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Rhenish Prussia |
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The Rhine Province (German: Rheinprovinz), also known as Rhenish Prussia (Rheinpreußen), was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia and the Free State of Prussia from 1822-1946. It was created from the provinces of the Lower Rhine and Jülich-Cleves-Berg. Its capital was Koblenz and in 1939 it had 8.0 million inhabitants. The Province of Hohenzollern was militarily associated with the Oberpräsident of the Rhine Province.
In 1920, the Saar was separated from the Rhine Province and administered by the League of Nations until a plebiscite in 1935, when the region was returned to the German Reich. At the same time, in 1920, the districts of Eupen and Malmedy were transferred to Belgium (see German-Speaking Community of Belgium). In 1946, the Rhine Province was divided into the newly-founded states of Hesse, North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate.