Reichsgau Danzig-West Prussia

Reichsgau Danzig-West Prussia
Name	Reichsgau Danzig-West Prussia
Native name	Reichsgau Danzig-Westpreußen
Status	Administrative division of Nazi Germany
Capital	Danzig
Established	1939
Abolished	1945
Area km2	approx. 25,000
Population	approx. 1.5–2 million (1939)
Leader	Arthur Greiser

Reichsgau Danzig-West Prussia was an administrative subdivision created after the 1939 Invasion of Poland by the Nazi Party leadership to incorporate the Free City of Danzig, parts of the Pomeranian Voivodeship (1919–1939), and sections of the Poznań Voivodeship (1921–1939), including the former West Prussia. It was headed by the Gauleiter Arthur Greiser and integrated into the Third Reich administrative system, becoming a focal point for Generalplan Ost-related policies, population transfers, and wartime operations involving the Wehrmacht, SS, and Gestapo.

History

The entity was formed in October 1939 after Fall Weiss and formalized under the Reichsgau system, following orders from Adolf Hitler, Hermann Göring, and the Reich Ministry of the Interior. Its establishment followed the annexation of the Free City of Danzig and the conquest of Poland, displacing the Second Polish Republic administration and affecting territories formerly part of the German Empire and the Weimar Republic border settlements. The region became subject to policies drafted by Heinrich Himmler, Reich Ministry for the Occupied Eastern Territories, and ideological planners linked to Alfred Rosenberg and the Nazi racial state. Throughout 1939–1945 it experienced directives from the NSDAP central leadership, coordination with the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht and interactions with civil authorities including the Reichskommissariat bureaucracies.

Geography and Administration

Geographically the area encompassed urban centers such as Danzig (Gdańsk), Marienwerder (Kwidzyn), Marienburg (Malbork), Dirschau (Tczew), and Inowrocław (Hohensalza), coastal zones on the Baltic Sea including the Vistula Delta, and inland plains adjoining Pomerania and Greater Poland. Administrative organization mirrored Gau structures with subdivisions into Kreise and Stadtkreise, overseen by the Gauleiter and local officials tied to the NSDAP hierarchy, the Prussian State Ministry, and institutions like the Reich Ministry of Food and Agriculture for land management. Infrastructure administration intersected with agencies such as the Deutsche Bahn, the Reichsbahn, and port authorities at Gdańsk Shipyard, while cultural institutions faced directives from the Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda under Joseph Goebbels.

Demographics and Society

Population statistics included diverse communities: ethnic Germans, Poles, Kashubians, and Jewish communities in Danzig, Bromberg (Bydgoszcz), and Elbing (Elbląg), as recorded by prewar censuses influenced by the Treaty of Versailles border changes. Social life was reshaped by policies from Reich Ministry of Labor, Volksdeutsche Mittelstelle, and settlement actions promoted by SS Race and Settlement Main Office (RuSHA), affecting families, churches like the Catholic Church in Poland and Evangelical Church in Prussia, trade unions dissolved under the German Labour Front, and educational institutions restructured to align with curricula from the National Socialist Teachers League and directives of the Reich Ministry of Science, Education and Culture.

Economy and Infrastructure

Economic activity combined maritime trade via Port of Gdańsk, agriculture in the Vistula Delta, and industry in towns linked to firms formerly part of the German steel industry and shipbuilding sectors connected to suppliers for the Kriegsmarine and Reichsbahn logistics. Agricultural policies were influenced by the Reich Food Estate and land seizures implemented alongside Agricultural Law measures, while labor mobilization drew on conscription by the Organisation Todt and forced labor programs coordinated with the Arbeitsamt and SS Economic and Administrative Main Office (WVHA). Transportation networks included the Vistula waterways, rail links to Stettin (Szczecin) and Berlin, and roads integrated into the Reichsautobahn and military supply routes used during campaigns such as Operation Barbarossa.

Nazi Policies and Persecution

Policies enacted included forced Germanization, deportations, property expropriation, and targeted extermination campaigns spearheaded by SS, SD, and Gestapo units under Himmler’s authority, including operations tied to the Intelligenzaktion and later the AB-Aktion. Jewish populations were subjected to ghettoization, deportation to extermination camps run by Waffen-SS and Schutzstaffel elements, and killings linked to Operation Reinhard and the Holocaust. Polish intelligentsia, clergy, and activists faced arrest and execution by units associated with the Einsatzgruppen and local German police formations, with many sent to concentration camps such as Stutthof and Auschwitz. Forced resettlement involved agencies like the Reich Main Security Office (RSHA) and coordination with Generalplan Ost planners, while resistance from groups connected to Armia Krajowa and other Polish underground movements provoked reprisals.

Military and Wartime Events

The area was an early theater following Battle of Westerplatte and urban incidents such as the Bromberg Bloody Sunday narratives that were used in propaganda by Joseph Goebbels and the OKW. Military presence included garrison units of the Wehrmacht, naval activity by the Kriegsmarine in the Bay of Gdansk, and anti-partisan operations by SS-Totenkopfverbände elements. The region experienced frontline shifts during the Soviet Vistula–Oder Offensive, with combat involving the Red Army, units from the 1st Belorussian Front, and defensive operations ordered by commanders tied to the Heer and Volkssturm. Urban destruction around Danzig, Gdynia, and Elbląg accompanied mass evacuations and refugee movements toward East Prussia and Germany.

Legacy and Postwar Aftermath

After 1945, borders were redrawn at the Potsdam Conference and administration transferred to the Provisional Government of National Unity and later the Polish People's Republic', with population expulsions overseen under agreements between Allied Control Council members and implemented through orders influenced by Article 13 of the Potsdam Agreement outcomes. Trials of officials such as prosecutions in Nuremberg Trials and local tribunals addressed crimes linked to leaders including Greiser, while memorialization occurred at sites like Stutthof Memorial Museum and cemetery commemorations coordinated by International Red Cross-linked organizations and Polish historical institutes including the Institute of National Remembrance. Long-term effects persist in legal restitution debates in European Court of Human Rights contexts, cultural heritage disputes involving Gdańsk Shipyard memory linked to Solidarity (Polish trade union) and historiography by scholars in institutions such as the Polish Academy of Sciences and universities across Gdańsk, Warsaw, and Berlin. Category:Administrative divisions of Nazi Germany