Gau Swabia
Encyclopedia
Gau Swabia was an administrative division of Nazi Germany
in Swabia
, Bavaria
from 1933 to 1945. Previous to that, since 1926, it was the regional subdivision of the Nazi Party in Swabia.
Swabia
.
(1892 – 1981), later an SS-Obergruppenführer, on 1 October 1928, when the Gau system in Bavaria was formalised, and remained under his control for the duration of the existence of the Nazi party, and later, Nazi Germany. Until 1930, Bavaria, as the heartland of the Nazi movement in the 1920s, was seen by Hitler as his personal realm, the local Gaue commonly being called Untergaue (English:Sub-Gaue), to show their dependence on the head of the party. Only when Hitler's ambitions turned national did his interest in Bavarian affairs dwindle. With the end of the internal power struggle, the following six Gaue had been established in Bavaria:
, the party immediately began to disassemble the power of the German states, the Länder. It was envisioned by the Nazis that the Party-Gaue would take the place of the old structure. In reality, Hitler was afraid of such a move, fearing it would upset local party leaders and could possibly result in an inner-party power struggle.
In Augsburg, the Swabian capital, the Nazis did not gain a strong foothold straight away, only having received 33% of the votes at the 1933 elections. Wahl even interceded with Hitler not to dismiss the mayor of Augsburg, unsuccessfully. Nevertheless, their rise to power there could not be stopped either and by 1941, the party had 39,000 members in the city.
Gradually, the Gauleiter
(English:Gau Leader) took control over their territories, reducing the local Minister Presidents, nominally the highest office in the German states, to figureheads. As such, the development of the Gau from a form of inner-party administration to a political and administrative sub-division of the country was gradual, not sudden, but completed by 1934. The process termed Gleichschaltung
took care of all political opposition and the Law concerning the reconstruction of the Reich from 30 January 1934 can possibly be seen as the final date for the transfer of power from the states to the Gaue.
In Swabia, a relatively small Gau, the local Gauleiter Wahl had to initially fend off attempts by his more powerful neighbor, Adolf Wagner
, Gauleiter of the Munich-Upper Bavaria region, to incooperate Swabia into his Gau. Wahl was actually the only one of the Bavarian Gauleiter not to have graduated from University. Unlike Wagner, who was a personal friend of Hitler's, Wahl wielded no real influence with the party leadership.
The Gauleiter was directly appointed by Hitler and only answerable to him. In practice, Hitler interfered little in the affairs of the local leaders and their power was almost absolute.
Parallel to the five Bavarian Gauleiter, a Bavarian Minister President still existed during this time, the Nazi politician Ludwig Siebert
and, after his death in 1942, his successor, Paul Giesler
. As a third authority in the still existing state, Franz Ritter von Epp held the office of Reichsstatthalter
but wielded no real power.
Swabia did not have a concentration camp within its boundaries but its close proximity to Dachau meant, that many of its subcamps were in the Gau. Swabia was also home to the Ordensburg Sonthofen
, an elite Nazi training facility.
As of 1938, Augsburg had around 900 Jews living within the city boundaries and was home to a magnificent Synagogue
, which was destroyed during the Kristallnacht
on 10 November 1938. It also had 200 Jewish men sent to Dachau that day. In the following years, the Jewish population of the city was graduatly deported to concentration camps, that of 3 April 1942, numbering 128 persons, being the largest deportation since the Kristallnacht. Outside of the capital, the Jewish population of Swabia was small, only Memmingen
and Nördlingen
having substantial numbers.
After the forced addition of Austria
to the Reich in March 1938, small parts of the former country were added to the south of the Gau Schwaben, specifically the Jungholz
region.
With the outbreak of the Second World War, the power of the Gauleiter, and therefore the power of the Gaue compare to the state government, increased. Many of the Gauleiter were put in charge of the war effort in their Military district
(German:Wehrkreis). Swabia, with its capital Augsburg
, was a vital place for the war effort, being home to the manufacturers MAN AG and Messerschmitt
. For this reason, Augsburg suffered heavily under allied bombing raids. Many of the companies in Swabia and Augsburg which were in some way involved in the war effort also used slave labour to be able to continue producing. A large number of those died through exhaustion, mistreatment and allied air raids on the production facilities. A monument in Augsburg remembers those victims of the Nazi regime.
