State of Thuringia (1920–1952)
State of the German Empire / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The State of Thuringia (German: Land Thüringen, [ʃtaːt ˈtyːʁɪŋən]) was a state of the German Empire in the Weimar Republic and the Nazi era, as well as a state of the Soviet occupation zone in Germany and the East Germany. The state capital was Weimar, the largest city Gera.
The state was created on 1 May 1920 from a merger of the Thuringian free states Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, Saxe-Meiningen, Saxe-Altenburg, Saxe-Gotha, Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, Schwarzburg-Sondershausen and the People's State of Reuss. The Free State of Coburg, however, joined Bavaria. An integration of areas from Prussian Thuringia could not be realized despite various efforts. In Thuringia and northern Franconia, the centuries-long era of strong territorial fragmentation came to an end.
With the 1934 Law on the Reconstruction of the Reich, the country was brought into line, with the Thuringia Gau under Fritz Sauckel playing the more important role politically. After World War II, after a brief American occupation, the country became part of the Soviet Occupation Zone (SBZ). It was enlarged to 15,585 km2 by the Prussian Erfurt administrative district and received a new constitution on December 20, 1946. With the reorganization of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) into districts, the country lost its function in 1952. It was finally dissolved in 1958.