Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Strelitz

Mecklenburg-Strelitz, sometimes shortened to Strelitz or Strelitzer Land, was a (partial) duchy of the Mecklenburg state from 1701 to 1918 without its own legislature. As administratively separate parts of the Mecklenburg state, the two (partial) duchies of Mecklenburg-Schwerin and Mecklenburg-Strelitz were imperial fiefdoms and constituent states of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation until 1806. After the end of the empire, as a result of an increase in status by the Congress of Vienna in 1815, both parts of the now sovereign duchy of Mecklenburg became a grand duchy, in 1867 at the same time federal states of the North German Confederation, and by the founding of the German Empire in 1871 states of the German Empire.

The (partial) Duchy of Mecklenburg-Strelitz was formed in 1701 by the dominion of Stargard, located east of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, and the principality of Ratzeburg, located west of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. The larger, southeastern part of Mecklenburg-Strelitz formed one of three knightly districts of the Mecklenburg state (the Stargard district) until 1918.

During the Weimar Republic, Mecklenburg-Strelitz gained political independence for the first time as a Free State. It was the first German state to give itself a democratic state constitution and existed until its reunification with the Free State of Mecklenburg-Schwerin on 1 January 1934. The southeastern part of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, the old Lordship of Stargard, formed the county of Stargard from 1934 to 1946. After that the historical territorial continuity broke off. From its northeastern part, including the city of Neubrandenburg, the district of Neubrandenburg was formed, and from its southwestern part, including the city of Neustrelitz, the district of Neustrelitz was formed. These two districts were assigned to the district Neubrandenburg of the GDR in 1952. In the course of the territorial reform in 1994, a new administrative district Mecklenburg-Strelitz was formed, which, however, only included parts of the historical territory of Mecklenburg-Strelitz and was merged into the administrative district Mecklenburgische Seenplatte in 2011. The Kulturquartier Mecklenburg-Strelitz in the old post office building on Neustrelitz's Schloßstraße presents the history of the cultural region. Neustrelitz Castle was the main residence of the Mecklenburg-Strelitz (Grand) Dukes, but after arson at the end of the war and the demolition of its burnt ruins in 1950, it was not rebuilt.

Mecklenburg-Strelitz (1701-1918)

History

The (partial) Duchy of Mecklenburg-Strelitz came into being in 1701 after more than five years of dispute over the succession to the throne of the Mecklenburg dynasty of the Obodrites, which led Mecklenburg into civil war-like conditions. The founding charter represented a dynastic house treaty that sealed the Third Mecklenburg Main Land Division and went down in state history as the Hamburg Settlement. According to § 2 of the treaty of March 8, 1701, Mecklenburg-Strelitz was formed from several dominions: the principality of Ratzeburg on the western border of Mecklenburg south of Lübeck, the dominion of Stargard in the southeast of Mecklenburg with the towns of Neubrandenburg, Friedland, Woldegk, Strelitz, Stargard, Fürstenberg and Wesenberg, as well as the commanderies of Mirow and Nemerow.

The stipulations made in 1701 lasted, with minor changes, until the end of the monarchy. The short interim phase after the March Revolution of 1848 to 1850, in which only the (partial) Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin took the step towards a modern constitutional state and thus ultimately failed, did not affect the (partial) Duchy of Mecklenburg-Strelitz.

From 1701 to 1918 Mecklenburg-Strelitz was ruled by the younger line of the ducal house of Mecklenburg. The rulers of Mecklenburg-Strelitz initially held the title Duke of Mecklenburg, without distinction from other members of the princely family. The heirs to the throne were called hereditary princes. At the Congress of Vienna, the two (reigning) Dukes of Mecklenburg received a title upgrade as Grand Duke of Mecklenburg. Since then, the heirs to the throne were titled hereditary grand duke, and their wives accordingly grand duchess and hereditary grand duchess of Mecklenburg. All other members of the princely family continued to use the old titles as Duke or Duchess of Mecklenburg. Since there were always two Mecklenburg rulers at the same time, the name of the respective (partial) duchy (Schwerin or Strelitz) was added to their main title for better differentiation. The same procedure was followed with the other members of the family. However, these name additions were only used unofficially, to avoid confusion, and were never part of the official title.

