The General Government administration (), a government and administration of the General Government set up on part of that area of the Second Republic of Poland under Nazi German rule, operated during World War II between 1939 and early 1945.

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. The Germans' initial intent was to clear the western part of Poland, the Reichsgau Wartheland, and to bring it into the "Greater German Reich".Compare: However, those plans quickly stalled. 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.

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."Man to man...", Rada Ochrony Pamięci Walk, Męczeństwa, Warsaw 2011, English version

After the invasion of Poland the first German administration on occupied Polish areas was established by the German military Wehrmacht. Subordinated to them was a civilian "Chief of Civil Administration" (Chefs der Zivilverwaltung, CdZ), Dr. Hans Frank.Dieter Schenk (2006). Frank: Hitlers Kronjurist, General-Gouverneur, . As of late September 1939, most Polish territory was in German hands. The other parts of Poland were controlled by either the USSR or Lithuania, with Lithuania controlling barely 2% of the area. The Reich Interior Ministry drafted two bills on 8 October 1939 – one for the incorporation of western and northern Poland into the Reich, the other for the creation of a General Government in the remaining German-held territory.Winstone, Martin. The dark heart of Hitlers Europe: Nazi rule in Poland under the general government. London: Tauris, 2015. 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.Gross, Jan Tomasz. Polish society under German occupation: the Generalgouvernement, 1939-1944. Princeton, NJ: Princeton Univ., 1979. The General Government creation was prompted by the ending of military actions in the autumn of 1939. On 12 October 1939, a decree by Hitler established the General Government administered by a General Governor (German: Generalgouverneur) overseeing the Office of the General Governor (Amt des Generalgouverneurs), which was renamed the Government of the General Government (Regierung des Generalgouvernements) on 9 December 1940. The General Governor was Frank and his Deputy General Governor was Arthur Seyss-Inquart. 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.

Several other individuals had powers to issue legislative decrees in addition to the General Governor, most notably the Higher SS and Police Leader of the General Government (Friedrich-Wilhelm Krüger, later Wilhelm Koppe). All members of the first office:"Wybór tekstów źródłowych z historii państwa i prawa. Okres okupacji hitlerowskiej na ziemiach polskich.", Alfred Konieczny, Uniwersytet Wrocławski, Wrocław 1980.

1. Hans Frank - General Governor Frank was the president of the Academy for German Law and, as General Governor, he was subordinate only to Hitler. 2. Josef Bühler - State Secretary,Bogdan Musial: Deutsche Zivilverwaltung und Judenverfolgung im Generalgouvernement. Wiesbaden 1999, S. 382 3. Friedrich-Wilhelm Krüger - Higher SS and Police Leader, 4. Otto von Wächter - Governor of the Kraków District, 5. Friedrich Schmidt - Governor of the Lublin District, 6. Karl Lasch - Governor of the Radom District, 7. Ludwig Fischer - Governor of the Warsaw District, 8. Wilhelm Heuber - Plenipotentiary of the General Governor (Bevollmächtigter des Generalgouverneurs) in Berlin.

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.Majer (1981), p. 265. It was not a puppet state but simply a Nazi- administered region. It was emphatically not a Polish puppet government, as there were no Polish representatives above the local administration.

Administrative division

The General Government was divided into four districts initially: Krakow, Radom, Warsaw and Lublin. Each of these districts was headed by a governor (originally district chief) who were directly responsible to Frank. In 1941, after the outbreak of Russian and German hostilities, the district of Galicia was added as the fifth district.

The 5 districts in the General Government include:

1. Kraków District, led by SS-Brigadeführer Dr Otto von Wächter (between 26 October 1939 to 22 August 1942) and SS-Brigadeführer Dr Richard Wendler from 31 August 1942 to 26 May 1943 2. Lublin District, led by Friedrich Schmidt (from 1939 to March 1940), Ernst Zörner (from 31 March 1940 to 10 April 1943) and Richard Wendler (from 27 Mai 1943 to July 1944) 3. Radom District, led by Karl Lasch from 26 October 1939 to July 1941 and Ernst Kundt from September 1941 to 16 August 1945, 4. Warsaw District, led by Ludwig Fischer from 26 October 1939 to 17 August 1945, 5. Galicia District (from 1 September 1941), led by dr Karl Lasch from 1 September 1941 to 6 August 1942 and SS-Gruppenführer Otto von Wächter from 1 February 1942 to July 1944.Bogdan Musial: Deutsche Zivilverwaltung und Judenverfolgung im Generalgouvernement. Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1999, ; 2. 2004,

