- Gau Bayreuth
Infobox Former Subdivision
conventional_long_name = Gau Bayreuth
common_name = Gau Bayreuth
subdivision =
image_map_caption = Map ofNazi Germany showing its administrative subdivisions, the "Gaue" and "Reichsgaue"
national_anthem=
capital =Bayreuth
stat_area1=
stat_year1 = 17 May 1939 [ [http://www.statistik.bayern.de/ Bayrisches Landesamt für Statistik] accessed:26 June 2008 ]
stat_pop1 = 2,220,873
p1= Bavaria
flag_p1 = Flag of Bavaria (lozengy).svg
s1 = Bavaria
flag_s1 = Flag of Bavaria (lozengy).svg
event_start = Establishment
year_start = 1933
event_end = Disestablishment
year_end = 1945
event1 =
date_event1 =30 January 1933
event2 =
date_event2 =8 May 1945
pol_subdiv =
title_leader =Gauleiter
leader1 =Hans Schemm
year_leader1 = 1933 - 1935
leader2 =Fritz Wächtler
year_leader2 = 1935 - 1945
leader3 =Ludwig Ruckdeschel
year_leader3 = 1945The Gau Bayreuth, until 1942 named "Gau Bayerische Ostmark" (English:"Gau Bavarian Eastern March"), was an administrative division of
Nazi Germany inLower Bavaria ,Upper Palatinate andUpper Franconia ,Bavaria from 1933 to 1945. Previous to that, since 1926, it was the regional subdivision of theNazi Party in this region.History
The "Gau Bayerische Ostmark" was formed in 1933, when Hans Schemm united the three "Gaue" of "Oberpfalz", "Niederbayern" and "Oberfranken" into one in an internal power struggle. The term "Bayerische Ostmark" was coined after the
First World War for the region to refer to the fact that the area now bordered the newCzechoslovakia , a country perceived as hostile toGermany . The term "Mark" (English:"March") was historically used inImperial Germany for border regions to hostile neighbors [ [http://www.historisches-lexikon-bayerns.de/artikel/artikel_44426 Bayerische Ostmark, 1933-45] (in German) Historisches Lexikon Bayerns, accessed:27 june 2008 ] .It was the only one of the Bavarian "Gaue" to incorporate more then one "
Regierungsbezirk ", covering three of them.Hans Schemm lead the "Gau" until his death in a plane accident in 1935, his successor, Fritz Wächtler, could not muster the same popularity with the population of the region.
After the occupation of Czechoslovakia, parts of this country were incorporated in the "Gau".
From 1938, the "Gau" was also home to the
Flossenbürg concentration camp and its many subcamps.Due to the fact that the "Gau Bayerische Ostmark" was not a border region anymore, it was renamed into "Gau Bayreuth" in 1942.
Wächtler was shot on orders of Hitler, having left his capital Bayreuth in April 1945. He was replaced by Ludwig Ruckdeschel, whose reign until the surrender of Nazi Germany remained very brief [ [http://www.historisches-lexikon-bayerns.de/artikel/artikel_44426 Bayerische Ostmark, 1933-45] (in German) Historisches Lexikon Bayerns, accessed:
27 june 2008 ] .Gauleiter
*
Hans Schemm - September 1928 to 5 March 1935
*Fritz Wächtler - 5 December 1935 to 19 April 1945
*Ludwig Ruckdeschel - 19 April 1945 to May 1945Ludwig Ruckdeschel was also the deputy "Gauleiter" from 1 February 1933 to June 1941. In this position, he lead the "Gau" from Hans Schemm's death to the appointment of Fritz Wächtler in 1935. After Wächtler's execution for defeatism by an "
SS " squad in 1945, he became "Gauleiter" himself [ [http://www.geocities.com/~orion47/NSDAP/GauBayreuth.html GAULEITER - Gau Bayreuth] accessed:27 June 2008 ] .ee also
*
List of Gaue of Nazi Germany
*List of subcamps of Flossenbürg ources
* [http://www.shoa.de/content/view/544/41/ Shoa.de - List of Gaue and Gauleiter] (in German)
* [http://www.dhm.de/lemo/html/nazi/innenpolitik/gaue/ Die NS Gaue] (in German)Deutsches Historisches Museum website
* [http://www.verwaltungsgeschichte.de/gau_abc.html Die Gaue der NSDAP] (in German)References
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