Reichsgau Danzig-West Prussia


Reichsgau Danzig-West Prussia was an [Reichsgau|administrative division of Nazi Germany] created on 8 October 1939 from annexed territory of the Free City of Danzig, the Pomeranian Voivodship">Pomeranian Voivodeship (1919–1939)">Pomeranian Voivodship, and the Regierungsbezirk West Prussia of Gau East Prussia.
Before 2 November 1939, the Reichsgau was called Reichsgau West Prussia. Though the name resembled that of the pre-1920 Prussian province of West Prussia, the territory was not identical. Unlike the former Prussian province, the Reichsgau included the Bromberg region in the south and lacked the Deutsch-Krone region in the west.
The province's capital was Danzig, and its population without the city was 1,487,452. The province's area was 26,056 km2, 21,237 km2 of which was annexed Danzig and Pomeranian territory. During the Reichsgau's short existence, Poles and Jews in that area were subjected by Nazi Germany to extermination as "subhumans".

History

The Prussian province West Prussia created from Polish territory annexed by Prussia in Partitions of Poland was dissolved in 1920, following the Treaty of Versailles. The bulk of it inhabited by Polish majority became part of the newly established Second Republic of Poland and was administered as Pomeranian Voivodship. The eastern remains of German West Prussia were attached to the Province of East Prussia as Regierungsbezirk West Prussia - a Regierungsbezirk being a German administrative subunit of a province comprising several counties (Kreise). The western remains of German West Prussia were merged to the German remains of the former Province of Posen and made a new province, Posen-West Prussia.
After the Nazis came to power in Germany, they reformed the administrative system by transforming the former German provinces and states into their Gau system in 1935 as a part of their Gleichschaltung policy.
In 1938, German Posen-West Prussia was dissolved and its former West Prussian territory was attached to the German Pomeranian Gau. Also in 1938, the Polish Pomeranian Voivodship was expanded southward to comprise the Bydgoszcz region. The resulting enlarged Pomeranian voivodeship was called Greater Pomeranian Voivodship.
When Nazi Germany invaded Poland in September 1939, this Greater Pomeranian voivodship was first made the German military district "West Prussia", and by a decree of Adolf Hitler on 8 October merged with the Free City of Danzig and the East Prussian Regierungsbezirk West Prussia, to form the Reichsgau West Prussia. The western remains remained outside and continued to be administered by the German Pomeranian Gau as Regierungsbezirk Grenzmark Posen-West Prussia according to the 1938 reform, while the Bromberg region stayed with Reichsgau West Prussia and was not attached to Reichsgau Posen, the later "Warthegau". The designation Reichsgau instead of just Gau indicates that the province primarily consisted of annexed territory. A Gauleiter of a Reichsgau was also titled Reichsstatthalter. Other Reichsgaue were e.g. Reichsgau Wartheland and Reichsgau Sudetenland.
The Free City of Danzig comprised the Nazi Party's Gau Danzig which had been established in March 1926. The Gauleiters of Gau Danzig were:
On 1 September 1939 at the start of the war, Germany immediately annexed the Free City of Danzig. Following the establishment of the new Reichsgau Danzig-West Prussia on 8 October, Forster was named Gauleiter and Reichsstatthalter of the expanded territory on 26 October.

Population

The Reichsgau was very heterogenous, like the territory, which comprised territory of the pre-war Danzig, of Germany and of Poland, the population amounted to 2,179,000 altogether, with 1,494,000 Polish citizens of mostly Polish ethnicity, 408,000 Danzig citizens of mostly German ethnicity and 277,000 German citizens of mostly German ethnicity. The German occupiers considered the Danzig and Polish citizenships as naught, due to the de facto abolition of these two states. Christian Danzigers and Christian Poles of German ethnicity were granted German citizenship, Jewish Danzigers, and Jewish Poles of which ethnicity so ever were denied the German citizenship. As to Christian Danzigers and Christian Poles of Polish ethnicity the acceptance as citizens was mostly denied, but under certain circumstances granted.

Extermination and expulsion of ethnic Poles and Jews by Nazi Germany

policy aimed at extermination of Jewish and Polish population. Mass-murder sites in the region include:
Nazi policy to exterminate the Polish and Jewish populations was conducted in several phases; the first stage occurred in September 1939. The main Nazi responsible for genocide conducted in the Pomeranian Voivodeship was Gauleiter Albert Forster, who was involved in the mass murder and ethnic cleansing of Jews and ethnic Poles and enlisted to his program, often under threat of violence, Polish citizens—descendants of Germanic settlers—whom the Nazis saw as Germans. Forster declared that Poles must be eradicated: "We must exterminate this nation, starting from the cradle."
The Reichsgau was the site of the Stutthof concentration camp and its sub camps where over 85,000 people were executed or died of illness, starvation or mistreatment. Of the 52,000 Jews who were sent to the camp only around 3,000 would survive.
During the Winter of 1939/40 between 12,000 and 16,000 people were murdered at Piaśnica by Einsatzkommando 16, units of the 36th Regiment of SS, and members of the Selbstschutz, a militia force made up of Poles of German ethnicity. The local Selbstschutz, under the command of Ludolf von Alvensleben, numbered 17,667 and before their disbandment in October 1939 had killed 4,247 people.
Commander of the Selbstschutz Ludolf von Alvensleben told his men on 16 October 1939:
Jews did not figure prominently among the victims in West Prussia, as the area's Jewish population was small and most had fled before the Germans arrived. However, in places where they were present, they were expelled and murdered in what was classified as "other measures" which simply meant murder. In areas where Jewish families or individuals remained, a "shameful situation" was proclaimed, and Nazi authorities expected the Selbstschutz to remedy it through "direct action". In August 1943 around 500 Jews from a camp in the Pomeranian Voivodeship were sent to Auschwitz, out of which 434 were immediately killed upon arrival.
It is estimated that, by war's end, up to 60,000 people had been murdered in the region, and up to 170,000 expelled. though other estimates place the figure at around 35,000. Forster himself reported that, by February 1940, 87,000 people had been "evacuated" from the region.
File:Danzig West Prussia Reichsgau.png|thumb|upright=1.1|Counties and districts, 1944

