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General Government administration

Background:

The formation of the General Government was created because of the German-Soviet claim to the total collapse of the Polish state. The German Wehrmacht attacked Poland with strong air power, massive amount of troops, and tanks on September 1, 1939. The Germans initial intent was to clear the western part of Poland, the Reichsgau, and bring it into the Reich. However, those plans quickly stalled. On 23 August 1939, German foreign minister, Joachim von Ribbentrop and his Soviet counterpart agreed to a nonaggression pact and divided Polandnister, Joachim von Ribbentrop and his Soviet counterpart agreed to a nonaggression pact and divided Poland.

Decrees Issued in Occupied Poland.

These issues were declared by Generalgouverneur Hans Frank for the Jews is the Generalgouvernement.

-On October 26, 1939, there was a declaration for the forced labor for the Jewish residents in Generalgouvernement.

-On November 23, 1939, there was a declaration of Jews over the age of 10 must wear a white band, at least 10 centimeters wide, with the star of David on the right sleeve of their inner and outer clothing beginning December 1, 1939. Furthermore, the Jews had to come up with the means to produce the band.

-On Noverember 28, 1939, there was the establishment of Jewish councils.

-On October 15, 1941, there was a declaration on the restriction of residence and travel of Jews. Any Jew who would leave their district, without authorization could be published by death. Furthermore, the hiding of Jews would also result in death.

Organization of Government

Unlike the territories incorporated into the Reich, the Generalgouvernement had a different administrative structure. The territories incorporated into the Reich were administratively modeled after the Reich itself. The difference between the incorporated territories and the general government was the degree of centralization of bureaucracy. Generalgouverneur Hans Frank took orders from Adolf Hitler and then forwarded it down to the Hauptabteilung.

This system skips the ministerial offices that the incorporated areas followed. Furthermore, Frank had more authority that the Reichsstatthalter or an Oberpräsident. The regional network of the general government administration closely resembled the Reich, apart from some various differences in titles. For example, Gouveneur was originally called Distriktchef, but the title was changed to boost morale.

There were three key administrative differences and expectations of what the General Government controlled.

Generalgouverneurur Frank had no command over the army, troops, and war production. The power over the army, troops and war productions was held exclusively by a general.

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 der Infanterie Haenicke). The war production was in the hands of the Rustungsinspektion, or Armament Inspectorate (Gerneralleutnant Schindler).

Frank and the administration also had no command over the railway system. However, Frank did have a Main Division Railway under the direction of Präsident Gerteis, who was also the Generalddirektor of the Ostbahm, which was run by the Reichbhn. It was the Ostbahn who operated the Polish State Railways in the Generalgouvernment.

The third exception was the SS and police. Frank and administration did not control those entities as they fell under the jurisdiction of Heinrich Himmler.

(Some more important figures in the generalgouvernement)

Key police officials (in succession) in the generalgouvernement :

BdO: Becker, Riege, Winkler, Becker, Günwald, Höring

BdS: Streckenbach, Schöngarth, Bierkamp

The SS and Police organization was centralized at both the Generalgouverneur level and under the Gouverneure.

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

Inner conflict:

There was some conflict in the understanding of the power structure within the generalgouvernement, particularly with Frank. He saw himself as the "supreme territorial chief" and more powerful than SS and Police Leader Friedrich-Wilhelm Krüger. Frank would go on an appoint Krüger as his Staatssekretär for Security, meaning Krüger would take orders from Frank. Himmler was not thrilled by these decisions as both men were hungry for power.

This conflict would be taken out on the Jews.