The Regional Leaders (Gauleiter) were the highest-ranking regional ‘bearers of sovereignty‘ of the Nazi Party, who were responsible for the entire party machine in their respective territories and had supervisory and disciplinary powers for this purpose. However, due to the simultaneous ‘technical‘ subordination of numerous departments in the Gauleitung to Reich Leaders of the Nazi Party responsible for certain areas, the authority of the Gauleiter in their territories was not unlimited.
The party reform of 1928 created 31 districts in the Reich territory, based on the division of the Reichstag constituencies. Outside the territory of the Reich, there was a regional administrative division (Gau) in Danzig and a Gau organization in Austria. In 1933, ten Gauleiter were granted control powers over the states as Reich Representatives; two also held State Premier offices, and six were simultaneously ‘Oberpräsidenten’, i.e., administrative heads in the Prussian provinces (as of 1935). With the introduction of the ‘Reichsgau constitution’ in the annexed Austrian, Sudeten German and Polish territories, the Gauleiter also became heads of the state administration in their area as Reich Representatives. From the Nazi Party’s point of view, this construction was an anticipation of the new emphasis to be placed on the relationship between party and state administration after the end of the war.
The upgrading of the Gauleiter as part of the ’Reich defense‘ was aimed in the same direction: After the outbreak of war, 15 Gauleiter were appointed Reich Defense Commissioners, each responsible for the civilian defense of the Reich in a military district. In November 1942, all party districts were declared Reich Defense Districts, meaning 42 Gauleiter were now in office as Reich Defense Commissioners. During the war, the regional leaders also formed a personnel pool for special political assignments. The Gauleiter Josef Terboven, Hinrich Lohse and Erich Koch became Reich Commissioners in Norway, the ‘Ostland‘ and the Ukraine, Robert Wagner and Josef Bürckel served as heads of civil administrations in Alsace and Lothingen respectively, and Fritz Sauckel became General Plenipotentiary for Labor Deployment in 1942.
