Editing Lower Saxony (section)

==== Formation of the state (1945–1946)====
After the [[Second World War]] most of Northwest Germany lay within the [[British occupation zone in Germany|British Zone of Occupation]]. On 23 August 1946, the [[Control Commission for Germany - British Element|British Military Government]] issued [[Ordinance No. 46]] ''"Concerning the dissolution of the provinces of the former state of [[Prussia]] in the British Zone and their reconstitution as independent states"'', which initially established the [[State of Hanover]] on the territory of the former Prussian Province of Hanover. Its minister president, [[Hinrich Wilhelm Kopf]], had already suggested in June 1945 the formation of a state of Lower Saxony, that was to include the largest possible region in the middle of the British Zone. In addition to the regions that actually became Lower Saxony subsequently, Kopf asked, in a memorandum dated April 1946, for the inclusion of the former Prussian district of [[Minden-Ravensberg]] (i.e. the Westphalian city of [[Bielefeld]] as well as the Westphalian districts of [[Kreis Minden|Minden]], [[Kreis Lübbecke|Lübbecke]], [[Kreis Bielefeld|Bielefeld]], [[Kreis Herford|Herford]] and [[Kreis Halle|Halle]]), the [[Kreis Tecklenburg|district of Tecklenburg]] and the state of [[Lippe (state)|Lippe]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://nibis.ni.schule.de/nli1/rechtsx/nlpb/pdf/Landesgeschichte/Gr%FCndung%20des%20Landes%20Niedersachsen2.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110719082708/http://nibis.ni.schule.de/nli1/rechtsx/nlpb/pdf/Landesgeschichte/Gr%FCndung%20des%20Landes%20Niedersachsen2.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-date=19 July 2011|author=Klaus Schaap / Rudolf Willenborg|page=21|title=Gründung des Landes Niedersachsen – Darstellung und Quellen|access-date=29 October 2012}}</ref> Kopf's plan was ultimately based on a draft for the reform of the German Empire from the late 1920s by Georg Schnath and Kurt Brüning. The strong [[House of Welf|Welf]] connotations of this draft, according to Thomas Vogtherr, did not simplify the development of a Lower Saxon identity after 1946.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://hsozkult.geschichte.hu-berlin.de/tagungsberichte/id%3D3145%26count%3D220%26recno%3D10%26sort%3Ddatum%26order%3Ddown%26geschichte%3D80 |title=Thomas Vogtherr: ''100 Jahre Historische Kommission für Niedersachsen und Bremen – Personen, Geschichtsbilder, Forschungsfelder, Netzwerke 1910–2010''. 27 May 2010 |publisher=Hsozkult.geschichte.hu-berlin.de |access-date=29 October 2012 |archive-date=16 April 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140416103438/http://hsozkult.geschichte.hu-berlin.de/tagungsberichte/id%3D3145%26count%3D220%26recno%3D10%26sort%3Ddatum%26order%3Ddown%26geschichte%3D80 |url-status=live }}</ref>

An alternative model, proposed by politicians in Oldenburg and Brunswick, envisaged the foundation of the independent state of "Weser-Ems", that would be formed from the state of Oldenburg, the Hanseatic City of Bremen and the administrative regions of Aurich and Osnabrück. Several representatives of the state of Oldenburg even demanded the inclusion of the Hanoverian districts of [[Landkreis Diepholz|Diepholz]], [[Landkreis Grafschaft Hoya|Syke]], [[Landkreis Osterholz|Osterholz-Scharmbeck]] and [[Landkreis Wesermünde|Wesermünde]] in the proposed state of "Weser-Ems". Likewise an enlarged State of Brunswick was proposed in the southeast to include the ''Regierungsbezirk'' of [[Regierungsbezirk Hildesheim|Hildesheim]] and the [[Landkreis Gifhorn|district of Gifhorn]]. Had this plan come to fruition, the territory of the present Lower Saxony would have consisted of three states of roughly equal size.

