On May 1, 1931 the new organizational unit was founded on the initiative of Reich Organization Leader (German: Reichsorganisationsleiter) Gregor Strasser and its management was assigned to Hans Nieland. But Nieland resigned from office on May 8, 1933, because he had become head of the Hamburg police authority, and later, a member of the Hamburg provincial government, whereupon Ernst Wilhelm Bohle was appointed director of the "AO", which served as the 43rd and only non-territorial Gau of the NSDAP. Only actual citizens of the German Reich – (German: Reichsdeutsche) – with a German passport could become members of the AO.