From 1933 onwards, after the Nazi seizure of power, the Gaue increasingly replaced the German states as administrative subdivisions in Germany.

[1] At the head of each Gau stood a Gauleiter, a position which became increasingly more powerful, especially after the outbreak of the Second World War, with little interference from above.

Local Gauleiters often held both the government and party positions and were in charge of, among other things, propaganda, surveillance and, from September 1944 onward, the Volkssturm and the defense of the Gau.

[1][2] The position of Gauleiter in Lower Silesia was held by Karl Hanke throughout the short history of the Gau.

[3][4] On 29 April 1945, Hitler, in his political testament, appointed Hanke to be the last Reichsführer-SS and Chief of the German Police, replacing Heinrich Himmler.