The Free State of Brunswick () was a
state
State may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Literature
* ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State
* ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States
* ''Our S ...
of the
German Reich
German ''Reich'' (lit. German Realm, German Empire, from german: Deutsches Reich, ) was the constitutional name for the German nation state that existed from 1871 to 1945. The ''Reich'' became understood as deriving its authority and sovereignty ...
in the time of the
Weimar Republic
The Weimar Republic (german: link=no, Weimarer Republik ), officially named the German Reich, was the government of Germany from 1918 to 1933, during which it was a Constitutional republic, constitutional federal republic for the first time in ...
. It was formed after the abolition of the
Duchy of Brunswick
The Duchy of Brunswick (german: Herzogtum Braunschweig) was a historical German state. Its capital was the city of Brunswick ().
It was established as the successor state of the Principality of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel by the Congress of Vienna ...
in the course of the
German Revolution of 1918–19
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
** Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**G ...
. Its capital was
Braunschweig
Braunschweig () or Brunswick ( , from Low German ''Brunswiek'' , Braunschweig dialect: ''Bronswiek'') is a city in Lower Saxony, Germany, north of the Harz Mountains at the farthest navigable point of the river Oker, which connects it to the ...
(Brunswick).
History
The Duchy of Brunswick had been established after the 1814
Congress of Vienna
The Congress of Vienna (, ) of 1814–1815 was a series of international diplomatic meetings to discuss and agree upon a possible new layout of the European political and constitutional order after the downfall of the French Emperor Napoleon ...
, as a sovereign successor state of the
German Confederation
The German Confederation (german: Deutscher Bund, ) was an association of 39 predominantly German-speaking sovereign states in Central Europe. It was created by the Congress of Vienna in 1815 as a replacement of the former Holy Roman Empire, w ...
. It roughly comprised the incoherent territory of the former
Principality of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel
The Principality of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel (german: Fürstentum Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel) was a subdivision of the Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg, whose history was characterised by numerous divisions and reunifications. It had an area of 3,828 ...
, stretching from
Holzminden
Holzminden (; nds, Holtsminne) is a town in southern Lower Saxony, Germany. It is the capital of the district of Holzminden. It is located on the river Weser, which at this point forms the border with the state of North Rhine-Westphalia.
His ...
on the
Weser
The Weser () is a river of Lower Saxony in north-west Germany. It begins at Hannoversch Münden through the confluence of the Werra and Fulda. It passes through the Hanseatic city of Bremen. Its mouth is further north against the ports o ...
River in the west to
Blankenburg Blankenburg may refer to:
Places
* Blankenburg am Harz, a German town in the district of Harz, Saxony-Anhalt
* Blankenburg Castle (Harz), the castle in Blankenburg am Harz (see above)
* Bad Blankenburg, a German town in the Saalfeld-Rudolstadt dis ...
in the
Harz
The Harz () is a highland area in northern Germany. It has the highest elevations for that region, and its rugged terrain extends across parts of Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Thuringia. The name ''Harz'' derives from the Middle High German ...
mountain range and
Calvörde
Calvörde () is a municipality in the Börde district of Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It is part of the Verbandsgemeinde ("collective municipality") Flechtingen.
Geography
Calvörde is situated approximately northwest of Haldensleben and northwes ...
in the east.
[Wolfgang Meibeyer: ''Die Landesnatur. Territorium - Lage - Grenzen'', in Horst-Rüdiger Jarck / Gerhard Schildt (eds.), ''Die Braunschweigische Landesgeschichte. Jahrtausendrückblick einer Region'', Braunschweig 2000, p. 23]
The Brunswick territory was largely surrounded by the
Prussia
Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an e ...
n provinces of
Hanover
Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...
(the former
Kingdom of Hanover
The Kingdom of Hanover (german: Königreich Hannover) was established in October 1814 by the Congress of Vienna, with the restoration of George III to his Hanoverian territories after the Napoleonic era. It succeeded the former Electorate of Ha ...
) and
Saxony
Saxony (german: Sachsen ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Saggsn''; hsb, Sakska), officially the Free State of Saxony (german: Freistaat Sachsen, links=no ; Upper Saxon: ''Freischdaad Saggsn''; hsb, Swobodny stat Sakska, links=no), is a ...
.
From 1913 it was ruled by Duke
Ernest Augustus of the
House of Hanover
The House of Hanover (german: Haus Hannover), whose members are known as Hanoverians, is a European royal house of German origin that ruled Hanover, Great Britain, and Ireland at various times during the 17th to 20th centuries. The house or ...
.
