. After the implementation of the reform, the new Province of Pomerania consisted basically of its predecessor and Swedish Pomerania, but also of the Dramburg and Schivelbein counties.
  The province was headed by a governor (Oberpräsident, literally "senior president") with his seat in the capital, Stettin. It was subdivided into government regions (Regierungsbezirke) headed by a president (Regierungspräsident). Initially, two such regions were planned (Regierungsbezirk Stettin, comprising Western Pomerania, and Regierungsbezirk Köslin, comprising Farther Pomerania). Hardenberg however, who as the Prussian chief diplomat had settled the terms of session of Swedish Pomerania with Sweden at the Congress of Vienna, had assured to leave the local constitution in place when the treaty was signed on 7 June 1815. This circumstance led to a creation of a third government region, Regierungsbezirk Stralsund, for the former Swedish Pomerania at the expense of the Stettin region.
  In early 1818, Governor Johann August Sack had reformed the county (Kreise) shapes, yet adopted the former shape in most cases. Köslin government region comprised nine counties, Stettin government region thirteen, and Stralsund government region four (identical with the former Swedish Ämter (districts)).
  The new parliament (Landtag) assembled first on October 3, 1824. Based on two laws of June 5 and July, 1823, the Landtag was constituted by 25 lords and knights, 16 representatives of the towns, and eight from the rural communities.
  Subordinate to the provincial Landtag were two Kommunallandtag assemblies, one for former Swedish Pomerania (Western Pomerania north of the Peene River) and one for the former Prussian part.
  The counties each assembled a Kreisstand, where the knights of the county had one vote each and towns also just one vote.
  Throughout its existence, the province was a stronghold of the Conservative Parties.
caption: Karl August von Hardenberg
exif: {"Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image Software": "ACD Systems Digital Imaging", "Image DateTime": "2003:09:14 22:03:39", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image ExifOffset": "122", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF SubSecTime": "750", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "200", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "263", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "188"}