Reichsgau Salzburg was an administrative division of Nazi Germany, established in 1939 following the Anschluss, the annexation of Austria into the German Reich in 1938. It essentially comprised the territory of the former Austrian federal state of Salzburg.
The Reichsgau system was a new administrative structure introduced by the Nazi regime to replace the traditional German states (Länder) and the Austrian Bundesländer. Each Reichsgau was headed by a Gauleiter, who held immense political and administrative power within his territory. The Gauleiter for Reichsgau Salzburg was Friedrich Rainer, who served from 1941 to 1945. Prior to Rainer, Albert Hoffmann served as acting Gauleiter from 1938 to 1941.
Reichsgau Salzburg functioned as a fully integrated part of the German Reich, subject to its laws and policies, including those of racial persecution and war mobilization. The capital of the Reichsgau was the city of Salzburg. With the collapse of Nazi Germany in 1945, the Reichsgau Salzburg ceased to exist, and the region was re-established as the federal state of Salzburg within the re-formed Republic of Austria.