Editing Saxony-Anhalt (section)

==History==
{{main|History of Saxony-Anhalt}}
[[File:Coat of arms of Saxony-Anhalt 1947-1952.svg|thumb|upright|Coat of arms of Saxony-Anhalt between 1946 and 1952]]

Saxony-Anhalt is a federal state with a relatively short history, compared to other German federal states. It was formed in 1945 out of former [[Prussia|Prussian territories]] and mainly consists of three distinct historical regions: the area around [[Magdeburg]], the formerly independent [[Free State of Anhalt|Anhalt]] and a southern part which once was part of [[Province of Saxony|Saxony]] but had been annexed by Prussia in the 19th century. This historical origin can still be seen in the coat of arms of the federal state.

In April 1945 the [[US Army]] took control of most of the western and northern area of the future Saxony-Anhalt. The ''U.S. Group Control Council, Germany'' (a precursor of the [[Office of Military Government, United States|OMGUS]]) appointed the first non-Nazi officials in leading positions in the area. [[Erhard Hübener]], put on leave by the Nazis, was reappointed [[Landeshauptmann#Prussia|Landeshauptmann (state governor)]]. By early July the US Army withdrew from the former Prussian [[Province of Saxony]] to make way for the [[Red Army]] to take it as part of the [[Soviet occupation zone]], as agreed by the [[London Protocol (1944)|London Protocol]] in 1944.

On 9 July the Soviet [[Soviet Military Administration in Germany|SVAG]] ordered the merger of the [[Free State of Anhalt]], [[Halle-Merseburg]], the [[Magdeburg (region)|governorate of Magdeburg]] (in its then borders), [[Allstedt]] (before Thuringia) and some [[Free State of Brunswick|Brunswickian]] eastern [[exclave]]s and [[Salient (geography)|salients]] ([[Calvörde]] and the eastern part of the former [[Blankenburg am Harz|Blankenburg]] district<ref>The latter, however, a salient originally not assigned as part of the Soviet zone, was unilaterally handed over by the Britons only on 22 July.</ref>) with the Province of Saxony.<ref name="dessau gedenk">[http://www.gedenkkultur-dessau-rosslau.de/1945-1949/chronik1 "1945–1949"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120312064959/http://www.gedenkkultur-dessau-rosslau.de/1945-1949/chronik1 |date=12 March 2012 }}, on: [http://www.gedenkkultur-dessau-rosslau.de ''Gedenkkultur Dessau-Roßlau''] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110826105028/http://www.gedenkkultur-dessau-rosslau.de/ |date=26 August 2011 }}. Retrieved on 16 August 2011.</ref> The previously Saxon [[Erfurt (region)|Erfurt governorate]] had become a part of [[Thuringia]].

''Anhalt'' takes its name from [[Anhalt Castle]] near [[Harzgerode]]; the origin of the name of the castle remains unknown. Anhalt was once an independent German federal state dating back centuries.

The SVAG appointed Hübener as president of the provincial Saxon administration, a newly created function. The administration was seated in Halle an der Saale, which became the capital, also of later Saxony-Anhalt until 1952. On 3 September 1945 the new administration enacted by Soviet-inspired ordinance the mass expropriations, mostly hitting holders of large real estates, often of noble descent.

On the occasion of the first (and one and only) election in the Soviet zone, allowing parties truly to compete for seats in provincial and state parliaments, on 20 October 1946, the Province of Saxony was renamed as the Province of Saxony-Anhalt (''{{langx|de|Provinz Sachsen-Anhalt}}''), taking the prior merger into account.<ref name="dessau gedenk"/> On 3 December 1946 the members of the new provincial parliament elected Hübener the first [[minister-president]] of Saxony-Anhalt, with the votes of the [[Christian Democratic Union (East Germany)|CDU]] and [[Liberal Democratic Party of Germany|Liberal Democratic Party of Germany (LDPD)]]. Thus he became the only [[governor]] in the Soviet zone who was not a member of the communist [[Socialist Unity Party of Germany|Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED)]], making him an inconvenience for the Soviet forces.

After the official Allied decision to dissolve the [[Free State of Prussia]], which had remained in limbo since the [[Preußenschlag|Prussian coup of 1932]], [[Provinces of Prussia|its former provinces]], in as far as they still existed, achieved statehood; thus the province emerged into the ''State of Saxony-Anhalt'' on 6 October 1947.<ref name="dessau gedenk"/> It became part of the [[German Democratic Republic]] ([[East Germany]]) in 1949. From 1952 on the East German states were dissolved, and Saxony-Anhalt's territory was divided into the East German districts of [[Halle (Bezirk)|Halle]] and [[Magdeburg (Bezirk)|Magdeburg]], except that the territory around [[Torgau]] was assigned to [[Leipzig (Bezirk)|Leipzig]]. In 1990, in the course of [[German reunification]], the districts were reintegrated as a state. The territory around Torgau did not return to the state and joined Saxony. Torgau is now the centre of the [[Nordsachsen]] district (since 2008).

In 2015 the skeletal remains of an [[Karsdorf remains|ancient inhabitant of Karsdorf]] dated from the Early Neolithic (7200 BP) were analysed; he turned out to belong to the [[Haplogroup T-M184|paternal T1a-M70 lineage]] and maternal lineage H1.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.marres.education/far-forbears.htm |title=Our Far Forebears |first=E.C.W.L. (Boed) |last=Marres |website=www.marres.education |access-date=1 May 2018 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170912003826/http://www.marres.education/far-forbears.htm |archive-date=12 September 2017}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |title=Massive migration from the steppe was a source for Indo-European languages in Europe |year=2015 |doi=10.1038/nature14317 |arxiv=1502.02783 |last1=Haak |first1=Wolfgang |last2=Lazaridis |first2=Iosif |last3=Patterson |first3=Nick |last4=Rohland |first4=Nadin |last5=Mallick |first5=Swapan |last6=Llamas |first6=Bastien |last7=Brandt |first7=Guido |last8=Nordenfelt |first8=Susanne |last9=Harney |first9=Eadaoin |last10=Stewardson |first10=Kristin |last11=Fu |first11=Qiaomei |last12=Mittnik |first12=Alissa |last13=Bánffy |first13=Eszter |last14=Economou |first14=Christos |last15=Francken |first15=Michael |last16=Friederich |first16=Susanne |last17=Pena |first17=Rafael Garrido |last18=Hallgren |first18=Fredrik |last19=Khartanovich |first19=Valery |last20=Khokhlov |first20=Aleksandr |last21=Kunst |first21=Michael |last22=Kuznetsov |first22=Pavel |last23=Meller |first23=Harald |last24=Mochalov |first24=Oleg |last25=Moiseyev |first25=Vayacheslav |last26=Nicklisch |first26=Nicole |last27=Pichler |first27=Sandra L. |last28=Risch |first28=Roberto |last29=Rojo Guerra |first29=Manuel A. |last30=Roth |first30=Christina |journal=Nature |volume=522 |issue=7555 |pages=207–211 |pmid=25731166 |pmc=5048219 |bibcode=2015Natur.522..207H |display-authors=1 }}</ref>