Der Gau

[Wilfried Abenaschon]

Hi,
Gau was a district of the german Empire in the 9th century, the same for Kreis.

Alsaco wrote :

Poland, government in England, received a General Government, under Frick, Parti member.
Tchekei, government in England, received a General Government, under Heydrich, Gestapo Chef. Heydrich was assassinated in 1942
Slovakia, national government, under Hlinka, I think.

The master of the Generalgouvernement was Hans Frank who was a Reichsleiter.
Wilhelm Frick was Reichsprotektor of Böhmen-Mähren. He succeeded the Baron Konstantin von Neurath in 1943 (both Reichsminister)
As a Reichsprotektorat, Bohemia & Moravia did had a head of state (Dr Emil Hacha) and a government, which wasn't the case of Poland.
Slovakia had a president, Mgr Tiso.

The map seen above is good. All the new Gauen are understandable as they were occupied by germanic people. But what about Bialystok ?
Willab

[Phil D.]

I'm sorry if this has been asked before, but what exactly is a General Government, and how come I sometimes see it included in Germany itself and sometimes outside of German borders?

Thanks for any information in advance

Phil

[Wilfried Abenaschon]

Hello,
A Gouvernement was a local authority under imperial Russia. It was smaller than Poland so I assume that the Germans added general to underline it's importance.
I would say that the Generalgouvernement wasn't part of Germany. May be part of the Reich ? (it seems irrelevant when you know that the official title of the new Reich was Gross deutsches Reich if I remember it well). But it's confusing : Bohemia and Moravia were part of the Reich (as in the Holy Empire), but not part of Germany. I've seen both maps were the GenGvt was included or not.
Willab