Gau East Prussia

{{Short description|Administrative division of Nazi Germany}}

{{Infobox Former Subdivision

|conventional_long_name = Gau East Prussia

|common_name = Gau East Prussia

|subdivision = Gau

|nation = Nazi Germany

|image_flag = Flag of German Reich (1935–1945).svg

|image_coat = Reichsadler.svg{{!}}class=skin-invert

|image_map = GauEastPrussiaMap.png

|image_map_caption = Map of Gau East Prussia

|national_anthem =

|capital = Königsberg (now Kaliningrad)

|p1 = Province of East Prussia

|flag_p1 = Civil flag of Prussia 1701-1935.svg

|p2 = Klaipėda Region

|flag_p2 = Flag of Lithuania.svg

|p3 = Warsaw Voivodeship (1919–1939)

|flag_p3 = Flag of Poland (1927–1980).svg

|p4 = Białystok Voivodeship (1919–1939)

|flag_p4 = Flag of Poland (1927–1980).svg

|s1 = Reichsgau Danzig-West Prussia

|flag_s1 = Flag of Germany (1935–1945).svg

|s2 = Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic

|flag_s2 = Flag_of_Byelorussian_SSR_(1937-1951).svg

|s3 = Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic

|flag_s3 = Flag of Lithuanian SSR (1940-1953).svg

|s4 = Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic

|flag_s4 =Flag_of_Russian_SFSR_(1937-1954).svg

|s5 = People's Republic of Poland

|flag_s5 =Flag_of_Poland_(1928-1980).svg

|event_start = Establishment

|year_start = 1925

|date_start = 6 December

|event_end = Disestablishment

|year_end = 1945

|date_end = 1 August

|pol_subdiv =

|title_leader = Gauleiter

|leader1 = Wilhelm Stich

|year_leader1 = 1925–1926

|leader2 = Bruno Gustav Scherwitz

|year_leader2 = 1926–1927

|leader3 = Hans Albert Hohnfeldt (acting)

|year_leader3 = 1927–1928

|leader4 = Erich Koch

|year_leader4 = 1928–1945

|stat_year1 = 1941 -

|stat_area1 = 48867

|stat_pop2 = 2,119,879{{cite web |title=Die Bevölkerung des Deutschen Reichs nach den Ergebnissen der Volkszählung 1939 |url=https://www.statistischebibliothek.de/mir/receive/DESerie_mods_00003405}}

|today = Belarus
Poland
Lithuania
Russia (Kaliningrad Oblast)

}}

Gau East Prussia (German: Ostpreußen) was an administrative division of Nazi Germany encompassing the province of East Prussia in the Free State of Prussia from 1933 to 1945. Before that, from 1925 to 1933, it was the regional subdivision of the Nazi Party in that area, having been established at a conference in Königsberg on 6 December 1925.{{cite book |last1= Miller |first1= Michael D. |last2= Schulz |first2= Andreas |title= Gauleiter: The Regional Leaders of the Nazi Party and Their Deputies |volume= 3 |publisher= Fonthill Media |year= 2021 |page= 118|isbn= 978-1-781-55826-3}} In 1939, Gau 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 ({{langx|de|Garten}}) also became part of the Gau.

After the war, the territory of the former Gau became part of the Russian SFSR exclave 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.