General Government administration
The General Government administration (German: Generalgouvernement für die besetzten polnischen Gebiete, lit.
The Third Reich formed the General Government in October 1939 in the wake of the German and Soviet claim that the Polish state had totally collapsed following the invasion of Poland in September–October 1939.
The German Wehrmacht had attacked Poland with strong air-power and with massive numbers of troops and tanks on 1 September 1939.
[citation needed] On 23 August 1939, German foreign-minister Joachim von Ribbentrop and his Soviet counterpart had agreed to a non-aggression pact and had demarcated their respective countries' "spheres of influence" in Poland.
- 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.
Subordinated to them was a civilian "Chief of Civil Administration" (Chefs der Zivilverwaltung, CdZ), Dr. Hans Frank.
[6] The General Government was located in the center of Poland, covering about a third of the country's former territory and including about 45% of its population.
The General Governor's Office (later, Government) was headed by Josef Bühler, who was elevated to State Secretary in March 1940.
After Seyss-Inquart left to become Reichskommissar of Reichskommissariat Niederlande in May 1940, State Secretary Bühler functioned as Frank's deputy.
In order to avoid competing jurisdiction, which what the government in the Reich was like, each administrative chief was to ensure the individual departments were subordinated to his authority.
[13] Central and district administrative offices were staffed and controlled by Germans, however Russians and Ukrainians were placed in many less important positions.
The official state language was German, although Polish continued to be used to a large degree as well, especially on the local levels.
The General Government was modeled based on the Reich, with 12 departments (Hauptabteilungen), which would later become 14, responsible for areas such as finance, justice and labour [6] along with a Secretariat of State with several offices.
This idea of Führerprinzip was adopted, meaning all authority was concentrated in the hands of one man, the head of the administration at the given territorial level.
The regional network of the general government administration closely resembled the Reich, apart from some various differences in titles.
The Generalgouvernement was separated from the Reich by customs laws, financial barriers and passport control, but did not have its own armed forces or foreign ministry.
The power of the army went as following: Oberbefehlshaber Ost (Gernaloberest Blaskowitz), Militarbefehlshaber im Gerneralgouvernement (General der Kavallerie Kurt Freiherr von Gienanth), and Wehrkreisbefehlshaber im Generalgouvernement (Gienanth and General derer Infanterie Haenicke).
However, Frank did have a Main Division Railway under the direction of Präsident Gerteis, who was also the Generalddirektor of the Ostbahn, which was run by the Reichbhn.
The police enjoyed a special status due to the fact of how important security was in the occupied territory.
[24] In succession, the five SS and Police leaders were: Kraków: Zech, Schwedler, Scherner, Thier Lublin: Globocnik, Sporrenberg Radom: Katzmann, Oberg, Böttcher Warsaw: Moder, Wigand, von Sammern, Stroop, Kutschera, Geibel Galicia: Oberg, Katzmann, Diehm There was some conflict in the understanding of the power structure within the General Government, particularly with Frank.
For example, the governor of the Radom district, Dr. Lasch, died in prison after being arrested for corruption and sentenced to death.
With high turnover already a problem, the tendency of better officials to work for the central administration in Krakow created further difficulties.
Schools, choirs, reading societies and theaters were opened, and twenty Ukrainian churches that had been closed by the Polish government were reopened.
