General Government
The General Government (German: Generalgouvernement; Polish: Generalne Gubernatorstwo; Ukrainian: Генеральна губернія), formally the General Governorate for the Occupied Polish Region (German: Generalgouvernement für die besetzten polnischen Gebiete), was a German zone of occupation established after the invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany, Slovakia and the Soviet Union in 1939 at the onset of World War II. The newly occupied Second Polish Republic was split into three zones: the General Government in its centre, Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany in the west, and Polish areas annexed by the Soviet Union in the east. The territory was expanded substantially in 1941, after the German Invasion of the Soviet Union, to include the new District of Galicia.[2] The area of the Generalgouvernement roughly corresponded with the Austrian part of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth after the Third Partition of Poland in 1795.
This article is about the German administration of occupied Poland during World War II. For the German administration of Belgium during World War I, see General Governorate of Belgium. For the national-accounting practice, see Central government. For the German General Government of Warsaw during World War I, see Government General of Warsaw.
General GovernmentGeneralgouvernement (German)
Litzmannstadt
(12 October – 4 November 1939)
Krakau
(4 November 1939 – 19 January 1945)
1 September 1939
26 October 1939
1 August 1941
22 July 1944
17 January 1945
19 January 1945
The basis for the formation of the General Government was the "Annexation Decree on the Administration of the Occupied Polish Territories". Announced by Hitler on October 8, 1939, it claimed that the Polish government had totally collapsed. This rationale was utilized by the German Supreme Court to reassign the identity of all Polish nationals as stateless subjects, with the exception of the ethnic Germans of interwar Poland—who, disregarding international law, were named the only rightful citizens of Nazi Germany.[2]
The General Government was run by Germany as a separate administrative unit for logistical purposes. When the Wehrmacht forces invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941 (Operation Barbarossa), the area of the General Government was enlarged by the inclusion of the Polish regions previously annexed to the USSR.[3] Within days East Galicia was overrun and incorporated into the District of Galicia. Until 1945, the General Government comprised much of central, southern, and southeastern Poland within its prewar borders (and of modern-day Western Ukraine), including the major Polish cities of Warsaw, Kraków, Lwów (now Lviv, renamed Lemberg), Lublin (see Lublin Reservation), Tarnopol (see history of Tarnopol Ghetto), Stanisławów (now Ivano-Frankivsk, renamed Stanislau; see Stanisławów Ghetto), Drohobycz, and Sambor (see Drohobycz and Sambor Ghettos) and others. Geographical locations were renamed in German.[2]
The administration of the General Government was composed entirely of German officials, with the intent that the area was to be colonized by Germanic settlers who would reduce the local Polish population to the level of serfs before their eventual genocide.[4] The Nazi German rulers of the Generalgouvernement had no intention of sharing power with the locals throughout the war, regardless of their ethnicity and political orientation. The authorities rarely mentioned the name Poland in legal correspondence. The only exception to this was the General Government's Bank of Issue in Poland (Polish: Bank Emisyjny w Polsce, German: Emissionbank in Polen).[5][6]
Name
The full title of the regime in Germany until July 1940 was the Generalgouvernement für die besetzten polnischen Gebiete, a name that is usually translated as "General Government for the Occupied Polish Territories". Governor Hans Frank, on Hitler's authority, shortened the name on 31 July 1940 to just Generalgouvernement.[7]
An accurate English translation of Generalgouvernement, which is a borrowing from French, is 'General Governorate', cognate with the Dutch Generaliteitslanden. A more accurate English translation of the French term gouvernement in this context is not 'government', but "governorate", which is a type of a territory that is administered centrally. In the French and Dutch original, the 'General' in the name is a reference to the Estates-General, the central assembly which was given an authority to directly rule the territory.
The Nazi designation of Generalgouvernement also gave a nod to the once existing Generalgouvernement Warschau, a civil entity created in the invaded Russian Empire territory by the German Empire during World War I. This district existed from 1914 to 1918 together with an Austro-Hungarian-controlled Military Government of Lublin alongside the short-lived Kingdom of Poland of 1916–1918, a similar rump state formed out of the then-Russian-controlled parts of Poland.[8]
The General Government area was also known colloquially as the Restpolen ('Remainder of Poland').
Culture of Poland
Germans plundered Polish museums. Many of the pieces of art perished.[67] Germans burned a number of Warsaw libraries, including the National Library of Poland, destroying about 3.6 million volumes.[68]
German sport
Hans Frank was an avid chess player, so he organized General Government chess tournaments. Only Germans were allowed to perform in sporting events. About 80 football clubs played in four district divisions.[69]
The Warsaw Ghetto (1940-1943)
Announcement by the Chief of SS and Police 5.09.1942—Death penalty for Poles offering any help to Jews
Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, April 1943: Jews being held at gunpoint by SS troops (from a report written by Jürgen Stroop for Heinrich Himmler)
Aerial view of the city of Warsaw, January 1945
Portrait of a Young Man by Raphael, stolen at the behest of Hans Frank in 1939 and never returned; one of over 40,000 works of art robbed from Polish collections
The Warsaw Uprising, 1944
Mędykowski, Witold W. (2018). . Jews of Poland. Boston: Academic Studies Press. ISBN 9781618119568. Archived from the original (pdf) on 2019-02-01. Retrieved 2019-02-01.
