Germany's tallest Town Hall

image author: Foto: Mäfä

Politics
The administration of the city Essen rested in the beginning on the monastery respectively its subordinated officers. Since 1335 two mayors from the centre of the council at the city's top are being mentioned, whereby one of the two is also bursar at the same time. From the 14th century onwards the council became increasingly important. Then, Essen was able to attained even Reich freedom but had to give up again later. The council was elected annually. From 1602 onwards the council was elected indirectly by 11 masters of the guilds and authorities due to a new decree. Two mayors and a bursar belonged 14 council members. In 1804 the Prussian state replaced the council with a magistrate. In 1807 the Grand Ducal-Bergish then Prussian municipal constitution introduced. There was a mayor and a council after implementing the city regime in 1856. The mayor later received the title lord mayor.

During the time of the National Socialists the lord mayor was appointed by the NSDAP. After the 2nd World War the military government of the British zone occupation appointed a new lord mayor and introduced in 1946 the communal constitution modelled on the British example. Then there was a 'city Council' elected by the people, its members were referred to as 'municipal councillors'. The council elected in the beginning the lord mayor from its own centre as president and city representative, who was working in a honorary capacity. The council elected further from 1946 onwards also a full-time lord city director as chief of the city administration. In 1999 the dual city administration was abandoned. Since then there is only the full-time lord mayor. He is council chairman, director of the city administration and city representative. He was elected directly by the people in 1999.
Mayors

* 1844 - 1866 Mayor of Altenessen and Stoppenberg: Friedrich Wilhelm de Wolff
* Wilhelm Kerckhoff, first and only mayor of the community Altendorf 1873-1900


Lors Mayor since 1868

* 1868 - 1886: Albert Theodor Gustav Hache
* 1886 - 1906: Erich Zweigert
* 1906 - 1918: Albert Heinrich Friedrich Wilhelm Holle
* 1918 - 1924: Dr. Hans Luther (Centre)
* 1924 - 1932: Dr. Clemens Emil Bracht (Centre)
* 1932 - 1933: Heinrich Schäfer (Centre)
* 1933 - 1937: Dr. Theodor Reismann-Grone
* 1937 - 1945: Just Dillgardt
* 1945 - 1946: Dr. Hugo Rosendahl



* 1946: Heinz Renner (KPD)
* 1946 - 1949: Dr. Gustav Heinemann (CDU)
* 1949 - 1956: Dr. Hans Toussaint (CDU)
* 1956 - 1969: Wilhelm Nieswandt (SPD)
* 1969 - 1984: Horst Katzor (SPD)
* 1984 - 1989: Peter Reuschenbach (SPD)
* 1989 - 1999: Annette Jäger (SPD)
* 1999 - heute: Dr. Wolfgang Reiniger (CDU)



Chief Municipal Directors 1946 - 1999

* 1946 - 1950: Dr. Hugo Rosendahl
* 1950 - 1957: Dr. h.c. Hellmuth Greinert
* 1957 - 1963: Dr. Friedrich Wolff
* 1964 - 1974: Dr. Karl-Heinz Rewoldt



* 1974 - 1981: Dr. Ernst Finkemeyer
* 1982 - 1995: Kurt Busch
* 1995 - 1999: Hermann Hartwich


Picture Copyright : http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Essen This article is based on http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historischer_Verein_f%C3%BCr_Stadt_und_Stift_Essen of the Free Encyclopedida Wikipedia and is available under http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU-Lizenz_f%C3%BCr_freie_Dokumentation . In this Wikipedia is a http://de.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Essen&action=history available