Extracts from a law on the government of Austria, including the Vienna district and the authority of the governor

1939 REICHSGESETZBLATT, PART I, PAGE 777
Law concerning the Construction of the Administration in Austria
(Austrian Law).
of 14 April 1939
The Reich cabinet has enacted the following law, which is hereby promulgated:
Article I
The District Governments [Gaue].
Section 1
(1) Within the territory of the state of Austria, the following Reich districts [Reichsgaue] are established:
The Reichsgau Vienna, comprising the city of Vienna ; * * *
Section 2
The Reichsgaue are governmental administrative districts and self administrative bodies.
Section 3 .
(1) At the head of the Reichsgau is the Reich governor [Reichsstatthalter].
(2) The Reich governor is authorized to ask for information
from the authorities of the Reich special administration.....
and other public-legal corporations within the Reichgau and to bring to their attention the essential points of view and necessary measures. He can give them orders for his district within the
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frame of the laws and within the directions of the supreme Reich authorities; the competent supreme Reich authorities are authorized to cancel the orders of the Reich governor.
(3) The powers under paragraph 2 cannot be transferred to government employees attached to him.
Paragraph 4
(1) The Reichgovernor directs the governmental administration as Reich administration under the supervision of the Reich Minister of the Interior and according to the directions of the Reich ministers within their fields of competence [Geschaeftsbe-reich].
(2) The authorities of the Reich administrations within the Reichsgau are attached to the Reich governor's office with the exception of the Reich Justice, Reich Finance, Reich Railway, and Reich Post Administration. The Reich governor heads those administrations and is represented within them by their authorized directors.
* * * * * * *
(5) The tasks and authorities of the supreme organs of the former Austrian provinces are transferred to the Reich governor, as far as the Reich minister of the Interior in agreement with the appropriate supreme Reich authorities does not transfer those authorities to them.
Paragraph 5
(1) The Reich governor by decree, with the consent of the Reich ministers involved and of the Reich minister of the interior as well, can make laws, so far as this does not contradict superior Reich law.
(2) The authority of the Reich governor in accordance with the Reichsstatthalter law of 30 January 1935 (Reichsgesetzblatt I, page 65) are not changed hereby.
Paragraph 6
(1) The Reich governor leads the self-administration of the Reichsgau under the supervision of the Reich minister of the interior.
(2) As a self-administrative body, the Reichsgau has to fulfill public tasks under its own responsibility.
(3) The Reichsgau is authorized to regulate its own affairs by means of statute.
(4) District Counsellors are at the disposal of the Reich governor for the area of self-administration.
Paragraph 7
The Reich governor is represented within the governmental administration by a general representative with official title, Government President [Regierungspraesident], who is a direct Reich employee, and within the self-administration by a general representative with the title District Captain [Gauhauptmann] ; he is an official of the Reichsgau as a self-administrative body.
Paragraph 8
(1) The administration of the Reichsgau Vienna is divided into the governmental administration and into the municipal administration.
(2) The Reichsgau Vienna as a self-administrative body is a united municipality [Einheitsgemeinde] and has at the same time the tasks of the municipal associations [Einheitsverbaende] of a higher order.
(3) The Reich governor is represented within the governmental administration by a general representative with the official title, Government President [Regierungspraesident] and within the municipal-administration by the first deputy major [Erster Beigeordneter] with the official title of Mayor [Buergermeister].
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Article III
Closing Regulations [Schlussbestimmungen] *******
Paragraph 14
The Reichsgaue must be established by 30 September 1939.
(2) The Reichsgaue are legal successors of the former Austrian provinces in accordance with Paragraph 1.
* * * * * * *
(4) . The duration of the decree of the Fuehrer and Reich Chancellor on the appointment of the Reich commissioner for the reunion of Austria with the Reich dated 23 April 1938 (Reichsgesetzblatt, I, Page 407) is herewith extended up to 30 September 1939.
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Paragraph 18
(1) The Reich Minister of the Interior issues the necessary laws and legal and administrative regulations necessary for the execution and completion of this law.
Paragraph 19
This law is effective on 1 May 1939.
Berchtesgaden, 14 April 1939 The Fuehrer and Reich Chancellor Adolf Hitler
The Reich Minister of the Interior
Frick
The Deputy to the Fuehrer R. Hess
The Plenipotentiary for the Four Years Plan
Goering
General Field Marshall, Prime Minister of Prussia The Reich Minister of Finances Count Schwerin Von Krosigk The Reichminister and Chief of the Reich Chancellery
Dr. Lammers