Gau Hessen-Nassau

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Gaue of the German Reich 1944

The Gau Hessen-Nassau was an administrative unit of the NSDAP , which existed from 1933 to 1945.

history

The region, commonly referred to as Hessian, was characterized by small and medium-sized principalities in feudalism. This structure was retained in the administrative units of Prussia and the German Empire . The main structure of the NSDAP, which was geared towards larger units of area, contradicted this small-scale structure. As in other parts of the empire, this led to multiple reclassifications of the districts in the Hessian regions.

precursor

NSDAP districts in 1926, 1928, 1933 (top row), and 1937, 1939, 1943 (bottom row)

The NSDAP began to organize itself from its local groups. In the later Gau Hessen-Nassau the local group Frankfurt, founded in 1922, gave the impetus for the establishment of further local groups. In the western parts of what would later become the Gau, this process was delayed by the fact that NSDAP activities were prohibited there until the beginning of 1926 due to the Allied occupation of the Rhineland . Another focus was the cities of Haiger, Herborn and Dillenburg in the Lahn-Dill area, where the Bund Wiking was active and SA groups were formed as early as 1923.

The Gaue, which were first formed in 1925, corresponded in their dimensions to the Reichtag constituencies , but in this case together to constituencies 19 (Hessen-Nassau), which also included the city of Frankfurt am Main, and 33 (Hessen-Darmstadt). The Gau (like the constituency association consisting of constituencies 19 and 33) therefore bore the name of Hesse . Frankfurt party functionaries dominated the Gauleitung throughout the "Third Reich", which led to conflicts with representatives of other local groups, especially in the early phase. Gauleiter of the Gaus Hessen were Anton Haselmayer (1925 - 22 September 1926) and Karl Linder (1 October 1926 - 1 March 1927).

On March 1, 1927, the Gau Hessen was divided into the Gaue Hessen-Darmstadt (congruent with the People's State of Hesse ), Hessen-Nassau-Nord (later Gau Kurhessen ) and Hessen-Nassau-Süd. Gauleiter of Hessen-Darmstadt were Friedrich Ringshausen (1927 - January 9, 1931), Peter Gemeinder (January 9 - August 30, 1931) and Karl Lenz (September 1931 - December 1932). The Frankfurt party functionary Jakob Sprenger became Gauleiter of Hessen-Nassau-Süd .

In the almost six years of its actual existence, the Gau Hessen-Darmstadt was characterized by almost uninterrupted leadership battles. At the end of 1932, Sprenger therefore took over management of the neighboring district under unclear circumstances. On January 1, 1933, the Gaue Hessen-Darmstadt and Hessen-Nassau-Süd were formally merged to form the new Gau Hessen-Nassau. From then until the end of the "Third Reich", the district comprised the state of Hesse , the Prussian administrative district of Wiesbaden (in the tradition of the Duchy of Nassau, which was independent until 1866, often equated with Nassau ) and the districts of Hanau , Gelnhausen and Schlüchtern of the administrative district of Kassel . In the months that followed, there were some internal disputes, until the new Gaufführung, which was dominated by Frankfurters, had prevailed against the functionaries from Darmstadt. On May 5, 1933, Sprenger also became Reich Governor of the People's State of Hesse .

Sprenger's synchronization offensive

Jakob Sprenger

Sprenger worked to equalize the state administrative structures to the party, to thereby, reach Party strategy of phasing implement and its own power to increase wealth. Possibly he also planned the annexation of the Gaus Kurhessen. In particular, he tried to bring the administrations of the Hesse-Darmstadt and Prussian areas together and, as elsewhere in the Reich, to link them to NSDAP institutions. These efforts as well as the subsequent disputes are related to the comprehensive territorial reform of the Reich announced in the NSDAP, which, however, at the express request of Adolf Hitler, was no longer actively pursued or publicly discussed after the takeover.

On June 5, 1933, Sprenger installed the control office for job creation in the Gauleitung, which was supposed to influence regional economic and labor market policy. At its head Sprenger put the party functionary and Frankfurt Chamber of Commerce President Carl Lüer . In the course of 1933 he downsized the government of the People's State of Hesse through various ordinances and personnel decisions.

Also by the end of 1933, Sprenger founded various institutions that were supposed to standardize economic policy, regional planning and, above all, chambers of commerce in the Gau area. A personal intervention by Prime Minister Ferdinand Werner with Hitler against the amalgamation of the Chambers of Commerce was ultimately unsuccessful. Sprenger urged Werner to resign on September 20, 1933. As a result, the Rhein-Mainische Industrie- und Handelstag was founded as an amalgamation of the formerly independent chambers of industry and commerce Limburg, Wiesbaden, Hanau and Frankfurt. Sprenger proceeded in a similar way by founding umbrella organizations in the areas of tourism, retail trade, newspaper publishers, hiking clubs, electricity companies, landowners and craftsmen, with the individual associations or companies initially remaining formally independent. He was supported by legislation at the Reich level, which aimed at weakening the old federal states of the German Reich.

Sprenger's foundations reached out in all directions beyond his district. Around the turn of the year 1933/34 there were therefore vigorous protests both by the political leadership of the neighboring administrative units and by the NSDAP Gauleiter from Kurhessen, Mainfranken and Baden. Also because of these disputes, Sprenger, who temporarily held a kind of spokesman function for the Gauleiter and Reich Governor, seems to have fallen in favor of Hitler at this time.

After the state government had been further weakened by the law on the rebuilding of the Reich of January 30, 1934 and after Sprenger and Werner's successor Philipp Wilhelm Jung had also fallen out at the beginning of 1935, Hitler appointed Sprenger on March 1, 1935 under the Reich Governor Act as head of government People's State of Hesse. This remained so until the end of the war in 1945. The previous deputy Gauleiter Heinrich Reiner became his state secretary in the Sprenger cabinet without any other ministers. With the dual function as party and government leader, Sprenger had achieved extensive power.

