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.
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.
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.
|
Famous quotes containing the words east and/or prussia:
“The Indians knew that life was equated with the earth and its resources, that America was a paradise, and they could not comprehend why the intruders from the East were determined to destroy all that was Indian as well as America itself.”
—Dee Brown (b. 1908)
““Austria the shield and Prussia the sword!” Too bad that they are attached to the wrong arm: The right one holds the defiantly glistening shield, and the left one is supposed to wield the sword.”
—Franz Grillparzer (1791–1872)