Gau East Prussia

Gau Ostpreußen Gau East Prussia
Gau of Nazi Germany
← 1933–1945 →   →   →   30px →   →
Flag Coat of arms
Error creating thumbnail: File with dimensions greater than 25 MP Map of Nazi Germany showing its administrative subdivisions (Gaue and Reichsgaue).
Capital		Königsberg (now Kaliningrad)
Gauleiter		Erich Koch
History
•	Establishment	30 January 1933
•	Disestablishment	8 May 1945

Gau East Prussia was formed in 1933 in Nazi Germany initially as a district within the Free State of Prussia. In 1935, Germany's constituent states were dissolved and the gaus replaced the states and their responsibilities.

Gau East Prussiad on the map of the Second Polish Republic

In 1939, East Prussia expanded following the annexation of the Klaipėda Region from Lithuania and the occupation of Poland, while a sliver of territory from the gau was transferred to Reichsgau Danzig-West Prussia.

Kreise of Gau East Prussia

After Germany's attack on the USSR, the Belarusian city of Hrodna (German: Garten) also became part of the gau.

After the war, the territory of the former gau became part of the RSFSR enclave of Kaliningrad in the Soviet Union, major sections were given to Poland, and the area of the Klaipėda Region was returned to the Lithuanian SSR and Hrodna - to the Belarusian SSR within the Soviet Union.