Gauliga Wartheland
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...
Voivodeships Voivodeships of Poland The voivodeship, or province, called in Polish województwo , has been a high-level administrative subdivision of Poland since the 14th century....
Łódź Voivodeship
Poznań Voivodeship Poznan Voivodeship (1921-1939) Poznań Voivodeship was a unit of administrative division and local government in Poland in the years 1921–1939, created after World War I from the Prussian-German province of Poznań...
Warsaw Voivodeship Warsaw Voivodeship (1919-1939) Warsaw Voivodeship was a voivodeship of Poland in the years 1919–1939. Its capital and biggest city was Warsaw.-Location and area:In the years 1919–1939, Warsaw Voivodeship covered north-central part of Poland, bordering East Prussia to the north, Pomorze Voivodeship and Łódź Voivodeship to the...
Gau
Wartheland Reichsgau Wartheland Reichsgau Wartheland was a Nazi German Reichsgau formed from Polish territory annexed in 1939. It comprised the Greater Poland and adjacent areas, and only in part matched the area of the similarly named pre-Versailles Prussian province of Posen...
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
BSG DWM Posen

The Gauliga Wartheland was the highest football league in Gau Wartheland from 1941 to 1945. The Gau was made up from the former Polish

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...

 Voivodeship

Voivodeships of Poland

The voivodeship, or province, called in Polish województwo , has been a high-level administrative subdivision of Poland since the 14th century....

 of Poznań

Poznan Voivodeship (1921-1939)

Poznań Voivodeship was a unit of administrative division and local government in Poland in the years 1921–1939, created after World War I from the Prussian-German province of Poznań...

 and parts of Warsaw Voivodeship

Warsaw Voivodeship (1919-1939)

Warsaw Voivodeship was a voivodeship of Poland in the years 1919–1939. Its capital and biggest city was Warsaw.-Location and area:In the years 1919–1939, Warsaw Voivodeship covered north-central part of Poland, bordering East Prussia to the north, Pomorze Voivodeship and Łódź Voivodeship to the...

 and Łódź Voivodeship which had been occupied by 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 1939 and incooperated into the Third Reich. The league and the region are named after the local river Warthe (Polish:Warta), and not after the Prussian province Posen

Province of Posen

The Province of Posen was a province of Prussia from 1848–1918 and as such part of the German Empire from 1871 to 1918. The area was about 29,000 km2....

, which it had been from 1848 to 1918.

Overview

The league was introduced in 1941, a considerable time after the defeat of Poland. The league started out in two groups of five teams, with the two divisional champions playing each other in a home-and-away series to determined the Gauliga champion. The league champion then qualified for 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...

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

In its second season, the league played with ten teams in a single division. The bottom three teams were relegated at the end of the season. The 1943-44 edition initially saw no change, but the SG Freihaus dropped out of the league during the season and not all games were played throughout the season.

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 Wartheland came under Soviet control. The region then became a part of Poland again. The German population was almost completely expelled from the region. All German football clubs were dissolved.

Founding members of the league

The ten founding members were:

Group I:

• Deutscher SC Posen
• BSG DWM Posen
• SG Ordnungspolizei Posen
• Reichsbahn SG Posen
• Post SG Posen

Group II:

• SG Ordnungspolizei Litzmannstadt
• Union 97 Litzmannstadt
• SG Zduńska Wola (1943 SG Freihaus)
• Reichsbahn SG Litzmannstadt
• SG Sturm Pabianitz

Litzmannstadt was the German name for Łódź from 1939 to 1945, named after Karl Litzmann

Karl Litzmann

200px|thumbKarl Litzmann was a German World War I infantry general and later a Nazi official. He is best known for his victory in Battle of Łódź...

.

Winners and runners-up of the Gauliga Wartheland

Season	Winner	Runner-Up
1941-42	SG Ordnungspolizei Litzmannstadt	Deutscher SC Posen
1942-43	BSG DWM Posen	SG Ordnungspolizei Posen
1943-44	BSG DWM Posen	SG Ordnungspolizei Posen

Placings in the Gauliga Wartheland 1941-44

Club	1942	1943	1944
DSC Posen	1	5	4
DMW Posen	2	1	1
Orpo Posen	3	2	2
Reichsbahn SG Posen	4		6
Post SG Posen	5	7	9
Orpo Litzmannstadt	1	4	7
Union 97 Litzmannstadt	2	3	8
SG Freihaus	3	8	10
Reichsbahn SG Litzmannstadt	4	10
SG Sturm Pabianitz	5
TSG Gnesen		6	5
TSG Kutno		9
SG Kalisch			3

Source:

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