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 (Bundes-Verfassungsgesetz) unified the office of a Federal Government 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 for governors during the early stages of its colonial rule over German South-West Africa (1893–1898), Togoland (1893–1898) and German New Guinea (1886–1889, 1892–1899).
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. 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. Unlike in the federal government, there is no distinction between the head of state and head of government and the landeshauptmann serves both roles.
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 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.[2]
According to the 1946 Gruber–De Gasperi Agreement and the Second Autonomy Statute of 1972, the chief executives of the provincial governments (Italian: 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. Their 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.
From 1875 the territorial authority of the estates in the twelve administrative provinces of Prussia 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 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.[3] With the abolition of democratic self-rule on all government levels in the course of the Gleichschaltung process after the Nazi takeover in 1933, the office-holders were furloughed or retired and the offices remained vacant.
^Cf. article: "Landesdirektor", in: Der Große Brockhaus: Handbuch des Wissens in zwanzig Bänden: 21 vols.; Leipzig: Brockhaus, 151928–1935; vol. 11 (1932), p. 71.
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