Revolution
The reports on the
Kiel mutiny of 3 November 1918 sparked unrest in Braunschweig, when local revolutionaries led by the
Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany
The Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany (german: Unabhängige Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands, USPD) was a short-lived political party in Germany during the German Empire and the Weimar Republic. The organization was establish ...
(USPD) stormed the local prison, occupied the railway station and the police headquarters, and also attacked
Brunswick Palace. On 8 November Duke Ernest Augustus of Brunswick was forced to abdicate and went into exile. Two days later, a
workers' council
A workers' council or labor council is a form of political and economic organization in which a workplace or municipality is governed by a council made up of workers or their elected delegates. The workers within each council decide on what thei ...
proclaimed the "Socialist Republic of Brunswick", ruled by a council of USPD revolutionaries.
However, their intentions to implement a
Soviet republic failed, as in the first parliamentary elections on 22 December 1918 the USPD officials were outnumbered by the
Social Democrats (SPD), who reached 27.7% of the votes cast. On 22 February 1919, both parties formed a
coalition government
A coalition government is a form of government in which political parties cooperate to form a government. The usual reason for such an arrangement is that no single party has achieved an absolute majority after an election, an atypical outcome in ...
led by the USPD politician
Joseph ("Sepp") Oerter, that shifted the state's constitution towards a
parliamentary republic
A parliamentary republic is a republic that operates under a parliamentary system of government where the executive branch (the government) derives its legitimacy from and is accountable to the legislature (the parliament). There are a number ...
. However, the government had to deal with subsequent uprisings in the capital
Braunschweig
Braunschweig () or Brunswick ( , from Low German ''Brunswiek'' , Braunschweig dialect: ''Bronswiek'') is a city in Lower Saxony, Germany, north of the Harz Mountains at the farthest navigable point of the river Oker, which connects it to the ...
, led by the Communist
Spartacus League
The Spartacus League (German: ''Spartakusbund'') was a Marxist revolutionary movement organized in Germany during World War I. It was founded in August 1914 as the "International Group" by Rosa Luxemburg, Karl Liebknecht, Clara Zetkin, and othe ...
, which on 9 April called a
general strike
A general strike refers to a strike action in which participants cease all economic activity, such as working, to strengthen the bargaining position of a trade union or achieve a common social or political goal. They are organised by large coa ...
. Four days later, the Reich government declared the
state of emergency
A state of emergency is a situation in which a government is empowered to be able to put through policies that it would normally not be permitted to do, for the safety and protection of its citizens. A government can declare such a state du ...
in Brunswick and crushed the Spartacist revolt with the aid of invading ''
Freikorps
(, "Free Corps" or "Volunteer Corps") were irregular German and other European military volunteer units, or paramilitary, that existed from the 18th to the early 20th centuries. They effectively fought as mercenary or private armies, rega ...
'' troops under
Georg Ludwig Rudolf Maercker
Georg Ludwig Rudolf Maercker (21 September 1865 in Baldenburg – 31 December 1924 in Dresden) was a German general of World War I.
Following the Armistice of 1918 that saw the end of fighting and of the Bolshevik revolution that led to the cr ...
.
On 30 April 1919, the Brunswick ''
Landtag
A Landtag (State Diet) is generally the legislative assembly or parliament of a federated state or other subnational self-governing entity in German-speaking nations. It is usually a unicameral assembly exercising legislative competence in non ...
'' legislature elected a new state government under the Social Democratic prime minister
Heinrich Jasper, based on a coalition of SPD, USPD and the liberal
German Democratic Party
The German Democratic Party (, or DDP) was a center-left liberal party in the Weimar Republic. Along with the German People's Party (, or DVP), it represented political liberalism in Germany between 1918 and 1933. It was formed in 1918 from the ...
(DDP). The ''Freikorps'' troops left Braunschweig ten days later, and the Reich government officially lifted emergency rule on 5 June.
Free State
Jasper's government stabilized public policy, however, in the 1920 state election the SPD suffered a heavy loss of votes and the succeeding coalition government was again led by his USPD rival Sepp Oerter. The Brunswick ''
free state'' constitution was adopted on 6 January 1922.
In the 1922 elections, the SPD/USPD government finally lost its majority, whereafter the Social Democrats under Heinrich Jasper formed a coalition with the DDP and the national liberal
German People's Party (DVP). At the same time, the rising
Nazi Party
The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported t ...
(NSDAP) established first local branches in Braunschweig and
Wolfenbüttel
Wolfenbüttel (; nds, Wulfenbüddel) is a town in Lower Saxony, Germany, the administrative capital of Wolfenbüttel District. It is best known as the location of the internationally renowned Herzog August Library and for having the largest ...
