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{{short description|German-occupied zone in Poland in World War II}}
{{About|the German administration of occupied Poland during World War II|the German administration of Belgium during World War I|General Governorate of Belgium|the national-accounting practice|Central government|the German General Government of Warsaw during World War I|Government General of Warsaw}}
{{coord|50|03|N|19|56|E|source:kolossus-rowiki|display=title}}▼
{{pp-30-500|small=yes}}
{{Infobox country
| symbol = Coat of arms of Germany#Nazi Germany
| image_map_caption = The General Government in 1942▼
| image_map = General Government (1942).svg
| capital = {{nowrap|[[Łódź|Litzmannstadt]]<br /><small>(12 Oct – 4 Nov 1939)</small><br />[[Kraków|Krakau]]<br /><small>(4 Nov 1939 – 19 Jan 1945)</small>}}▼
| common_languages = [[German language|German]] <small>(official)</small><br />[[Polish language|Polish]], [[Ukrainian language|Ukrainian]], [[Yiddish]]▼
▲
| currency = [[Polish zloty#General Government|Zloty]]<br />[[Reichsmark]]▼
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| today = [[Poland]]<br />[[Slovakia]]<br />[[Ukraine]]▼
}}
The '''General Government''' ({{
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 [[statelessness|stateless subjects]], with the exception of the [[German diaspora|ethnic Germans]] of interwar Poland—who, disregarding international law, were named the only rightful citizens of [[Nazi Germany]].<ref name="Diemut2003">{{cite book |title="Non-Germans" Under the Third Reich: The Nazi Judicial and Administrative System in Germany and Occupied Eastern Europe with Special Regard to Occupied Poland, 1939–1945 |publisher=JHU Press |work=With contribution from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum |year=2003 |author=Diemut Majer |pages=236–246 |isbn=0801864933 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=J_BCNrHG9K8C&q=%22Point+of+Departure%3A+Statelessness%22 |access-date=2020-10-31 |archive-date=2023-03-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230317071103/https://books.google.com/books?id=J_BCNrHG9K8C&q=%22Point+of+Departure%3A+Statelessness%22 |url-status=live }}</ref>
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.<ref name="eber">{{cite book |author=Piotr Eberhardt, Jan Owsinski |title=Ethnic Groups and Population Changes in Twentieth-century Central-Eastern Europe: History, Data, Analysis |publisher=M.E. Sharpe |year=2003 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jLfX1q3kJzgC&q=%22first+part+of+World+War+II%22 |pages=216 |isbn=9780765606655 |access-date=2020-10-31 |archive-date=2023-03-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230317071053/https://books.google.com/books?id=jLfX1q3kJzgC&q=%22first+part+of+World+War+II%22 |url-status=live }}</ref> 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 {{lang|de|Lemberg}}), [[Lublin]] (see [[Lublin Reservation]]), [[Tarnopol]] (see history of [[Tarnopol Ghetto]]), Stanisławów (now [[Ivano-Frankivsk]], renamed {{lang|de|Stanislau}}; see [[Stanisławów Ghetto]]), [[Drohobycz]], and [[Sambir|Sambor]] (see [[Drohobycz Ghetto|Drohobycz]] and [[Sambor Ghetto]]s) and others. Geographical locations were renamed in German.<ref name="Diemut2003"/>
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 [[serf]]s before their eventual [[genocide
==Name==
The full title of the regime in Germany until July 1940 was the
An accurate English translation of
The
The General Government area was also known colloquially as the {{lang|de|Restpolen}} (
==History==
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The [[Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact]] signed on 23 August 1939 had promised the vast territory between the Vistula and Bug rivers to the Soviet "sphere of influence" in divided Poland, while the two powers would have jointly ruled Warsaw. To settle the deviation from the original agreement, the German and Soviet representatives met again on September 28 to delineate a permanent border between the two countries. Under [[German–Soviet Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Demarcation|this revised version]] of the pact the territory concerned was exchanged for the inclusion in the Soviet sphere of [[Lithuania]], which had originally fallen within the ambit of Germany. With the new agreement the entire central part of Poland, including the core ethnic area of the Poles, came under exclusively German control.
