Editing General Government (section)

{{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}}
{{pp-extended|small=yes}}
{{Infobox country
| native_name            = {{native name|de|Generalgouvernement für die besetzten polnischen Gebiete}}
| conventional_long_name = General Governorate for the Occupied Polish Region
| common_name            = General Government
| status                 = Client
| empire                 = Nazi Germany
| status_text            = {{nowrap|Administratively<br>autonomous component<br>of [[Nazi Germany|Germany]]<ref name="Diemut">Diemut 2003, [https://books.google.com/books?id=J_BCNrHG9K8C&pg=PA268 page 268.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230317081153/https://books.google.com/books?id=J_BCNrHG9K8C&pg=PA268 |date=2023-03-17 }}</ref>}}
| era                    = {{nowrap|[[Occupation of Poland]]}}<br />in [[World War II]]
| government_type        = [[Civil administration]]
| title_leader           = Governor-General
| leader1                = [[Hans Frank]]
| year_leader1           = 1939–1945
| title_deputy           = Secretary for State
| deputy1                = [[Arthur Seyss-Inquart]]
| year_deputy1           = 1939–1940
| deputy2                = [[Josef Bühler]]
| year_deputy2           = 1940–1945
| event_pre              = [[Invasion of Poland]]
| date_pre               = 1 September 1939
| event_start            = Establishment
| year_start             = 1939
| date_start             = 26 October
| event1                 = [[District of Galicia|Galicia]] added
| date_event1            = 1 August 1941
| event2                 = {{nowrap|[[Polish Committee of National Liberation|Poland declared restored]]}}
| date_event2            = 22 July 1944
| event3                 = {{nowrap|[[Vistula-Oder Offensive|USSR captures Warsaw]]}}
| date_event3            = 17 January 1945 
| event_end              = Disintegration
| date_end               = 19 January
| year_end               = 1945
| p1                     = Military Administration in Poland{{!}}'''1939:'''<br />Military Administration in Poland
| flag_p1                = War Ensign of Germany (1938–1945).svg
| p2                     = Ukrainian SSR{{!}}'''1941:'''<br />Ukrainian SSR
| flag_p2                = Flag of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic (1937–1949).svg
| s1                     = Provisional Government of the Republic of Poland{{!}}Provisional Government of Poland
| flag_s1                = Flag of Poland (1928-1980).svg
| s2                     = Ukrainian SSR
| flag_s2                = Flag of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic (1937–1949).svg
| image_flag             = Flag of German Reich (1935–1945).svg
| flag                   = Flag of Germany#Nazi Germany
| image_coat             = Reichsadler.svg{{!}}class=skin-invert
| coa_size               = 100px
| symbol_type            = Emblem
| symbol                 = Coat of arms of Germany#Nazi Germany
| image_map              = General Government (1942).svg
| image_map_caption      = The General Government in 1942
| capital                = {{nowrap|[[Łódź|Litzmannstadt]]<br /><small>(12 October – 4 November 1939)</small><br />[[Kraków|Krakau]]<br /><small>(4 November 1939 – 19 January 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]]
| today                  = [[Poland]]<br />[[Ukraine]]
}}
The '''General Government''' ({{langx|de|Generalgouvernement}}, {{IPA|de|ɡenəˈʁaːlɡuvɛʁnəˌmã|IPA|audio=De-Generalgouvernement.ogg}}; {{langx|pl|Generalne Gubernatorstwo}}; {{langx|uk|Генеральна губернія}}), formally the '''General Governorate for the Occupied Polish Region''' ({{langx|de|Generalgouvernement für die besetzten polnischen Gebiete|links=no}}), was a German zone of occupation established after the [[invasion of Poland]] by [[Nazi Germany]], [[Slovak Republic (1939–1945)|Slovakia]] and the [[Soviet Union]] in 1939 at the onset of [[World War&nbsp;II]]. The newly occupied [[Second Polish Republic]] was split into three zones: the General Government in its centre, [[Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany]] in the west, and [[territories of Poland annexed by the Soviet Union|Polish areas annexed by the Soviet Union]] in the east. The territory was expanded substantially in 1941, after the German [[Operation Barbarossa|Invasion of the Soviet Union]], to include the new [[District of Galicia]].<ref name="Diemut2003"/> The area of the ''Generalgouvernement'' roughly corresponded with the Austrian part of the [[Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth]] after the [[Third Partition of Poland]] in 1795.

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 |author=Diemut Majer |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=J_BCNrHG9K8C&q=%22Point+of+Departure%3A+Statelessness%22 |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 |year=2003 |isbn=0801864933 |pages=236–246 |access-date=2020-10-31 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230317071103/https://books.google.com/books?id=J_BCNrHG9K8C&q=%22Point+of+Departure%3A+Statelessness%22 |archive-date=2023-03-17 |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]].<ref>Ewelina Żebrowaka-Żolinas Polityka eksterminacyjna okupanta hitlerowskiego na Zamojszczyźnie Studia Iuridica Lublinensia 17, 213-229</ref> The Nazi German rulers of the {{lang|de|Generalgouvernement}} had no intention of sharing power with the locals throughout the war, regardless of their ethnicity and political orientation. The authorities rarely mentioned the name ''Poland'' in legal correspondence. The only exception to this was the General Government's [[Bank of Issue in Poland]] ({{langx|pl|Bank Emisyjny w Polsce}}, {{langx|de|Emissionbank in Polen}}).<ref name="Germany">{{cite book |title=Germany and Eastern Europe: Cultural Identities and Cultural Differences |author1=Keith Bullivant |author2=Geoffrey J. Giles |author3=Walter Pape |publisher=Rodopi |year=1999 |page=32}}</ref><ref name="Rotfeld">{{cite book |trans-title=Białe plamy–czarne plamy: sprawy trudne w polsko-rosyjskich stosunkach 1918–2008 |title=White spots–black spots: difficult issues in Polish–Russian relations 1918–2008 |publisher=Polsko-Rosyjska Grupa do Spraw Trudnych, Polski Instytut Spraw Międzynarodowych |page=378 |author1=Adam D. Rotfeld |author2=Anatolij W. Torkunow |year=2010 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7awh6IfB_HsC |language=pl |isbn=9788362453009 |access-date=2020-09-19 |archive-date=2023-03-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230317071116/https://books.google.com/books?id=7awh6IfB_HsC |url-status=live }}.</ref>