Reichsgaue

Reichsgau, plural Reichsgaue, were large territorial divisions used by Nazi Germany during the Third Reich. They were created as part of the regime’s Gleichschaltung to reorganize the federal structure by merging former German states (Länder) with annexed or occupied territories, and they served as the main units of centralized administration and party control until 1945.

Each Reichsgau was governed by a Gauleiter, the regional head of the NSDAP, who wielded extensive authority over both party and civil affairs and reported directly to Adolf Hitler. In many areas an additional official, the Reichsstatthalter (Reich Governor), exercised state-level authority representing the central government. The administrative apparatus of the Reichsgaue integrated police, security services, and economic planning with the party apparatus, making the regions instruments for implementing Nazi policy, including persecution, wartime mobilization, and exploitation in occupied territories.

The boundaries and number of Reichsgaue evolved during the war as territories were annexed or reorganized. Notable examples include Reichsgau Wartheland (the Polish areas annexed in 1939), Reichsgau Danzig-West Prussia, and Reichsgau Sudetenland (territories of the former Czechoslovakia following the Munich Agreement).

Following Germany’s defeat in 1945, Reichsgaue were dissolved and their territories were reorganized under postwar administrative structures within the Allied-occupied zones. The Reichsgau system illustrates how the Nazi regime fused party and state power to govern annexed and occupied lands.