Province of Kurhessen

{{Short description|Province of Prussia (1944–1945)}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2014}}

{{Expand German|topic=geo|date=September 2022}}{{Infobox former subdivision

| _noautocat = no

| native_name = {{native name|de|Provinz Kurhessen}}

| conventional_long_name = Province of Kurhessen

| common_name = Kurhessen

| subdivision = Province

| nation = Prussia

| status_text = Province of Prussia

| government_type = Province

| title_leader = High President

| leader1 = Karl Gerland

| year_leader1 = 1944–1945

| capital = Kassel

| national_motto =

| national_anthem =

| year_start = 1944

| year_end = 1945

| event_start =

| date_start = 1 July

| event_end =

| date_end = 19 September

| era = World War II

| image_map = Location Nazi Germany - Kurhessen.png

| image_map_caption = The Province of Kurhessen in 1944.

| p1 = Hesse-Nassau

| flag_p1 = Flagge Preußen - Provinz Hessen-Nassau.svg

| s1 = Greater Hesse

| flag_s1 = Flag of Hesse.svg

| stat_year1 = 1944

| stat_area1 = 9200

| stat_pop1 = 971887

| footnotes =

}}

The Province of Kurhessen ({{Langx|de|link=no|Provinz Kurhessen}}) or Electoral Hesse was a province of Prussia within Nazi Germany between 1944 and 1945.{{Cite book |last=Gunlicks |first=Arthur |url=https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/35003 |title=The Länder and German federalism |date=2003 |publisher=Manchester University Press |isbn=978-1-5261-2067-0 |language=English}}

Although all German states, including Prussia, had de facto been dissolved since 1933, the Nazi government formally partitioned the Prussian Province of Hesse-Nassau into two provinces effective with a decree issued on 1 April 1944 and effective on 1 July 1944. The two new provinces were the province of Kurhessen and the Province of Nassau.

Following the end of World War II, Kurhessen fell under American administration. The province was dissolved by the occupying US forces on 19 September 1945 and formed part of the administrative zone of Greater Hesse. Just over a year later, Greater Hesse became the modern German state of Hesse.{{Cite book |last=Office |first=United States Department of State Historical |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=seRmAAAAMAAJ |title=The Conference of Berlin: The Potsdam Conference, 1945 |date=1960 |publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office |pages=759 |language=en}}