States of Germany and North Rhine-Westphalia are divided into governmental districts, or "Regierungsbezirke". In Rhineland-Palatinate, these districts were abolished on January 1, 2000, in Saxony-Anhalt on January 1, 2004, and in Lower Saxony on January 1, 2005. From 1990 until 2012, Saxony was divided into three districts (called "Direktionsbezirke" since 2008). In 2012, these districts' authorities were merged into one central authority, the "". The Districts of Germany "(Kreise)" are administrative districts, and every state except the city-states of Berlin and Hamburg and the state of Bremen consists of "rural districts" "(Landkreise)," District-free Towns/Cities ("Kreisfreie Städte", in Baden-Württemberg also called "urban districts", or
States of Germany Saarland, the Federal Republic consisted of ten states, which are referred to as the "Old States" today. West Berlin was under the sovereignty of the Western Allies and neither a Western German state nor part of one. However, it was in many ways "de facto" integrated with West Germany under a special status. East Germany originally consisted of five states (i.e., Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Thuringia). In 1952, these states were abolished and the East was divided into 14 administrative districts called "bezirke". Soviet-controlled East Berlin – despite officially having the same status as West Berlin – was declared