, until it was banned by the state government on 13 September 1923. Nevertheless, the party was represented in the Brunswick ''Landtag'', when Sepp Oerter switched from left to right and joined the NSDAP in 1924.
After the 1924 elections, the DVP led a right-wing coalition government of several national liberal and conservative parties, among them the
National Socialist Freedom Movement (NSFB), a substitute of the outlawed Nazi Party. The Social Democrats under Heinrich Jasper once again were able to form a government upon the 1927 elections, however, it lost its majority in the following elections of 1930. The NSDAP reached 22.9% of the votes cast, whereafter the Nazi politician Anton Franzen joined the new right-wing government as Minister of the Interior, succeeded by his party fellow
Dietrich Klagges
Dietrich Klagges () (1 February 1891 – 12 November 1971) was a Nazi Party politician and from 1933 to 1945 the appointed premier ('' Ministerpräsident'') of the now abolished Free State of Brunswick. He also went by the pseudonym Rudolf Berg. ...
on 15 September 1931.
Klagges was instrumental for the dismissal of opposition public servants and in organizing the anti-democratic
Harzburg Front
The Harzburg Front (german: Harzburger Front) was a short-lived radical right-wing, anti-democratic political alliance in Weimar Germany, formed in 1931 as an attempt to present a unified opposition to the government of Chancellor Heinrich Br ...
in October 1931. He is especially known for naturalizing the former
Austria
Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...
n citizen
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Germany from 1933 until his death in 1945. He rose to power as the leader of the Nazi Party, becoming the chancellor in 1933 and the ...
, who had been stateless for seven years and aimed to run in the
1932 German presidential election
Presidential elections were held in Germany on 13 March 1932, with a runoff on 10 April. Independent incumbent Paul von Hindenburg won a second seven-year term against Adolf Hitler of the National Socialist German Workers Party (NSDAP). Communis ...
. After the failure of a first attempt to obtain him a tenure at
Braunschweig University of Technology, Minister Klagges finally managed to appoint Hitler as a public functionary at the Brunswick delegation to the
Reichsrat in
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitu ...
in 1932, which gave him citizenship of Brunswick, and thus automatically of Germany.
There are no records of any activity by Hitler in this (high-paid) position. After his appointment as
Reich Chancellor on 30 January 1933, he was officially dismissed.
Before and after the Nazi ''
Machtergreifung
Adolf Hitler's rise to power began in the newly established Weimar Republic in September 1919 when Hitler joined the '' Deutsche Arbeiterpartei'' (DAP; German Workers' Party). He rose to a place of prominence in the early years of the party. Be ...
'',
Communist
Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, ...
and SPD politicians were persecuted and arrested in Brunswick. The composition of the ''Landtag'' legislature was re-arranged according to the results of the
German federal election of 5 March 1933 and, after the national conservative
DNVP deputies joined the Nazi Party, it constituted a single-party parliament. Klagges was elected Minister-president of Brunswick on 6 May, and together with his party colleagues Justice Minister
Friedrich Alpers
Friedrich Alpers (25 March 1901 – 3 September 1944) was a German Nazi politician and SS-''Obergruppenführer''. He was also a Minister of the Free State of Brunswick, and ''Generalforstmeister'' (General forest supervisor). Alpers was respons ...
and Chief of Police
Friedrich Jeckeln, he established a terror regime. He nevertheless had to accept the superior power of ''
Reichsstatthalter
The ''Reichsstatthalter'' (, ''Imperial lieutenant'') was a title used in the German Empire and later in Nazi Germany.
''Statthalter des Reiches'' (1879–1918)
The office of ''Statthalter des Reiches'' (otherwise known as ''Reichsstatthalte ...
''
Wilhelm Friedrich Loeper, whose office was established in the course of the Nazi ''
Gleichschaltung
The Nazi term () or "coordination" was the process of Nazification by which Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party successively established a system of totalitarian control and coordination over all aspects of German society and societies occupied b ...
'' process. The last ''Landtag'' session was held on 13 June 1933; the legislature was finally dissolved on 14 October.
Allied occupation
On 12 April 1945,
US forces
The United States Armed Forces are the military forces of the United States. The armed forces consists of six service branches: the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, and Coast Guard. The president of the United States is the ...
took the city of Brunswick and deposed the Nazi government. The Brunswick territory became part of the
British occupation zone, with the exception of the eastern Blankenburg and Calvörde areas, which fell to
Soviet
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
-administered
Saxony-Anhalt
Saxony-Anhalt (german: Sachsen-Anhalt ; nds, Sassen-Anholt) is a state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony, Thuringia and Lower Saxony. It covers an area of
and has a population of 2.18 million inhabitants, making i ...
