The Gauliga Danzig-Westpreußen was the highest

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

league in the former

Reichsgau Danzig-West Prussia Reichsgau Danzig-West Prussia (german: Reichsgau Danzig-Westpreußen) was an administrative division of Nazi Germany created on 8 October 1939 from annexed territory of the Free City of Danzig, the Greater Pomeranian Voivodship (Polish Corridor), ...

(German: Danzig-Westpreußen), a

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

administrative unit established partly from German and partly from annexed territory.

Overview

The Nazi occupants had merged the German-annexed territories of the

Free City of Danzig The Free City of Danzig (german: Freie Stadt Danzig; pl, Wolne Miasto Gdańsk; csb, Wòlny Gard Gduńsk) was a city-state under the protection of the League of Nations between 1920 and 1939, consisting of the Baltic Sea port of Danzig (now Gda ...

(a free city under the

League of Nations The League of Nations (french: link=no, Société des Nations ) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference that ...

) and of the Polish

Pomeranian Voivodeship Pomeranian Voivodeship, Pomorskie Region, or Pomerania Province (Polish: ''Województwo pomorskie'' ; ( Kashubian: ''Pòmòrsczé wòjewództwò'' ), is a voivodeship, or province, in northwestern Poland. The provincial capital is Gdańsk. The ...

(Polish: ''Województwo Pomorskie'') and the German Marienwerder Region (german: Regierungsbezirk Marienwerder) in a

Reichsgau A (plural ) was an administrative subdivision created in a number of areas annexed by Nazi Germany between 1938 and 1945. Overview The term was formed from the words (realm, empire) and , the latter a deliberately medieval-sounding word wi ...

, a kind of paramount Nazi administrative region. Historically, the area had belonged to Poland and Prussia, changing hands several times. After the formation of the Reichsgau on 26 October 1939, the league formed the highest level of play in the Reichsgau introduced by the

Nazi Sports Office The National Socialist League of the Reich for Physical Exercise (german: Nationalsozialistischer Reichsbund für Leibesübungen, abbreviated NSRL) was the umbrella organization for sports and physical education in Nazi Germany. The NSRL was kn ...

for the sport season starting in 1940. Since the reorganisation of the league districts in 1933 football teams from places in the Free City of Danzig and the Marienwerder Region (called West Prussia Region between 1922 and 1939, not to be confused with the homonymous province dissolved in 1920) used to play in the Gauliga Ostpreußen-Danzig. Earlier the football clubs from places in the Free City formed a league with those from places in the Prussian Province of Grenzmark Posen-West Prussia. In 1940 the

Gauliga Ostpreußen The Gauliga Ostpreußen was the highest football league in the Prussian province of East Prussia (German: Ostpreußen) and the Free City of Danzig from 1933 to 1945. Shortly after the formation of the league, the Nazis reorganised the administrati ...

-Danzig skipped the addition Danzig from its name and comprised only teams from

East Prussia East Prussia ; german: Ostpreißen, label=Low Prussian; pl, Prusy Wschodnie; lt, Rytų Prūsija was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1773 to 1829 and again from 1878 (with the Kingdom itself being part of the German Empire from 187 ...

in its then borders. Until 1939 also clubs of Polish identity, such as

Gedania Danzig KS Gedania Danzig was an ethnically-Polish association football club that was part of German football competition in the inter-war period. It was formed in 1922 in what was at the time the Free City of Danzig (present day Gdańsk, Poland). Ban ...

, comprising many, but not only, Danzigers of Polish tongue, played in the Gauliga Ostpreußen-Danzig and qualified for the play-offs of the Ostpreußen-Danzig gauliga championships (german: Gaumeisterschaft). However the Danzig Senate had forbidden Gedania Danzig on 31 August 1939. Under Nazi occupation no clubs of Polish identity were allowed. Football in the Pomeranian voivodeship had been part of the Polish league system until the war. The ''Gauliga Danzig-Westpreußen'' was established with six clubs in a single divisions. Originally, the league only consisted of clubs from the region of Danzig and Marienwerder, only from 1942 did clubs from German-annexed Polish

Thorn Thorn(s) or The Thorn(s) may refer to: Botany * Thorns, spines, and prickles, sharp structures on plants * ''Crataegus monogyna'', or common hawthorn, a plant species Comics and literature * Rose and Thorn, the two personalities of two DC Com ...

and

Bromberg Bydgoszcz ( , , ; german: Bromberg) is a city in northern Poland, straddling the meeting of the River Vistula with its left-bank tributary, the Brda. With a city population of 339,053 as of December 2021 and an urban agglomeration with more ...

enter the competition, too. Teams played each other once at home and once away. The league champion then qualified for the German championship. The 1941/1942 season was played with ten clubs and two relegated teams. In 1942/1943, the league was reduced to nine teams but returned to its former strength the season after. The imminent collapse of

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

in 1945 gravely affected all ''Gauligas'' and football in Danzig-West Prussia ceased in 1944. The 1944/1945 season may not have been started at all anymore. It was scheduled to operate on the same system as the year before.

Aftermath

With the end of the Nazi era, the ''Gauligas'' ceased to exist. West Prussia and Danzig came under

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

control. The region then became a part of Poland again. The German population was almost completely expelled from the region. All German football clubs were dissolved.

Founding members of the league

The six founding members and their positions in the, incompleted, 1939/1940 ''Gauliga Ostpreußen'' season were: *

Preußen Danzig Preußen Danzig was a German association football club from the city of Danzig, West Prussia (today Gdańsk, Poland). __TOC__ History The club was established in 1909 as ''Turn- und Fechtverein Preußen Danzig'', a gymnastics and fencing clu ...

, ''2nd Gauliga Ostpreußen'' * VfR Hansa Elbing, ''not part of the Gauliga'' * SV 19 Neufahrwasser, ''5th Gauliga Ostpreußen'' * SC Viktoria Elbing, ''not part of the Gauliga'' *

BuEV Danzig BuEV Danzig was a Football in Germany, German association football club formed in 1903, from the city of Danzig, West Prussia (today Gdańsk, Poland). __TOC__ History The city's first football side, ''Fußball Club Danzig'' was established 18 ...

, ''3rd Gauliga Ostpreußen'' *

Polizei SV Danzig Polizei is the German word for police. Police in Germany, Austria and Switzerland consist of different agencies. It might refer to: National agencies *Bundespolizei (Germany), Federal Police of Germany *Bundespolizei (Austria), Federal Police of ...

, ''not part of the Gauliga''

Winners and runners-up of the league

The winners and runners-up of the league:

Placings in the league 1940-44

The complete list of clubs competing in the league: * ¹ Both teams started the 1942–43 season but dropped out halfway through.

References

Sources

* ''Die deutschen Gauligen 1933-45 - Heft 1-3'' Tables of the Gauligas 1933–45, publisher: DSFS * ''Kicker Almanach'', The yearbook on German football from Bundesliga to Oberliga, since 1937, published by the Kicker Sports Magazine

External links

*
The Gauligas
''Das Deutsche Fussball Archiv''

at RSSSF.com

Article on cross-border movements of football clubs, at RSSSF.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Gauliga DanzigWestpreussen Sports leagues established in 1940 1940 establishments in Germany 1945 disestablishments in Germany Gauliga Sports competitions in Gdańsk Football competitions in West Prussia Defunct football competitions in Poland 1940 in Polish football 1941 in Polish football 1942 in Polish football 1943 in Polish football 1944 in Polish football Football in occupied Poland (1939–1945)