Historically, Gau (plural Gaue) was an old Frankish term for the politico-geographical division of a nation. The word is the German form of the Latin pagus, and thus has the same origin as the French word pays. It formed the unit of administration in the Carolingian political organization in the ninth to tenth centuries, many of which became known as Grafschaften, the territory of a count. As such the term can be seen as corresponding to the English term shire or county.

Nazi Period

The term was later appropriated by the NSDAP (more commonly known as the Nazi Party), to describe Nazi Party administrative regions, each headed by a Gauleiter. They were created after the re-establishment of the Party in 1925 by a statute dated 22nd May 1926 in furtherance of its aim to expand beyond Bavaria. In 1938 there were 32 Gaue or Reichsgaue "Imperial Shires" and by 1943 these had increased to 43, including the Auslandsorganisation (OA) which comprised Party members living outside the frontiers of 'Greater Germany' and which had the status of a Gau. The increase was due to the Anschluss with Austria, and the inclusion of those parts of Czechoslovakia, Poland and Yugoslavia into 'Greater Germany". These were, however, much larger than the historical Gaue. It should be noted that Gaue were Party admistrative regions only, the Reich nominally remained administratively divided into Länder. It was only in the annexed territories, that Reichsgaue were used as regions of civil administration. Due to its connection with the Nazis the term, sometimes has a negative connotation.

List of the Gaue with their Headquarters

• Baden - Karlsruhe (included annexed Alsace)
• Bayreuth - Bayreuth (until 1943 called Bayrische Ostmark)
• Berlin - Berlin
• Cologne-Aachen - Cologne
• Düsseldorf - Düsseldorf
• East Hanover - Lüneburg
• East Prussia - Königsberg (included annexed parts of Poland and White Russia)
• Essen - Essen
• Franconia - Nuremberg
• Halle-Merseburg - Halle
• Hamburg - Hamburg
• Hesse-Kassel - Kassel
• Hesse-Nassau - Frankfurt (Main)
• Lower Silesia - Breslau
• Magdeburg-Anhalt - Dessau
• Main-Franconia - Würzburg
• Mark Brandenburg - Berlin
• Mecklenburg - Schwerin
• Moselland - Koblenz (included annexed Luxembourg, until 1942 called Koblenz-Trier)
• Pomerania - Stettin
• Saxony - Dresden
• Schleswig-Holstein - Kiel
• South Hanover-Brunswick - Hanover
• Swabia - Augsburg
• Thuringia - Weimar
• Upper Bavaria - Munich
• Upper Silesia - Kattowitz
• Weser-Ems - Oldenburg
• Westmark - Neustadt an der Weinstraße (included annexed Lorraine, until 1942 call Saarpfalz)
• Westphalia North - Münster
• Westphalia South - Dortmund
• Württemberg-Hohenzollern - Stuttgart

• Overseas - Berlin

List of the Gaue created in Austria after the Anschluss

• Carinthia - Klagenfurt (included East Tyrol and annexed parts of Yugoslavia)
• Lower Danube - Vienna (included Lower Austria, northern Burgenland and southern Moravia, but excluded border towns which were incorporated into Vienna)
• Salzburg - Salzburg
• Styria - Graz (included annexed parts of Yugoslavia (Lower Styria))
• Tyrol-Vorarlberg - Innsbruck (included North Tyrol and Vorarlberg)
• Upper Danube - Linz (included Upper Austria and southern Bohemia)
• Vienna - Vienna (included some border municipalities of Lower Austria)

List of the Gaue created in the annexed areas of Czechoslovakia and Poland

• Danzig-West Prussia - Danzig
• Sudetenland - Reichenberg
• Wartheland - Posen

Proposed Gaue in Belgium

After the German invasion in 1940, Belgium was placed under "temporary" military rule until July 1944 when civil rule was imposed, a step towards the complete integration into "Greater Germany". In December 1944 Belgium was divided into the District of Brussels, covering the city, which remained under the direct authority of the German Reichskommissar and two Reichsgaue. Except for the period between December 1944 and January 1945, when parts of Belgium were re-occupied during the Battle of the Bulge these Reichsgaue existed on paper only.

• Flanders - Antwerp (included the provinces of Antwerp, Limburg, East Flanders, West Flanders, the arrondissement of Brussels (except the city of Brussels) and the arrondissement of Leuven in the province of Brabant).
• Wallonia - Liège (included the provinces of Hainaut, Liège, Luxembourg, Namur and the arrondissement of Nivelles in the province of Brabant).

The term Gau (sometimes Gäu) has survived as a component of the names of certain regions in Germany, Austria, Alsace, Switzerland and Belgium, e.g. in

• Aargau
• Allgäu
• Breisgau
• Buchsgau
• Chiemgau
• Elsgau
• Flachgau
• Hegau
• Hennegau
• Kraichgau
• Linzgau
• Lungau
• Pinzgau
• Pongau
• Rheingau
• Prättigau
• Tennengau
• Thurgau
• Sisgau
• Sundgau
• Wasgau