As the war progressed and Nazi Germany grew more desperate, the Gauleiter were put in total control of the war effort in their Gau from November 1942.
In September 1944, the Gauleiter were ordered to form the Volkssturm
in a last effort to mobilise all of the male population. The Gauleiter took up the position of Reichsverteidigungskommissar (RVK) (English:Reich Defence Comissiner), in competition to the Wehrmacht
. Wahl and the Gau Schwaben however came under the command of Paul Giesler, who was in charge of Swabia and three of the formerly Austrian Gaue.
In the last days of the war, Karl Wahl made no effort to prevent the hand over of Augsburg to the allies, shortly after he was arrested.
occupation zone
. Only Lindau
, at the very south-west of the Gau became part of the French
occupation zone. Political power, at first laying with the occupation authorities, was soon returned to the new Bavarian government. The Regierungsbezirk Swabia, never having formally been dissolved, took control of the civil administration of the region again. Its most pressing issue was the reconstruction of the destroyed cities and the refugee problem, nearly a quarter of the population of Augsburg after the war being refugees and displaced persons.
Karl Wahl, Gauleiter of Swabia for almost 17 years, only served a light sentence after the war and died in 1981, 88 years old.
, three sections of the SS and six sections of the Hitler Jugend.
The Gau Schwaben belonged to the military district Wehrkreis VII, which had its headquarters in Munich.
The highest position in the Gau, Gauleiter, was held by only one person during the history of the Gau Schwaben:
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Source:
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
in Swabia
Swabia (administrative region)
Swabia is one of the seven administrative regions of Bavaria, Germany.- Geography :Swabia is located in southwest Bavaria. It was formed out of the part of the historic region of Swabia which was annexed by Bavaria in 1803. It was once formally ruled by dukes of the Hohenstaufen dynasty. During...
, Bavaria
Bavaria
Bavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...
from 1933 to 1945. Previous to that, since 1926, it was the regional subdivision of the Nazi Party in Swabia.
Establishment of the Gaue within the party
The Nazi Gau (Plural:Gaue) system was originally established in a party conference on 22 May 1926, in order to improve administration of the party structure. In the early stages, the borders and leaders of these Gaue fluctuated frequently, mainly due to internal power struggles. The Gau Swabia was, for the most part, identical with the Bavarian RegierungsbezirkRegierungsbezirk
In Germany, a Government District, in German: Regierungsbezirk – is a subdivision of certain federal states .They are above the Kreise, Landkreise, and kreisfreie Städte...
Swabia
Swabia (administrative region)
Swabia is one of the seven administrative regions of Bavaria, Germany.- Geography :Swabia is located in southwest Bavaria. It was formed out of the part of the historic region of Swabia which was annexed by Bavaria in 1803. It was once formally ruled by dukes of the Hohenstaufen dynasty. During...
.
The Gau from 1926 to 1933
The Gau Swabia came under the leadership of Karl WahlKarl Wahl
Karl Wahl was the Nazi Gauleiter of Swabia from the Gau inception in 1928 until the collapse of Nazi Germany in 1945.- Early life :...
(1892 – 1981), later an SS-Obergruppenführer, on 1 October 1928, when the Gau system in Bavaria was formalised, and remained under his control for the duration of the existence of the Nazi party, and later, Nazi Germany. Until 1930, Bavaria, as the heartland of the Nazi movement in the 1920s, was seen by Hitler as his personal realm, the local Gaue commonly being called Untergaue (English:Sub-Gaue), to show their dependence on the head of the party. Only when Hitler's ambitions turned national did his interest in Bavarian affairs dwindle. With the end of the internal power struggle, the following six Gaue had been established in Bavaria:
- Gau Schwaben
- Gau München-OberbayernGau München-OberbayernThe Gau München-Oberbayern was an administrative division of Nazi Germany in Upper Bavaria, Bavaria from 1933 to 1945...
- Gau MainfrankenGau MainfrankenThe Gau Mainfranken , was an administrative division of Nazi Germany in Lower Franconia, Bavaria, from 1933 to 1945...
