Reichsgau Danzig-West Prussia | |||||||||||||||||
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Reichsgau of Nazi Germany | |||||||||||||||||
1939–1945 | |||||||||||||||||
Map of Nazi Germany showing its administrative subdivisions (Gaue and Reichsgaue) | |||||||||||||||||
Capital | Danzig | ||||||||||||||||
Government | |||||||||||||||||
Gauleiter | |||||||||||||||||
• 1939–1945 | Albert Forster | ||||||||||||||||
History | |||||||||||||||||
8 October 1939 | |||||||||||||||||
1 August 1945 | |||||||||||||||||
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Today part of | Poland |
Reichsgau Danzig-West Prussia (German: Reichsgau Danzig-Westpreußen) was an administrative division of Nazi Germany 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.[1] Though the name resembled that of the pre-1920 Prussian province of West Prussia, the territory was not identical. Unlike the former Prussian province, the Reichsgau included the Bromberg (Bydgoszcz) region in the south and lacked the Deutsch-Krone (Wałcz) region in the west.
The province's capital was Danzig (Gdańsk), and its population without the city was (in 1939) 1,487,452. The province's area was 26,056 km2, 21,237 km2 of which was annexed Danzig and Pomeranian territory.[1] During the Reichsgau's short existence, Poles and Jews in that area were subjected by Nazi Germany to extermination as "subhumans".