Statutory city (Austria) in the context of Politics of Austria

Burgenland (Austrian German pronunciation: [ˈbʊrɡn̩land] ; Hungarian: Őrvidék; Croatian: Gradišće; Austro-Bavarian: Burgnland; Slovene: Gradiščanska; Slovak: Hradsko) is the easternmost and least populous state of Austria. It consists of two statutory cities and seven rural districts, with a total of 171 municipalities. It is 166 km (103 mi) long from north to south but much narrower from west to east (5 km or 3 mi wide at Sieggraben). The region is part of the Centrope Project. The name of Burgenland was invented/coined in 1922, after its territories became part of Austria. The population of Burgenland as of 1 January 2024 is 301,951. Burgenland's capital is Eisenstadt.

Krems an der Donau (Austrian German pronunciation: [ˈkrɛms an deːɐ̯ ˈdoːnaʊ], lit. 'Krems on the Danube') is a city in Lower Austria, Austria. With a population of 24,821, it is the 20th-largest city of Austria and fifth-largest of Lower Austria. It is approximately 70 kilometres (43 miles) west of Vienna. Krems is a city with its own statute (or Statutarstadt), and therefore it is both a municipality and a district.

The districts of Vienna (German: Wiener Gemeindebezirke) are the 23 named city sections of Vienna, Austria, which are numbered for easy reference. They were created from 1850 onwards, when the city area was enlarged by the inclusion of surrounding communities. Although they fill a similar role, Vienna's municipal districts are not administrative districts (Bezirke) as defined by the federal constitution; Vienna is a statutory city and as such is a single administrative district in its entirety.

The German term Bezirk (German pronunciation: [bəˈtsɪʁk] ; pl. Bezirke [bəˈtsɪʁkə] ; derived from Latin: circulus, "circle") translated as "district" can refer to the following types of administrative divisions:

• Stadtbezirk, a subdivision of a city in the sense of a borough (e.g. in Berlin, Hamburg or Vienna), often again subdivided into several quarters and neighbourhoods. According to German Gemeindeordnung codes, the city council resolves upon the implementation by municipal by-law (Satzung). In some cities the Bezirke have limited powers delegated to them by the city's local government, including an assembly resulting from local elections and an own 'mayor' (Bürgermeister). In the German states of Hesse and Rhineland-Palatinate any municipality is authorized to implement Ortsbezirke with own advisory councils and local administrators. The state law in North Rhine-Westphalia commits the municipal administration of an independent city to subdivide the urban area into Stadtbezirke.
• In Austria, the word Bezirk is used with different meanings in three different contexts:
  • Some of the tasks of the administrative branch of the national and regional governments are fulfilled by the 95 district captaincies (Bezirkshauptmannschaften, also translated as district administrative office). The area a district administrative office is responsible for is often, although informally, called a district (Bezirk). A number of statutory cities, currently 15, are not served by any district administrative office. Their respective municipal bureaucracies handle the tasks normally performed by the district administrative office.
  • The cities of Vienna and Graz are divided into municipal districts (Stadtbezirke), assisting the respective municipal governments.
  • From the point of view of the judiciary of Austria, the country is subdivided into 115 judicial districts (Gerichtsbezirke), each corresponding to one of the country's 115 lowest-level trial courts.
• The Italian autonomous provinces of Trentino and South Tyrol, are divided into Bezirksgemeinschaften (Italian: comunità comprensoriali).
• The districts of Switzerland are called Bezirke in several cantons. In Switzerland as a federal state, every canton is free to implement its own administrative structure. The intermediate administrative level above the Swiss municipalities is also referred to as Verwaltungsregion or Verwaltungskreis, Wahlkreis, Amtei or Amt, as well as French: districts in Suisse romande and Italian: distretto in Svizzera italiana. In Schwyz, the six historic Bezirke are self-governing bodies, some with regional Landsgemeinde assemblies, similar to the municipal Kreise of Graubünden. The six Bezirke of Appenzell Innerrhoden are identically equal to municipalities.
• Historically the primary administrative divisions of East Germany from 1952 were called Bezirke. They were implemented by an administrative reform to supersede the East German federated states of Brandenburg, Mecklenburg, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia. The capital East Berlin was officially equated by resolution of the State Council of East Germany in 1961. Though legislative assemblies (Bezirkstage) and executive councils (Räte) existed, the Bezirke according to the top-down principle of democratic centralism enjoyed no autonomy nor any self-governing rights. They were abolished by law which the East German People's Chamber passed in 1990 on the eve of the German reunification.
• During the Second World War, a special administrative division of Nazi Germany was officially classified as "Bezirk": Bezirk Bialystok.

Bezirk Krems is a district of the state of Lower Austria in Austria. It comprises the areas to the south, west and north of the city of Krems an der Donau, which itself is a statutory city.