Governing Mayor of Berlin

As capital of the Kingdom of Prussia, Berlin received its first Lord Mayor ({{lang|de|Oberbürgermeister}}) according to the Prussian reforms after the retreat of the Napoleonic occupation troops in 1809, approved by King Frederick William III. He served as head of the city council called {{lang|de|Magistrat}}. The two-stage administration and the office of the boroughs' mayors were implemented in the course of the wide-ranging incorporations by the 1920 Greater Berlin Act.

File:2006-08-07 Rathaus Schoeneberg.jpg was the seat of the Mayor of West Berlin during the Division of Germany.]]

During the Allied occupation after World War II, the city assembly ({{lang|de|Stadtverordnetenversammlung}}) elected the Social Democratic politician Ernst Reuter as Lord Mayor on 24 June 1947, who, however, did not obtain the affirmation by the Allied Kommandatura of BerlinThe Allied control body for Berlin corresponding to the Allied Control Council for the rest of Germany. due to Soviet reservations. Following the Communist putsch in Berlin's city government in September 1948, a separate city parliament (still named {{lang|de|Stadtverordnetenversammlung von Groß-Berlin}}) was set up, however, de facto only competent for the western occupation sectors of what was to become West Berlin was elected on 5 December 1948, electing two days later a separate city government and Ernst Reuter Lord Mayor for West Berlin. The Soviet administration had officially deposed the previous elected government for all of Berlin with effect only in the eastern sector and had installed the SED Lord Mayor Friedrich Ebert, Jr. in East Berlin already on 30 November 1948.

File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-1990-0506-022, Berlin, Kommunalwahl, Schwierzina, Momper.jpg (l.) and East Berlin Lord Mayor Tino Schwierzina, May 1990]]

West Berlin introduced its own constitution ({{lang|de|Verfassung von Berlin}}), accounting for the changed facts, with effect of 1 October 1950. This constitution provided for the renaming of the city parliament to "{{lang|de|Abgeordnetenhaus von Berlin}}", of the city government into "Senate of Berlin" and the head of government into "Governing Mayor of Berlin".Cf. articles 25 and 40 of Die Verfassung von Berlin (Constitution of Berlin [West]), Berlin (West): Landeszentrale für politische Bildungsarbeit Berlin, 1982, pp. 34 and 37. Following the new constitution representatives were elected on 3 December 1950 and the new parliament re-elected Ernst Reuter as head of city government on 18 January 1951, with Reuter then adopting the new title. From 1951 to 1990, during the Cold War, the governing mayor was the head of government in West Berlin with his seat at Rathaus Schöneberg, while East Berlin de jure remained under Soviet occupation and de facto became a part and capital of the East Germany — not recognized by the NATO members, but actually condoned by the 1971 Four Power Agreement on Berlin and the German Basic Treaty of 1972.

The government of West Berlin claimed to be the legitimate government for all of Berlin within the borders established by the 1920 Greater Berlin Act until the Peaceful Revolution of 1989. Even before German reunification on 3 October 1990, the West Berlin governing mayor and the East Berlin {{lang|de|Oberbürgermeister}} held common cabinet meetings, until Berlin-wide elections took place on 2 December 1990.

{{See also|List of mayors of Berlin}}{{anchor|Austria}}

; Governing Mayor of Berlin (1951–present)

Political party:

{{legend2|{{party color|Social Democratic Party of Germany}}|SPD|border=1px solid #AAAAAA}}

{{legend2|{{party color|Christian Democratic Union (Germany)}}|CDU|border=1px solid #AAAAAA}}

• Politics of Berlin
• History of Berlin
• Timeline of Berlin
• List of people from Berlin
• List of mayors of Berlin

{{reflist}}

{{commons category|Governing mayors of Berlin}}

• [http://www.berlin.de/rbmskzl/ Governing Mayor of Berlin]

{{Berlin}}

{{Governing Mayor of Berlin}}

{{Mayors of Berlin}}

{{PMs of the German states}}