- Gau Bayerische Ostmark
- Gau Franken
- Gau Rheinpfalz
The Gau from 1933 to 1945
With the ascent of the Nazis to power on 30 January 1933, the so-called MachtergreifungMachtergreifung
Machtergreifung is a German word meaning "seizure of power". It is normally used specifically to refer to the Nazi takeover of power in the democratic Weimar Republic on 30 January 1933, the day Hitler was sworn in as Chancellor of Germany, turning it into the Nazi German dictatorship.-Term:The...
, the party immediately began to disassemble the power of the German states, the Länder. It was envisioned by the Nazis that the Party-Gaue would take the place of the old structure. In reality, Hitler was afraid of such a move, fearing it would upset local party leaders and could possibly result in an inner-party power struggle.
In Augsburg, the Swabian capital, the Nazis did not gain a strong foothold straight away, only having received 33% of the votes at the 1933 elections. Wahl even interceded with Hitler not to dismiss the mayor of Augsburg, unsuccessfully. Nevertheless, their rise to power there could not be stopped either and by 1941, the party had 39,000 members in the city.
Gradually, the Gauleiter
Gauleiter
A Gauleiter was the party leader of a regional branch of the NSDAP or the head of a Gau or of a Reichsgau.-Creation and Early Usage:...
(English:Gau Leader) took control over their territories, reducing the local Minister Presidents, nominally the highest office in the German states, to figureheads. As such, the development of the Gau from a form of inner-party administration to a political and administrative sub-division of the country was gradual, not sudden, but completed by 1934. The process termed Gleichschaltung
Gleichschaltung
Gleichschaltung , meaning "coordination", "making the same", "bringing into line", is a Nazi term for the process by which the Nazi regime successively established a system of totalitarian control and tight coordination over all aspects of society. The historian Richard J...
took care of all political opposition and the Law concerning the reconstruction of the Reich from 30 January 1934 can possibly be seen as the final date for the transfer of power from the states to the Gaue.
In Swabia, a relatively small Gau, the local Gauleiter Wahl had to initially fend off attempts by his more powerful neighbor, Adolf Wagner
Adolf Wagner
Adolf Wagner was a German soldier and high-ranking Nazi Party official born in Algrange, Alsace-Lorraine.He served in World War I as an officer in the German Army...
, Gauleiter of the Munich-Upper Bavaria region, to incooperate Swabia into his Gau. Wahl was actually the only one of the Bavarian Gauleiter not to have graduated from University. Unlike Wagner, who was a personal friend of Hitler's, Wahl wielded no real influence with the party leadership.
The Gauleiter was directly appointed by Hitler and only answerable to him. In practice, Hitler interfered little in the affairs of the local leaders and their power was almost absolute.
Parallel to the five Bavarian Gauleiter, a Bavarian Minister President still existed during this time, the Nazi politician Ludwig Siebert
Ludwig Siebert (politician)
Ludwig Siebert was a Nazi politician and Bavarian prime minister from 1933 to 1942.-Life:...
and, after his death in 1942, his successor, Paul Giesler
Paul Giesler
Paul Giesler was a member of the NSDAP, from 1941 NSDAP Gauleiter of Westphalia-South and as of 1942 also acting Gauleiter of the Gau Munich-Upper Bavaria...
. As a third authority in the still existing state, Franz Ritter von Epp held the office of Reichsstatthalter
Reichsstatthalter
The term Reichsstatthalter was used twice for different offices, in the imperial Hohenzollern dynasty's German Empire and the single-party Nazi Third Reich.- "Statthalter des Reiches" 1879-1918 in Alsace-Lorraine :...
but wielded no real power.
Swabia did not have a concentration camp within its boundaries but its close proximity to Dachau meant, that many of its subcamps were in the Gau. Swabia was also home to the Ordensburg Sonthofen
Ordensburg Sonthofen
The Generaloberst-Beck-Kaserne are barracks of the armed forces of Germany, the Bundeswehr, in Sonthofen in Oberallgäu.- History :The estate was built in 1934 as NS-Ordensburg Sonthofen by the German Labour Front for the NSDAP.Three NS-Ordensburgen existed:*Ordensburg Krössinsee, in...
, an elite Nazi training facility.
