Generalbezirk Weißruthenien

On 1 April 1944, Generalbezirk Weißruthenien was detached from Reichskommissariat Ostland and was subordinated directly to the Reich Ministry for the Occupied Eastern Territories.

These were to be subordinated to four or five Hauptgebiete (main areas) headquartered in Baranowitschi, Minsk, Mogilew, Witebsk, and possibly Smolensk.

Civil administration was led by a Generalkommissar (General Commissioner) directly appointed by Adolf Hitler, and who reported to Ostland Reichskommissar Hinrich Lohse, headquartered in Riga.

Tens of thousands of Jewish refugees had arrived from central and western Poland in the fall of 1939, but many of them were deported to the Soviet interior before June 1941.

Following the German invasion, the Nazi death squads of Einsatzgruppe B immediately began the systematic murder of Jews.