Inventory description: Dept. 30 Hessisches Kreisamt Worms Scope: 182 archive cartons (= 906 units = 20 linear metres) Duration: 1800/16 - 1938 On the history of the district administration and the district of Worms from 1835 to 1945 In February 1835 the districts of Rheinhessen were established as state administrative districts (Mainz, Bingen, Alzey, Worms) - as had already been the case some years before (1832) in the provinces of Starkenburg and Oberhessen. The district councils at the head of the administration, which were represented by a district secretary, were generally directly subordinated to the Ministry of the Interior and Justice. The district of Worms comprised the cantons of Worms, Osthofen (until 1822 Bechtheim) and Pfeddersheim, which still date back to French times with regard to their extension, and which primarily functioned as peace courts and electoral districts. Under the influence of the liberal revolution of 1848, the previous districts were combined by law of 31.7.1848 into somewhat larger administrative districts, whereby Worms initially belonged to the district of the government commission Mainz, before a separate administrative district Worms (former districts Alzey and Worms) was briefly created from the middle of 1850. This episode ended as early as 1852, when the edict of 15 February restored the circles; for Worms the old Sprengel was used as the basis. In addition to the county council, the county assessor and, according to the law of 10 February 1853, the county councils acted as advisory bodies at county level. The district of Worms with the three Peace Court districts (cf. Dept. 31 and 32) Worms, Pfeddersheim and Osthofen comprised 45 villages with 43,941 inhabitants and an area of 33,321 hectares in 1854. While continuing their layout, the districts were given the functions of corporate municipal associations for the self-administration of their affairs with an elected district council and a six-member district committee as self-administration bodies under the chairmanship of the district council by the 'Law Concerning the Internal Administration and the Representation of Districts and Provinces' of 12.6.1874, which followed the Prussian model and was passed on 12.6.1874, in addition to the continuation of their tasks as state administrative districts. The legal basis for the districts and provinces since 1911 was the district and provincial order. In spring 1917 the district council was replaced by the district director, who was also appointed by the state government after 1918/19; a law of 15.4.1919 brought a democratization of the election regulations for the district council and the provincial council. The tasks of the district administrations grew steadily with the general expansion of the administrative tasks since the 1870s (e.g. introduction of the district roads in 1881) and increasingly included tasks of welfare management (see also 1912 Kreisbauverein für die Landgemeinden, 1913 Bezirkssparkasse für die Landgemeinden des Kreises, Wasserversorgungsverband für das Seebachgebiet, Rheinhessischer Elektrizitätsverband). In 1900 the district of Worms had 74,160 inhabitants. During the time of the French occupation from 1918/19 to 30.6.1930, the district office housed in the former Bettendorf palace on Andreasstraße (destroyed in 1945) became the mediation point between the district population and the occupation authorities. A separatist attempt to assault the district administration at the end of 1923/24 failed. In the course of the changes made by the National Socialists in 1933/34 to the constitution and administration in the People's State of Hesse and the Gau Hessen-Nassau, respectively, the cities of Mainz and Worms, which had been constituted as city districts, withdrew from their respective district associations by a law of 9 August 1938 (entered into force with effect from 1 November 1938). As a result of the independence of the city district of Worms in 1938, the files relating to the city of Worms, including the suburbs of Neuhausen, Hochheim and Pfiffligheim, which were incorporated in 1898, were transferred to the district office of the city, and in September 1941, together with a list of items signed by the district administrator (since 1939 the name of the district director), were transferred to the care of the city library by the district or district administrator's office. The extensive holdings are supplemented by the extensive transfer of the District Office to the State Archives, which was handed over to the Darmstadt State Archives as early as 1939 and which has survived due to other storage. Together with the share from Worms, this transfer makes up the largest part of the surviving tradition of the District Office in Rheinhessen (Darmstadt State Archives, G 15 Worms, cf. the Findbuch). Taken together, the two departments make Worms one of the best-preserved Hessian district offices. The duration of the collection ranges from 1814 (with pre-files of the period up to approx. 1780) to 1838/42. The emphasis of the tradition reaches from the late 19th century to the 1920s. The structure of the holdings corresponds to the group scheme prescribed in the 1906 file plan, which in turn has strong similarities with the 1908 registry plan for the mayor's offices. The entire stock was newly recorded, entered into Augias and indexed between 2000 and October 2003 - also using student interns. After the completion of this work, it comprises 906 units of description or 181 archive boxes. There are no restrictions on use. The storage location is the magazine in the Raschi House.