[[File:Mapa 2 paktu Ribbentrop-Mołotow.gif|thumb|German-Soviet border drawn in the aftermath of the [[Invasion of Poland|Nazi-Soviet invasion of Poland]], signed in Moscow by [[Joseph Stalin|Stalin]] and [[Joachim von Ribbentrop|Ribbentrop]] during the Second [[Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact]] known as the [[German-Soviet Frontier Treaty|Frontier Treaty]] of September 28, 1939]]
Hitler decreed the direct annexation to the [[German Reich]] of [[Polish territories annexed by Nazi Germany|large parts]] of the occupied Polish territory in the western half of the German zone, in order to increase the Reich's [[Lebensraum]].<ref>''"Erlaß des Führers und Reichskanzlers über die Gliederung und Verwaltung der Ostgebiete"''</ref> Germany organized most of these areas as two new [[Reichsgau]]e: [[Reichsgau Danzig-West Prussia|Danzig-West Prussia]] and [[Reichsgau Wartheland|Wartheland]]. The remaining three regions, the so-called areas of Zichenau, Eastern [[Upper Silesia]] and the [[Suwałki]] triangle, became attached to adjacent [[Gau (country subdivision)|Gaue]] of Germany. Draconian measures were introduced by both RKF and HTO,{{Ref|a-RKF|[a]}} to facilitate the immediate [[Germanization]] of the annexed territory, typically resulting in [[Forced resettlement|mass expulsions]], especially in the Warthegau. The remaining parts of the former Poland were to become a German ''{{lang|de|Nebenland}}'' ([[March (territory)|March]], borderland) as a frontier post of German rule in the east. A Führer's decree of October 12, 1939 established the General Government; the decree came into force on October 26, 1939.<ref name="Diemut2003"/>
[[Hans Frank]] was appointed as the [[
The official name chosen for the new entity was the ''{{lang|de|Generalgouvernement für die besetzten polnischen Gebiete}}'' (General Government for the Occupied Polish Territories), then changed to the ''Generalgouvernement'' (General Government) by Frank's decree of July 31, 1940. However, this name did not imply anything about the actual nature of the administration. The German authorities never regarded these Polish lands (apart from the short period of [[German military administration in occupied Poland|military administration]] during the actual [[invasion of Poland]]) as an [[Military occupation|occupied territory]].<ref name="Majer265">Majer (2003), p. 265.</ref> The Nazis considered the Polish state to have effectively ceased to exist with its defeat in the September campaign.
Overall, 4 million of the 1939 population of the General Government area had lost their lives by the time the Soviet armed forces entered the area in late 1944. If the Polish underground killed a German, 50–100 Poles were executed by German police as a punishment and as a warning to other Poles.<ref>[http://www1.yadvashem.org/odot_pdf/microsoft%20word%20-%206246.pdf Generalgouvernement] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210831062732/https://www.yadvashem.org/odot_pdf/microsoft%20word%20-%206246.pdf |date=2021-08-31 }} Shoah Resource Center</ref> Most of the Jews, perhaps as many as two million, had also been rounded up and murdered. Germans destroyed Warsaw after the [[Warsaw Uprising]]. As the Soviets advanced through Poland in late 1944 the General Government collapsed. American troops captured [[Hans Frank]], who had governed the region, in May 1945; he became one of the defendants at the [[Nuremberg Trials]]. During his trial he resumed his childhood practice of Catholicism and expressed repentance. Frank surrendered forty volumes of his diaries to the Tribunal; much evidence against him and others was gathered from them. He was found guilty of [[war crime]]s and [[crimes against humanity]]. On October 1, 1946, he was [[capital punishment|sentenced to death]] by [[hanging]]. The sentence was carried out on October 16.
==German intentions regarding the region==
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[[File:Generalgouvernement_with_2nd_Polish_Republic%2C_"Lebensraum_im_Osten"%2C_and_current_borders.jpg|thumb|Map of Generalgouvernement (yellow) in comparison to Second Polish Republic (dark grey), today's borders (white), 1918 German-Polish border (black), and areas annexed by Nazi Germany (blue)]]
[[File:Partitions of Poland.png|thumb|right|Orange and yellow areas of former Austrian part after Third Partition of the Polish–Lithuanian Union in 1795 roughly correspond with Generalgouvernement]]
The conversion of Warsaw into a "model city" was [[Pabst Plan|planned]] in 1940 and later, in similar ways like the [[Germania (city)|conversion of Berlin]] was planned. In March 1941 Hans Frank informed his subordinates that [[Adolf Hitler|Hitler]] had made the decision to "turn this region into a purely German area within 15–20 years". He explained: "Where 12 million [[Polish people|Poles]] now live, is to be populated by 4 to 5 million [[Germans]]. The ''Generalgouvernement'' must become as German as the [[Rhineland]]."<ref name="Germany"/> By 1942 Hitler and Frank had agreed that the Kraków ("with its purely German capital") and Lublin districts would be the first areas for German colonists to re-populate.<ref name="talk">Hitler, Adolf (2000). Bormann, Martin. ed. ''Hitler's Table Talk 1941-1944'', 5 April 1942. trans. Cameron, Norman; Stevens, R.H. (3rd ed.). Enigma Books. {{ISBN|1-929631-05-7}}.</ref> Hitler stated: "When these two weak points have been strengthened, it should be possible to slowly drive back the Poles."<ref name="talk"/> Peculiar about these statements is the circumstance that there were not enough German settlers to even make the [[Wartheland]] "as German as the Rhineland". According to notes from Martin Bormann German policy envisaged reducing lower-class Poles to the status of [[serf]]s, while deporting or otherwise eliminating the middle and upper classes and eventually replacing them with German colonists of the "[[master race]]".
