Neustadt's role during the Nazi era began in 1927 when it became the seat of the "Gauleiter" for the Nazi Party. It retained this function "de facto" until 1945, although in 1939 Kaiserslautern was nominated as the "Gauhauptstadt" ("capital of the Gau") and the state authorities, who were formed in 1940 from the Palatine and Saarland administrations in Speyer and Saarbrücken and were led by the "Gauleiter" in personal union, were also not based in Neustadt. The town was given the function of a normal Palatine seat of administration on 8 September 1945, In 1946 it became the seat of the Rhineland-Palatinate province ("Regierungsbezirk") of the Palatinate.