Editing District of Duchy of Lauenburg (section)

==History==
{{Main|Saxe-Lauenburg}}
The district Herzogtum Lauenburg is named after the medieval Duchy of [[Saxe-Lauenburg]], which was one of the remnants of the original [[Duchy of Saxony]].  The Duchy of Saxony was partitioned in a process started in 1269, nine years after in 1260 [[Albert II, Duke of Saxony|Albert II]] and [[John I, Duke of Saxony|John I]] had succeeded their father [[Albert I, Duke of Saxony|Albert I of Saxony]].<ref name="Britannica Lauenburg">[http://ia600303.us.archive.org//load_djvu_applet.php?file=26/items/EncyclopaediaBritannica1911HQDJVU/Encyclopedia_Britannica_16_L_-_Lord_Advocate.djvu "LAUENBURG"], in: [[Encyclopædia Britannica]]: 29 vols., <sup>11</sup>1910–1911, vol.&nbsp;16 'L to Lord Advocate', p.&nbsp;280.</ref> In 1269, 1272 and 1282, the brothers gradually divided their governing competences within the three territorially unconnected Saxon areas along the Elbe river (one called [[Land of Hadeln]], another around Lauenburg upon Elbe and the third around [[Wittenberg]] upon Elbe), thus preparing a partition.{{Citation needed|date=June 2024}}

After John I's resignation in 1282, Albert II ruled with his still minor nephews [[Albert III, Duke of Saxe-Lauenburg|Albert III]], [[Eric I, Duke of Saxe-Lauenburg|Eric I]] and [[John II, Duke of Saxe-Lauenburg|John II]], who by 1296 definitely partitioned the duchy providing Saxe-Lauenburg for the brothers, and [[Saxe-Wittenberg]] for their uncle Albert II. The last document, mentioning the brothers and their uncle Albert II as Saxon fellow dukes dates back to 1295.<ref name="Bornefeld 2008 375">Cordula Bornefeld, "Die Herzöge von Sachsen-Lauenburg", in: ''Die Fürsten des Landes: Herzöge und Grafen von Schleswig, Holstein und Lauenburg'' [De slevigske hertuger; German], Carsten Porskrog Rasmussen (ed.) on behalf of the Gesellschaft für Schleswig-Holsteinische Geschichte, Neumünster: Wachholtz, 2008, pp.&nbsp;373-389, here p.&nbsp;375. {{ISBN|978-3-529-02606-5}}</ref> A deed of 20 September 1296, circumscribing Saxe-Lauenburg, mentions the Vierlande (now Hamburg), Sadelbande (Land of Lauenburg), the Land of Ratzeburg, the Land of Darzing (later Amt Neuhaus), and the Land of Hadeln (the latter two now Lower Saxony) as the joint territory of the brothers, separate of Saxe-Wittenberg.<ref name="Bornefeld 2008 375"/>

Saxe-Lauenburg was also known simply as Lauenburg. While the territory of Saxe-Wittenberg changed drastically over the centuries, the Duchy of Lauenburg remained almost unchanged, until it lost its independence in 1689, when it was inherited by the [[Principality of Lüneburg]]. From 1815–1864 it was ruled in [[personal union]] by the [[Duke of Holstein]], being simultaneously King of [[Denmark]]. In 1864 it fell to [[Prussia]] after the [[Second Schleswig War]]. For a short period Lauenburg was still an autonomous entity, but in 1876 it was incorporated as a district into the Prussian province of Schleswig-Holstein.{{Citation needed|date=June 2024}}

Lauenburg upon Elbe was the first capital and name-giving to the Duchy, before it moved in 1619 to [[Ratzeburg]], which remained the capital also when the Duchy was downgraded to a district within Prussia. In 1937—by a territorial redeployment within the scope of the [[Greater Hamburg Act]]—the city of [[Geesthacht]] (formerly a part of [[Hamburg]]), some [[Mecklenburg]]ian exclaves, including Ratzeburg's ''[[Cathedral immunity district]]'', and some [[Free City of Lübeck|Lübeckian]] exclaves within the district territory, were incorporated into the district.{{Citation needed|date=June 2024}}

In May 1945 British forces captured the district territory, which in September 1944 had been determined in the [[London Protocol (1944)|London Protocol]] to become part of the British Zone of Occupation. On 13 November 1945 the British general [[Colin Muir Barber]] and the Soviet general major [[Nikolai Lyashchenko|Nikolay Grigoryevich Lyashchenko]] ({{langx|ru|Николай Григорьевич Лященко}}) signed the {{ill|Barber-Lyashchenko Agreement|de|Barber-Ljaschtschenko-Abkommen}} (or the Gadebusch Agreement) in [[Gadebusch]], redeploying some municipalities of the ''Duchy of Lauenburg District'' and neighbouring Mecklenburg, then part of the Soviet Zone of Occupation. Thus some eastern suburbs of Ratzeburg, such as [[Ziethen, Schleswig-Holstein|Ziethen in Lauenburg]], [[Mechow]], [[Bäk]] and [[Römnitz]] became part of the district, while the Lauenburgian municipalities of [[Dechow]], Groß and Klein Thurow (now component parts of [[Roggendorf]]) as well as Lassahn (now a component part of [[Zarrentin am Schaalsee]]) were ceded to Mecklenburg. The redeployment was accomplished on 26 November, the respective occupational forces had until 28 November to withdraw to their respective new zonal territories.{{Citation needed|date=June 2024}}