General Government administration

Hans Frank with district administrators in 1942 from left: Ernst Kundt, Ludwig Fischer, Hans Frank, Otto Wächter, Ernst Zörner, Richard Wendler.
Leaders of General Government during inspection of Sonderdienst: from right marching Generalgouverneur Hans Frank, Chief of the Police GG Herbert Becker and secretar of state Ernst Boepple.
Official proclamation of the General-Government in Poland by Germany, October 1939
Members of General Gouvernment administration: in center Chief of the Government Josef Bühler, Kurt Eissfeldt and from right Ernst Kundt.

General Government administration (in German Generalgouvernement für die besetzten polnischen Gebiete) - government and administration of General Government created on part of area of the Second Republic of Poland under Nazi German rule during the duration of World War II between 1939 and early 1945.

Background

"No government protectorate is anticipated for Poland, but a complete German administration. (...) Leadership layer of the population in Poland should be as far as possible, disposed of. The other lower layers of the population will receive no special schools, but are to be oppressed in some form". - The excerpts of the minute of the first conference of Heads of the main police officers and commanders of operational groups led by Heydrich`s deputy, SS-Brigadefuhrer Dr. Werner Best, Berlin 7 September 1939.[1]

After Invasion of Poland the first German administration on occupied Polish areas was set by German military Wehrmacht. Subordinated to them was improvised civilian "Chiefs of Civil Administration" (Chefs der Zivilverwaltung, CdZ) led by Hans Frank.[2] After ending of military actions between October and November 1939 Germans created administered by a General-Governor (German: Generalgouverneur) aided by the Office of the General-Governor (Amt des Generalgouverneurs), changed on December 9, 1940 to the Government of the General Government (Regierung des Generalgouvernements). His chief was General-Governor (Dr. Hans Frank) and the Office (later, the Government) was headed by Chief of the Government (Regierung, title translated also as the State Secretary or Deputy Governor) Josef Bühler. Several other individuals had powers to issue legislative decrees in addition to the General Governor, most notably the Higher SS and Police Leader of General Government (Friedrich Wilhelm Krüger, later Wilhelm Koppe). All members of the first office:[3]

Status

The General Government had no international recognition. The territories it administered were never either in whole or part intended as any future Polish state. According to the Nazi government the Polish state had ceased to exist, in spite of the existence of a Polish government-in-exile.[5] Its character was that of a puppet state. It was not a Polish puppet government, as there were no Polish representatives above the local administration.

Administrative division

Administrative division og GG in 1940.
Map of the administrative areas of the General Government.

General Government was divided on 5 districts:

Organisation of Government

The government seat of the General Government was located in Kraków (German: Krakau) rather than the traditional Polish capital Warsaw for security reasons. The official state language was German, although Polish continued to be used to a large degree as well, especially on the local levels. Several institutions of the old Polish state were retained in some form for ease of administration. The Polish police, with no high-ranking Polish officers (who were arrested or demoted), was renamed the Blue Police and became subordinated to the Ordnungspolizei. The Polish educational system was similarly kept, but most higher institutions were closed. The Polish local administration was kept, subordinated to new German bosses. The Polish fiscal system, including the złoty currency, was kept, but with revenues now going to the German state. A new bank was created, and was issuing new banknotes. The Government of the General Government has 12 departments:

Collaborators

The Germans sought to play Ukrainians and Poles off against each other. Within ethnic Ukrainian areas annexed by Germany, beginning in October 1939, Ukrainian Committees were established with the purpose of representing the Ukrainian community to the German authorities and assisting the approximately 30,000 Ukrainian refugees who fled from Soviet-controlled territories. These committees also undertook cultural and economic activities that had been banned by the previous Polish government. Schools, choirs, reading societies and theaters were opened, and twenty Ukrainian churches that had been closed by the Polish government were reopened. A Ukrainian publishing house was created in Cracow, which despite having to struggle with German censors and paper shortages was able to publish school textbooks, classics of Ukrainian literature, and the works of dissident Ukrainian writers from the Soviet Union. By March 1941 there were 808 Ukrainian educational societies with 46,000 members. Ukrainian organizations within the General Government were able to negotiate the release of 85,000 Ukrainian prisoners of war from the German-Polish conflict (although they were unable to help Soviet POWs of Ukrainian ethnicity).[11]

After the war, the Polish Supreme National Tribunal declared that the government of the General Government was a criminal institution.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Man to man...", Rada Ochrony Pamięci Walk i Męczeństwa, Warsaw 2011, English version
  2. ↑ Dieter Schenk (2006). Frank: Hitlers Kronjurist und General-Gouverneur, ISBN 978-3-10-073562-1.
  3. ↑ "Wybór tekstów źródłowych z historii państwa i prawa. Okres okupacji hitlerowskiej na ziemiach polskich.", Alfred Konieczny, Uniwersytet Wrocławski, Wrocław 1980.
  4. ↑ Bogdan Musial: Deutsche Zivilverwaltung und Judenverfolgung im Generalgouvernement. Wiesbaden 1999, S. 382
  5. ↑ Majer (1981), p. 265.
  6. ↑ Bogdan Musial: Deutsche Zivilverwaltung und Judenverfolgung im Generalgouvernement. Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1999, ISBN 3-447-04208-7; 2. unv. Aufl., ebd. 2004, ISBN 3-447-05063-2
  7. ↑ Höchste Nazi-Beamte im General-Gouvernement in Polen in den Kriegsjahren 1939-45, von Towiah Friedman, Verlag Institute of Documentation in Israel, 2002.
  8. ↑ Christopher R. Browning, The Evolution of Nazi Jewish Policy, September 1939 – March 1942, U of Nebraska Press, 2007, s. 126
  9. ↑ Max du Prel, "Das Deutsche Generalgouvernement Polen - Ein Überblick über Gebiet", Gestaltung und Geschichte Krakau 1940.
  10. ↑ Werner Präg, Wolfgang Jacobmeyer (Hrsg.): Das Diensttagebuch des deutschen Generalgouverneurs in Polen 1939–1945. (= Veröffentlichungen des Instituts für Zeitgeschichte, Quellen und Darstellungen zur Zeitgeschichte, Band 20.) Stuttgart 1975, ISBN 3-421-01700-X, S. 947.
  11. ↑ Myroslav Yurkevich. (1986). Galician Ukrainians in German Military Formations and in the German Administration. In Ukraine during World War II: history and its aftermath : a symposium (Yuri Boshyk, Roman Waschuk, Andriy Wynnyckyj, Eds.). Edmonton: University of Alberta, Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies Press pp. 73-74

Bibliography

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