Bezirksleiter (District Leader) was a Nazi Party title which was used in the early years of the Party's existence, beginning around 1926.
Bezirksleiter (District Leader) was a Nazi Party title which was used in the early years of the Party's existence, beginning around 1926.
The position of Bezirksleiter was originally established around 1926 as the next higher organizational official overseeing several local branches (Ortsgruppen) of the Party. As such, the Bezirksleiter served as the intermediary between the local Party heads ( Ortsgruppenleiter ) and the head of the Gau organization ( Gauleiter ). The number of Bezirkleiters in each Gau, if any, depended on the size of the Gau, and their jurisdictions were not necessarily coterminous with existing governmental units.
At a January 1929 Party Conference held in Weimar, Gregor Strasser, the Reichsorganisationsleiter, authorized the Gauleiters to subdivide their Gaue into districts if the organizational strength of the Gau justified this change. [1] The subdivisions were based on the Kreis , the standard administrative unit existing in the German States, roughly analogous to a county. With this organizational restructuring, the Bezirksleiter began to be phased out, to be replaced by the Kreisleiter as the standardized intermediate administrative level between the Gauleitung (Gau leadership) and the local Party branches.
Many of the early Bezirksleiters advanced to the position of Gauleiter, such as Franz Schwede, Gustav Simon, Jakob Sprenger, Josef Terboven and Karl Wahl to name but a few. [2]
A Gauleiter was a regional leader of the Nazi Party (NSDAP) who served as the head of a Gau or Reichsgau. Gauleiter was the third-highest rank in the Nazi political leadership, subordinate only to Reichsleiter and to the Führer himself. The position was effectively abolished with the fall of the Nazi regime on 8 May 1945.
Gau is a Germanic term for a region within a country, often a former or current province. It was used in the Middle Ages, when it can be seen as roughly corresponding to an English shire. The administrative use of the term was revived as a subdivision during the period of Nazi Germany in 1933–1945. It still appears today in regional names, such as the Rheingau or Allgäu.
Jakob Sprenger was a Nazi Party official and politician who was the Party's Gauleiter of Hesse-Nassau South from 1927 to 1933 and Gau Hesse-Nassau from 1933 to 1945. He was also the Reichsstatthalter and Minister-President of the People's State of Hesse, the Oberpräsident of the Prussian Province of Nassau and an SA-Obergruppenführer.
Josef Wagner was from 1931 the Nazi Gauleiter of Gau Westphalia-South and, as of December 1934, also of Gau Silesia. In 1941 he was dismissed from his offices, then expelled from the Nazi Party (NSDAP), imprisoned by the Gestapo, and likely executed around the time of end of the war in Europe.
Hermann Muhs was a German lawyer and Nazi Party politician who served as State Secretary and leader of the Reich Ministry for Church Affairs in Nazi Germany.
Gau Swabia, formed on 1 October 1928, was an administrative division of Nazi Germany in Swabia, Bavaria, from 1933 to 1945. From 1928 to 1933, it was the regional subdivision of the Nazi Party in that area.
The Gau Munich–Upper Bavaria was an administrative division of Nazi Germany in Upper Bavaria from 1933 to 1945. From 1930 to 1933, it was the regional subdivision of the Nazi Party in that area.
The Gau Westmark was an administrative division of Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945. From 1925 to 1933, it was a regional subdivision of the Nazi Party.
The Gau March of Brandenburg was formed in March 1933 initially under the name Gau Electoral March in Nazi Germany as a district within the Free State of Prussia. In January 1939, Kurmark was renamed March of Brandenburg. The Gau was dissolved in 1945, following Allied Soviet occupation of the area and Germany's formal surrender. After the war, the territory of the former Gau became part of the state of Brandenburg in East Germany except for areas beyond the Oder-Neisse line, which were given to the Polish People's Republic. Most of its territory is now divided between Germany's State of Brandenburg and Poland's Lubusz Voivodeship.
Gau East Prussia was an administrative division of Nazi Germany encompassing the province of East Prussia in the Free State of Prussia from 1933 to 1945. Before that, from 1925 to 1933, it was the regional subdivision of the Nazi Party in that area, having been established at a conference in Königsberg on 6 December 1925. In 1939, Gau East Prussia expanded following the annexation of the Klaipėda Region from Lithuania and the occupation of Poland, while a sliver of territory from the gau was transferred to Reichsgau Danzig-West Prussia. After Germany's attack on the USSR, the Belarusian city of Hrodna also became part of the Gau.
The Reichsgau Salzburg was an administrative division of Nazi Germany in Salzburg, Austria. It existed between 1938 and 1945.
The Gau Thuringia formed on 6 April 1925, was an administrative division of Nazi Germany in the Free State of Thuringia from 1933 to 1945. Before that, from 1925 to 1933, it was the regional subdivision of the Nazi Party in that area.
Emil Stürtz was a German Nazi Party official and politician who served as the Gauleiter in Brandenburg from 1936 to 1945.
The Gau Baden, renamed Gau Baden–Alsace in March 1941, was a de facto administrative division of Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945 in the German state of Baden and, from 1940 onwards, in Alsace. Before that, from 1925 to 1933, it was the regional subdivision of the Nazi Party in that area.
The Gau Electoral Hesse was an administrative division of Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945, initially known under the name Gau Hesse-Nassau-North, comprising the northern part of the Prussian province of Hesse-Nassau. Before that, from 1925 to 1933, it was the regional subdivision of the Nazi Party in that area.
The Gau Magdeburg-Anhalt was an administrative division of Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945. Formed in 1926 as Gau Anhalt-North Saxony Province by the merger of three smaller Gaue it comprised the German state of Anhalt and part of the Prussian province of Saxony. It was renamed Gau Magdeburg-Anhalt on 1 October 1928. From 1926 to 1933, it was the regional subdivision of the Nazi Party in that area.
The Gau Berlin was an administrative division of Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945 in the German capital Berlin. Before that, from 1928 to 1933, it was the regional subdivision of the Nazi Party in that area. From 1926 to 1928 Berlin was part of the Gau Berlin-Brandenburg which was split into two separate Gaue on 1 October 1928.
Paul Georg Otto Hinkler was a prominent member of the Nazi Party (NSDAP). He served as Gauleiter of Gau Halle-Merseburg and was a high-ranking police official for most of the Nazi regime.
Otto Erbersdobler was a Nazi Party (NSDAP) official who served as the Gauleiter of Lower Bavaria from 1929 to 1932.
Gustav Louis Erich Staebe was a German Nazi Party official, and SS-Obersturmbannführer. A skilled propagandist, he was a Party orator and the Editor-in-Chief of several major Nazi-era newspapers.