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During World War II , the Reichskommissariat Ukraine was one of four Nazi German civilian administrative regions. It consisted of the occupied Soviet territories of central and eastern Ukraine (which itself included eastern Poland, occupied in 1939 by the Soviet Army), but excluded the former Polish Voivodship of Bialystok , which was annexed to East Prussia . __TOC__ Adolf Hitler always hated Communism ; he also regarded Slavs as " Untermenschen " - sub-human. His ambitions for the creation of a " Colonial Empire " in the East were expressed in '' Mein Kampf '', where he wrote: "The German ''volk'' expect great deeds for many centuries in the Eastern Territories". The creation of such an empire required the destruction of the Soviet Armies, and the denial of liberty for the peoples in the occupied territories. These words were to be implemented by East Prussia n " Gauleiter " and " Oberpräsident " Erich Koch , the Civil Administrator in Ukraine. Another official was the Staatsekretar Herbert Backe , personally nominated by Reich Minister for the Occupied Eastern Territories Alfred Rosenberg . His ministry produced the "''Instruktion fur einen Reichskommissar in der Ukraine''" for the direction of future administrators of the Reichskommissariat Ukraine. The area included all of Ukraine and parts of central Russia ( Kursk , Voronezh , Tambov and Saratov ). It included the former Volga German Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (abolished by the Soviets shortly after the German invasion in 1941). The frontiers of the Reichskommissariat Ukraine altered constantly due to the fluctuations of the battlefront. Its designated area was 1.1 million square kilometres, with a population of 59.5 million, but in practice it only included a part of the designated area with a population of 30 million. The official German press, in 1941, reported the Ukrainian urban population as 19 millions, and rural population also as 19 millions. The civil authorities in the Reichskommirerssariat en reported their combined population as 16,910,008 people. The 1926 Soviet official census recorded the urban population as 5,373,553 and the rural population as 23,669,381 - a total of 29,042,934. In 1939 a new census reported the Ukrainian urban population as 29,457,996 and rural population as 19,764,601; a total of 30,960,221. The Ukrainian Soviets counted 17% of total Soviet population. "''Die Reichskommissare unterstehen der Reichsminister fur die Besetzen ostgebiete und erhalten ausschliesslich von ihm Weisungen''..." was the " Führer " decree for the administration of the new eastern territories, the Reichskommissars reported to the East Affairs Ministry. In 1943, some maps temporarily included Poltava , Kremenchuk , Zaporizhia respect at Stalino (now Donetsk), this if how Crimea and Kharkov , under military control under '' Rückwärtiges Heeresgebiet '' (army rear zone). In the west, the boundary went through the Volhynia district, as far north as the Pripyat River , inside '' Reichskommissariat Ostland ''. Former Soviet territory between the Southern Buh and Dniester rivers was also excluded from the Reichskommissariat Ukraine; this was given to Romania and named " Transnistria " or "Transniestra", governed from Odessa by Dr.Alexeanu , the Romanian Governor . The political theorist Alfred Rosenberg planned eight " Generalbezirke " (General Commissariats), in fact the Germans established only six:
Subsequently, with the approval of the Army administration:
Within the Generalbezirke were five " Stadtgebiete n":
This administrative structure was subdivided into 114 '' Kreisgebiete '', and further into 443 '' Partei en''. The capital of this German administration remained in Rovno , in Western Ukraine . Each "Generalbezirke" was administered by one " Generalkomissar "; each "Kreisgebiete" was led by a " Gebietskomissar " and each "Parteien" was governed by a Ukrainan or German " Parteien Chef " (Party Chief). At the next level down were German or Ukrainian " Akademiker " (District Chiefs) (similar to Polish " Wojts " in the General Government ). At same time at a smaller scale, the local Municipalities was administered by native " Bailiffs " and "Mayors", accompanied by respective German political advisers if needed. In the most important areas, or where a German Army detachment remained, the local administration was always led by a German; in less significant areas local personnel were in charge. The German Administration gave the role of "Chief of Ukrainian Princial Commission" to Professor Wolodomyr Kubijowytsch , an early local supporter. The Führer decreed the creation of the Nazi Organization " Arbeitsbereich Osten Der NSDAP ", for the new eastern occupied territories, in April 1, 1942. He planned the "Reichsleiter" at the Ministry to be Rosenberg. He later decided to take such political power into the political section of the ministry to keep all party issues in his control, and prohibited organizations any political activity in the East without express authorisation. Rosenberg's idea of extending the eastern frontier of Ukraine up to the Volga was based on strategic motives, not ethnic and to change to Ukrainians the loss of Galicia annexed to the Polish General Government , at Krememchug and Poltava , their territories annexed to the Generalbezirk in Kiev and Zaporizhia at the Generalbezirk of Dnepropetrovsk . The Crimean Peninsula was maintained under Wehrmacht control, but the rest of the territory, with previous military authorisation, was under the civil administration of Generalbezirk in Crimea , which also included the Tauria administration land, Nogai Steppe , and parts of Mykolaiv and Zaporizhia provinces. The regime was planning to encourage settlement of German and Dutch farmers in the region after the war, along with empowering of some Ethnic Germans in the territory. Another alleged objective was the creation of a " Ukrainian Independent State" supportive of the ''German Cause''. This land and the Caucasus were the supposed residence of ancient German Goth ic tribes. The sending of Dutch settlers was charged to the " Nederlandsche Oost-Compagnie ", a Dutch-German Company dedicated to