Administration

Danzig-West Prussia was divided into three government regions, with the name-giving capital cities of Bromberg, Danzig and Marienwerder.
In 1939 the Free City of Danzig was annexed to Germany. After a brief transitional period, its territory became part of the restored Regierungsbezirk Danzig in the Reichsgau Danzig-Westpreussen and was divided into nine districts :
Regierungsbezirk Danzig
Governing Presidents/Regierungspräsidenten:
The NSDAP gauleiter of Danzig, Albert Forster, became leader of Civil Administration in Danzig in 1939, as well as Gauleiter and Reichsstatthalter of the Reichsgau. He remained the most powerful politician throughout the war, until the area was overrun by the Soviet forces in March 1945.
The Wehrmacht established there the Wehrkreis XX, based at Danzig, under the command of

Cities and towns

German namePolish namePre-war
population
1.DanzigGdańsk250,000
2.BrombergBydgoszcz141,000
3.GotenhafenGdynia120,000
4.ElbingElbląg85,925
5.ThornToruń81,215
6.GraudenzGrudziądz59,200
7.ZoppotSopot31,000
8.MarienburgMalbork27,318
9.DirschauTczew25,398
10.MarienwerderKwidzyn20,484
11.KonitzChojnice16,975
12.Preußisch StargardStarogard Gdański15,356
13.Neustadt in WestpreußenWejherowo14,566
14.Deutsch EylauIława13,922
15.KulmChełmno13,452
16.KulmseeChełmża12,983
17.LeipeLipno County|Lipno]12,018
18.StrasburgBrodnica11,220
19.BriesenWąbrzeźno9,551
20.BerentKościerzyna9,499
21.RippinRypin9,100
22.SchwetzŚwiecie8,964
23.Czersk/HeiderodeCzersk 8,500
24.RiesenburgPrabuty8,051
25.LautenburgLidzbark7,783
26.StuhmSztum7,372
27.TuchelTuchola6,000
28.Löbau in WestpreußenLubawa5,791
29.Dobrin an der DrewenzDobrzyń nad Drwęcą5,694
30.KarthausKartuzy5,600
31.Krone an der BraheKoronowo5,560
32.PutzigPuck5,203
33.Neuenburg Nowe5,131
34.Neumark in WestpreußenNowe Miasto Lubawskie4,958
35.FordonFordon4,921
36.ZempelburgSępólno Krajeńskie4,481
37.Rosenberg in WestpreußenSusz4,480
38.VandsburgWięcbork4,350
39.PelplinPelplin4,218
40.TolkemitTolkmicko3,875
41.TiegenhofNowy Dwór Gdański3,851
42.SchöneckSkarszewy3,700
43.SchönseeKowalewo Pomorskie3,692
44.NeuteichNowy Staw3,652
45.ChristburgDzierzgoń3,604
46.Freystadt in WestpreußenKisielice3,351
47.MeweGniew3,500
48.GollubGolub3,297
49.Dobrin an der WeichselDobrzyń nad Wisłą3,207
50.Schönhausen/ImmenheimMrocza2,670
51.LessenŁasin2,541
52.LobsensŁobżenica2,506
53.RehdenRadzyń Chełmiński2,251
54.GarnseeGardeja2,003
55.GörzbergGórzno1,947
56.WirsitzWyrzysk1,898
57.BischofswerderBiskupiec, [Nowe Miasto County|Biskupiec]1,828
58.Kamin in WestpreußenKamień Krajeński1,523
59.Wissek/WeißeckWysoka1,509
60.FriedheimMiasteczko Krajeńskie1,218

Polish resistance

The Polish resistance movement was active in the region, both in the pre-war Polish and German-controlled parts of the region, with activities including secret Polish schooling, printing and distribution of Polish underground press, sabotage actions, espionage of German activity, smuggling data on German persecution of Poles and Jews and on German V-weapons to Western Europe and facilitating escapes of endangered Polish resistance members and Polish, British, French and Russian prisoners of war who fled from German POW camps via the port cities to neutral Sweden. In 1943, local Poles managed to save some kidnapped Polish children from the Zamość region, by buying them from the Germans during transport through the region. The Gestapo cracked down on the Polish resistance several times, with the Poles either killed or sent to prisons of concentration camps.

Post-war

In March 1945, the region was reclaimed by Poland, and the Nazi governor, Albert Forster, was later sentenced to death and executed for crimes against humanity. The German population either fled or was expelled in accordance with the Potsdam Agreement.