The districts were divided into sub-districts, known as Kreise, each headed by a Kreishauptmann. Stadtkreise were the city districts, then below that were the Kreishauptmannschaften, which was the county level. The General Government's six largest cities – Warsaw, Krakow, Czestochowa, Lublin, Radom and Kielce were governed by Stadthauptmänner. Kreis- and Stadthauptmänner had wide-ranging responsibilities over political and economic life within their area. However, authority at any level was solely in the hands of the Governor General or Hans Frank. 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. Frank had also modeled his departments based on the Reich, therefore Berlin saw them as subordinates. There was to be no interferences by any agencies in Berlin. There were eleven plenipotentiaries of various Reich ministries in the GG but also one plenipotentiary or “ambassador” of the GG in the Reich. The bureaucracy of each district consisted of ten departments.

At the end of 1941 when Galicia was incorporated as the fifth district, there were fifty-six county leaders and seven city leaders distributed throughout.Thompson, Larry Vern. "Nazi ADMINISTRATIVE Conflict: The Struggle for Executive Power In The General Government of Poland, 1939-1943." Order No. 6717038, The University of Wisconsin - Madison, 1967. DistrictCounty LeadersCity LeadersKrakow121Lublin101Radom101Warsaw93Galicia 151 Central and district administrative offices were staffed and controlled by Germans, however Russians and Ukrainians were placed in many less important positions. Also, Poles were employed in autonomous institutions such as management of municipalities, municipal enterprises and public utilities. Decrees and regulatory announcements pertaining to the GG were published in an official bulletin. Similar bulletins were published for each district.Chylinski, T. H. "Poland Under Nazi Rule 1941." Central Intelligence Agency. Accessed May 03, 2018. https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/document/519cd820993294098d516be9 .

Organization 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 financial system, including the zloty currency, was kept, but with revenues now going to the German state. A new bank was created, and was issuing new banknotes.

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 along with a Secretariat of State with several offices. However, the offices of the State Secretariat were not created until March 1941.

The Government of the General Government 12 departments:

I Hauptabteilung Innere Verwaltung - Department of Interior, led from October 1939 - September 1940 Friedrich Siebert, between September 1940 - November 1940 Ernst Kundt, November 1940 - January 1942 Eberhard Westerkamp, from February 1942 to January 1943 Ludwig Siebert, January 1943 - October 1943 Ludwig Losacker and between November 1943 - 1945 Harry Georg von Crausshaar, II Hauptabteilung Finanzen - Department of Finance, led between March 1940 - January 1942 Alfred Spindler and from January 1942 - Generalgouvernement in Polen in den Kriegsjahren 1939–45, von Towiah Friedman, Verlag Institute of Documentation in Israel, 2002. III Hauptabteilung Justiz - Department of Justice led from Mai 1942 to 1945 by Kurt Wille IV Hauptabteilung Wirtschaft - Department of Economy, led by Richard Zetsche and Walter Emmerich,Christopher R. Browning, The Evolution of Nazi Jewish Policy, September 1939 – March 1942, U of Nebraska Press, 2007, s. 126 V Hauptabteilung Ernahrung und Landwirtschaft - Department of Food and Agriculture, VI Hauptabteilung Forsten - Department of Forests, October 1939 - 1945 Kurt Eissfeldt, VII Hauptabteilung Arbeit - Department of Labour, led by between November 1939 - November 1942 Max Frauendorf, from November 1942 to August 1943 Alexander Rhetz and between August 1943 - 1945 Wilhelm Struve, VIII Hauptabteilung Propaganda - Department of Propaganda, led by Max du Prel.Max du Prel, "Das Deutsche Generalgouvernement Polen - Ein Überblick über Gebiet", Gestaltung und Geschichte Krakau 1940. IX Hauptabteilung Wissenshaft und Unterricht - Department of Science and Education, X Hauptabteilung Bauwesen - Department of Building from August 1940 to 1945 led by Theodor Bauder,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, , S. 947.