Reichsgau Sudetenland
| Reichsgau Sudetenland | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gau of Nazi Germany | |||||||||
| 1939–1945 | |||||||||
.svg) Flag
 Coat of arms
| |||||||||
 Map of Nazi Germany showing its administrative subdivisions (Gaue and Reichsgaue). | |||||||||
| Capital | Reichenberg | ||||||||
| Government | |||||||||
| Reichsstatthalter | |||||||||
• 1939–1944 | Konrad Henlein | ||||||||
| History | |||||||||
| 30 September 1938 | |||||||||
• Reichsgau established | 15 April 1939 | ||||||||
| 8 May 1945 | |||||||||
| |||||||||
| Today part of |  Czech Republic | ||||||||
The Reichsgau Sudetenland was an administrative division of Nazi Germany from 1939 to 1945. It comprised the northern part of the Sudetenland territory, which was annexed from Czechoslovakia according to the 1938 Munich Agreement. The Reichsgau was headed by the Sudeten German activist Konrad Henlein in the rank of a Reichsstatthalter. The administrative capital was Reichenberg (Liberec).
History
In the course of the German occupation of Czechoslovakia, on 30 September 1938 the Heads of Government of the United Kingdom, France, Italy, and Germany signed the Munich Agreement, which enforced the cession of the Sudetenland to Germany. Czechoslovak representatives were not invited. On 1 October, invading Wehrmacht forces occupied the territory. The new Czechoslovak-German borders were officially fixed in a treaty on 21 November 1938. In consequence, the Czechoslovak Republic lost about one third of its population, its most important industrial area, and also its extended border fortifications.[1][2]
Initially, the German Army (Heer) established a civil administration under occupational law. On 1 October 1938, Konrad Henlein was appointed Reichskommissar of Sudetenland; however he did not assume power until 20 October.[3] The Sudeten German Party was merged into the Nazi Party, all other political parties were banned. The Czech population had to accept German citizenship or were expelled and forcibly relocated to the Czechoslovak rump state, which itself from March 1939 was occupied by Germany and incorporated as "Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia".
The Reichsgau was established by law of 25 March 1939, with effect from 15 April. The administrative structure was fixed on May 1. Smaller areas in the east, suchas the Hlučín Region, were ceded to the Prussian Province of Silesia, while the western and southern Sudentenland territories were attached to the Bavarian Gau Bayreuth as well as to the Austrian Reichsgaue Oberdonau and Niederdonau.
After Germany's defeat in World War II, the Czechoslovak state was re-established and the Sudeten German population was expelled.
The Theresienstadt concentration camp was located in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, near the border to the Reichsgau Sudetenland. It was designed to concentrate the Jewish population from the Protectorate and gradually move them to extermination camps and also held Western European and German Jews. While not an extermination camp itself the harsh and unhygienic conditions still reuslted in the death of 33,000 of the 140,000 Jews brought to the camp while a further 88,000 were send to extermination camps and only 19,000 survived.[4]
Gauleiter
- Konrad Henlein: 15 April to 8 May 1945
Administration
The Reichsgau Sudetenland was divided into three Regierungsbezirke. These were subdivided into 58 districts (Kreise), largely corresponding to the former Czechoslovak okresy:[5]
Regierungsbezirk Aussig
President:
- 1939–1945: Hans Krebs
Urban districts
Rural districts
- Aussig
- Bilin
- Böhmisch Leipa
- Braunau
- Brüx
- Dauba
- Deutsch Gabel
- Dux
- Friedland (Isergebirge)
- Gablonz an der Neiße
- Hohenelbe
- Komotau
- Leitmeritz
- Reichenberg
- Rumburg
- Schluckenau
- Teplitz-Schönau
- Tetschen-Bodenbach
- Trautenau
- Warnsdorf
Regierungsbezirk Eger
President:
- 1939–1940: Wilhelm Sebekovsky
- 1940–1945: Karl Müller
Urban districts
Rural districts
- Asch
- Bischofteinitz
- Eger
- Elbogen
- Falkenau an der Eger
- Graslitz
- Kaaden
- Karlsbad
- Luditz
- Marienbad
- Mies
- Neudek
- Podersam
- Preßnitz
- Saaz
- Sankt Joachimsthal
- Tachau
- Tepl
Regierungsbezirk Troppau
President:
- 1939–1943: Friedrich Zippelius
- 1943–1945: Karl Ferdinand Edler von der Planitz
Urban districts
Rural districts
- Bärn
- Freiwaldau
- Freudenthal
- Grulich
- Hohenstadt
- Jägerndorf
- Landskron
- Mährisch Schönberg
- Mährisch Trübau
- Neu Titschein
- Römerstadt
- Sternberg
- Troppau
- Wagstadt
- Zwittau
See also
- Gauliga Sudetenland, the highest association football league in the Gauliga from 1938 to 1945
References
- ^ "Die NS-Gaue" [The Nazi Gaue]. dhm.de (in German). Deutsches Historisches Museum. Retrieved 24 March 2016.
- ^ "Die Besetzung des Sudetengebietes 1938" [The occupation of the Sudetenland in 1938]. dhm.de (in German). Deutsches Historisches Museum. Retrieved 24 March 2016.
- ^ "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 24 March 2016.
- ^ "Theresienstadt" (PDF). yadvashem.org. Yad Vashem. Retrieved 13 April 2016.
- ^ "Reichsgau Sudetenland". verwaltungsgeschichte.de (in German). Retrieved 24 March 2016.
External links
