Gauleiters in the Third Reich

Discussion in 'Germany' started by Gerard, Apr 3, 2009.

  1. Gerard

    Gerard Seelow/Prora

    Gauleiters were Party leaders in the NSDAP or the head of a Gau, which is the term for a province as used by the Nazis.

    Whilst looking in the other thread it occured to me that there wasnt a list of Gauleiters on the forum. So here is the Wiki link to get us started. List of Gauleiters - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

    Feel free to post any info about Gauleiters here.
     
  2. Gage

    Gage The Battle of Barking Creek

    There are some horrible stories about the Gauleiters actions during the last months and weeks of the war.
     
  3. Drew5233

    Drew5233 #FuturePilot 1940 Obsessive

  4. Bodston

    Bodston Little Willy

    Gauleiter Fritz Sauckel turns up in this classic thread
    I think. :unsure:

    It is still my favourite thread on here though.
     
    James S likes this.
  5. Gerard

    Gerard Seelow/Prora

    The Eastern Gauleiters, and most certainly Erich Koch, were afraid of doing anything that might provoke panic when the Russians started to advance on their territory and so little or nothing was done about the evacuation of the Civilian population. Because of this, it was too late for many of the civilians to evacuate the combat areas and thus they ended up having to flee along winter roads at the mercy of the elements and the enemy. Most of the gauleiters were able to flee
     
  6. James S

    James S Very Senior Member

    Speer told of having problems with some of them when things turned , if he wanted to site war industry in their regions they tried to block him.

    Certainly some of them were cruel and self centred masters , the German people deserved better than these uniformed sychophants .( spelt right ??)
     
  7. Gerard

    Gerard Seelow/Prora

    Certainly some of them were cruel and self centred masters , the German people deserved better than these uniformed sychophants .( spelt right ??)
    Two words to Support James post: Erich Koch :huh:
     
  8. Heimbrent

    Heimbrent Well-Known Member

    James, would that be psychopath or sycophant? (not that it makes a huge difference in this case :S)
     
  9. James S

    James S Very Senior Member

    Heimbrent
    James, would that be psychopath or sycophant? (not that it makes a huge difference in this case :S)


    Kate , Sycophant - the spelling was wrong - thanks for the correction.
    I don't think you could call them psychopaths although when you look at some of them like Globocnik you have to wonder , many just conformed to the value system of the time.

    I wonder how many of them actually worked for the good of the people in their "Gau" ?
     
  10. Za Rodinu

    Za Rodinu Hot air manufacturer

    Picking your leaf up ;)

    Odilo Globocnik - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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    On November 9 1939 Himmler appointed Globocnik SS and Police Leader in the Lublin district of the General Government. After a disappointing party career, Globocnik now had a second chance in the ranks of the SS and the police. The following years proved what he was capable of.

    Globocnik was responsible for:

    * 1) Liquidating the Warsaw Ghetto, which contained about 500,000 Jews, the largest Jewish community in Europe and the second largest in the world after New York
    * 2) Liquidating the Bialystok Ghetto, which stood out for its strong resistance to German occupation
    * 3) Resettling a large quantity of Poles under the premise of ethnic cleansing.
    * 4) The network of Arbeitslager labour camps, both small and large in the Lublin district. He was also in charge of over 45,000 Jewish labourers.

    On October 13 1941, Globocnik received a verbal order from Himmler to start immediate construction work on Belzec, the first extermination camp in the General Government. The construction of three more extermination camps, Sobibór and Maidanek in the Lublin district, and Treblinka at Małkinia Górna, followed in 1942. All in all, Globocnik was responsible for killing more than 1.5 million Polish, Czech, Dutch, French, Russian, Slovak, German, and Austrian Jews and non-Jews in the death camps which he organized and supervised.

    He exploited Jews and non-Jews as slave labourers in his own forced labour camps, and was responsible for seizing the properties and valuables of murdered inmates while in charge of Operation Reinhard. Since 1942–1943 he also oversaw the beginning of the Generalplan Ost, the plan to expel Poles from their lands and resettle those territories with German settlers (see Zamość Uprising).

    Following Italian leader Benito Mussolini's downfall, and, having looted some of the stolen assets from the extermination camps, Globocnik was transferred from the General Government of occupied Poland to Friuli-Venezia Giulia in the German-occupied portion of Italy in September 1943 and was stationed in his hometown of Trieste. He was appointed Higher SS and Police Leader of the Operation Zone of the Adriatic Littoral.

    His main task there was combatting partisans, but again, he played a leading role in the persecution of Italian Jews. With the advance of Allied troops, Globocnik retreated into Austrian Carinthia and finally went into hiding high in the mountains in an alpine hut near Weissensee, still in company of his closest staff members.
     
  11. James S

    James S Very Senior Member

    Globocnik was most likely a psychopath or had many of the related traits , he served self interest first and had no reservations as to the means and the outcome of the means he employed.
     

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