Dispute over Nassau

After the relationship with the Prussian province of Hesse-Nassau had been largely relaxed by then, from 1934 onwards Sprenger came increasingly into conflict with the local chief president, Prince Philip of Hesse , a close friend of Hermann Göring . The occasion was Sprenger's attempts to get some communities in the district of Frankenberg , which belongs to the Kassel administrative district and whose local NSDAP groups were part of his Gau, subordinate to him as Reich Governor in the general administration. In his role as Prussian Prime Minister, Göring clearly rejected this request by decree. Similar disputes due to inconsistent party and administrative boundaries occurred in the districts of Hanau, Gelnhausen and Schlüchtern, which also belong to the Kassel administrative district. From 1935 to 1939 Sprenger and von Hessen argued about the organization of state planning in the Rhine-Main area, which included territories from both areas of responsibility. Goering and Reich Minister Hanns Kerrl were also involved in the conflict . After this conflict had ultimately worked out in Sprenger's favor, Philipp began at the end of 1939 to relocate administrative structures from Wiesbaden to Kassel in order to remove them from the control of the Hessen-Nassau district. In the course of 1940 he even tried to get a law to completely concentrate administration in Kassel. After interventions by Reich Interior Minister Wilhelm Frick and senior officials in Hitler’s Reich Chancellery, the prince finally had to give up his plans in 1941.

On September 1, 1939, Sprenger was also Reich Defense Commissioner of Military District XII . Since the Wehrkreis coincided neither with the Gau nor with the civil administrative structure (even the Gau capital Frankfurt belonged differently to Wehrkreis IX ), this step further exacerbated the disputes over competencies. In addition, further conflicts developed with the Wiesbaden district president Friedrich Pfeffer von Salomon . As an official of the State of Prussia, he refused several times to receive instructions from Sprenger. On November 16, 1942, the Reich defense districts were adapted to the districts. Sprenger was thus commissioner of the Rhine-Main district, which was congruent with the Gau Hessen-Nassau.

Administrative adjustment in 1944

In the course of 1943, intricate negotiations took place in Berlin about a reorganization of the provinces of Saxony and Hesse-Nassau, which were to align the regional and administrative boundaries. At the same time, there were reform efforts in the structure of courts and postal administrations, among other things. On April 1, 1944, Hitler finally signed a decree that established the provinces of Kurhessen and Nassau in accordance with the existing Gau borders. In addition, the authorities of the upper presidents and regional presidents in these areas were merged. On July 1, 1944, Sprenger's appointment as senior president of the new Prussian province of Nassau followed .

Sprenger then set about merging the administrations under his control in Frankfurt: the functions as Reich Defense Commissioner and Chief President were located in Wiesbaden. The government of the People's State of Hesse, which he presided over as Reich Governor, was in Darmstadt. The seat of the district was Frankfurt. However, these attempts largely failed due to the resistance of Interior Secretary Wilhelm Stuckart and the soon approaching Allied troops.

Structures

The Gauleitung had its seat until 1940 in the Adolf Hitler House in Gutleutstrasse 8-12 in Frankfurt am Main, then on Börsenplatz (Rathenauplatz). Regional Inspector was Willi Stöhr , Gauschulungsleiter Franz Hermann Woweries , Gau Economics Adviser of the strong at the linearization involved Karl Eckardt , agricultural adviser to the agricultural politicians and SS man Richard Wagner . A Gauführerschule existed in Frankfurt am Main, and from 1937 also in Kronberg im Taunus . There were several party newspapers, e.g. B. the Darmstadt daily Anzeiger , the Hessische Landeszeitung and the Frankfurter Volksblatt .

Deputy Gauleiter were

  • Karl Linder (1928-1932)
  • Karl Linder (December 31, 1932 - March 15, 1933)
  • Heinrich Reiner (beginning July 1933 - June 30, 1937)
  • Karl Linder (July 1, 1937-1945)

literature

  • Wolf-Arno Kropat : The National Socialist seizure of power on January 30, 1933 in Wiesbaden and Nassau. In: Nassauische Annalen 94, 1983, pp. 245-277.
  • Adalbert Gimbel / Karl Hepp : That's how we fought! Descriptions from the time of the NSDAP's struggle in the Gau Hessen-Nassau , Frankfurt a. M. 1941
  • Dieter Rebentisch : The Gau Hessen-Nassau and the National Socialist Reich reform. In: Nassauische Annalen 89. 1978, pp. 128-162.
  • Stephanie Zibell: Jakob Sprenger (1884-1945). Nazi Gauleiter and Reich Governor in Hesse . Ed .: Hessian Historical Commission Darmstadt and Historical Commission for Hesse. Darmstadt 1999, ISBN 978-3-88443-073-6 .
  • Rolf Schmidt: The Gau Kurhessen and its Gau and district leaders in the 3rd Reich , BoD Norderstedt 2013

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. The name Hessen-Nassau no longer referred to a merger of Nassau with Hessen-Kassel , as in the case of the province of Hessen-Nassau, which had existed since 1866 , but with Hessen-Darmstadt
  2. ^ Frankfurt am Main, NSDAP Gauleitung Hessen-Nassau. Topography of National Socialism in Hesse. In: Landesgeschichtliches Informationssystem Hessen (LAGIS).
  3. ^ History of the house Gutleutstrasse 8-12
  4. ^ Kronberg im Taunus, Gauführerschule "Gauschulungsburg" Kronberg. Topography of National Socialism in Hesse. In: Landesgeschichtliches Informationssystem Hessen (LAGIS).