The state system of Mecklenburg consisted of a feudal system of estates until 1918. The sovereigns in Mecklenburg were dependent on the co-determination of the estates. In contrast to other states, absolutism never developed in Mecklenburg. The knighthood and the countryside of both duchies - the so-called Landstände - formed a joint body, the "Union of the Landstände" or "Landständische Union" since 1523 and functioned as departments of the Mecklenburg Diet. The two parts of the country therefore had a common legislature. The knighthood included all owners of knightly principal estates in the Mecklenburg, Wendish and Stargardian districts who were eligible for the Landtag. The knighthood area covered about 46% of the total area and was 640 square kilometres in the district of Strelitz. The landscape consisted of the authorities of the 49 towns eligible for parliament. In addition, there were the secularized provincial monasteries and the Domanium, the ducal (sovereign) estate (separated into the lines Mecklenburg-Schwerin and -Strelitz), which comprised about 40 percent of the land, in Mecklenburg-Strelitz 1652 square kilometers. According to the constitution, the revenues of the domanium were intended for the expenses of the sovereignty. In accordance with the threefold division of the state, there were thus the (Landtagsfähige) towns as well as domanial and knightly offices. The towns administered themselves.

By far the most important city in southeast Mecklenburg was Neubrandenburg. Although there had been no residence there since the late Middle Ages, Neubrandenburg had a special political role as one of three "front towns" (upper centres) of the Mecklenburg state with a representative function for all other towns of the Stargard dominion and as the seat of important higher authorities. For this reason, Neubrandenburg was initially also to become the capital and residence town of the newly formed partial duchy of Mecklenburg Strelitz in 1701, but this failed due to the civic pride of the inhabitants of Neubrandenburg. Out of necessity, Strelitz was given the function of a residential town, as there was an old official castle there and the first regent of the new part of the state had been living there for a long time anyway. After the Strelitz moated castle burnt down in 1712, the nearby Glienecke hunting lodge was rebuilt into a Baroque three-winged palace, which Duke Adolf Friedrich III and his wife Dorothea Sophie called Schloss Neustrelitz and made their main residence. The town of Neustrelitz developed around the castle. (After 1918, the residential palace became the seat of the state parliament of the Free State of Mecklenburg-Strelitz and the Mecklenburg-Strelitz State Museum, in 1945 it burned down with all its inventory, the ruins were removed in 1949).

From the middle of the 18th century Neubrandenburg nevertheless became an important secondary residence, where the court society stayed annually during the summer months and the Palais Neubrandenburg was built directly on the market square as a princely summer palace. While the court residence in Neubrandenburg ended with the death of Duke Adolf Friedrich IV (1794), Neubrandenburg as the front town remained the politically most important town in Mecklenburg-Strelitz until the end of the monarchy. It was here that the meetings of the knights and the countryside of the Strelitz part of the state traditionally took place. The enthronement of new rulers also always took place in the Neubrandenburg Palace. Other secondary residences of the Strelitz ducal house were Hohenzieritz Palace, Mirow Palace, Remplin Palace and Fürstenberg Palace on the Havel.

In terms of domestic policy, Mecklenburg-Strelitz had been assigned a subordinate role in the Mecklenburg Estates State in 1701. A dissolution of the entire Mecklenburg state decided by both ruling dukes in 1748 failed due to the bitter resistance of the knighthood. Also the assertion of absolutist claims to power of the princes failed, when in 1752 the succession to the throne occurred unexpectedly and troops of the Schwerin duke occupied the Strelitz part of the state and wanted to enforce its political independence after decoupling from the entire state of Mecklenburg. The outcome of the dispute over the succession to the throne further strengthened the estates.

In 1755, Adolf Friedrich IV and his mother, in their capacity as guardians of his younger siblings, ratified the Landesgrundgesetzlichen Erbvergleich (LGGEV), which gave the state of Mecklenburg a new, Landständische constitution. This led to the consolidation of the power of the Mecklenburg knighthood and preserved the backwardness of the state until the end of the monarchy (1918).

In domestic politics, both Mecklenburg constituent states often acted together and amicably since 1701. In foreign policy and in military conflicts, however, they pursued different goals. Mecklenburg-Strelitz practised a policy of neutrality, did not take part in the Seven Years' War (1756-1763), declared itself neutral in 1806 and condemned the annexation of Hanover by Prussia in 1866. The mobilization of the Strelitz contingent in 1870 was delayed and the Strelitz Grand Duke did not attend the imperial proclamation of his cousin, the Prussian King William I, in Versailles on 18 January 1871.

In 1867, the two (partial) Grand Duchies of Mecklenburg-Schwerin and Mecklenburg-Strelitz became federal states of the North German Confederation and, since 1871, states of the German Empire. Mecklenburg-Strelitz had 1 vote, Mecklenburg-Schwerin 3 votes in the Bundesrat. Both constituent states maintained a joint legation for the Bundesrat and were commissioned by other small states (e.g. Reuß) to represent them in the Bundesrat.

After the suicide of Adolf Friedrich VI, the last Grand Duke from the House of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, the Grand Duke of Schwerin, Friedrich Franz IV, took over the role of Custodian of the Strelitz region shortly before the end of the monarchy. Until the end of the monarchy in Mecklenburg and the abdication of Friedrich Franz IV as Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin and as administrator of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, the question of the succession to the throne of Strelitz could no longer be resolved.