{{blockquote|The General
German bureaucrats drew up various plans regarding the future of the original population. One called for the deportation of about 20 million Poles to western [[Siberia]], and the Germanisation of 4 to 5 million; although deportation in reality meant many Poles were to be put to death, a small number would be "Germanized", and [[Kidnapping of children for forced Germanization by Nazi Germany|young Poles of desirable qualities would be kidnapped and raised in Germany]].<ref>
In 1943, the government selected the [[Zamojskie]] area for further Germanization on account of its fertile black soil, and German colonial settlements were planned. Zamość was initially renamed by the government to ''{{lang|de|Himmlerstadt}}'' ([[Heinrich Himmler|Himmler]] City), which was later changed to ''{{lang|de|Pflugstadt}}'' ([[Plough]] City), both names were not implemented. Most of the Polish population was expelled by the Nazi occupation authorities with documented brutality. Himmler intended the city of [[Lublin]] to have a German population of 20% to 25% by the beginning of 1944, and of 30% to 40% by the following year, at which time Lublin was to be declared a German city and given a German mayor.<ref>Rich, Norman (1974). Hitler's War Aims: the Establishment of the New Order, p. 99. W. W. Norton & Company Inc., New York.</ref>
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Nazi planners never definitively resolved the question of the exact territorial reorganization of the Polish provinces in the event of German victory in the east. Germany had [[Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany|already annexed]] large parts of western pre-war Poland (8 October 1939) before the establishment of the General Government (26 October 1939), and the remaining region was also intended to be directly incorporated into the German Reich at some future date. The Nazi leadership discussed numerous initiatives with this aim.
The earliest such proposal (October/November 1939) called for the establishment of a separate ''Reichsgau [[Beskids|Beskidenland]]'' which would encompass several southern sections of the Polish territories conquered in 1939 (around 18,000 km<sup>2</sup>), stretching from the area to the west of [[Kraków]] to the [[San (river)|San river]] in the east.<ref>{{cite news |last=Burleigh |first=Michael |year=1988 |title=Germany Turns Eastwards: A Study of Ostforschung in the Third Reich |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |page=142 |isbn=9780521351201 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yVM4AAAAIAAJ&dq=reichsgau+beskidenland&pg=PA159 |access-date=2022-03-14 |archive-date=2023-03-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230317071114/https://books.google.com/books?id=yVM4AAAAIAAJ&dq=reichsgau+beskidenland&pg=PA159 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>Madajczyk, Czesław (1988). ''Die okkupationspolitik Nazideutschlands in Polen 1939-1945'', p. 31 (in German). Akademie-Verlag Berlin.</ref> At this time Germany had not yet directly annexed the [[Łódź]] area, and Łódź (rather than Kraków) served as the capital of the General Government.
In November 1940, Gauleiter [[Arthur Greiser]] of Reichsgau Wartheland argued that the counties of Tomaschow Mazowiecki and Petrikau should be transferred from the General Government's Radom district to his Gau. Hitler agreed, but since Frank refused to surrender the counties, the resolution of the border question was postponed until after the final victory.<ref>Catherine Epstein (2012), ''Model Nazi: Arthur Greiser and the Occupation of Western Poland'', Oxford University Press, {{ISBN|0199646538}}, p. 139</ref>
Upon hearing of the German plans to create a "[[Gau (country subdivision)|Gau]] of the [[Goths]]" (''{{lang|de|Gotengau}}'') in the [[Crimea]] and the Southern [[Ukraine]] after the start (June 1941) of [[Operation Barbarossa]], Frank himself expressed his intention to turn the district under his control into a German province called the ''{{lang|de|Vandalengau}}'' (Gau of the [[Vandals]]) in a speech he gave on 16 December 1941.<ref>Rich, p. 89.</ref><ref>NS-Archiv: Dokumente zum Nationalsozialismus. ''Diensttagebuch Hans Frank: 16.12.1941 - Regierungssitzung'' (in German). Retrieved 12 May 2011. [http://www.ns-archiv.de/personen/frank/16-12-1941.php] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304023337/http://www.ns-archiv.de/personen/frank/16-12-1941.php|date=2016-03-04}}</ref>
When Frank unsuccessfully attempted to resign his position on 24 August 1942, [[Nazi Party Chancellery|Nazi Party Secretary]] [[Martin Bormann]] tried to advance a project to dissolve the General Government altogether and to partition its territory into a number of [[Reichsgaue]], arguing that only this method could guarantee the territory's Germanization, while also claiming that Germany could economically exploit the area more effectively, particularly as a source of food.<ref name="Okkupation">Madajczyk, pp. 102-103.</ref> He suggested separating the "more restful" population of the [[Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria|formerly Austrian territories]] (because this part of Poland had been under [[Austrian Empire|German-Austrian rule]] for a long period of time it was deemed more racially acceptable) from the rest of the Poles, and cordoning off the city of [[Warsaw]] as the center of "criminality" and [[Polish resistance movement in World War II|underground resistance activity]].<ref name="Okkupation"/>
[[File:Kundt, Fischer, Frank, Wächter, Zörner, Wendler.jpg|thumb|Hans Frank with district administrators in 1942 – from left: Ernst Kundt, [[Ludwig Fischer]], [[Hans Frank]], [[Otto Wächter]], Ernst Zörner, [[Richard Wendler]]]]
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In this context Zvanetti's study proposed a re-ordering of the "Eastern Gaue" into three geopolitical blocs:<ref name="Wasser"/>
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==Administration==
{{Main|General Government administration}}
The General Government was administered by a General-Governor ({{
The Office was headed by Chief of the Government ({{
[[File:Announcement of death of 100 of Polish hostages shot by Nazi-German authority in Poland 1941.jpg|thumb|upright|Announcement of the execution of 60 Polish hostages and a list of 40 new hostages taken by Nazi authorities in Poland, 1943]]
{{blockquote|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. — Excerpt from the minutes 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<ref>"Man to man...", Rada Ochrony Pamięci Walk i Męczeństwa, Warsaw 2011, English version</ref>}}
The General Government had no [[Diplomatic recognition|international recognition]]. The territories it administered were never either in whole or part intended as any future Polish state within a German-dominated Europe. According to the Nazi government the Polish state had effectively ceased to exist, in spite of the existence of a [[Polish government-in-exile]].<ref name="Majer2"/> The General Government had the character of a type of [[colony|colonial state]]. It was not a Polish [[puppet government]], as there were no Polish representatives above the local administration.
