State of Hanover

State of Hanover
Land Hannover
State of Allied-occupied Germany
1946
Flag of State of Hanover
Flag

Map of the State of Hanover, coloured red, within the British Zone of Occupation
CapitalHanover
DemonymHanoverian
History
Government
 • TypeRepublic
Minister-President 
• 1946
Hinrich Wilhelm Kopf
Historical eraCold War
• Established
23 August 1946
• Disestablished
23 November 1946
Preceded by
Succeeded by
Province of Hanover
Lower Saxony
Today part ofGermany

The State of Hanover (German: Land Hannover) was a state in the British Zone of Allied-occupied Germany. It was a state for 92 days as the Free State of Prussia was dissolved after World War II. The state came after the former Kingdom of Hanover. Its capital was Hanover. In 1946, Lower Saxony was made by merging Hanover with Brunswick, Oldenburg and Schaumburg-Lippe.

Geography

The State of Hanover made up the territory of the old Prussian Province of Hanover without a few eastern parts that had become part of the Soviet occupation zone after World War II (Amt Neuhaus and the eastern part of Bleckede, Elbingerode and Ilfeld). It included 85% of today's Lower Saxony. Its capital and largest city was Hanover.

History

After the Second World War, the State of Hanover was made under Ordinance No. 46 of the British military government. Its first minister-president was the Social Democratic politician Hinrich Wilhelm Kopf.

On 23 November 1946 the British Military Government made the new state of Lower Saxony. It was made from the unification of the German states of Brunswick, Oldenburg and Schaumburg-Lippe with Hanover.

The eastern areas of Brunswick which had fallen to the Soviet zone, including the old County of Blankenburg and the exclave of Calvörde (part of the Helmstedt district) were not part of Lower Saxony and later made part of the East German state of Saxony-Anhalt. The former Hanoverian Soviet-occupied lands of Amt Neuhaus and the eastern parts of Bleckede were again made part of Lower Saxony after German reunification in 1990.

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