encourage the colonization of the east by Dutch citizens. The civil and criminal justice local administration, apart from the local SS and Wehrmacht military justice branches, was staffed by "Parteien Chef", "Bailiffs", "Mayors", with supervision of German " Schoffen " (Advisers) and " Schlichten " (Arbiters) with ample legal powers. The most important cases or situations which affected "natural rights" of any "Aryan" subject, were managed in Rovno or Berlin. The Wehrmacht introduced reforms in Ukraine allowing limited religious liberty. In January 1942, Bishop Polikarp Sikorsky of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church became the temporary administrator of church lands in the German-occupied Ukraine and he was granted the title of Archbishop of Łuck and Kowel . He also had authority over Bishoprics at Kiev , Zhitomir (Bishop Hryhorij Ohijchuk), Poltava , Kirovograd , Lubny (Bishop Sylvester Hayevsky), Dnepropetrovsk and Biala Tserkov (Bishop Manuyil Tarnavsky) by decree of the Civil German Administration of limited religious liberty in Ukraine. The German Administration also allowed Archbishop Alexander of Pinsk and Polesia to maintain the religious authority he wielded before the war and the same permission was granted to Archbishop Alexander of Volhynia . The German civil administration met " Volksdeutsche " (ethnic Germans) in Nikolayev , Zaporizhia and Dnepropetrovsk . The archives of the Soviet census in 1926 counted them as 393,924 persons. The Soviets counted ethnic Germans in all Russia at 1,423,534, or 1% of the total population in 1939. The administration took measures to protect Germans in the area who were entered on their Volksdeutch racial list. They received special rights
The Wehrmacht was pressured for political reasons to gradually restore private properties in zones under military control and accept the local volunteer recruits into their units and the Waffen SS , promoted by local nationalists organizations O.U.M. and U.P.A. , whilst receiving political support from the Wehrmacht . The Reichsführer-SS and chief of German Police, Heinrich Himmler had direct authority over any SS formations in Ukraine to order "Security Operations" and the local police service. Another chief inside of "Political section" of East Affairs Ministry was the SS Obergruppenfuhrer Gottlieb Berger , leader of SS-Hauptamt . In the civil administration of the East Affair ministry worked numerous technical staff Slavs under Georg Leibbrandt , former chief of the east section of overseas political office in the Party, now chief of the political section in the East Ministry, and his deputy Otto Brautigam , previously consul with experience in the Soviet Union . Economic affairs remained under the direct management of Herman Goering the Plenipotentiary of Four-Years Plan and Oldenburg State Major, and Fritz Saukel was charged with working with the General Plenipotentiary of Manpower recruitment and the Todt Organization Ost Branch in the land. Other members of the German administration in Ukraine were Generalcommissar Leyser and Gebietcommissar Steudel . The Ministry of Transport had direct control of " Ostbahn s" and " Generalverkersdirektion Osten " (the railway administration in the Eastern territories). These German central government interventions in the affairs of the East Affairs by ministries were known as " Sonderverwaltungen " (special administrations). In Ukraine the Germans published a "local" journal in German language, the " Deutsche Ukrainezeitung ". Another idea proposed by Rosenberg was the "Ukraines debt to convert in one allied state of Germany and Caucasus , with nearby territories at north, in way to transformed in Federal State, with leading of German Plenipotentiary." The position of the East Affairs Ministry was weak because its your department chiefs: (Economy, Work, Foods & Crops and Forest & Woods) held similar posts in other government departments (The Four-Year Plan, Eastern Economic Office, Foods and Farming Ministry, etc) with other suplementary junior staff. Thus the East Ministry was managed by personal criteria and particular interests over official orders. Additionally, they failed to maintain the "Political Section" at an equal level with more specialized departments (Economy, Works, Farms, etc) because political considerations clashed with exploitation plans in the territory. The Reichskommissariat Ukraine paid Occupation taxes and funds to the German Reich until February 1944 the following amounts:
In accord with information composed by Schwerin Von Krosig the Reich Ministry of Finances. The Ministry of East Affairs ordered Koch and the Reichskommissar in Ostland in March of 1942 to supply 380,000 farm workers and 247,000 industrial workers for German work needs. Later Koch was mentioned during the new year message of 1943, how he "recruited" 710,000 workers in Ukraine. Alfred Rosenberg implemented an "Agrarian New Order" in Ukraine, ordering the confiscation of Soviet state properties to established the German State properties. Additionally the replacement of Russian Koljoz es and Sovjoz es, by their own " Gemeindwirtschaften " (German Communal Farms), the installation of state empress " Landbewirstschaftungsgessellschaft Ukraine M.b.H. " for managing the new German state farms and cooperatives, and the foundation of numerous " Kombines " (Great German explotation Monopolies) with government or private capital in the territory, to exploit the resources and Donbass area. Hitler said how "Ukraine and the East lands would produce 7 Million, or more likely 10 or 12 Million of Metric tonnes of Grain to provide Germany's food needs" Conquered territories further to the east, including Ukraine were under Military governance for the entirety of the war, until 1943–44. German political figures related with Ukraine administration
German Commanders linked with the Ukrainian cause
Ukrainan volunteers in the German forces
Ukraine propaganda news
Ukrainan units in the German work organization
Ukrainan nationalist organizations
Ukrainian Anticommunist Commander
Ukrainian political leaders
SEE ALSO
Other projected German administrative Eastern divisions SOURCES
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