Administration of Danzig-West Prussia 1939-1945
Encyclopedia
Danzig district / Regierungsbezirk Danzig
In 1939 the Free City of DanzigFree City of Danzig
The Free City of Danzig was a semi-autonomous city-state that existed between 1920 and 1939, consisting of the Baltic Sea port of Danzig and surrounding areas....
was annexed to Germany.
After a brief transitional period, its territory became part of the restored
Regierungsbezirk Danzig in the Reichsgau Danzig-Westpreussen ( the restored
Prussian Province of West Prussia
West Prussia
West Prussia was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1773–1824 and 1878–1919/20 which was created out of the earlier Polish province of Royal Prussia...
) and was divided over nine counties (Kreise):
- Berent County
- Danzig-Land (Rural) County
- Danzig-Stadt City County
- Dirschau County
- Elbing-Land (Rural) County
- Grosses Werder County
- Karthaus County
- Neustadt County
- Zoppot City County (detached from Neustadt County)
Governing Presidents/Regierungspräsidenten:
- 1940–1943 – Fritz Hermann
- 1943–1945 – Albert ForsterAlbert ForsterAlbert Maria Forster was a Nazi German politician. Under his administration as the Gauleiter of Danzig-West Prussia during the Second World War, the local non-German population suffered ethnic cleansing, mass murder, and forceful Germanisation...
As NSDAP party leader of Danzig, Albert Forster became leader of Civil Administration in Danzig in 1939 and remained the most powerful politician of this area until 1945.