A Gauleiter (ˈɡaʊlaɪtɐ) was a regional leader of the Nazi Party (NSDAP) who served as the head of a Gau or Reichsgau. Gauleiter was the third-highest rank in the Nazi political leadership, subordinate only to Reichsleiter and to the Führer himself. The position was effectively abolished with the fall of the Nazi regime on 8 May 1945.
The first use of the term Gauleiter by the Nazi Party was in 1925 around the time Adolf Hitler re-founded the Party on 27 February, after the lifting of the ban that had been imposed on it in the aftermath of the Beer Hall Putsch of 9 November 1923. The word can be singular or plural in German usage, depending on its context, and derives from the German words Gau and leiter (leader). The word Gau is an old term for a region of the German Reich (Empire). The Frankish Realm and the Holy Roman Empire were both subdivided into Gaue (the plural form of Gau) which corresponds roughly with the English word "shire." It is still in use today as a generic component in the names of some regions mainly in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Belgium. (see: Gau Legacy).
In its formative years, local political activists organized the Party at the municipal level in their home areas. In effect, they were self-selected or had won out in local struggles for control. Though they were required to be approved by Hitler, this was usually a formality in these early years when he was still banned from speaking throughout most of Germany and had to rely on these home-grown leaders to organize the Party at the grass roots. In fact, it was not uncommon for local branch leaders to be selected by the Party members themselves. This was not officially prohibited by Hitler until 1929. By creating the position of Gauleiter, Hitler provided a means for him to exert more direct control over the local Party organizations. The Gauleiter was placed in charge of a specified geographical jurisdiction consisting of several Ortsgruppe (Local Groups).
The Gaue did not necessarily mirror the existing administrative or electoral divisions within the Weimar Republic.
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Adolf Hitler (ˈaːdɔlf ˈhɪtlɐ; 20 April 1889 - 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Germany from 1933 until his suicide in 1945. He rose to power as the leader of the Nazi Party, becoming the chancellor in 1933 and then taking the title of Führer und Reichskanzler in 1934. During his dictatorship, he initiated World War II in Europe by invading Poland on 1 September 1939. He was closely involved in military operations throughout the war and was central to the perpetration of the Holocaust, the genocide of about six million Jews and millions of other victims.
(ˈʁaɪçskɔmɪsaːɐ̯, rendered as "Commissioner of the Empire", "Reich Commissioner" or "Imperial Commissioner"), in German history, was an official gubernatorial title used for various public offices during the period of the German Empire and Nazi Germany. In the unified German Empire (after 1871), Reichskommissars were appointed to oversee special tasks. For instance, there was a Reichskommissar for emigration (Reichskommissar für das Auswanderungswesen) in Hamburg.
The Anschluss (ˈʔanʃlʊs, or Anschluß, joining), also known as the Anschluß Österreichs (, Annexation of Austria), was the annexation of the Federal State of Austria into the German Reich on 12 March 1938. The idea of an Anschluss (a united Austria and Germany that would form a "Greater Germany") began after the unification of Germany excluded Austria and the German Austrians from the Prussian-dominated German Empire in 1871.