Regents

All (reigning) dukes and grand dukes of the Mecklenburg-Strelitz part of the country had absolutely identical sovereign titles as the regents of the Mecklenburg-Schwerin part of the country: Duke of Mecklenburg (from 1815 Grand Duke of Mecklenburg), Prince of Wenden, Schwerin and Ratzeburg, also Count of Schwerin, Lord of the Rostock and Stargard lands.

• 1701-1708: Adolf Friedrich II, Duke of Mecklenburg [-Strelitz].
• 1708-1752: Adolf Friedrich III, Duke of Mecklenburg [-Strelitz].
• 1752-1794: Adolf Friedrich IV, Duke of Mecklenburg [-Strelitz].
• 1794-1816: Charles II, Duke of, then Grand Duke of Mecklenburg [-Strelitz].
• 1816-1860: George, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg [-Strelitz].
• 1860-1904: Frederick William (II), Grand Duke of Mecklenburg [-Strelitz].
• 1904-1914: Adolf Friedrich V, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg [-Strelitz].
• 1914-1918: Adolf Friedrich VI, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg [-Strelitz].
• 1918-1918: Friedrich Franz IV, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg [-Schwerin] as administrator

Strelitz succession question 1918

The suicide of the last unmarried and childless Grand Duke of Strelitz, Adolf Friedrich VI, on 24 February 1918 plunged the House of Mecklenburg-Strelitz into an existential succession crisis. In both parts of Mecklenburg the throne had been hereditary since 1701 according to the right of first birth and according to the lineal succession in the male line. Both (grand) ducal houses were bound by house treaties of 1701 and 1755, according to which in the event of the extinction of one line the other line succeeded. In the event of the extinction of both houses, the succession to the throne would have passed to Prussia according to these treaties.

According to the house law of the Mecklenburg dynasty, the only possible successor was Duke Carl Michael, a grandson of Grand Duke Georg, had served in the Russian army until 1917 and was a fugitive in the Russian Civil War. He had already accepted Russian citizenship in 1914 with Adolf Frederick's permission and declared that he would renounce his right of succession to the throne of Mecklenburg-Strelitz if he succeeded to the throne. It is true that there was another male relative, the nephew of Carl Michael, Georg Graf von Carlow. However, his father, Carl Michael's brother Georg Alexander, who had also emigrated to St. Petersburg, had already renounced the right of succession to the throne for himself and his descendants to Grand Duke Friedrich Wilhelm on his morganatic marriage to Natalie Vanljarskaja (1858-1921), the daughter of the Russian State Councillor Fedor Vanljarski, in 1890 and merely reserved the right of an agnatic regency. Therefore, his wife and children received only a count title and did not officially belong to the House of Mecklenburg. A brief dispute ensued, Carl Michael was officially recognized as the presumptive heir to the throne, but remained unreachable in the turmoil of the Russian war. Therefore, Grand Duke Frederick Francis IV of Mecklenburg-Schwerin assumed the powers of government on 27 February 1918 and acted as Imperial Administrator of Mecklenburg-Strelitz until the end of the monarchy. A solution to the question of the succession to the throne of Strelitz was rendered obsolete by the outcome of the November Revolution of 1918, which also eliminated the monarchy in Mecklenburg. Carl Michael's formal renunciation of his right of succession to the throne in January 1919 was only an internal family matter and no longer had any political significance. Because of constitutional and property law consequences, however, there was still a legal dispute between the two Mecklenburg Free States before the State Court for the German Reich in 1926.

The last Grand Duke of Strelitz, Adolf Friedrich VI, left his fortune (approx. 30 million marks) to the second-born son of Friedrich Franz IV, his godson Christian Ludwig zu Mecklenburg-Schwerin, on the condition that a new dynastic arrangement would take place, that he would succeed as Grand Duke in Mecklenburg-Strelitz and take up residence in Neustrelitz. Otherwise the inheritance would be reduced to 3 million marks. This wish, however, contradicted the house laws in force at the time, which provided for the reversion of the Strelitz line to the Mecklenburg-Schwerin line in the event of its extinction, and thus for the reunification of the two parts of Mecklenburg. Whether and what consensus the princely family would have found in this situation in the event of the continuation of the monarchy and whether these regulations would have found the approval of the parliamentary bodies of the Mecklenburg Estates is speculative and historically meaningless due to the developments that occurred.

