Gau East Prussia

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Gaue of the German Reich 1944

The East Prussia Gau was an administrative unit of the NSDAP .

History and structure

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

The Gau was created on February 1, 1926 under Bruno Gustav Scherwitz , who managed it until mid-1927 on behalf of Gregor Strasser . The Gauleiter of many years from 1928 was Erich Koch (October 1, 1928 - 1945), his deputy initially Georg Heidrich , who was deported to Pomerania in 1931 on charges of corruption, and then Ferdinand Großherr (approx. 1932 - April 8, 1945). Koch was the first Gauleiter to report the alleged elimination of the enormous unemployment to Adolf Hitler . In 1933 the Erich Koch Foundation was established, which financed projects but also served to enrich Koch. According to Nazi standards, Koch was also successful in bringing the administration into line and in fighting the political and ecclesiastical opposition: East Prussia was considered a "NS model district". In 1935 there was a power struggle between Koch and others; the SS leader and Königsberg Gestapo leader Erich von dem Bach-Zelewski collected hundreds of witnesses against him. Koch was transported to Berlin on November 26, 1935 and relieved of all his offices. But on December 22nd, Hitler reinstated Koch. With the war in 1939, Koch was appointed Reich Defense Commissioner for East Prussia ( Military District I). After the end of the attack on Poland , the West Prussian administrative district went to the new Reichsgau West Prussia on October 26, 1939 (from November 1939 Gau Danzig-West Prussia ). In addition, there was the administrative district of Zichenau (in Poland, Ciechanów ), which only comprised old Polish territory. After the start of the German-Soviet war in 1941, Koch became head of civil administration in the neighboring district of Bialystok , his permanent representative was the former Tilsit district administrator Fritz Brix . As the war continued, Koch was given responsibility for the deployment of forced laborers , whom he himself requisitioned as Reich Commissioner for Ukraine , and on November 25, 1944 for the Volkssturm .

At the state level, he was faced with the Reich Governor for Prussia and East Prussia, Hermann Göring , since 1933 . In the summer of 1933 the Gauleiter, like in many other Gau districts, was appointed Upper President of the East Prussian Province, blurring the boundaries between party and state. Hitler's personal advisor, Paul Hoffmann , was government president in the Königsberg administrative region from 1936 to 1941 . The governor of the province of East Prussia from 1928 to 1940 was the lawyer Paul Blunk .

The seat of the district capital was Königsberg (East Prussia) , Grosse Schloßteichstrasse 7. District inspector was Fritz Schlegel . From 1933 until he was excluded from the party in 1935, Max Klimmek was Gauamtsleiter for local politics. Gau speaker Ernst Duschön MdR rose to Gauwalter of the German Labor Front . The president of the Chamber of Crafts and SA leader Waldemar Magunia MdR was a regional economic advisor . In Nazi Dozentenbund was Hans-Bernhard von Grünberg 1935-1945 Gaudozentenbundführer in East Prussia . In 1937 he was made rector of the Albertus University in Königsberg , and in 1938 also Gauamtsleiter. From July 1, 1933 to June 1, 1937, the Eastern researcher Prof. Theodor Oberländer was Gauamtsleiter of the Grenzlandamt . A Gauführerschule existed in Rippen near Ludwigsort .

literature

  • Kurt Nestler: 10 years Gau Ostprueußen. Festschrift for Gautag 1938 of the NSDAP , Königsberg 1938
  • Christian Rohrer: National Socialist Power in East Prussia , ( Colloquia Baltica. Contributions to the history and culture of East Central Europe. 7/8). Academia Baltica (Ed.), Verlag Martin Meidenbauer, Munich 2005 ISBN 978-3-89975-054-6
  • Ralf Meindl: The politics of the East Prussian Gauleiter Erich Koch in the annexed Polish areas as an expression of National Socialist goals. In: Bernd Martin (ed.): Germany and Poland in difficult times 1933–1990. Old conflicts, new perspectives [= Niemcy i Polska w trudnych latach 1933-1990]. Rombach, Freiburg & Inst. Historii UAM, Poznań 2004, ISBN 3-7930-9392-1 and ISBN 83-89407-30-2 , pp. 101–115.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Address book 1940 p. 34
  2. ↑ Fig