. On 7 May 1946, the British authorities appointed the Social Democratic politician
Alfred Kubel minister-president, the last before the Brunswick territory within the British zone on 23 November merged with the
State of Hanover
The State of Hanover (german: Land Hannover) was a short-lived state within the British Zone of Allied-occupied Germany. It existed for 92 days in the course of the dissolution of the Free State of Prussia after World War II until the foundat ...
(the former Prussian province), the Free States of
Oldenburg and
Schaumburg-Lippe
Schaumburg-Lippe, also Lippe-Schaumburg, was created as a county in 1647, became a principality in 1807, a free state in 1918, and was until 1946 a small state in Germany, located in the present day state of Lower Saxony, with its capital at Bü ...
into the newly founded state (''Land'') of
Lower Saxony
Lower Saxony (german: Niedersachsen ; nds, Neddersassen; stq, Läichsaksen) is a German state (') in northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ...
.
The
Brunswick region remained a Lower Saxon ''Verwaltungsbezirk'' (from 1978: ''
Regierungsbezirk
A ' () means "governmental district" and is a type of administrative division in Germany. Four of sixteen ' ( states of Germany) are split into '. Beneath these are rural and urban districts.
Saxony has ' (directorate districts) with more res ...
'') until its dissolution in 2004. The Brunswick state constitution of 1922 was not repealed until a 2011 resolution by the
Landtag of Lower Saxony.
Leaders
Chairmen of the Council of People's Commissioners, 1918–1919
# 1918–1919:
Sepp Oerter (
USPD
The Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany (german: Unabhängige Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands, USPD) was a short-lived political party in Germany during the German Empire and the Weimar Republic. The organization was establis ...
)
# 1919–1920:
Heinrich Jasper (
SPD)
Ministers-President, 1919–1946
# 1919–1920:
Heinrich Jasper (SPD)
# 1920–1921:
Sepp Oerter (USPD)
# 1921–1922:
August Junke (SPD)
# 1922:
Otto Antrick (SPD)
# 1922:
Heinrich Jasper (SPD)
# 1924–1927:
Gerhard Marquordt (
DVP)
# 1927–1930:
Heinrich Jasper (SPD)
# 1930–1933:
Werner Küchenthal (
DNVP)
# 1933–1945:
Dietrich Klagges
Dietrich Klagges () (1 February 1891 – 12 November 1971) was a Nazi Party politician and from 1933 to 1945 the appointed premier ('' Ministerpräsident'') of the now abolished Free State of Brunswick. He also went by the pseudonym Rudolf Berg. ...
(
NSDAP
The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported t ...
)
# 1945–1946:
Hubert Schlebusch (SPD)
# 1946:
Alfred Kubel (SPD)
''Reichsstatthalter''
''
Reichsstatthalter
The ''Reichsstatthalter'' (, ''Imperial lieutenant'') was a title used in the German Empire and later in Nazi Germany.
''Statthalter des Reiches'' (1879–1918)
The office of ''Statthalter des Reiches'' (otherwise known as ''Reichsstatthalte ...
'' for
Anhalt
Saxony-Anhalt (german: Sachsen-Anhalt ; nds, Sassen-Anholt) is a state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony, Thuringia and Lower Saxony. It covers an area of
and has a population of 2.18 million inhabitants, making i ...
and Brunswick (headquarters in
Dessau
Dessau is a town and former municipality in Germany at the confluence of the rivers Mulde and Elbe, in the '' Bundesland'' (Federal State) of Saxony-Anhalt. Since 1 July 2007, it has been part of the newly created municipality of Dessau-Roßl ...
)
# 1933–1935:
Wilhelm Loeper
# 1935–1937:
Fritz Sauckel
Ernst Friedrich Christoph "Fritz" Sauckel (27 October 1894 – 16 October 1946) was a German Nazi politician, ''Gauleiter'' of Gau Thuringia from 1927 and the General Plenipotentiary for Labour Deployment (''Arbeitseinsatz'') from March 1942 unti ...
# 1937–1945:
Rudolf Jordan
Administration
The Free State of Brunswick initially comprised the City of Braunschweig and the following rural districts:
*
Blankenburg Blankenburg may refer to:
Places
* Blankenburg am Harz, a German town in the district of Harz, Saxony-Anhalt
* Blankenburg Castle (Harz), the castle in Blankenburg am Harz (see above)
* Bad Blankenburg, a German town in the Saalfeld-Rudolstadt dis ...