As of 1938, Augsburg had around 900 Jews living within the city boundaries and was home to a magnificent Synagogue
Synagogue
A synagogue is a Jewish house of prayer. This use of the Greek term synagogue originates in the Septuagint where it sometimes translates the Hebrew word for assembly, kahal...
, which was destroyed during the Kristallnacht
Kristallnacht
Kristallnacht, also referred to as the Night of Broken Glass, and also Reichskristallnacht, Pogromnacht, and Novemberpogrome, was a pogrom or series of attacks against Jews throughout Nazi Germany and parts of Austria on 9–10 November 1938.Jewish homes were ransacked, as were shops, towns and...
on 10 November 1938. It also had 200 Jewish men sent to Dachau that day. In the following years, the Jewish population of the city was graduatly deported to concentration camps, that of 3 April 1942, numbering 128 persons, being the largest deportation since the Kristallnacht. Outside of the capital, the Jewish population of Swabia was small, only Memmingen
Memmingen
Memmingen is a town in the Bavarian administrative region of Swabia in Germany. It is the central economic, educational and administrative centre in the Danube-Iller region. To the west the town is flanked by the Iller, the river that marks the Baden-Württemberg border...
and Nördlingen
Nördlingen
Nördlingen is a town in the Donau-Ries district, in Bavaria, Germany, with a population of 20,000. It is located in the middle of a complex meteorite crater, called the Nördlinger Ries. The town was also the place of two battles during the Thirty Years' War...
having substantial numbers.
After the forced addition of Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
to the Reich in March 1938, small parts of the former country were added to the south of the Gau Schwaben, specifically the Jungholz
Jungholz
Jungholz is a small town in the Austrian district of Reutte, Tyrol that is only accessible via Germany. It has a total resident population of 323 people in its 7 km². The lack of a road connection to anywhere else in Austria led to Jungholz being included in the German customs area until...
region.
With the outbreak of the Second World War, the power of the Gauleiter, and therefore the power of the Gaue compare to the state government, increased. Many of the Gauleiter were put in charge of the war effort in their Military district
Military district
Military districts are formations of a state's armed forces which are responsible for a certain area of territory. They are often more responsible for administrative than operational matters, and in countries with conscript forces, often handle parts of the conscription cycle.Navies have also used...
(German:Wehrkreis). Swabia, with its capital Augsburg
Augsburg
Augsburg is a city in the south-west of Bavaria, Germany. It is a university town and home of the Regierungsbezirk Schwaben and the Bezirk Schwaben. Augsburg is an urban district and home to the institutions of the Landkreis Augsburg. It is, as of 2008, the third-largest city in Bavaria with a...
, was a vital place for the war effort, being home to the manufacturers MAN AG and Messerschmitt
Messerschmitt
Messerschmitt AG was a famous German aircraft manufacturing corporation named for its chief designer, Willy Messerschmitt, and known primarily for its World War II fighter aircraft, notably the Bf 109 and Me 262...
. For this reason, Augsburg suffered heavily under allied bombing raids. Many of the companies in Swabia and Augsburg which were in some way involved in the war effort also used slave labour to be able to continue producing. A large number of those died through exhaustion, mistreatment and allied air raids on the production facilities. A monument in Augsburg remembers those victims of the Nazi regime.
As the war progressed and Nazi Germany grew more desperate, the Gauleiter were put in total control of the war effort in their Gau from November 1942.
In September 1944, the Gauleiter were ordered to form the Volkssturm
Volkssturm
The Volkssturm was a German national militia of the last months of World War II. It was founded on Adolf Hitler's orders on October 18, 1944 and conscripted males between the ages of 16 to 60 years who were not already serving in some military unit as part of a German Home Guard.-Origins and...
in a last effort to mobilise all of the male population. The Gauleiter took up the position of Reichsverteidigungskommissar (RVK) (English:Reich Defence Comissiner), in competition to the Wehrmacht
Wehrmacht
The Wehrmacht – from , to defend and , the might/power) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the Heer , the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe .-Origin and use of the term:...
. Wahl and the Gau Schwaben however came under the command of Paul Giesler, who was in charge of Swabia and three of the formerly Austrian Gaue.
In the last days of the war, Karl Wahl made no effort to prevent the hand over of Augsburg to the allies, shortly after he was arrested.