The government seat of the General Government was located in Kraków (German: ''{{lang|de|Krakau}}''; {{
The Germans sought to play [[Ukrainian people|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 reopened. By March 1941, there were 808 Ukrainian educational societies with 46,000 members.
A Ukrainian publishing house and periodical press was set up in Cracow,<ref name="himka98">{{cite journal |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41036740 |jstor=41036740 |title="Krakivs'ki visti": An Overview |last1=Himka |first1=John-Paul |journal=Harvard Ukrainian Studies |year=1998 |volume=22 |pages=251–261 |access-date=2022-05-29 |archive-date=2022-05-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220529172523/https://www.jstor.org/stable/41036740 |url-status=live }}</ref> which – despite having to struggle with German censors and paper shortages – succeeded in publishing school textbooks, classics of [[Ukrainian literature]], and the works of dissident Ukrainian writers from the Soviet Union. ''[[Krakivs'ki Visti]]'' was headed by Frank until the end of World War II and had as editor [[Michael Chomiak]]. It was "the leading legal newspaper" of the General Government and "attracted more (and better) contributors among whom were the most prominent Ukrainian cultural figures of the (early) 20th century."<ref name="gyidel19">{{cite journal |doi=10.7939/r3-7x8g-9w02 |year=2019 |last1=Gyidel |first1=Ernest |title=The Ukrainian Legal Press of the General Government: The Case of Krakivski Visti, 1940-1944
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).<ref>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</ref>
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===Judicial system===
[[File:Hans Frank’s ordinance on counteracting the acts of violence in Generalgouvernement 01.jpg|thumb|upright|
Other than summary German military tribunals, no courts operated in Poland between the German invasion and early 1940. At that time, the Polish court system was reinstated and made decisions in cases not concerning German interests, for which a parallel German court-system was established. The German system was given priority in cases of overlapping jurisdiction.
New laws were passed, discriminating against ethnic Poles and, in particular, the Jews. In 1941 a new [[criminal law]] was introduced, introducing many new crimes, and making the [[death penalty]] very common. The death penalty was introduced for, among other things:
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===Policing===
The police in the General Government was divided into:
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The most numerous [[Ordnungspolizei#Police Battalions|OrPo battalions]] focused on traditional security roles as an occupying force. Some of them were directly involved in [[Pacification actions in German-occupied Poland|the pacification operations]].<ref name="Browning2007">{{cite book |
The former Polish policemen, with no high-ranking Polish officers (who were arrested or demoted), were drafted to the [[Blue Police]] and became subordinated to the local [[Ordnungspolizei]].
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Some 3,000 men served with the ''Sonderdienst'' in the General Government, formally assigned to the head of the civil administration.<ref name="Browning"/> The existence of ''Sonderdienst'' constituted a grave danger for the non-Jewish Poles who [[Rescue of Jews by Poles during the Holocaust|attempted to help ghettoised Jews]] in the cities, as in the [[Mińsk Mazowiecki Ghetto]] among numerous others, because Christian Poles were executed under the charge of aiding Jews.<ref name="Yad Vashem"/>
A [[Forest Protection Service]] also existed, responsible for policing wooded areas in the General Government.<ref name="benz">{{cite book |last1=Benz |first1=Wolfgang |title=Enzyklopädie des Nationalsozialismus |date=1997 |publisher=Klett-Cotta |isbn=3423330074}}</ref>
A Bahnpolizei policed railroads.
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The Germans used pre-war Polish prisons and organised new ones, like in Jan Chrystian Schuch Avenue police quarter in Warsaw and [[Under the Clock]] torture centre in [[Lublin]].
