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A Reichsgau (plural Reichsgaue) was an administrative subdivision created in a number of areas annexed by Nazi Germany between 1938 and 1945.
| | This article needs additional citations for verification .(May 2018) |
A Reichsgau (plural Reichsgaue) was an administrative subdivision created in a number of areas annexed by Nazi Germany between 1938 and 1945.
The term was formed from the words Reich (realm, empire) and Gau , the latter a deliberately medieval-sounding word with a meaning approximately equivalent to shire . The Reichsgaue were an attempt to resolve the administrative chaos resulting from the mutually overlapping jurisdictions and different boundaries of the NSDAP Party Gaue , placed under a Party Gauleiter , and the federal states, under a Reichsstatthalter responsible to the Ministry of the Interior (in the Prussian provinces, the equivalent post was that of Oberpräsident ). Interior Minister Wilhelm Frick had long desired to streamline the German administration, and the Reichsgaue were the result: the borders of party Gaue and those of the federal states were to be identical, and the party Gauleiter also occupied the post of Reichsstatthalter. Rival interests and the influence the Gauleiter wielded with Hitler prevented any reform from being undertaken in the "Old Reich" (German : Altreich), which meant Germany in its borders of 1937 before the annexation of other territories like Austria, the Sudetenland , and Bohemia, and the Reichsgau scheme was therefore implemented only in newly-acquired territories.
There were several Reichsgaue:
The East March was subsequently subdivided into seven smaller Reichsgaue, generally coterminous with the former Austrian Länder (federal provinces).
| Gau name | German name | Capital | Established | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Carinthia | Kärnten | Klagenfurt | 1938 | Formed from the former Austrian federal state of Carinthia and Eastern Tyrol, included from 1941 on parts of Slovenia. |
| Lower Danube | Niederdonau | Krems (see note) | 1938 | Formed from the former Austrian federal state of Lower Austria and northern Burgenland ; included from 1939 on parts of southern Moravia, southeastern Bohemia and the two Bratislava boroughs of Devín and Petržalka. In 1943, Hitler toured Reichsgau Niederdonau and assured Gauleiter Hugo Jury that the capital would be Brünn ( Brno ) in the near future. [1] |
| Salzburg | Salzburg | Salzburg | 1938 | Formed from the former Austrian federal state of Salzburg . |
| Styria | Steiermark | Graz | 1938 | Formed from the former Austrian federal state of Styria and southern part of Burgenland ; included from 1941 on parts of Slovenia. |
| Sudetenland | Sudetenland | Reichenberg | 1938 | Formed from the predominantly German-speaking parts of Czechoslovakia that were ceded to Germany after the Munich Agreement. |
| Tirol-Vorarlberg | Tirol-Vorarlberg | Innsbruck | 1938 | Formed from the former Austrian federal state of Vorarlberg and the northern part of Tyrol; Kleinwalsertal became part of the Gau Swabia. |
| Upper Danube | Oberdonau | Linz | 1938 | Formed from the former Austrian federal state of Upper Austria and Ausseerland, a part of Styria; included from 1939 on parts of southern Bohemia. |
| Vienna | Wien | Vienna (Wien) | 1938 | Formed from the former Austrian federal state of Vienna and surrounding parts of former Lower Austria. |
| Gau name | German name | Capital | Established | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Danzig-West Prussia | Danzig-Westpreußen | Danzig | 1939 | Formed in the Free City of Danzig and the Polish region of the Pomeranian Voivodeship, which were both occupied by Germany in 1939. |
| Flanders | Flandern | Antwerp (Antwerpen) | 1944 | Formed in the Flemish Region of Belgium, comprising the Dutch-speaking provinces of Antwerp, Limburg, East Flanders, West Flanders, the arrondissement of Brussels (except the city of Brussels itself), and the arrondissement of Leuven in the then-province of Brabant (the present-day province of Flemish Brabant). |
| Wallonia | Wallonien | Liège (Lüttich) | 1944 | Formed in the Belgian region of Wallonia, comprising the Francophone provinces of Hainaut, Liège except the cantons of Eupen, Malmedy and Sankt Vith, Luxembourg, Namur, and the arrondissement of Nivelles in the contemporary province of Brabant (now part of the separate province of Walloon Brabant). |
| Wartheland | Wartheland | Poznań (Posen) | 1939 | Formed primarily in the Polish region of the Poznań Voivodeship as well as southern areas of Pomeranian and the western half of Łódź Voivodeship after the German occupation of Poland. |
| Gau name | German name | Capital | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baden | Baden | Strasbourg (Straßburg) | Formed out of the Gaue of Baden and Alsace, formerly part of Alsace-Lorraine. |
| Moselland | Moselland | Koblenz | Formed out of the pre-war Gau Koblenz-Trier and Luxembourg. |
| West March | Westmark | Saarbrücken | Formed out of the Bavarian Rhine Palatinate, the former Territory of the Saar Basin, and parts of Lorraine that were a component of Alsace-Lorraine. |
| Gau name | German name | Capital | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Banat/Prince-Eugene-Land | Banat / Prinz-Eugen-Land | Belgrade (Belgrad, or to be renamed to Prinz-Eugen-Stadt) | To be formed out of the Yugoslavian territories of Bačka , Syrmia, and Banat, parts of Transylvania (Siebenbürgen) and Baranya. To be named for Prince Eugene of Savoy (1663–1736), Austrian general who had a famous victory at the Siege of Belgrade (1688). |
