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 government positions as well as party ones and were in charge of, among other things, propaganda and surveillance and, from September 1944 onward, the Volkssturm and the defense of the Gau.

[12][13][14] The Polish resistance movement was active in the region, including the Odra organization and local units of the Home Army.

[18][19][20] When Soviet forces reached Pomerania Schwede-Coburg delayed the order of evacuation, thereby abandoning much of the population and goods behind enemy lines.