In 1934, with the death of Duke Carl Michael, the line of the House of Mecklenburg-Strelitz capable of succession to the throne ended in any case. In the same year, the reunification of the Free States of Mecklenburg-Strelitz and Mecklenburg-Schwerin within the Weimar Republic took place. Georg Graf von Carlow, Carl Michael's nephew, had already been adopted by Carl Michael in 1928 and thus received the name Georg Herzog zu Mecklenburg. The former Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Friedrich Franz IV, agreed to this adoption as well as to the admission of Count Carlow into the Grand Ducal House of Mecklenburg, however, under the condition that Georg renounced his - in any case only theoretical - claims to the throne for the Strelitz part of the state, which he did. Georg, however, assumed the position of head of the House of Mecklenburg-Strelitz from 1934 until his death in 1963. He inherited Remplin Castle from his uncle Carl Michael in 1934, but was persecuted by the Nazis because of his dynastic connections to Russia and because of his "political Catholicism". The Nazis also probably saw to it that Remplin Castle burned down in 1940. In 1944 they imprisoned him in the Sachsenhausen concentration camp. He died in 1963 in Sigmaringen. He was succeeded as head of the House of Mecklenburg-Strelitz by his son Georg Alexander Duke of Mecklenburg (1921-1996) and his son Georg Borwin Duke of Mecklenburg (* 1956). After the line Mecklenburg-Schwerin became extinct in 2001 with the last hereditary grand duke, Friedrich Franz, in the male line, Georg Borwin and his two sons are the last male representatives of the Obodrites.

Minister of State

Official title: (Wirkl.) Minister of State

• 1769-1784: Stephan Werner von Dewitz (1726-1800)
• 17xx-1816: Christoph Albrecht von Kamptz
• 1800-1806: Anton Ludwig Seip
• 1810–1827: Carl von Pentz (1776-1827)
• 1810-1836: August von Oertzen (1777-1837)
• 1827-1848: Otto von Dewitz (1780-1864), from 1837 sole Minister of State
• 1848-1850: (vacancy)
• 1850-1861: Wilhelm von Bernstorff († 1861)
• 1862-1868: Bernhard Ernst von Bülow (1815-1879)
• 1868-1872: Wilhelm von Hammerstein-Loxten (1808-1872)
• 1872–1885: (vacancy), prov. Fü. Carl Piper (1837-1919)
• 1885-1907: Friedrich von Dewitz (1843-1928)
• 1908-1918: Heinrich Bossart (1857-1930)

Neustrelitz Residence Palace, around 1910


Neubrandenburg Palace around 1900

Free State of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (1918-1933)

History

After the fall of the monarchy in 1918, Mecklenburg-Strelitz gained political autonomy as a Free State for the first time in its history and, as a now autonomous and independent state, remained a member of the German Empire (§ 1 of the Land Basic Law of 23 May 1923). The state election results are presented in the article Landtag des Freistaates Mecklenburg-Strelitz.

However, maintaining political independence as one of the smallest German states proved financially impossible after only a few years. The state treasury left by the last grand duke was exhausted around the year 1926. At first the government sought a decision before the Imperial Court in Leipzig for a settlement with Mecklenburg-Schwerin, but this failed. In a legal dispute concerning the joint disposition of assets of former state monasteries and assets of the former estates, which the Free State of Mecklenburg-Strelitz brought against the Free State of Mecklenburg-Schwerin before the State Court for the German Reich in 1926, Mecklenburg-Schwerin filed a counterclaim to establish that the State of Mecklenburg-Strelitz had accrued to the State of Mecklenburg-Schwerin on 23 February 1918 and had since then legally formed a part of the same. In support of this, Mecklenburg-Schwerin argued that, according to the Hamburg Settlement of 1701 (see above), Mecklenburg-Strelitz had fallen to Mecklenburg-Schwerin upon the death of its last Grand Duke, Adolf Friedrich VI, on 23 February 1918. However, the State Court did not grant this countermotion, since Mecklenburg-Strelitz had been considered a Land in the sense of the Constitution when the Reich Constitution was enacted.

After plans to join Prussia in 1932 also proved politically unfeasible, the reunification with Mecklenburg-Schwerin to form the state of Mecklenburg took place under National Socialist pressure on 1 January 1934. However, the Gau Mecklenburg(-Lübeck) of the NSDAP soon became decisive for the subsequent period, as the Landtag was dissolved immediately after the vote on the merger of the two Mecklenburgs.

Landtag

Minister of State

• 1918-1919: Peter Stubmann (DDP)
• 1919-1919: Hans Krüger (SPD)
• 1919-1923: Kurt von Reibnitz (SPD)
• 1923-1928: Karl Schwabe (DNVP)
• 1928-1928: Ministry of Civil Servants: Harry Ludewig (no party) and Erich Cordua (DNVP)
• 1928-1931: Kurt von Reibnitz (SPD)
• 1931-1933: Heinrich von Michael (DNVP)
• 1933-1933: Fritz Stichtenoth (NSDAP)

Coat of arms of the Free State (1921)