Gauselbstverwaltung der Reichsgaus Daniz-Westpreusen Namiestnik Rzeszy Okręgu Gdańsk-Prusy Zachodnie (Sygn. 263)

Districts of the Third Reich (Reichsgau), as the units of state administration were set up on the partial area of the German Reich pertaining the Law of Sudetes of April 14, 1939. Since then, they also became the units of the party and local administration. In virtue of the Hitler’s decree of October 8, 1939, the western and northern territories of Poland were incorporated to the German Reich. From the united territory of the Free City of Gdańsk (Danzig), a part of the East Prussia, as well as the northern part of Pomerania province, the Danzig-West Prussia Reich District was created, which was divided to three regencies: Danzig, Bydgoszcz and Kwidzyń. The Regent of Reich (Reichsstatthalter) was the organ of state authority of the Danzig-West Prussia Reich District, who also performed the duty of a party leader (Gauleiter). Albert Forster kept the position of a Regent of the Danzig-West Prussia Reich District almost all the time. He supervised the administration of the District, along with its finances, justice, propaganda and police, excluding the mail and railroad, which remained independent. The Regent, in the space of his duties, had a right to pass legal acts in a form of orders. His activity was completed with the fall of the Third Reich in 1945. The Reichsgau Danzig-West Prussia (German: Reichsgau Danzig-Westpreussen) was a Nazi German province created on 8 October 1939 from annexed territory of the Free City of Danzig, the Greater Pomeranian Voivodship (Polish Corridor), and the Regierungsbezirk West Prussia of Gau East Prussia. Before 2 November 1939, the Reichsgau was called Reichsgau West Prussia. Though the name resembled the pre-1920 Prussian province of West Prussia, the territory was not identical. In contrast to the former Prussian province, the Reichsgau comprised the Bromberg (Bydgoszcz) region in the South and lacked the Deutsch-Krone (Wałcz) region in the West. The capital of the province was Danzig (Gdańsk) and its population without the city was 1,487,452 (in 1939). The area of the province was 26,056 km2, 21,237 km2 of which was annexed Danzig and Pomerelian territory. During its short existence Poles and Jews living in this area were subjected by Nazi Germany to extermination as "subhumans."[Source: Information based on the description of the source Archives and Wikipedia]

Archiwum Państwowe w Gdańsku

Forms part of the Claims Conference International Holocaust Documentation Archive at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. This archive consists of documentation whose reproduction and/or acquisition was made possible with funding from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany.

Source of acquisition is the Archiwum Państwowe w Gdańsku, Poland, Sygn. 263. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Archives received the filmed collection via the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum International Archival Programs Division in March 2018.