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Gau (German:[ɡaʊ]ⓘ;Dutch:gouw[ɣʌu]ⓘ;West Frisian:gea[ɡɪə] orgoa[ɡoə]) is aGermanic term for a region within a country, often a former or currentprovince. It was used in theMiddle Ages, when it can be seen as roughly corresponding to anEnglishshire. The administrative use of the term was revived as a subdivision during the period ofNazi Germany in 1933–1945. It still appears today in regional names, such as theRheingau orAllgäu.
The Germanic word is reflected inGothicgawi (neuter; genitivegaujis) and earlyOld High Germangewi, gowi (neuter) and in some compound names-gawi as in Gothic (e.g.Durgawi "Canton of Thurgau",Alpagawi "Allgäu"), latergâi, gôi, and after loss of the stem suffixgaw, gao, and with motion to the feminine asgawa[1] besidesgowo (fromgowio).Old Saxon shows further truncation togâ, gô.[2] As an equivalent ofLatinpagus, agau is analogous with apays of theKingdom of France, or ofLotharingia.
Old English, by contrast, has only traces of the word, which was replaced byscire (modern Englishshire) from an early time, in names such asNoxga gā, Ohtga gā and perhaps ingōman, ġēman "yeoman", which would then correspond to the Old High Germangaumann.[3] However, theOxford English Dictionary connects the etymology ofyeoman toyoung instead.
In theCarolingian Empire, aGau was a subdivision of the realm, further divided intoHundreds.[citation needed] The Frankishgowe thus appear to correspond roughly to thecivitas in other barbarian kingdoms (Visigoths,Burgundians, or the ItalianKingdom of the Lombards).[citation needed] After the end of theMigration Period, the Hundred (centena orhunaria, Old High Germanhuntari) had become a term for an administrative unit or jurisdiction, independent of the figure hundred. The Frankish usage contrasts with Tacitus'Germania, where apagus was a subdivision of a tribal territory orcivitas, corresponding to the Hundred, i.e. areas liable to provide a hundred men under arms, or containing roughly a hundred homesteads each, further divided intovici (villages or farmsteads).[4]Charlemagne, by hiscapitulary legislation, adopted thecomitatus subdivision and appointed local rulers as deputies of the central Imperial authority.
In the German-speaking lands ofEast Francia, theGau formed the unit of administration of the realm during the 9th and 10th centuries and ruled by agaugrave (Gaugraf i.e. "gau count"). Similar to many shires in England, during the Middle Ages, many suchGaue came to be known as counties orGrafschaften, the territory of aGraf (count) within theHoly Roman Empire. Such a count orGraf would originally have been an appointedgovernor, but the position generally became an hereditaryvassal princedom, orfief in most of continental Europe.
The termGau was revived in German historical research in the 18th and 19th centuries, and was considered an ancient administration structure ofGermanic peoples. It was adopted in the 1920s as the name given to the regional associations of theNazi Party (NSDAP). EachGau denoted an administrative region, created by a party statute dated 22 May 1926. EachGau was headed by aGauleiter. The original 33Gaue were generally coterminous with theReichstag election districts of theWeimar Republic, based on theconstituent states (Länder) and theprovinces of Prussia. Following the suppression of the political institutions of theLänder in the course of the NaziGleichschaltung process and the appointment ofReichsstatthalter (Reich Governors) in 1933, theGaue became thede facto administrative regions of the government and each individualGauleiter had considerable power within his territory.
With the beginning of theannexation of neighbouring territories byNazi Germany in the late 1930s, a new unit of civil administration, theReichsgau, was established. German-speaking territories annexed to Germany from 1938 were generally organised intoReichsgaue. Unlike the pre-existingGaue, the newReichsgaue formally combined the spheres of both party and state administration.
Following the annexation ofAustria in 1938, the country, briefly renamed "Ostmark" between 1938 and 1942, was sub-divided into sevenReichsgaue. These had boundaries broadly the same as the former AustrianLänder (states), with theTyrol andVorarlberg being merged as "Tyrol-Vorarlberg", Burgenland being divided betweenStyria and "Lower Danube" (Niederdonau, the renamedLower Austria).Upper Austria was also renamed "Upper Danube" (Oberdonau), thus eliminating the name of "Austria" (Österreich in German) from the official map. A small number of boundary changes also took place, the most significant of which was the massive expansion ofVienna's official territory, at the expense of "Lower Danube".
Northern and eastern territory annexed from the dismemberedCzechoslovakia were mainly organised as theReichsgau ofSudetenland, with territory to the south annexed to theReichsgaue of Lower and Upper Danube.
Following the Axis invasion ofPoland in 1939, territories of thePomeranian andPoznań voivodeships as well as the western half ofŁódź voivodeshipwere reannexed to Germany as theReichsgaue ofDanzig-Westpreussen (which also incorporated the formerFree City of Danzig) andWartheland. Other parts of Nazi-occupied Poland were incorporated to pre-existing bordering gaus ofEast Prussia (as in the case ofZichenau) andUpper Silesia (as in the case of theSilesian voivodeship with the counties ofOświęcim andBiała).
After the successful invasion of France in 1940, Germany re-annexedAlsace-Lorraine. The formerdépartement ofMoselle was incorporated into theGau of Saar-Palatinate, whileBas-Rhin andHaut-Rhin became part of theGau Baden. Similarly, the formerly independent state ofLuxembourg was annexed to Koblenz-Trier, and theBelgian territories ofEupen andMalmedy were incorporated into Cologne-Aachen.
The medieval termGau (sometimesGäu;gouw inDutch) has survived as (second, more generic) component of the names of certain regions – some named after a river – in Germany, Austria,Alsace,Switzerland, Belgium,South Tyrol, and theNetherlands.
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