Gauleiter of Pomerania
In 1934 Schwede's political career rose further. He had already won election to a seat in the Bavarian Landtag in 1930 and in the Reichstag since 1933. On 1 July 1934, he was appointed district president of Lower Bavaria/Upper Palatinate. Around the same time the existing Gauleiter of the Prussian Province of Pomerania, Wilhelm Karpenstein, ran afoul of NSDAP headquarters and was arrested during the Night of the Long Knives. Schwede's loyalty was rewarded when Hitler appointed him to the powerful Gauleiter position in Pomerania on 21 July 1934 and made him Oberpräsident one week later. Schwede moved to Stettin, forced 23 of the 27 District Kreisleiters out of office, and replaced Karpenstein's staff with loyal friends from Coburg, including: Arno Fischer as state building surveyor, Kuno Popp as Gau propaganda leader and regional representative of the Reich Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda, Alfred Seidler as Gau treasurer, Johannes Künzel as a regional representative of the German Labor Front, Emil Mazuw as SS-Stabsführer of SS District XIII Pomerania, and Werner Faber as Lord Mayor of Stettin.
In 1937 Schwede was promoted to SA-Gruppenführer and in 1938 to SA-Obergruppenführer. That same year, he became Chairman of the Reich League of Former Professional Soldiers (German: Reichstreubundes ehemaliger Berufssoldaten). During 1938-39, the German Pomeranian province was enlarged. Most of Grenzmark Posen-West Prussia and two counties in Brandenburg were made a district, further expanding the area he controlled. During the Reichskristallnacht on 9 November 1939, Schwede oversaw the destruction of the Pomeranian synagogues. The next day, all male Stettin Jews were deported to Oranienburg concentration camp and kept there for several weeks in order to increase the level of terror.
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