The league was introduced by the Nazi Sports Office in 1933, after the Nazi takeover of power in Germany. It replaced the Oberliga Lübeck/Mecklenburg, Oberliga Schleswig-Holstein, Oberliga Nordhannover and Oberliga Hamburg as the highest level of play of the regional football competitions. In its first season, the league had ten clubs, playing each other once at home and once away. The league champion then qualified for the German championship. The bottom two teams were relegated, however, due to Viktoria Wilhelmsburg moving to the Gauliga Niedersachsen, only one club went down in 1934. The league retained its modus until 1937, when two clubs, the Borussia Harburg and FV Wilhelmsburg 09 transferred across from the Gauliga Niedersachsen. The league was therefore upsized to twelve clubs with three relegated teams for the 1937-38 season. It was reduced to eleven clubs for the season after. Due to the outbreak of World War II in 1939, the league was split into two regional groups, one of six and one of seven clubs. The two group champions then played a home-and-away final for the Gauliga championship. The league returned to a twelve-team, single-division format for the 1940-41 season and downsized to ten club for its last season, 1941-42. Unlike all other territories Germany had lost after the First World War, the Danish-speaking parts of northern Schleswig which had been awarded to Denmark in 1920 were not reoccupied by Germany after 1940. No clubs from Denmark took part in the league therefore.
Gauliga Hamburg
The league started with ten clubs in a single division in 1942, containing only clubs from the greater Hamburg area. It remained at this strength for the duration of its existence. Unlike all other leagues in the country, the Gauliga Hamburg managed to complete its program in its last season, 1944–45 before the collapse of Nazi Germany finished all competition. This was mainly due to the league being city-based and therefore much less affected by the restrictions on transport in the final war year. Of the clubs from the region Nordmark, only the Luftwaffen-SV Hamburg achieved any form of national success during the Gauliga years. The club of the German air force reached the cup final in 1943 and the championship final in 1944, losing both times.
Gauliga Mecklenburg
The territory of the new Gauliga Mecklenburg was made up of the area of the Gau of the same name. The league started out with seven clubs in a single division and expanded to ten clubs for the 1943-44 season. Its last season, 1944–45, probably did not get underway at all due to the effects of the war in the region.
Gauliga Schleswig-Holstein
The league started out with ten clubs in a single division, all from the Gau Schleswig-Holstein. It remained at this strength in its second season, 1943-44. The third edition, 1944–45 got barely underway when the effects of the war forced it to be cancelled. Play continued on local level in Kiel and Lübeck, but no Gauliga champion was determined.
Aftermath
With the end of the Nazi era, the Gauligas ceased to exist and the northern part of Germany found itself in the British occupation zone. Mecklenburg however, was part of the Soviet zone and became later part of East Germany. In the British zone, top-level football did not resume straight away, unlike in Southern Germany, and only in 1947 was a new, highest league introduced, the Oberliga Nord, which covered the new states of Lower Saxony and Schleswig-Holstein along with the recreated city-states of Hamburg and Bremen. Mecklenburg became part of the East German football league system and the DDR-Oberliga was introduced as the new highest league in 1949.
Founding members of the league
The ten founding members and their league positions in the Oberliga in 1932-33 were:
