Gau Magdeburg-Anhalt

The Gau Magdeburg-Anhalt was an administrative division of Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945. Formed in 1926 as Gau Anhalt-North Saxony Province, it comprised the German state of Anhalt and part of the Prussian province of Saxony. It was renamed Gau Magdeburg-Anhalt on 1 October 1928. From 1926 to 1933, it was the regional subdivision of the Nazi Party in that area.

Gau Magdeburg-Anhalt
Gau of Nazi Germany
1926–1945
Flag

CapitalDessau
Government
Gauleiter 
• 1926–1927
Gustav Hermann Schmischke
• 1927–1935
Wilhelm Friedrich Loeper
• 1935–1937
Joachim Albrecht Eggeling (acting)
• 1937–1945
Rudolf Jordan
History 
1 September 1926
8 May 1945
Preceded by		Succeeded by
Free State of Anhalt
Province of Saxony
Saxony-Anhalt (1945-1952)
Today part of Germany

History

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. From 1933 onwards, after the Nazi seizure of power, the Gaue increasingly replaced the German states as administrative subdivisions in Germany.[1]

At the head of each Gau stood a Gauleiter, a position which became increasingly more powerful, especially after the outbreak of the Second World War, with little interference from above. Local Gauleiters often held government positions as well as party ones and were in charge of, among other things, propaganda and surveillance and, from September 1944 onward, the Volkssturm and the defense of the Gau.[1][2]

The position of Gauleiter was held by Gustav Hermann Schmischke from 1926 to 1927. He was succeeded by Wilhelm Friedrich Loeper from 1927 to 1935 until his death from cancer, followed by his deputy Joachim Albrecht Eggeling, who administered the Gau from 1935 to 1937. Rudolf Jordan was the Gauleiter for the remainder of its history from 1937 to 1945.[3][4] Jordan was sentenced to 25 years prison in the Soviet Union after the war but released in 1955 and died in 1988.[5] He published his autobiography about his time as Gauleiter and in captivity which showed no indication that he was willing to take responsibility for the events in Nazi Germany.[6]

References
  1. "Die NS-Gaue" [The Nazi Gaue]. dhm.de (in German). Deutsches Historisches Museum. Retrieved 29 March 2016.
  2. "The Organization of the Nazi Party & State". nizkor.org. The Nizkor Project. Retrieved 29 March 2016.
  3. "Übersicht der NSDAP-Gaue, der Gauleiter und der Stellvertretenden Gauleiter zwischen 1933 und 1945" [Overview of Nazi Gaue, the Gauleiter and assistant Gauleiter from 1933 to 1945]. zukunft-braucht-erinnerung.de (in German). Zukunft braucht Erinnerung. Retrieved 29 March 2016.
  4. "Gau Magdeburg-Anhalt". verwaltungsgeschichte.de (in German). Retrieved 29 March 2016.
  5. Hüttenberger, Peter (1969). Die Gauleiter: Studie zum Wandel des Machtgefüges in der NSDAP [The Gauleiter: Study to the changes in the power structure of the Nazi Party] (in German). Stuttgart: Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt. p. 215. ISBN 9783486703641.
  6. "Jordan, Rudolf". uni-magdeburg.de (in German). University of Magdeburg. Retrieved 29 March 2016.

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