The Gauliga Wartheland was the highest football league in '' Gau'' ''Wartheland'' from 1941 to 1945. The ''Gau'' was made up from the former

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, w ...

Voivodeship A voivodeship is the area administered by a voivode (Governor) in several countries of central and eastern Europe. Voivodeships have existed since medieval times and the area of extent of voivodeship resembles that of a duchy in western medieval ...

Poznań Poznań () is a city on the River Warta in west-central Poland, within the Greater Poland region. The city is an important cultural and business centre, and one of Poland's most populous regions with many regional customs such as Saint Joh ...

and parts of Warsaw Voivodeship and

Łódź Voivodeship Łódź Voivodeship (also known as Lodz Province, or by its Polish name ''Województwo łódzkie'' ) is a province- voivodeship in central Poland. It was created on 1 January 1999 out of the former Łódź Voivodeship (1975–1999) and the Sier ...

which had been

occupied ' (Norwegian: ') is a Norwegian political thriller TV series that premiered on TV2 on 5 October 2015. Based on an original idea by Jo Nesbø, the series is co-created with Karianne Lund and Erik Skjoldbjærg. Season 2 premiered on 10 October ...

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 1939 and incorporated into the ''

Third Reich 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 ...

''. The league and the region are named after the local river ''

Warthe The river Warta ( , ; german: Warthe ; la, Varta) rises in central Poland and meanders greatly north-west to flow into the Oder, against the German border. About long, it is Poland's second-longest river within its borders after the Vistula, a ...

'' (Polish:''Warta''), and not after the Prussian province Posen, which it had been from 1848 to 1918.

Overview

The league was 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 ...

in 1941, a considerable time after the defeat of Poland. The league started out in two groups of five teams, with the two divisional champions playing each other in a home-and-away series to determine the ''Gauliga'' champion. The league champion then qualified for the German championship. Polish clubs were not permitted to take part in the competition, only clubs from the German ethnic minority, which made up between five and ten percent of the population in the region and about two percent of the overall population of Poland.Population of Poland in 1931 - Statistics and map
Genealogy of Halychyna / Eastern Galicia, accessed: 24 June 2008 In its second season, the league played with ten teams in a single division. The bottom three teams were relegated at the end of the season. The 1943-44 edition initially saw no change, but the SG Freihaus dropped out of the league during the season and not all games were played throughout the season. The imminent collapse of

in 1945 affected play throughout the country with Gauliga competition in this region coming to a halt in 1944. There is no record that the 1944-45 season here ever commenced.

Founding members of the league

The ten founding members were: Group I: * Deutscher SC Posen * BSG DWM Posen * SG Ordnungspolizei Posen * Reichsbahn SG Posen * Post SG Posen Group II: * SG Ordnungspolizei Litzmannstadt * Union 97 Litzmannstadt * SG Zduńska Wola (1943 SG Freihaus) * Reichsbahn SG Litzmannstadt * SG Sturm Pabianitz Litzmannstadt was the German name for

Łódź Łódź, also rendered in English as Lodz, is a city in central Poland and a former industrial centre. It is the capital of Łódź Voivodeship, and is located approximately south-west of Warsaw. The city's coat of arms is an example of cant ...

from 1939 to 1945, named after

Karl Litzmann Karl Litzmann (22 January 1850 – 28 May 1936) was a German World War I general and later Nazi Party member and state politician. World War I He is best known for his victory at the Battle of Łódź (1914); he earned the nickname "the Lion of ...

Winners and runners-up of the league

The winners and runners-up of the league:

Placings in the league 1941-44

The complete list of clubs in the league:

Aftermath

With the end of the Nazi era, the ''Gauligas'' ceased to exist. The ''Wartheland'' came under

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...

control before again becoming part of Poland again. The German population was almost completely expelled from the region and all German football clubs were dissolved.

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:Wartheland Sports leagues established in 1941 1945 disestablishments in Poland Gauliga 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

war War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...