Gauliga Generalgouvernement
Founded
1941
Disbanded
1945
Nation
Nazi Germany Nazi Germany Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
Country Country A country is a region legally identified as a distinct entity in political geography. A country may be an independent sovereign state or one that is occupied by another state, as a non-sovereign or formerly sovereign political division, or a geographic region associated with a previously...
Poland Poland Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
Region Region Region is most commonly found as a term used in terrestrial and astrophysics sciences also an area, notably among the different sub-disciplines of geography, studied by regional geographers. Regions consist of subregions that contain clusters of like areas that are distinctive by their uniformity...
General Government General Government The General Government was an area of Second Republic of Poland under Nazi German rule during World War II; designated as a separate region of the Third Reich between 1939–1945...
Number of Seasons
4
Replaced by
Region became part of Poland
Level on Pyramid
Level 1 German football league system The German football league system, or league pyramid, refers to a series of hierarchically interconnected leagues for association football clubs in Germany that consists of over 2,300 men's divisions, in which all leagues are bound together by the principle of promotion and relegation...
Domestic Cup
Tschammerpokal DFB-Pokal The DFB-Pokal or DFB Cup is a German knockout football cup competition held annually. 64 teams participate in the competition, including all clubs from the Bundesliga and the 2nd Bundesliga. It is considered the second most important national title in German football after the Bundesliga...
Last Champions 1943-44
Luftwaffen SV Mölders Krakau

The Gauliga Generalgouvernement was the highest football league in Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany

Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany

At the beginning of World War II, nearly a quarter of the pre-war Polish areas were annexed by Nazi Germany and placed directly under German civil administration, while the rest of Nazi occupied Poland was named as General Government...

 after 1939, which were not incooperated into any of the Gaue, the so-called General Government

General Government

The General Government was an area of Second Republic of Poland under Nazi German rule during World War II; designated as a separate region of the Third Reich between 1939–1945...

 (German:General Gouvernement). The name Gauliga is somewhat misleading in this case as the region was not part of the Gau system. The league existed from 1941 to 1945.

Overview

The Gauliga Generalgouvernement was as such introduced in 1941, but never actually became a proper league. It existed as a championship round for the four district champions of the General Government only, the four districts being:

• Krakau (Kraków)
• Lublin
  Lublin
  Lublin is the ninth largest city in Poland. It is the capital of Lublin Voivodeship with a population of 350,392 . Lublin is also the largest Polish city east of the Vistula river...
  
  
• Radom
  Radom
  Radom is a city in central Poland with 223,397 inhabitants . It is located on the Mleczna River in the Masovian Voivodeship , having previously been the capital of Radom Voivodeship ; 100 km south of Poland's capital, Warsaw.It is home to the biennial Radom Air Show, the largest and...
  
  
• Warschau (Warsaw)

Polish clubs were not permitted to take part in the competition, only clubs from the German ethnic minority, which made up about two percent of the overall population of Poland.

In the 1941-42 season, the four district champions played a one-game semifinal, with the winners reaching the final while the two losers played for third place. The winner of the final then went on to the German championship

German football champions

The German football champions are the annual winners of the highest association football competition in Germany. The history of the German football championship is complex and reflects the turbulent history of the country through the course of the 20th century.Brought to the country by English...

.

Little is known about the following season but the modus remained the same for the 1943-44 edition, suggesting it may have also been the same in 1942-43.

The imminent collapse of Nazi Germany

Nazi Germany

Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...

 in 1945 gravely affected all Gauligas and football in the region ceased in 1944. The 1944-45 season may not have been started at all anymore.

Aftermath

With the end of the Nazi era, the Gauligas ceased to exist. The General Government came under Soviet control. The region then became a part of Poland again. The small German population was almost completely expelled from the region. All German football clubs were dissolved.

Winners and runners-up of the Gauliga Generalgouvernement

Season	Winner	Runner-Up
1941-42	Luftwaffen SV Boelcke Krakau	Luftwaffen SV Warschau
1942-43	Luftwaffen SV Adler Dęblin	unknown
1943-44	Luftwaffen SV Mölders Krakau	DTSG Tschenstochau

Other clubs:

• Luftwaffen SV Lublin (1943/44)
• Luftwaffen SV Radom (1941/42)
• Rembertów Warschau (1943/44)
• SS und Polizei Lublin (1941/42)

• In 1943, the SG Warschau took part in the German championship instead of Luftwaffen SV Adler Deblin.

Sources

• Die deutschen Gauligen 1933-45 - Heft 1-3 Tables of the Gauligas 1933-45, publisher: DSFS
• Kicker Almanach, The yearbook on German football from Bundesliga to Oberliga, since 1937, published by the Kicker Sports Magazine
  Kicker (sports magazine)
  kicker Sportmagazin is Germany's leading sports magazine and is focused primarily on football. The magazine was founded in 1920 by German football pioneer Walther Bensemann and is published twice a week, usually Monday and Thursday, in Nuremberg...
  
  

External links

The Gauligas Das Deutsche Fussball Archiv

• Germany - Championships 1902-1945 at RSSSF.com
• Where's My Country? Article on cross-border movements of football clubs, at RSSSF.com