Gau Moselland

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Party headquarters of the German Reich 1944

The Gau Moselland was an administrative unit of the National Socialist German Workers' Party (NSDAP). From 1926 to 1931 the area belonged to the Gau Rheinland , from 1931 to 1941 the Gau was named Koblenz-Trier .

History and structure

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

The Gau existed since June 1, 1931, when the previous "Gau Rheinland" formed in 1925 under Gauleiter Heinz Haake and since 1926 by Dr. Robert Ley had been led, on the initiative of the later Gauleiter Gustav Simon of the Gau Cologne-Aachen and "Gau Koblenz-Trier" emerged, which were initially subject to severe restrictions by the Allied occupation of the Rhineland . The Gau included the administrative district of Koblenz without Wetzlar , the administrative district of Trier and Birkenfeld (Nahe) , which belonged to the Free State of Oldenburg . The Upper President of the Rhine Province was responsible for the Prussian parts at state level, from 1933 this was Hermann von Lüninck , from 1935 the Essen Gauleiter Josef Terboven . The name Gau Moselland was given on January 24, 1941, when Luxembourg was de facto annexed to the German Empire. The district capital was Koblenz , which should increase to a population of over 100,000 through incorporation and construction work, but this failed. In 1933, the Gau had around 1.25 million inhabitants, the majority Catholic and living in rural communities. Gauleiter Gustav Simon MdR (1931 - March 1945), his deputy Fritz Reckmann MdR (1931–1945) was consistently. A Gauführerschule existed in the Gau training castle Weidtmansches Schlösschen in Koblenz-Metternich . The Gauzeitung was the national paper . A leading propagandist in the Gau was Albert Urmes . Josef Ackermann headed the important main office for local politics and was part of Simon's staff in Luxembourg.

In 1928 Simon became "District Leader" of the NSDAP for the Trier-Birkenfeld district, and in 1929 for the Koblenz-Trier district. In 1930 he became a member of the Reichstag for the Koblenz-Trier 21 constituency, which he held until 1945. In July 1933 he became a Prussian State Councilor. From September 1939 he was initially the representative of the Reich Defense Commissioner in Military District XII and from November 1942 until the end of the war he was Reich Defense Commissioner for the Gau Moselland. At the same time he was head of the civil administration (CdZ) in Luxembourg from 1940 to 1944 . On January 5, 1941, Simon announced that he wanted to set up both the party and its branches and affiliated associations in Luxembourg. With a decree by Hitler on January 24, 1941, the NSDAP Gau Koblenz-Trier was renamed "Moselland". A few weeks later, Ernst Wilhelm Bohle , the head of the NSDAP / AO , transferred the previous foreign organization national group Luxembourg to the Gau Moselland. This effectively removed the border between the Gau Moselland and the occupied Luxembourg territories for the party area. In 1942 the Gau Moselland covered an area of ​​14,500 km² with around 1.7 million inhabitants. From autumn 1944 Simon headed the Volkssturm in the Gau. In April 1945 he left his district and ended up in English custody in Paderborn in December 1945 by suicide.

Reckmann also held various offices at the Gau level; so he was Gau managing director, Gau treasurer and Gau organizational manager. From 1932 to 1933, Reckmann finally held the offices of NSDAP district leader for Koblenz-Stadt and district inspector for the district.

NSDAP district leadership

District leaderships of the NSDAP existed in

  • Ahrweiler, Altenkirchen, Baumholder, Bernkastel, Birkenfeld, Bitburg, Cochem, Daun, Koblenz-Land, Koblenz-Stadt, Kreuznach, Mayen, Neuwied, Prüm, Saarburg, Simmern, St. Goar, Trier-Land-Ost, Trier-Land- West, Trier-Stadt, Wadern, Wittlich and Zell / Mosel
  • from 1941 additionally in occupied Luxembourg Esch an der Alzette , Diekirch , Grevenmacher and Luxembourg.

See also

literature

  • Albrecht Tyrell : Führer thought and change of Gauleiter. The division of the Rhineland district of the NSDAP , in: VjZG 23, (1975), issue 4, pp. 341–374 issue archive online
  • Paul Dostert : Luxembourg between self-assertion and national self- surrender . German occupation policy and the Volksdeutsche movement 1940-1945 , Phil. Diss. Freiburg 1984.
  • "The party listens" , part: [vol. 1]., Situation reports and other reports from the SS security service from the Koblenz area 1937-1941 , Koblenz 1988 ISBN 978-3-922018-62-9
  • "The party is listening", situation reports and other reports from the security service of the SS, the Gestapo and other party offices in the Gau Moselland 1941–1945 / Part 1. 1941–1943; Part 2. 1944–1945, Koblenz 1992 ISBN 978-3-922018-86-5
  • Franz Maier: Biographical organization manual of the NSDAP and its structures in the area of ​​today's state of Rhineland-Palatinate , 2nd edition Mainz 2009 ISBN 978-3-7758-1408-9
  • The time of National Socialism in Rhineland-Palatinate , volumes 1 to 3. Ed. Hans-Georg Meyer and Hans Berkessel, Main 2000 and 2001 ISBN 978-3874394543

Web links

Single receipts

  1. Petra Weiß: The city administration of Koblenz under National Socialism . Diss. Fernuniversität Hagen 2011.
  2. Petra Weiß: Metternich in the Weimar Republic and in the Third Reich . In: Heimatfreunde Koblenz-Metternich eV / Petra Weiß (ed.): Metternich in the mirror of the centuries. Contributions to local history. Koblenz 2002, pp. 51-80