The district council of [[Landkreis Vechta|Vechta]] protested on 12 June 1946 against being incorporated into the metropolitan area of Hanover (''Großraum Hannover''). If the State of Oldenburg was to be dissolved, Vechta District would much rather be included in the [[Westphalia]]n region.<ref>{{cite web |author=Landkreis Vechta |url=http://www.landkreis-vechta.de/0800/lk/323.html |title=Landkreis Vechta: ''Zeitzeichen im Landkreis'' |publisher=Landkreis-vechta.de |date=14 April 2004 |access-date=29 October 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130517031716/http://www.landkreis-vechta.de/0800/lk/323.html |archive-date=17 May 2013}}</ref> Particularly in the districts where there was a political [[Catholicism]] the notion was widespread, that [[Oldenburg Münsterland]] and the ''Regierungsbezirk'' of Osnabrück should be part of a newly formed State of Westphalia.<ref>Joachim Kuropka: ''Katholizismus, Kirche und südoldenburgische Identität''. In: Heimatbund für das Oldenburger Münsterland (Hrsg.): ''Jahrbuch für das Oldenburger Münsterland 2004''. Vechta. p. 50f.</ref>

Since the foundation of the states of [[North Rhine-Westphalia]] and [[State of Hanover|Hanover]] on 23 August 1946 the northern and eastern border of North Rhine-Westphalia has largely been identical with that of the Prussian [[Province of Westphalia]]. Only the [[Free State of Lippe]] was not incorporated into North Rhine-Westphalia until January 1947. With that the majority of the regions left of the Upper Weser became North Rhine-Westphalian.

In the end, at the meeting of the Zone Advisory Board on 20 September 1946, Kopf's proposal with regard to the division of the British occupation zone into three large states proved to be capable of gaining a majority.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://nibis.ni.schule.de/nli1/rechtsx/nlpb/pdf/Landesgeschichte/Gr%FCndung%20des%20Landes%20Niedersachsen2.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110719082708/http://nibis.ni.schule.de/nli1/rechtsx/nlpb/pdf/Landesgeschichte/Gr%FCndung%20des%20Landes%20Niedersachsen2.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-date=19 July 2011|title=Gründung des Landes Niedersachsen – Darstellung und Quellen|author=Klaus Schaap / Rudolf Willenborg|page=22f|access-date=29 October 2012}}</ref> Because this division of their occupation zone into relatively large states also met the interests of the British, on 8 November 1946 Regulation No.&nbsp;55 of the [[United Kingdom|British]] [[Military occupation|military government]] was issued, by which the State of Lower Saxony with its capital [[Hanover]] were founded, backdated to 1 November 1946. The state was formed by a merger of the [[Free State of Brunswick|Free States of Brunswick]], [[Free State of Oldenburg|of Oldenburg]] and of [[Free State of Schaumburg-Lippe|Schaumburg-Lippe]] with the previously formed State of Hanover. But there were exceptions:
* In the Free State of Brunswick, the eastern part of the [[Kreis Blankenburg|district of Blankenburg]] and the exclave of [[Calvörde]], which belonged to the [[Landkreis Helmstedt|district of Helmstedt]] fell into the [[Soviet Zone of Occupation]] and were later integrated into the state of [[Saxony-Anhalt]].
* In the [[State of Hanover]], [[Amt Neuhaus]] and the villages of Neu Bleckede and Neu Wendischthun were allotted to the Soviet Zone and thus the subsequent [[East Germany]]. They were not returned to Lower Saxony until 1993.
* The city of [[Wesermünde]] that then lay in the [[Regierungsbezirk Stade]] was renamed in 1947 to [[Bremerhaven]] and incorporated into the new city-state of Bremen, which became one of the federated German states.

The demands of Dutch politicians that the Netherlands should be given the German regions east of the Dutch-German border as [[war reparations]], were roundly rejected at the London Conference of 26 March 1949. In fact only about {{cvt|1.3|km2}} of west Lower Saxony was transferred to the Netherlands, in 1949.

''→ see main article [[Dutch annexation of German territory after World War II]]''