(divided in 1945 between British and Soviet zone of occupation)
*
Braunschweig
Braunschweig () or Brunswick ( , from Low German ''Brunswiek'' , Braunschweig dialect: ''Bronswiek'') is a city in Lower Saxony, Germany, north of the Harz Mountains at the farthest navigable point of the river Oker, which connects it to the ...
*
Gandersheim
*
Holzminden
Holzminden (; nds, Holtsminne) is a town in southern Lower Saxony, Germany. It is the capital of the district of Holzminden. It is located on the river Weser, which at this point forms the border with the state of North Rhine-Westphalia.
His ...
(to the Prussian province of Hanover on 1 November 1941 in return for the District of
Goslar
Goslar (; Eastphalian: ''Goslär'') is a historic town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is the administrative centre of the district of Goslar and located on the northwestern slopes of the Harz mountain range. The Old Town of Goslar and the Mi ...
and the City of
Goslar
Goslar (; Eastphalian: ''Goslär'') is a historic town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is the administrative centre of the district of Goslar and located on the northwestern slopes of the Harz mountain range. The Old Town of Goslar and the Mi ...
)
*
Helmstedt
Helmstedt (; Eastphalian: ''Helmstidde'') is a town on the eastern edge of the German state of Lower Saxony. It is the capital of the District of Helmstedt. The historic university and Hanseatic city conserves an important monumental heritage o ...
*
Wolfenbüttel
Wolfenbüttel (; nds, Wulfenbüddel) is a town in Lower Saxony, Germany, the administrative capital of Wolfenbüttel District. It is best known as the location of the internationally renowned Herzog August Library and for having the largest ...
On 1 April 1942 the city district of
Watenstedt-Salzgitter
Salzgitter (; Eastphalian: ''Soltgitter'') is an independent city in southeast Lower Saxony, Germany, located between Hildesheim and Braunschweig. Together with Wolfsburg and Braunschweig, Salzgitter is one of the seven ''Oberzentren'' of Lowe ...
was established on Goslar and Wolfenbüttel territory.
Bibliography
* Reinhard Bein: ''Braunschweig zwischen rechts und links. Der Freistaat 1918 bis 1930''. Döring, Braunschweig 1990, .
* Reinhard Bein: ''Im deutschen Land marschieren wir. Freistaat Braunschweig 1930–1945''. 6th edition. Döring, Braunschweig 1992, .
* Horst-Rüdiger Jarck, Gerhard Schildt (eds.): ''Die Braunschweigische Landesgeschichte. Jahrtausendrückblick einer Region.'' 2nd edition. Appelhans Verlag, Braunschweig 2001, .
* Helmut Kramer (ed.): ''Braunschweig unterm Hakenkreuz''. Magni Buchladen, Braunschweig 1981, .
* Jörg Leuschner, Karl Heinrich Kaufhold,
Claudia Märtl
Claudia Märtl (born 3 July 1954 in Amberg) is a German historian. She is a professor of Medieval history at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich. Her research focuses on English and Romance languages. In March 2011 she was elected to succeed ...
(eds.): ''Die Wirtschafts- und Sozialgeschichte des Braunschweigischen Landes vom Mittelalter bis zur Gegenwart''. 3 vols. Georg Olms Verlag, Hildesheim 2008, .
* Richard Moderhack (ed.): ''Braunschweigische Landesgeschichte im Überblick''. 3rd edition, Braunschweigischer Geschichtsverein, Braunschweig 1979.
*
Werner Pöls, Klaus Erich Pollmann (eds.): ''Moderne Braunschweigische Geschichte.'' Georg Olms Verlag, Hildesheim 1982, .
*
Hans Reinowski: ''Terror in Braunschweig – Aus dem 1. Quartal der Hitlerherrschaft''. Zurich 1933.
* Ernst-August Roloff: ''Braunschweig und der Staat von Weimar''. Waisenhaus-Buchdruckerei und Verlag, Braunschweig 1964.
* Ernst-August Roloff: ''Bürgertum und Nationalsozialismus 1930–1933. Braunschweigs Weg ins Dritte Reich''. Hanover 1961.
*
Ehm Welk: ''Im Morgennebel''. 2nd edition, Verlag Volk und Welt, East Berlin 1954 (novel).
See also
*
Brunswick Land
*
Brunswick Landtag elections in the Weimar Republic
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brunswick, Free State of
States of the Weimar Republic
Free State
Former states and territories of Lower Saxony