Bremen

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The Freie Hansestadt Bremen is a constituent Land of the Federal Republic (see Bundesrepublik Deutschland) which includes Bremerhaven by the mouth of the river Weser. Though the smallest Land, it is (after Hamburg) the second largest harbour city with an ancient tradition (see Hanse, Deutsche). Its legislative body is the Bürgerschaft, and the Land government the Senat. From 787 a diocesan city, it was from 845 ruled by an archbishop; the key of St Peter in its coat of arms is a relic of this period which ended with Bremen's independence at the beginning of the 14th c. Proud of its century-long defence of its freedom, the key has meanwhile come to represent the ‘key to the world’ (Schlüssel zur Welt). During the Reformation Bremen adopted a moderate form of Calvinism; Dutch influence of the period is also perceptible in some of its architecture. Among the buildings that have been preserved or restored are the gothic town hall (Rathaus) with its Renaissance front, the gothic cathedral of St Peter, and the Bürgerschaftshaus by the market place. In 1646 Bremen became a Freie Reichsstadt, in 1815 a member of the Deutscher Bund, and in 1866 a member of the Norddeutscher Bund. In 1871 it became a Bundesstaat of the German Empire, adopting the designation Land in 1919, and in 1920 a democratic constitution. Bremen is associated with the community of artists in the fenland village of Worpswede, which attracted Rilke at the turn of the century (Worpswede, 1903); the city's Paula-Modersohn-Becker-Haus exhibits the work of one of its finest artists (see Modersohn-Becker, P.). Bremen, the native city of Rudolf Alexander Schröder, awards an annual prize for literature. The citizens' most cherished symbol is ‘Roland der Riese am Rathaus zu Bremen’. (See Roland.)

Freie Hansestadt Bremen Free Hanseatic City of Bremen
Flag	Coat of arms
Details
Location
Coordinates	53°6′″N 8°47′″E / Expression error: unexpected / operator, Expression error: unexpected / operatorCoordinates: 53°6′″N 8°47′″E / Expression error: unexpected / operator, Expression error: unexpected / operator
Time zone	CET/CEST ([[UTC+1]]/[[UTC+2|+2]])
Administration
Country	Germany
NUTS Region	DE5
State subdivisions	2 urban districts
Capital	Bremen
Senate President	Jens Böhrnsen (SPD)
Governing parties	SPD / Alliance '90/The Greens
Votes in Bundesrat	3 (from 69)
Basic statistics
Area	km² ( sq mi)
Population	Please give "pop_date" in YYYY-MM-DD format , e. g. 2005-12-31 [1]
- Density	/km² ( /sq mi)
Other information
GDP/ Nominal	€ 24 billion (2005)
Licence plate code	HB
Website	bremen.de

The Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (official name in German: Freie Hansestadt Bremen) is the smallest of Germany's 16 Federal States (Bundesländer). A more informal name, but used in some official contexts, is Land Bremen ('State of Bremen').

Geography

The state of Bremen consists of two separated enclaves: Bremen, officially the 'City' (Stadtgemeinde Bremen) which is the state capital, and the city of Bremerhaven (Stadt Bremerhaven). Both are located on the River Weser; Bremerhaven is further downstream and serves as a North Sea harbour (the name means "Bremen's port"). Both cities are completely surrounded by the neighbouring State of Lower Saxony (Niedersachsen). The two cities are the only administrative subdivisions the state has.

Politics

Political system

The Bürgerschaft (city assembly) elects two mayors of the city (Bürgermeister). One of these is then elected by the senate (which forms the executive branch) as president of the senate (Senatspräsident) and is thus head of the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen.

May 25, 2003 state elections

Dr. Henning Scherf (SPD) remained Mayor and Senate President, in a SPD-CDU grand coalition. As promised he resigned after half of the legislative period. The new Mayor and Senate President since 8 November 2005 is Jens Böhrnsen.

Party	Party List votes	Vote percentage	Total Seats	Seat percentage
Social Democratic Party (SPD)	123,480	42.3% (-0,2)	40 (-7)	48.2%
Christian Democratic Union (CDU)	86,819	29.8% (-7,2)	29 (-13)	34.9%
Alliance '90/The Greens	37,350	12.8% (+3,8)	12 (+2)	14.5%
Free Democratic Party (FDP)	12,294	4.2% (+1,7)	1 (+1)	1.2%
Deutsche Volksunion (DVU)	6,642	2.3% (-0,7)	1 (=)	1.2%
Law and Order Offensive Party	12,876	4.3% (+4,3)	0 (=)	0.0%
Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS)	4,885	1.7% (-1,2)	0 (=)	0.0%
All Others	7420	2.6% (-0,5)	0 (=)	0.0%
Totals	291,766	100.0%	83 (-17)	100.0%

Seat results -- SPD in red, CDU in black, Greens in green, FDP in yellow, DVU in blue

2007 state elections

The 2007 elections were held on 13 May.