German administration constructed a terror system to control Polish people enforcing reports of any illegal activities, e.g. hiding Roma, POWs, guerilla fighters, Jews. Germans designated hostages, terrorised local leaders, applied collective responsibility. German police used [[sting operations]] to find and kill rescuers of the Germans' quarries.<ref>{{cite book |chapter-url=https://www.academia.edu/37783353 |first=Tomasz |last=Frydel |chapter=''Judenjagd'': Reassessing the Role of Ordinary Poles as Perpetrators in the Holocaust |editor-first=Timothy |editor-last=Williams |editor2-first=Susanne |editor2-last=Buckley-Zistel |title=Perpetrators and Perpetration of Mass Violence: Action, Motivations and Dynamics |location=London |publisher=Routledge |year=2018 |pages=187–203 |access-date=2019-05-15 |archive-date=2022-03-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220314132350/https://www.academia.edu/37783353 |url-status=live }}</ref>
===Military occupation forces===
Through the occupation Germany diverted a significant number of its military forces to keep control over Polish territories.
{| class="wikitable" width="98%"
|+ Number of ''Wehrmacht'' and police formations stationed in General government<ref>Czesław Madajczyk. Polityka III Rzeszy w okupowanej Polsce p.242 volume 1, Państwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe, Warszawa, 1970</ref>
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====Anti-semitic propaganda====
[[File:German_antisemitic_poster,_1942.jpg|thumb|180x180px|Nazi anti-semitic propaganda poster]]
Thousands of anti-Semitic posters were distributed in Warsaw.<ref>
====Political propaganda====
[[File:Chodźmy na roboty rolne do Niemiec.jpg|right|thumb|German [[Polish language|Polish-language]] recruitment poster: "'Let's do farm work in Germany!' See your ''[[Vogt#Poland|wójt]]'' at once."]]
Germans wanted Poles to obey orders.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://martyrologiawsipolskich.pl/mwp/wirtualne-mauzoleum/modul-iii-eksploatacja/fotogaleria/2514,Eksploatacja-wsi-1939-1945-fotogaleria.html |title=Eksploatacja wsi 1939-1945 - fotogaleria - Fotogaleria - Martyrologia Wsi Polskich |access-date=2018-06-18 |archive-date=2018-06-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180618175319/http://martyrologiawsipolskich.pl/mwp/wirtualne-mauzoleum/modul-iii-eksploatacja/fotogaleria/2514,Eksploatacja-wsi-1939-1945-fotogaleria.html |url-status=dead
====Polish language newspapers====
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====Cinemas====
Propaganda [[newsreel]]s of ''[[Die Deutsche Wochenschau]]'' (The German Weekly Review) preceded feature-film showings. Some feature films likewise contained Nazi propaganda. The Polish underground discouraged Poles from attending movies, advising them, in the words of the rhymed couplet, ''"Tylko świnie / siedzą w kinie"'' ("Only swine go to the movies").<ref>{{Cite web |
In occupied Poland, there was no Polish film industry. However, a few Poles collaborated with the Germans in making films such as the 1941 [[Anti-Polish sentiment|anti-Polish]] [[propaganda film]] ''[[Heimkehr]]'' (''Homecoming''). In that film, casting for minor parts played by Jewish and Polish actors was done by [[Igo Sym]], who during the filming was shot in his [[Warsaw]] apartment by the Polish [[Union of Armed Struggle]] resistance movement; after the war, the Polish performers were sentenced for [[collaboration]] in an anti-Polish propaganda undertaking, with punishments ranging from official reprimand to imprisonment.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://ipn.gov.pl/download/1/89951/IPNkinoiteatrpodokupacja2017170911maly.pdf |title=Kino i teatr pod okupacją. Polskie środowisko filmowe i teatralne w czasie II wojny światowej |access-date=14 March 2022 |first=Bartosz |last=Januszewski |language=pl |date=13 September 2017 |archive-date=16 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220816061350/https://ipn.gov.pl/download/1/89951/IPNkinoiteatrpodokupacja2017170911maly.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>
====Theaters====
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====Audio propaganda====
Poles were not allowed to use radio sets. Any set was to be handed over to local administration by 25 January 1940. Ethnic Germans were obliged to register their sets.<ref>http://www.historiaradia.neostrada.pl/Okupacja%201939-44.html {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180803231328/http://www.historiaradia.neostrada.pl/Okupacja%201939-44.html |date=2018-08-03 }} {{Bare URL inline|date=June 2022}}</ref>
German authorities installed megaphones for propaganda purposes, called by Poles ''szczekaczki'' (from [[Polish language|pol.]] ''szczekać'' "to bark").<ref>http://www.polska1918-89.pl/pdf/gadzinowki-i-szczekaczki.-,5383.pdf {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180627144513/http://www.polska1918-89.pl/pdf/gadzinowki-i-szczekaczki.-,5383.pdf |date=2018-06-27 }} {{Bare URL PDF|date=March 2022}}</ref>
===Public executions===
[[File:Tablica_Tchorka_Al._Ujazdowskie_21_Warszawa.JPG|thumb|[[Ujazdów Avenue]] Public execution memorial table, Warsaw]]
Germans killed thousands of Poles, many of them civilian hostages, in Warsaw streets and locations around Warsaw (Warsaw ring), to terrorize the population{{snd}}they shot or hanged them.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.inyourpocket.com/warsaw/execution-sites_18396v |title=Execution Sites |access-date=2018-06-28 |archive-date=2018-06-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180628124819/https://www.inyourpocket.com/warsaw/execution-sites_18396v |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.executedtoday.com/2009/02/11/1944-twenty-two-or-more-poles/|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20180628100621/http://www.executedtoday.com/2009/02/11/1944-twenty-two-or-more-poles/|url-status=dead|title=1944: Twenty-two or more Poles | Executed Today|date=February 11, 2009|archivedate=June 28, 2018}}</ref> The executions were ordered mainly by Austrian Nazi [[Franz Kutschera]], [[SS and Police Leader|''SS'' and Police Leader]], from September 1943 until January 1944.
