Gau Cologne-Aachen ( German: Gau Köln-Aachen ) is an administrative-territorial unit of the Third Reich , which existed from 1933 to 1945 in the north-central part of the Rhine province of Prussia . Prior to this, from 1931 to 1933 , it was a regional branch of the NSDAP in this region.
History
The Nazi Hau system was originally created at the NSDAP party conference on May 22, 1926 in order to improve the management of the party structure in Germany . After the National Socialists came to power in 1933, the Gau came to the place of German lands [1] .
They were led by Gauleiters , whose powers had increased significantly, especially after the outbreak of World War II ; there was practically no interference from the country's leadership. In addition to power, the Gauleiter also owned party ones, including he was engaged in propaganda activities and surveillance of unreliable persons, since September 1944 he organized the Volkssturm and the defense of the Gau [1] [2] .
The post of Gauleiter in Gau Cologne-Aachen was occupied by Josef Groe throughout the history of Gau [3] [4] . Groe attempted suicide at the end of the war, fled under a false name, was arrested in 1946 and sentenced to four and a half years in prison, but he never repented of his Nazi views and died in 1987 [5] .
The area of Gau was 7,100 km ², 2,300,000 people lived on its territory, which is indicated in the intermediate table of size and population in the list of Gau [6] .
Notes
- ↑ 1 2 "Die NS-Gaue" (German) // Deutsches Historisches Museum. - 2016 .-- March 26.
- ↑ "The Organization of the Nazi Party & State" // The Nizkor Project. - 2016 .-- March 26.
- ↑ "Übersicht der NSDAP-Gaue, der Gauleiter und der Stellvertretenden Gauleiter zwischen 1933 und 1945" (German) // Zukunft braucht Erinnerung. - 2016 .-- March 26.
- ↑ "Gau Köln-Aachen" (German) // verwaltungsgeschichte.de. - 2016 .-- March 26.
- ↑ "Josef Grohé (1902-1987), Gauleiter der NSDAP" (German) // Landschaftsverband Rheinland. - 2016 .-- March 26.
- ↑ "Gau Köln-Aachen" (German) // Landschaftsverband Rheinland. - 2016 .-- March 26. Archived October 22, 2016.