Governing Mayor of Berlin

The Governing Mayor of Berlin (German: Regierender Bürgermeister von Berlin) is the head of government in the city-state of Berlin, one of the States of Germany. It is the equivalent of the Ministers-President (German: Ministerpräsident) of the other German states except the two other city-states of Hamburg and Bremen, where the heads of government are called "First Mayor" and "Mayor and President of the Senate", respectively. Furthermore the title Governing Mayor of Berlin related to the city council of Berlin is also the equivalent of "Lord Mayor".

Overview

The Governing Mayor is the head of the city government, known as the Senate of Berlin. The ministers are called senators. The two deputies additionally hold the title of Mayor (German: Bürgermeister, historically: burgomaster). The title Mayor is also held by the heads of the twelve boroughs.

History

A separate city parliament (still named Stadtverordnetenversammlung von Groß-Berlin), however, de facto only competent for the western occupation sectors of Berlin (West Berlin) was elected on 5 December 1948, electing two days later a separate city government (Magistrat) and Ernst Reuter as lord mayor (Oberbürgermeister) for West Berlin, in response to the Soviet occupants deposing of the previous elected government for all of Berlin with effect only in the eastern sector and installing their own Lord Mayor Friedrich Ebert junior in East Berlin on 30 November 1948 (Communist putsch in Berlin's government).

West Berlin introduced its own constitution, accounting for the de facto changes, with effect of 1 October 1950. This constitution provided for the renaming of the city parliament to House of Representatives of Berlin (Abgeordnetenhaus von Berlin), of the city government into Senate of Berlin and the head of government into Governing Mayor of Berlin.^[1] Following the new constitution representatives were elected on 3 December 1950 and the new parliament re-elected Ernst Reuter as head of city government on 18 January 1951, with Reuter then adopting the new title. Berlin was formerly a part of Prussia and became a state of its own in 1990. From 1951 to 1990, during the Cold War, the Governing Mayor was the head of government in West Berlin, while East Berlin was occupied by the Soviet Union and de facto a part of the German Democratic Republic (not recognized by the NATO members). The government of West Berlin claimed to be the legitimate government for all of Berlin within the borders established by the 1920 Greater Berlin Act.

See also

• Rotes Rathaus
• List of mayors of Berlin

External links

• Governing Mayor of Berlin

Notes

1. ^ Cf. articles 25 and 40 of Die Verfassung von Berlin (Constitution of Berlin [West]), Berlin (West): Landeszentrale für politische Bildungsarbeit Berlin, 1982, pp. 34 and 37.