===Urban planning and transportation network===
Warsaw was to be reconstructed according to [[Pabst Plan]]. The governmental quarter was situated around the [[Piłsudski Square]].
The capital of GG Kraków was reconstructed according to ''Generalbebauungsplan von Krakau'' by Hubert Ritter. Hans Frank rebuild his residence [[Wawel Castle]]. <<ref>{{Cite web |
Germans constructed railroad line Łódź-Radom (partially in GG) and engine house in Radom.<ref>{{Cite web |
==Administrative districts==
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[[File:GeneralGovernment1940Map.png|thumb|upright=1.3|Administrative map of the General Government, July 1940 (before [[Operation Barbarossa|Barbarossa]])]]
[[File:General Government for the occupied Polish territories (1941).png|thumb|upright=1.3|Administrative map of the General Government, July 1941 – January 1944 following Barbarossa]]
{| border=0
|-
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|-
| ''Kreishauptmannschaften''
| Busko ([[Busko-Zdrój]]), [[Jedrzejow]], Kielce-Land, Konskie ([[Końskie]]), Opatau ([[Opatów]]), Petrikau ([[Piotrków Trybunalski]]), Radom-Land, [[Radomsko]], Starachowitz
|-
||'''''[[District of Galicia|Distrikt Galizien]]'''''
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|}
A change in the administrative structure was desired by Finance Minister [[Lutz von Krosigk]], who for financial reasons wanted to see the five existing districts (Warsaw, Kraków, Radom, Lublin, and Galicia) reduced to three.<ref name="Okkupation"/> In March 1943 he announced the merger of the Kraków and Galicia districts, and the split of the Warsaw district between the Radom district and the Lublin district.<ref name="Okkupation"/> (The latter acquired a special status of
==Demographics==
The General Government was inhabited by 11.4 million people in December 1939. A year later the population increased to 12.1 million. In December 1940, 83.3% of the population were Poles, 11.2% Jews, 4.4% Ukrainians and Belarusians, 0.9% Germans, and 0.2% others.<ref>Włodzimierz Bonusiak. ''Polska podczas II wojny światowej'' (Poland during II World War). Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Rzeszowskiego. 2003. p.68.</ref> About 860,000 Poles and Jews were resettled into the General Government after they
Poles were also deported in large numbers to work as forced labor in Germany: eventually about a million were deported, of whom many died in Germany. In 1940 the population was segregated into different groups. Each group had different rights, food rations, allowed strips in the cities, public transportation and restricted restaurants. They were divided from the most privileged, to the least.{{citation needed|date=June 2022}}
{| class="wikitable" style="float:right; margin:0 0.5em 0.5em 1em; font-size:90%"
|+ Distribution of food in General Government as of December, 1941 <ref>Madajczyk 1970, p.226, volume 2.</ref>
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|-
| Germans
| {{
|-
| Foreigners
| {{
|-
| Ukrainians
| {{
|-
| Poles
| {{
|-
| Jews
| {{
|}
#Germans from outside, active ethnic Germans, Volksliste category 1 and 2 (see [[Volksdeutsche]]).
▲# Germans from Germany (''Reichdeutsche''),
#
#
▲# Ukrainians,
▲# Highlanders (''[[Goralenvolk]]'') – an attempt to split the Polish nation by using local collaborators
▲# Poles (partially exterminated),{{citation needed|date=June 2022}}
#
▲# Jews (eventually largely [[Holocaust|exterminated]] as a category).
==Economics==
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After the invasion of Poland in 1939, Jews over the age of 12 and Poles over the age of 14 living in the General Government were subject to forced labor.<ref name="Majer2">Majer (2003), p.302</ref> Many Poles from other regions of Poland conquered by Germany were expelled to the General Government and the area was used as a slave labour pool from which men and women taken by force to work as laborers in factories and farms in Germany.<ref name="Germany"/> In 1942, all non-Germans living in the General Government were subject to forced labor.<ref name="Majer303">Majer (2003), p.303</ref>
Parts of Warsaw and several towns ([[Bombing of Wieluń|Wieluń]], [[Sulejów]], [[Bombing of Frampol|Frampol]])
[[File:500 zł 1940 awers.jpg|thumb|180x180px|So-called "Góral"- 500 złoty banknote used in the territories of the GG]]
Former Polish state property was confiscated by the General Government (or by Nazi Germany in the annexed territories). Notable property of Polish individuals (ex. factories and large land estates) was often confiscated as well and managed by German "trusts" ({{
Farmers were required to provide large food contingents for the Germans, and there were plans for nationalization of all but the smallest estates.
