Greater Hesse - Formation

Formation

Greater Hesse was formed from parts of two German states that were dissolved in the aftermath of World War II:

• The part of the People's State of Hesse that lay east of the Rhine: the provinces of Upper Hesse (Oberhessen, capital: Gießen) and Starkenburg (capital: Darmstadt).
• The Prussian provinces of Hesse (capital: Kassel) and Nassau (capital: Wiesbaden). These two provinces were formed from the division of the province of Hesse-Nassau in 1944.

The remaining Hessian province of Rhenish Hesse (Rheinhessen, capital: Mainz) and the western part of the province of Nassau (containing the Westerwald, part of the Taunus range and the Rhine end of the Lahn river) became part of the French occupation zone and eventually part of the modern state of Rhineland-Palatinate. The separation of Rhenish Hesse from Greater Hesse caused Mainz to lose its six districts that lay east of the Rhine, even though they are still named today as being part of Mainz - such as Mainz-Kastel, now a district of Wiesbaden.

A number of smaller territorial changes also took place. The enclave of Bad Wimpfen, which previously belonged to the Hessian province of Starkenburg, became part of American-administered Württemberg-Baden. A small part of the Prussian province of Hesse, containing the town of Schmalkalden, lay in the Soviet zone and became part of the state of Thuringia.

This new territory was named Hesse because most of the territory that comprised it had previously belonged to successor states of the Landgraviate of Hesse, which was divided in 1567.