other · Germany and Central Europe
Free State Bottleneck
Origins
The armistice of 1918 gave the Allies bridgeheads on the right bank of the Rhine, drawn as circles of 30 kilometres around Koblenz and Mainz. The two circles left a narrow gap near Lorch and Kaub, cut off from unoccupied Germany by hills, which became known from January 1919 as the Free State Bottleneck.
Rule and society
The area of some 17,000 people had no direct road or rail link with Germany. Lorch's mayor, Edmund Pnischeck, headed an improvised administration. Locals smuggled goods across the hills, printed their own emergency money and, in a famous episode, hijacked a French coal train to keep warm.
Decline and legacy
During the occupation of the Ruhr, French troops occupied the territory in February 1923, ending its separate existence. The area returned to German administration when the French occupation was later lifted.
Lineage
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- Free State Bottleneck was part of Weimar Republic1919 CE – 1923 CE
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Cite this page
- APA
- The Epoch Institute. (2026). Free State Bottleneck. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/free-state-bottleneck
- MLA
- “Free State Bottleneck.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/free-state-bottleneck. Accessed .
- Chicago
- The Epoch Institute. “Free State Bottleneck.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/free-state-bottleneck.
- Harvard
- The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Free State Bottleneck’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/free-state-bottleneck (Accessed: ).
Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