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== Food supply ==
While scholars debate whether from September 1939 to June 1941 the mass-starvation of the Jewish people of Europe was an attempt to conduct mass murder, it is agreed upon that this starvation did kill a large amount of this population.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Sinnreich |first=Helene Julia |date=May 2004 |title=The Supply and Distribution of Food to the Łódź Ghetto- A Case Study in Nazi Jewish Policy, 1939 -1945 |journal=ProQuest |pages=56 |id={{ProQuest|305208240}}}}</ref> There was a shift in the amount of resources that were being used by the Generalgouvernement from 1939 to 1940. For example, in 1939, seven million tons of coal were used but in 1940 this was reduced to four million tons of coal used by the Generalgouvernement. This shift was emblematic of the shortages in supplies, depriving the Jews and Poles of their only heating source. Although before the war, Poland exported mass quantities of food, in 1940 the Generalgouvernement was unable to supply enough food for the country, nonetheless exporting food supplies.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Polish Society Under German Occupation: The
The prices for food outside of ghettos and concentration camps had to be set at a reasonable price in order for them to align with the [[black market in Poland|black market]]; setting prices at a reasonable rate would ensure that farmers did not sell their crops illegally. If the prices were set too high in cities there was a concern that workers would not be able to afford the food and protest the prices. Due to the price inflation which was occurring in the Generalgouvernement, many places relied on the [[Barter|barter system]] (exchanging goods for other goods instead of money). "Introducing rationing in September 1940, [[Marshal Petain]] insisted that ‘everyone must assume their share of common hardship.’"<ref name=":1" /> There was clearly food instability not only in the ghettos, but also in cities, which caused everyone to be conscious about food rationing, and caused conditions for Jewish people to worsen. While workers in Norway and France protested the new rationing of food, Germany and the UK, where the citizens supported war efforts were more supportive of the rationing therefore it was more effective. Cases, where a country was being occupied, caused the citizens to be more hesitant about the rationing of food and it was overall not as effective.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Hitler's Empire: How the Nazis Ruled Europe |last=Mazower |first=Mark |publisher=The Penguin Press |year=2008 |isbn=9780713996814 |location=London, UK |pages=277–279}}</ref> In December, 1941 it was recognized by the Generalgouvernement that starving the Jewish people to death was an inexpensive and expedient solution. In August 1942, the
=== Black market ===
During this environment of food scarcity Jews turned to the black market for any source of sustenance. The [[black market]] was important both in and outside of the ghettos from 1940 to 1944. Outside of the ghettos, the black market existed because rations were not high enough for the citizens to remain healthy. In the ghettos of eastern Europe in August 1941 the Jewish population recognized that if they were forced to remain in these ghettos they would eventually die of hunger. Many people that were in ghettos made trades with the outside world in order to stay alive.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |title=Hitler's Empire: How the Nazis Ruled Europe |last=Mazower |first=Mark |publisher=The Penguin Press |year=2008 |isbn=9780713996814 |location=London, UK |pages=279}}</ref> Jewish people were forced to reside in ghettos, where the economy was isolated and there were large food shortages, which caused them to be seen as a source for cheap labor; many were given food that was purchased on the Aryan side of the wall in exchange for their labor. The isolation of the people forced into ghettos caused there to be a disconnect between the buyer and seller, which added in another player: the black market middleman. The black market middleman would make a profit by creating connections between sellers and buyers. While supply and demand was [[Inelastic supply|inelastic]] in these ghettos, the selling of this food on the blackmarket was extremely competitive, and beyond the reach of most Jews in ghettos.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Polish Society Under German Occupation: The
==Resistance==
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{{Main|Polish resistance movement in World War II}}
Resistance to the German occupation began almost at once, although there is little terrain in Poland suitable for [[guerrilla warfare|guerrilla operations]]. Several small army troops supported by volunteers fought till Spring 1940, e.g. under major [[Henryk Dobrzański]], after which they ceased due to German executions of civilians as reprisals.
[[File:Flaga PPP.svg|thumb|200px|Flag of the [[Home Army]]]]
The main resistance force was the [[Home Army]] (in Polish: ''Armia Krajowa'' or ''AK''), loyal to the [[Polish government in exile]] in London. It was formed mainly of the surviving remnants of the pre-War [[Polish Army]], together with many volunteers. Other forces existed side-by-side, such as the communist [[People's Army (Poland)|People's Army]] ''(Armia Ludowa'' or AL) parallel to the PPR, organized and controlled by the Soviet Union. The AK was estimated between 200,000 and 600,000 men, while the AL was estimated between 14,000 and 60,000.
