Gau Moselland

Gau Moselland
Gau of Nazi Germany
←   ← 1931–1945 →   →
Flag
Capital		Koblenz
Gauleiter
•	1931–1945	Gustav Simon
History
•	Establishment	1931
•	Disestablishment	8 May 1945
Today part of		Germany

The Gau Moselland, Gau Koblenz-Trier until January 1942, was an administrative division of Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945 in the Prussian Rhine Province and, from 1940 onward, the occupied country of Luxembourg. Before that, from 1931 to 1933, it was the regional subdivision of the Nazi Party in that area.

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] The Gau was established in 1931 as Gau Koblenz-Trier and, after the German conquest of Luxembourg in 1940, saw the annexation of the country. In January 1942 it was renamed to Gau Moselland, Mosel being the German name of the river Moselle.^[2]

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 Gauleiter 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][3]

The position of Gauleiter in Moselland was held by Gustav Simon throughout the history of the Gau while Fritz Reckmann served as his deputy during this time.^[2][4] Simon, unpopular even with many Nazi Party members because of his arrogance and nepotism, attempted to brutally suppress all resistance to the Germanisation of Luxembourg. He escaped and hid at the end of the war but was arrested by the British Army in December 1945 and was found hanged in his cell.^[5]

References

1. "Die NS-Gaue" [The Nazi Gaue]. dhm.de (in German). Deutsches Historisches Museum. Retrieved 26 March 2016.
2. "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 26 March 2016.
3. "The Organization of the Nazi Party & State". nizkor.org. The Nizkor Project. Retrieved 26 March 2016.
4. "Gau Moselland". verwaltungsgeschichte.de (in German). Retrieved 26 March 2016.
5. "Der 2. August 1900. Gustav Simon wird in Saarbrücken geboren." [On 2 August 1900. Gustav Simon is born in Saarbrücken]. landeshauptarchiv.de (in German). Landesarchivverwaltung Rheinland-Pfalz. Retrieved 26 March 2016.

External links

• Illustrated list of Gauleiter