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Regions of the NSDAP 1935-1945 (Germany)

Gaue der NSDAP

6:7
Bavaria Region / Gau Bayern
by Jaume Ollé

Introduction
Flags of the Regions (Hoheitsfahnen der Gaue)
Regional Coats-of-Arms (Wappen der Reichsgaue)
Car Flags of the Regional Leadership Corps (Kraftwagenstander in der Gauleitung):
- Car Flag of a Regional Leader (Kraftwagenstander eines Gauleiters)
- Car Flag of a Deputy Regional Leader (Kraftwagenstander eines Stellvertretenden Gauleiters)
- Car Flag of the Leader of a Department (Kraftwagenstander eines Leiters eines Hauptamtes)
- Car Flag of the Leader of a Section (Kraftwagenstander eines Leiters eines Amtes)

See also:

Other sites:

Gaue in the Axis History Factbook by Marcus Wendel

Introduction

The Gaue were the territorial divisions of the NSDAP and were technically not branches of the Wehrmacht or government, although in a few border areas (in particular in Luxembourg and the Polish corridor, the Gauleiters appear to have exercised some governmental authority (it is however not clear that they did so as Gauleiters).

Norman Martin, 7 March 2001

Flags of the Regions

Hoheitsfahnen der Gaue

6:7
Bavaria Region / Gau Bayern
by Jaume Ollé

A Swastika flag with a small, bright red rectangle in the canton. Ratio 6:7. Surrounded by a silver fringe (except at hoist).

Norman Martin, February 1998

After the Anschluss, Austria was divided into several Gaue — like the rest of the Reich I guess. It seems that those Gaue did have some flags (and Landesfarben). At least it is my impression (as I did not study that part of Diem 1995 carefully yet) that the Gau Niederdonau that covered mostly the territory of Niederoesterreich, continued to use Niederoesterreich's blue-yellow Landesfarben. Is there any knowledge of possible Gaufarben in the Third Reich?

Željko Heimer, 6 March 2001

I have no knowledge of Landesfarben being used by the Gaue. However there were some sort of Waffenfarben, in the sense of a single colour used in the facings, rank patches etc. of Sturmabteilung (SA) uniforms, as well as on the panel shown above SA standards and in the canton of SA company colours.

Santiago Dotor, 7 March 2001

The Gaue did not have any flags other than the Hoheitsfahne with the bright red Spiegel ['mirror' — panel in the canton]. In particular, they had no Landesfarben [territorial livery colours] or the like. Since many of them corresponded to historic territories, it would not be too surprising if there were some unofficial use of older Landesfarben. The only organization that had colored territorial insignia were the Gruppen of the SA.

Norman Martin, 7 March 2001

[Editor's note: See also a discussion on the colour of the canton panel under Flags of the Regions, Districts and Local Groups (Hoheitsfahnen der Gaue, Kreise und Ortsgruppen).]

Regional Coats-of-Arms

Wappen der Reichsgaue

Some days ago I was asked by a German heraldist, Mr. Dieter Beutel from St. Augustin, to trace the routs ["roots"?] of two coats-of-arms. Both should have been used in the Nazi times as Gau arms, respectively for Bayrische Ostmark (capital Bayreuth) and Mainfranken (capital Würzburg). Mr. Beutel could only provide the illustrations and the (moreover incomplete) descriptions:

Bayrische Ostmark: "In Silber vor einem Dreieck ein Herold, die Fahne der Fanfare zeigt Adler und Hakenkreuz."
Mainfranken: "... zeigt im gevierteten Wappen oben rechts in Rot drei silberne Spitzen, oben links und unten rechts ein goldenes Feld, links unten, schräg gestellt, ein Fähnchen in Rot und Silber mit goldener Stange."

The source is the article Die Wappen der deutschen Reichsgaue, written by a certain Richard Kannenberg, and published in Deutsche Graveur-Zeitung und Stempel-Zeitung, no. 10, annual volume 1940, p. 99-100. In this article 30 other Gau arms are shown.

Mr. Beutel's intention is to get more information about these two arms: When had they been granted, by whom, who long had they been shown etc.?