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Landeshauptmann (if male) or Landeshauptfrau (if female) (, "state captain", plural ''Landeshauptleute'') is the
chairman The chairperson, also chairman, chairwoman or chair, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the grou ...
of a
state government A state government is the government that controls a subdivision of a country in a federal form of government, which shares political power with the federal or national government. A state government may have some level of political autonomy, or ...
and the supreme
official An official is someone who holds an office (function or mandate, regardless whether it carries an actual working space with it) in an organization or government and participates in the exercise of authority, (either their own or that of their ...
of an
Austrian state Austria is a federal republic made up of nine states (German: ''Länder''). Since ''Land'' is also the German word for "country", the term ''Bundesländer'' (literally ''federal states'') is often used instead to avoid ambiguity. The Constitutio ...
and the Italian autonomous provinces of South Tyrol and Trentino. His or her function is equivalent to that of a minister-president or
premier Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier. A premier will normally be a head of governm ...
. Until 1933 the term was used in Prussia for the head of government of a province, Duden; Definition of Landeshauptmann, in German

/ref> in the modern-day states of Germany (with the exceptions of the city-states) the counterpart to ''Landeshauptmann'' is the ''Ministerpräsident'' (minister-president).


Origins

Since the early modern period, a ''Landeshauptmann'' originally served as governor under either a Prince of the Holy Roman Empire or the Emperor himself, mainly in the territories of the
Habsburg monarchy The Habsburg monarchy (german: Habsburgermonarchie, ), also known as the Danubian monarchy (german: Donaumonarchie, ), or Habsburg Empire (german: Habsburgerreich, ), was the collection of empires, kingdoms, duchies, counties and other polities ...
(as for the Lands of the Bohemian Crown), later also in the Kingdom of Prussia. In the Austrian Empire, according to the 1861 February Patent, the title referred to the president of the '' Landtag'' assembly of a Habsburg
crown land Crown land (sometimes spelled crownland), also known as royal domain, is a territorial area belonging to the monarch, who personifies the Crown. It is the equivalent of an entailed estate and passes with the monarchy, being inseparable from it. ...
(called ' in Lower Austria,
Bohemia Bohemia ( ; cs, Čechy ; ; hsb, Čěska; szl, Czechy) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. Bohemia can also refer to a wider area consisting of the historical Lands of the Bohemian Crown ruled by the Bohem ...
, and
Galicia Galicia may refer to: Geographic regions * Galicia (Spain), a region and autonomous community of northwestern Spain ** Gallaecia, a Roman province ** The post-Roman Kingdom of the Suebi, also called the Kingdom of Gallaecia ** The medieval King ...
), who also served as head of the provincial administration. The Imperial-Royal government in Vienna was represented by a '' Statthalter'' or ''Landespräsident'' (governor). With the dissolution of Austria-Hungary and the proclamation of the Republic of German-Austria in 1918, provisional state assemblies and state governments were established, headed by a ''Landeshauptmann''. The 1920 constitution of the
First Austrian Republic The First Austrian Republic (german: Erste Österreichische Republik), officially the Republic of Austria, was created after the signing of the Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye on 10 September 1919—the settlement after the end of World War I w ...
(''Bundes-Verfassungsgesetz'') unified the office of a
Federal Government A federation (also known as a federal state) is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a central federal government (federalism). In a federation, the self-governin ...
representative and head of the state government. The title is today used in modern Austria as well as in South Tyrol and Trentino, autonomous provinces in Italy with strong linguistic and cultural ties to the neighbouring Austrian state of Tyrol. In the Czech Republic, a ''hejtman'' (German: ''Hauptmann'') represents each of the 13 self-governing regions (Czech ''kraj'', pl. ''kraje''). The title was also used by the
German Empire The German Empire (),Herbert Tuttle wrote in September 1881 that the term "Reich" does not literally connote an empire as has been commonly assumed by English-speaking people. The term literally denotes an empire – particularly a hereditary ...
for governors during the early stages of its
colonial Colonial or The Colonial may refer to: * Colonial, of, relating to, or characteristic of a colony or colony (biology) Architecture * American colonial architecture * French Colonial * Spanish Colonial architecture Automobiles * Colonial (1920 a ...
rule over German South-West Africa (1893–1898), Togoland (1893–1898) and German New Guinea (1886–1889, 1892–1899).


