Gau Düsseldorf

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Gaue of the German Reich 1944

The Gau Düsseldorf was an administrative unit of the National Socialist German Workers' Party (NSDAP). The Gau existed from 1930 to 1945.

History and structure

Gaue of the NSDAP 1926, 1928, 1933, 1937, 1939 and 1943

Until 1926, the area of ​​the Gaus, founded in 1930, which included large parts of the Lower Rhine and Bergisches Land , was a district of the Rhineland-North Gaus . From March 1925, this Gau was under the management of Axel Ripke (1880–1937) , who was based in Elberfeld . From the summer of 1925, the Gau managing director Joseph Goebbels (1897–1945) took over the de facto management of the Gau Rheinland-Nord, supported by Karl Kaufmann (1900–1969). From 1926 to 1928 the Bergisch-Niederrhein area was then part of the Gaus Ruhr . After the Gaus Ruhr was dissolved in 1928, the area was referred to as the "Bergisches Land / Niederrhein district" and was under the direction of Fritz Härtl (1892–1974). On January 1, 1930, this district was finally upgraded to Gau Düsseldorf. Friedrich Karl Florian (1894–1975) served as Gauleiter from August 1, 1930 until the US armed forces marched in in mid-April 1945 , Werner Keyßner (1903–1969) as his deputy in 1932/1933 , and from April 1933 Karl Overhues ( 1886-1972). Reich Organization Leader Gregor Strasser had designated him for this function on October 1, 1929. The district administration was supported by a district economic advisor. From 1932 to 1936 this was Josef Klein . With effect from July 1, 1932, the districts of Kleve, Geldern and Moers were separated from the Gau Düsseldorf and assigned to the Gau Essen in order to adapt to the existing Reich constituencies. The Gauleitung moved into Jägerhof Palace in Düsseldorf on January 30, 1937 , and the building of the Düsseldorf Higher Regional Court after a heavy air raid on June 12, 1943 , in which the palace was badly damaged . A Gauführerschule existed in the Welchenberg house near Grevenbroich . A Gau archive founded in Düsseldorf in 1933 was under the direction of Alfred Schubert . In 1941 the Gau had 2.25 million inhabitants. The Gau newspaper was called "Die Volksparole".

Stromstrasse No. 8 (1938)

The DAF administrative office was located in the immediate vicinity of the Düsseldorf harbor .

Since 1934, the Gau leadership developed ambitious plans for the expansion of the Gau capital Düsseldorf. To this end, it set up a “city planning company” at the city's expense. From 1939 to 1942 this was under the direction of the architect Gerhard Graubner , who in 1938 presented a general development plan for the expansion of the Gau capital. The plan for the “City of the Creative People” envisaged a monumental axis cross as a traffic hub in the middle of the historic Hofgarten , based on the model of the overall construction plan for the Reich capital Berlin . In addition, this plan suggested - following on from the Schlageter National Monument in the north of the city that was built in 1931 - large-scale development on the banks of the Rhine, including a new town hall on the banks of the old town, a new opera and a Schlageter Hall as the “cathedral of national self-confidence” an administrative seat of the Gauleiter with a tower several hundred meters high in the area of ​​the Rheinpark Golzheim . In the part of Düsseldorf on the left bank of the Rhine, a " power through joy city" was to be built with large hotel buildings. The plans went down in the chaos of war.

Breakdown

After the district areas were separated from Kleve, Geldern and Moers, the following NSDAP district leaderships were subordinate to the Düsseldorf district:

  • Bergisch-Land
  • Dusseldorf
  • Gladbach-Rheydt
  • Krefeld
  • Mettmann
  • Neuss
  • Solingen
  • Viersen-Kempen
  • Wuppertal

See also

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. Short biography of Florian in: Participants ( Memento of the original from March 5, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Website in the portal schaffendesvolk.sellerie.de , accessed on January 31, 2016  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.schaffendesvolk.sellerie.de
  2. Ralph Trost: A completely destroyed city. National Socialism, War and End of War in Xanten . Studies on the history and culture of Northwest Europe, Volume 11, Waxmann Verlag, Münster 2004, ISBN 3-8309-1413-X , p. 67 ( Google Books )
  3. Werner Durth : Düsseldorf: Demonstration of modernity . In: Klaus von Beyme, Werner Durth, Niels Gutschow, Winfried Nerdinger, Thomas Topfstedt (eds.): New cities from ruins. German post-war urban development . Prestel-Verlag, Munich 1992, ISBN 3-7913-1164-6 , p. 232
  4. ^ Hugo Weidenhaupt : Brief history of the city of Düsseldorf . Triltsch Verlag, Düsseldorf 1983, p. 176
  5. ^ Werner Durth: German architects. Biographical entanglements 1900–1970 . Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag, Munich 1992, ISBN 3-528-28705-5 , p. 198