Reichskommissariat

Reichskommissariat
Name	Reichskommissariat
Native name	Reichskommissariat
Status	Occupation authority
Era	World War II
Start	1939
End	1945
Capital	Various
Languages	German

Reichskommissariat was the designation used for civil occupation authorities established by Nazi Germany during World War II to administer conquered territories, implement occupation policies, and integrate resources into the Third Reich. These entities were staffed by officials drawn from the Nazi Party, the Schutzstaffel, the Foreign Office (German Empire), and other institutions such as the Wehrmacht and the Reich Ministry for the Occupied Eastern Territories. Their formation intersected with decisions made at conferences like the Wannsee Conference and in directives issued by leaders including Adolf Hitler, Hermann Göring, Heinrich Himmler, and Joseph Goebbels.

Background and Legal Framework

The legal and ideological basis combined provisions from treaties like the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact and proclamations such as the Kommissarbefehl with racial doctrines articulated in works by Alfred Rosenberg and policy papers debated within the Reich Chancellery, the Reich Ministry of the Interior, and the Office of the Four Year Plan. Jurists and administrators referenced precedents including the Treaty of Versailles outcomes and occupation models from the German Empire era, while international structures like the League of Nations and later the implications at the Yalta Conference framed postwar legal reckoning. Debates in bodies such as the Prussian State Ministry and among figures like Franz von Papen influenced statutory forms for occupation decrees and administrative divisions.

Establishment and Administration

Initial establishments followed campaigns against the Polish Campaign (1939) and the Invasion of Norway, with subsequent expansions after the Battle of France and the Operation Barbarossa offensive. Appointments of Reichskommissars were often political choices involving actors like Alfred Rosenberg, Ernst vom Rath-era networks, and officials from the NSDAP apparatus, coordinated with the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht and agencies such as the Generalkommissariat. Administrative centers drew personnel from ministries including the Reich Ministry of Food and Agriculture, the Reich Ministry of Labour, and technocrats connected to Albert Speer and the Four Year Plan. The bureaucratic structures mirrored divisions in the Reichstag era and relied on local offices similar to Gauleiter networks.

Individual Reichskommissariats

Prominent examples included administrations set up following Operation Barbarossa such as the territories corresponding to regions around Minsk, Riga, Kiev, and Vilnius, as well as earlier ones tied to the western campaigns like those covering parts of Norway, Belgium, and The Netherlands. Each was shaped by interactions with local elites from cities like Warsaw, Oslo, Brussels, and Amsterdam and by resource considerations involving infrastructure nodes such as the Port of Antwerp and industrial centers like Kraków and Kharkiv. Some names and jurisdictions echoed historic entities such as the Kingdom of Norway, Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth territories, and areas contested during the Eastern Front (World War II).

Policies and Governance Practices

Occupational policies implemented taxation, requisition, labor mobilization, and cultural measures influenced by staff from the Reich Ministry of Propaganda, the SS Economic and Administrative Main Office, and the Reich Security Main Office. Economic exploitation targeted assets linked to firms such as conglomerates operating in Silesia, resource extraction in regions near Donbas, and logistical arteries around Leningrad and the Dnieper River. Social policies intersected with genocidal programs overseen by Heinrich Himmler and practitioners connected to the Einsatzgruppen and institutions implicated in the Holocaust and the Final Solution. Administrative directives reflected norms from the Nuremberg Laws era and coordination with ministries including the Reich Ministry of Justice.

Military and Security Relations

Reichskommissariats functioned alongside the Wehrmacht, the Waffen-SS, and security organs such as the Gestapo and the Kriminalpolizei, with operational overlap during counterinsurgency operations like anti-partisan campaigns and urban security measures after sieges such as Siege of Leningrad and battles like Battle of Stalingrad. Command relationships were negotiated with the High Command of the Wehrmacht and field commanders including officers from the Heeresgruppe Mitte and Heeresgruppe Süd. Intelligence and policing activities involved cooperation with the Abwehr, the RSHA, and collaborators drawn from groups linked to the Ustaše and other local formations.

Local Collaboration and Resistance

Administration depended on collaboration with local political actors such as municipal officials in Riga, Vilnius, and Kraków, émigré organizations, and paramilitary auxiliaries like those affiliated with the Organisation Todt or regional nationalist movements tied to figures from Ukraine, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. Resistance movements confronted occupation administrations through coordinated actions by groups like the Polish Home Army, the Soviet Partisans, the French Resistance, and networks connected to the White Rose and Waffen-SS defections, leading to reprisals and countermeasures that implicated civilians in cities including Warsaw and Minsk.

Dissolution and Postwar Consequences

Collapse of these administrations followed major offensives by the Red Army, advances by the Western Allies, and surrenders such as the Capitulation of Nazi Germany (1945), culminating in legal and political outcomes at trials including the Nuremberg Trials and jurisdictional transfers managed by the Allied Control Council and agreements at the Potsdam Conference. Postwar processes involved denazification efforts, territorial adjustments affecting regions like Silesia and East Prussia, population transfers tied to treaties and accords, and the reintegration of areas into successor states such as the Polish People's Republic and the Soviet Union, with long-term legacies debated in scholarship concerning reconstruction, restitution, and transitional justice.

Category:Occupation administrations