| Beskidland | Beskidenland | Kraków (Krakau) | To be formed out of the southern parts of conquered Poland between the area west of Kraków to the San river in the east. It was to substantially correspond to the upper Vistula river basin. It was to be almost identical in size to Weichselland and Galizien . Named for the Beskids mountain range. |
| Brabant | Brabant | Not specified. | To be formed out of central parts of Belgium. |
| Burgundy | Burgund | Nancy (Nanzig) or Geneva (Genf) [2] or Dijon [3] | To be formed out of the territories of eastern France (excluding Alsace-Lorraine and Nord-Pas-de-Calais ) that were to be annexed into Germany after the war. Also to be included to the Reichsgau were parts of Western Switzerland. |
| Galicia | Galizien | Lviv (Lemberg) | Corresponding to the Podolian plain. It was to be almost identical in size to Beskidenland and Weichselland. |
| Gothland | Gotenland | Simferopol (to be renamed to Gotenburg) | To be formed out of the Crimean peninsula and large parts of mainland Ukraine. Named for the Goths. |
| North March | Nordmark | Not specified. | To be formed out of Denmark. |
| Vandalland | Vandalenland | Not specified, probably Litzmannstadt (Łódź). | To be formed out of part or all of the area of the General Government. Named for the Vandals. |
| Vistulaland | Weichselland | Warsaw (Warschau) | To be formed out of the middle Vistula river basin. It was to be almost identical in size to Beskidenland and Galizien. |
| Westland/Holland | Westland / Holland | Not specified. | To be formed out of the Netherlands after its intended annexation into Germany. |
The Reichsgau Wartheland was a Nazi German Reichsgau formed from parts of Polish territory annexed in 1939 during World War II. It comprised the region of Greater Poland and adjacent areas. Parts of Warthegau matched the similarly named pre-Versailles Prussian province of Posen. The name was initially derived from the capital city, Posen (Poznań), and later from the main river, Warthe (Warta).
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.
Reichsgau Danzig-West Prussia was an administrative division of Nazi Germany created on 8 October 1939 from annexed territory of the Free City of Danzig, the Greater Pomeranian Voivodship, and the Regierungsbezirk West Prussia of Gau East Prussia.
Ostmark was a name that referred historically to the Margraviate of Austria, a medieval frontier march. It was also used in Nazi propaganda from 1938 to 1942 to refer to the formerly independent Federal State of Austria after the Anschluss with Nazi Germany. From the Anschluss until 1939, the official name used was Land Österreich.
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.
Joseph Bürckel was a German Nazi politician and a member of the German parliament. He was an early member of the Nazi Party and was influential in the rise of the National Socialist movement. He played a central role in the German acquisition of the Saarland and Austria. He held the posts of Gauleiter and Reichsstatthalter in both Gau Westmark and Reichsgau Vienna.
Friedrich W. Rainer was an Austrian Nazi politician, Gauleiter as well as a Reichsstatthalter of Salzburg and Carinthia. He is the only Austrian governor who has ever held the same office in two separate states.
The Gaue, also known as 'Hitler zones', were the main administrative divisions of Nazi Germany from 1934 to 1945.
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.
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The Reichsgau Styria was an administrative division of Nazi Germany consisting of areas in Styria, Lower Styria and southern parts of Burgenland. It existed from 1938 to 1945.
The Reichsgau Carinthia was an administrative division of Nazi Germany in Carinthia and East Tyrol and Upper Carniola in Slovenia. It existed from 1938 to 1945.
The Reichsgau Upper Danube was an administrative division of Nazi Germany, created after the Anschluss in 1938 and dissolved in 1945. It consisted of what is today Upper Austria, parts of Southern Bohemia, and a small part of the Salzkammergut which was annexed from Styria.
The Reichsgau Vienna was an administrative division of Nazi Germany based in Vienna, Austria. It existed between 1938 and 1945. Parts of Lower Austria were annexed to establish Greater Vienna, which then became the biggest city of Nazi Germany by area.
The Reichsgau Lower Danube was an administrative division of Nazi Germany consisting of areas in Lower Austria, Burgenland, southeastern parts of Bohemia, southern parts of Moravia, later expanded with Devín and Petržalka. It existed between 1938 and 1945.
The Reichsgau Tyrol-Vorarlberg was an administrative division of Nazi Germany consisting of Vorarlberg and North Tyrol. It existed from 1938 to 1945. It did not include East Tyrol (Lienz), which was instead part of Reichsgau Carinthia.
The Reichsgau Salzburg was an administrative division of Nazi Germany in Salzburg, Austria. It existed between 1938 and 1945.
The Reichsgau Sudetenland was an administrative division of Nazi Germany from 1939 to 1945. It comprised the northern part of the Sudetenland territory, which was annexed from Czechoslovakia according to the 30 September 1938 Munich Agreement. The Reichsgau was headed by the former Sudeten German Party leader, now Nazi Party functionary Konrad Henlein as Gauleiter and Reichsstatthalter. From October 1938 to May 1939, it was the regional subdivision of the Nazi Party in that area, also under Henlein's leadership. The administrative capital was Reichenberg (Liberec).
Chief of Civil Administration was an office introduced in Nazi Germany, operational during World War II. Its task was to administer civil issues according to occupation law, with the primary purpose being the support of the military command in the operational areas of the German Army. CdZ would pass his authority to a corresponding civil government after the territory in question became in the rear of the operating armed forces.