Austria

In modern Austria, the title is used for the head of the executive of the nine Austrian states, equivalent to the position of a ''Ministerpräsident'' in German states. In English speaking countries, the title is usually translated as " governor," though as mentioned above the function corresponds more to that of minister-president or premier. The ''Landeshauptmann'' is elected by the '' Landtag'' (state parliament) of the respective state and sworn in by the
President of Austria The president of Austria (german: Bundespräsident der Republik Österreich) is the head of state of the Republic of Austria. Though theoretically entrusted with great power by the Constitution, in practice the president is largely a ceremonial ...
. In practice, the ''landeshauptmann'' is almost always the leader of the majority party in the Landtag, or the leader of the senior partner in the governing coalition. As representative of the federal government on state level, the ''landeshauptmann''is also responsible for the enforcement of federal laws. As Vienna is both a city and a state, its mayor is also the ''Landeshauptmann'' of the state, elected by the municipal and state assembly (''Wiener Gemeinderat und Landtag''). When Waltraud Klasnic ( ÖVP) became governor of
Styria Styria (german: Steiermark ; Serbo-Croatian and sl, ; hu, Stájerország) is a state (''Bundesland'') in the southeast of Austria. With an area of , Styria is the second largest state of Austria, after Lower Austria. Styria is bordered to ...
in 1996, she preferred to be addressed as ''Frau Landeshauptmann'', whereas Gabi Burgstaller ( SPÖ), governor of Salzburg from 2004 to 2013, preferred ''Frau Landeshauptfrau''. Since 1 July 1988, the Constitution of Austria allows for, but does not prescribe, office designations to be gender-specific.


List of governors


South Tyrol and Trentino

According to the 1946 Gruber–De Gasperi Agreement and the Second Autonomy Statute of 1972, the chief executives of the provincial governments ( it, Presidente della Provincia autonoma) of South Tyrol and Trentino are called ''Landeshauptleute'' in German. The head of government of South Tyrol is elected by the provincial '' Landtag'' legislature. The ''Landeshauptmann'' represents the province to the outside and in meetings of the regions with the Italian government. He is also entitled to attend the sessions of the Council of Ministers as far as South Tyrolean issues are discussed. His two deputies have to represent the Italian and German language group. Despite the German terms ''Landeshauptmann'' and ''Landtag'', South Tyrol and Trentino according to Italian conception are no federated states (''Länder'') but merely subnational administrative divisions (''enti territoriali''), though with considerable self-government responsibilities and legislative powers.


Prussia

From 1875 the territorial authority of the estates in the twelve administrative
provinces of Prussia The Provinces of Prussia (german: Provinzen Preußens) were the main administrative divisions of Prussia from 1815 to 1946. Prussia's province system was introduced in the Stein-Hardenberg Reforms in 1815, and were mostly organized from duchies a ...
were re-organised as ''Provinzialverbände''. Each of these self-governing bodies were represented in a ''Provinziallandtag'' assembly, whose members were delegated by the rural and urban
districts A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions o ...
within the province. The districts organised through their elected deputies their utilities, such as construction and maintenance of provincial roads, hospitals, schools, public savings banks, waste disposal etc., in self-rule. The provincial administration was initially headed by a ''Landesdirektor'', who was elected by the assembly for six-year terms (in Pomerania: five years) and maximally two terms. The holder of the office presided over the ''Provinzialausschuss'', i.e. provincial government of self-rule, whereas the ''Oberpräsident'' was the king-appointed representative for the province, busy with implementing and supervising central prerogatives of the Prussian government. In the following decades, ''Landeshauptmann'' gradually replaced the earlier expression ''Landesdirektor'' in all but one of Prussia's provinces. When the kingdom turned into a free state in 1920, only the ''Landtag'' of Brandenburg had decided to keep the traditional expression.Cf. article: "Landesdirektor", in: ''Der Große Brockhaus: Handbuch des Wissens in zwanzig Bänden'': 21 vols.; Leipzig: Brockhaus, 151928–1935; vol. 11 (1932), p. 71. With the abolition of democratic self-rule on all government levels in the course of the ''
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 after the Nazi takeover in 1933, the office-holders were furloughed or retired and the offices remained vacant.


KlaipÄ—da Region

The KlaipÄ—da Region (german: Memelland), which was dissected from
East Prussia East Prussia ; german: Ostpreißen, label=Low Prussian; pl, Prusy Wschodnie; lt, Rytų Prūsija was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1773 to 1829 and again from 1878 (with the Kingdom itself being part of the German Empire from 187 ...
after World War I and annexed by
Lithuania Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...
in the Klaipėda Revolt of 1923, continued the usage of the terms ''Landesdirektor'' (i.e. government member) and Landesdirektorium ( lt, krašto direktorija; i.e. government). The head of government was given the title Landespräsident (state president).


References

{{Authority control Gubernatorial titles Politics of Austria Government of South Tyrol