Party	Votes	%	+/–	Seats	+/–	%
Social Democratic Party (SPD)		36.8%	–5,5	33	–7	39.8%
Christian Democratic Union (CDU)		25.7%	–4,1	23	–6	27.7%
Alliance '90/The Greens		16.4%	+3,6	14	+2	16.9%
The Left Party.PDS		8.4%	+6,7	7	+7	8.4%
Free Democratic Party (FDP)		6.0%	+1,8	5	+4	6.0%
German People's Union (DVU)		2.7%	+0,4	1	±0	1.2%
Others		4.0%	+1,4	0	±0	0.0%
Totals		100.0%		83		100.0%

Seat results -- SPD in red, CDU in black, Greens in green, FDP in yellow, The Left in purple, DVU in brown. Note: The only DVU-representative Siegfried Tittmann left his party in July 2007 and did not join another party since then.

See also

• Former countries in Europe after 1815

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Bremen

• Official state portal
• Official governmental portal
• Constitution of the state, German only

References

1. ^ State population. Portal of the Federal Statistics Office Germany. Retrieved on 2007-04-25.

States of the German Confederation (1815–66)
Empires	Austria
Kingdoms	Prussia | Bavaria | Saxony | Hanover | Württemberg
Electorates	Hesse
Grand Duchies	Baden | Hesse | Luxembourg | Mecklenburg-Schwerin | Mecklenburg-Strelitz | Oldenburg | Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach
Duchies	Anhalt: Bernburg¹, Dessau¹, Köthen² | Brunswick | Holstein | Limburg | Nassau | Saxony: Altenburg³, Coburg-Saalfeld4, Coburg-Gotha³, Gotha-Altenburg4, Hildburghausen4, Lauenburg, Meiningen
Principalities	Hesse-Homburg | Hohenzollern: Hechingen5, Sigmaringen5 | Liechtenstein | Lippe | Reuß: Elder, Junior | Schaumburg-Lippe | Schwarzburg: Rudolstadt, Sondershausen | Waldeck and Pyrmont
City-states	Bremen | Frankfurt | Hamburg | Lübeck
1: Merged to Anhalt from 1863;     2: until 1847;     3: from 1826;     4: until 1826;     5: until 1850

States of the German Empire (1871–1918)
Kingdoms	Prussia | Bavaria | Saxony | Württemberg
Grand Duchies	Baden | Hesse | Mecklenburg: Schwerin, Strelitz | Oldenburg | Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach
Duchies	Anhalt | Brunswick | Saxony: Altenburg, Coburg and Gotha, Meiningen
Principalities	Schaumburg-Lippe | Schwarzburg: Rudolstadt, Sondershausen | Lippe | Reuss: Elder, Junior | Waldeck-Pyrmont
City-states	Bremen | Hamburg | Lübeck
Other	Alsace-Lorraine | Colonial possessions

States of Germany during the Weimar Republic (1919–33)
States	Anhalt | Baden | Bavaria | Brunswick | Hesse | Lippe | Mecklenburg: Schwerin, Strelitz | Oldenburg | Prussia | Saxony | Schaumburg-Lippe | Thuringia (from 1920) | Waldeck (until 1929) | Württemberg
City-states	Bremen | Hamburg | Lübeck
Until 1920	Saxony: Altenburg, Coburg–Gotha, Meiningen, Weimar-Eisenach Reuß: Elder, Junior Schwarzburg: Rudolstadt, Sondershausen
Unofficial states	Bavarian Soviet Republic | Bottleneck | Rhenish Republic

States of Germany
Baden-Württemberg · Bavaria · Brandenburg · Hesse · Lower Saxony · Mecklenburg-Vorpommern · North Rhine-Westphalia · Rhineland-Palatinate · Saarland · Saxony · Saxony-Anhalt · Schleswig-Holstein · Thuringia City-states Berlin · Bremen · Hamburg

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