[[File:German announcement General Government Poland 1941.jpg|thumb|250px| German announcement of the execution of 9 Polish peasants for unfurnished contingents (quotas). Signed by the governor of [[Lublin]] district on 25 November 1941]]
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==Culture of Poland==
Germans plundered Polish museums. Many of the pieces of art perished.<ref>
== German sport ==
[[Hans Frank]] was an avid chess player, so he organized [[General Government chess tournament]]s. Only Germans were allowed to perform in sporting events. About 80 football clubs played in [[Gauliga Generalgouvernement|four district divisions]].<ref>{{Cite web |
==The Holocaust==
{{main|The Holocaust in Poland}}
[[File:WW2-Holocaust-Poland.PNG|thumb|260px|Nazi extermination camps in [[occupied Poland]], marked with black and white skulls. General Government in beige. Death camp at [[Auschwitz]] (lower left) in the neighbouring new German ''Provinz Oberschlesien'']]During the [[Wannsee conference]] on January 20, 1942, the State Secretary of the General Government, ''[[SS-Brigadeführer]]'' [[Josef Bühler]] encouraged [[Reinhard Heydrich|Heydrich]] to implement the "[[Final Solution]]". From his own point of view, as an administrative official, the problems in his district included an overdeveloped black market. He endorsed a remedy in solving the "Jewish question" as fast as possible. An additional point in favor of setting up the extermination facilities in his governorate was that there were no transportation problems there,<ref name="upenn-eichmann">{{Cite web |url=http://www.writing.upenn.edu/~afilreis/Holocaust/wansee-transcript.html |access-date=2009-01-05 |title
{{main|Operation Reinhard}}
The newly drafted [[Operation Reinhard]] would be a major step in the systematic liquidation of the Jews in occupied Europe, beginning with those in the General Government. Within months, three top-secret camps were built and equipped with stationary gas chambers disguised as shower rooms, based on [[Action T4]], solely to efficiently kill thousands of people each day. The Germans began the [[Holocaust|elimination of the Jewish population]] under the guise of "resettlement" in spring of 1942. The three Reinhard camps including [[Treblinka]] (the deadliest of them all) had transferable SS staff and almost identical design. The General Government was the location of four of the seven [[extermination camp]]s of World War II in which the most extreme measures of [[the Holocaust]] were carried out, including closely located [[Majdanek concentration camp]], [[Sobibor extermination camp]] and [[Belzec extermination camp]].
== Punishments ==
*[[Hans Frank]] instituted a reign of terror against the civilian population<ref>{{cite web |title=Holocaust Encyclopedia: Hans Frank |website=United States Holocaust Memorial Museum |url=http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007108 |access-date=18 April 2016 |archive-date=7 May 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160507152733/https://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007108 |url-status=live }}</ref> and became directly involved in the mass murder of Jews.
*[[Ludwig Fischer]] was a governor of the Warsaw District. He was sentenced and hanged in Warsaw.
*[[Ernst Kundt]] was a governor of the Radom District. He was sentenced and hanged in Czechoslovakia.
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==See also==
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==Notes==
{{Notelist}}
:a. {{Note|a-RKF}} The RKF (also RKFDV) stands for the ''Reichskommissar für die Festigung des deutschen Volkstums'', or the [[Reich Commissioner for the Consolidation of German Nationhood]], an office in Nazi Germany held by ''Reichsführer-SS'' [[Heinrich Himmler]]. Meanwhile, the HTO stands for ''[[Haupttreuhandstelle Ost]]'', or the Main Trustee Office for the East, a Nazi German predatory institution responsible for liquidating Polish and Jewish businesses across [[occupied Poland]]; and selling them off for profit mainly to the [[SS]], or the German ''[[Volksdeutsche]]'' and war-profiteers if interested. The HTO was created and headed by Nazi potentate ''[[Reichsmarschall]]'' [[Hermann Göring]].<ref name="Sikora">Mirosław Sikora (16 September 2009), [http://www.radiomaryja.pl/informacje/aktion-saybusch-na-zywiecczyznie/
==Citations==
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==References==
{{Commons category|General Government}}
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==Further reading==
*{{cite book |last1=Mędykowski |first1=Witold W. |title=Macht Arbeit Frei?: German Economic Policy and Forced Labor of Jews in the General Government, 1939-1943 |date=2018 |isbn=9781618119568 |location=Boston |publisher=[[Academic Studies Press]] |url=https://www.academicstudiespress.com/browse-catalog/macht-arbeit-frei |format=pdf |series=Jews of Poland |access-date=2019-02-01 |archive-date=2019-02-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190201120038/https://www.academicstudiespress.com/browse-catalog/macht-arbeit-frei |url-status=dead
{{German administrative territories}}
{{Holocaust Poland}}
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[[Category:1939 establishments in Ukraine]]
[[Category:1945 disestablishments in Ukraine]]
[[Category:People from wartime administrations in Poland (1939–1947)]]
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