Aftermath
Almost all of Swabia, like the rest of Bavaria, became part of the USUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
occupation zone
Allied Occupation Zones in Germany
The Allied powers who defeated Nazi Germany in World War II divided the country west of the Oder-Neisse line into four occupation zones for administrative purposes during 1945–49. In the closing weeks of fighting in Europe, US forces had pushed beyond the previously agreed boundaries for the...
. Only Lindau
Lindau
Lindau is a Bavarian town and an island on the eastern side of Lake Constance, the Bodensee. It is the capital of the Landkreis or rural district of Lindau. The historic city of Lindau is located on an island which is connected with the mainland by bridge and railway.- History :The name Lindau was...
, at the very south-west of the Gau became part of the French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
occupation zone. Political power, at first laying with the occupation authorities, was soon returned to the new Bavarian government. The Regierungsbezirk Swabia, never having formally been dissolved, took control of the civil administration of the region again. Its most pressing issue was the reconstruction of the destroyed cities and the refugee problem, nearly a quarter of the population of Augsburg after the war being refugees and displaced persons.
Karl Wahl, Gauleiter of Swabia for almost 17 years, only served a light sentence after the war and died in 1981, 88 years old.
Other Nazi organisations in the region
The various departments of the Nazi organisation were by no means streamlined with the Gau system, but rather fiercely independent and competitive to each other. For example, while Bavaria was sub-divided in six Gaue, it was also divided in four sections of the SASturmabteilung
The Sturmabteilung functioned as a paramilitary organization of the National Socialist German Workers' Party . It played a key role in Adolf Hitler's rise to power in the 1920s and 1930s...
, three sections of the SS and six sections of the Hitler Jugend.
The Gau Schwaben belonged to the military district Wehrkreis VII, which had its headquarters in Munich.
Gauleiter
- Karl WahlKarl WahlKarl Wahl was the Nazi Gauleiter of Swabia from the Gau inception in 1928 until the collapse of Nazi Germany in 1945.- Early life :...
(1892–1981) 1 October 1928 to May 1945
Deputy Gauleiter
Second in charge were the Stellvertretende Gauleiter:- Mathies Kellner — 1934
- Franz Schmid — 17 March 1935 to 10 November 1937
- Georg Traeg — 15 December 1937 to 9 September 1942
- Anton Mündler — 1942 to 1945
Jewish population of the Gau Schwaben
The Jewish population of Swabia had remained relatively stable from the turn of the century to 1933. With the Nazis rise to power it declined through deportation and emigration. After 1939, few of those remaining would have had a chance to escape or even survive the Holocaust.
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- A KreisDistricts of GermanyThe districts of Germany are known as , except in the states of North Rhine-Westphalia and Schleswig-Holstein where they are known simply as ....
(English:District) is a German administrative sub-division, now ranking below the Regierungsbezirk in Bavaria. During the Nazi era it ranked below the Gau. At the head of each Kreis then stood a Kreisleiter, answerable to the Gauleiter.
External links
- The Nizkor Project — The Organization of the Nazi Party & State
- Picture of Karl Wahl in Gauleiter uniform Historisches Lexikon Bayerns
- Pictures of Gauleiter, including Karl Wahl Calvin College website
- The descendants of the Jewish community of Augsburg website dedicated to those Augsburger Jews who died during the Holocaust
- "The German Addressbuch" 1942 Names and addresses of the Nazi government of Bavaria with description of their tasks and duties in 1942
- Augsburg sightseeing (text in German) Pictures of places in Augsburg associated with the Nazis and Karl Wahl, including his grave
- Zwangsarbeiter in Einrichtungen der katholischen Kirche im Bistum Augsburg 1939–1945 (in German) Size: 4,74MB, Slave Labour in institutions of the Catholic Church in Augsburg 1939 to 1945, published by the Bishopric of Augsburg
Sources
- Shoa.de — List of Gaue and Gauleiter (in German)
- Die NS Gaue (in German) Deutsches Historisches MuseumDeutsches Historisches MuseumThe German Historical Museum , DHM for short, is a museum in Berlin devoted to German history and defines itself as a place of enlightenment and understanding of the shared history of Germans and Europeans....
website - Die Gaue der NSDAP (in German)