Reichskommissariat Ostland

'''Reichskommissariat Ostland''', ('''RKO''') literally "[[Reich]] [[Commissariat]] Eastland", was the [[Reichskommissariat|civilian occupation regime]] established by [[Nazi Germany]] in the [[Baltic states]] ([[Estonia]], [[Latvia]], and [[Lithuania]]) and much of [[Belarus]] during [[World War II]]. It was also known as '''Reichskommissariat Baltenland''' ("Baltic Land") initially. The political organization for this territory - after an initial period of [[Military occupation|military administration]] before its establishment - was that of a German civilian administration, nominally under the authority of the [[Reich Ministry for the Occupied Eastern Territories]] (''Reichsministerium für die besetzten Ostgebiete'') led by Nazi ideologist [[Alfred Rosenberg]], but was in reality controlled by the Nazi official [[Hinrich Lohse]], its appointed [[Reichskommissar]]. The main political objective, which the ministry laid out in the framework of [[National Socialism|National Socialist]] policies for the east established by [[Adolf Hitler]], were the [[Holocaust|complete annihilation]] of the [[Jewish people|Jewish]] population and the [[Lebensraum|settlement]] of ethnic [[Germans]] along with the expulsion or [[Germanization]] of parts of the native population - not only in the Reichskommissariat Ostland but also in the other German-occupied Soviet territories. Through the use of [[Einsatzgruppen]] A and B over a million Jews were killed in the Reichskommissariat Ostland. The Germanization policies would, built on the foundations of the [[Generalplan Ost]], later be carried through by a series of special edicts and guiding principles for the general settlement plans for the Ostland.Czeslaw Madajczyk (Hrsg.): Vom Generalplan Ost zum Generalsiedlungsplan. Saur, München 1994, S. XI. Throughout 1943 and 1944, the [[Red Army]] gradually recaptured most of the territory in their advance on Germany, but [[Wehrmacht]] forces held out in the [[Courland pocket]]. With the [[End of WWII in Europe|end of the war in Europe]] and the defeat of [[Nazi Germany]] in 1945, the Reichskommissariat ceased to exist completely. Ostland should not be confused with [[Ober Ost]], which had a similar role as an occupation authority for Baltic territories by the [[German Empire]] in [[World War I]]. ===Planning before the attack on the Soviet Union=== [[Image:RedArmy19Aug31Dec44.jpg|thumb|right|275px|[[Soviet Union|Soviet]] operations 19 August to 31 December 1944.]] Originally the Reich Minister for the Occupied Eastern Territories (''Reichsminister fur die besetzten Ostgebiete''), [[Alfred Rosenberg]] envisioned usage of the term '''Baltenland''' ("Baltic Land") before the summer of 1941 for the area that would eventually be known as ''Ostland''. [[Otto Bräutigam]], a major colleague of Rosenberg at the time, opposed this idea. In a later declaration he alleged that Rosenberg (himself a [[Baltic German]]), was influenced by his "Baltic friends" in forwarding this initiative, in which a "Baltic Reichskommissariat" with the addition of Belarus would be formed, "and with this the White Ruthenians would also be regarded as Balts". A more important additional colleague of Rosenberg, [[Georg Leibbrandt]], spoke out against this. He argued that the sympathy of the [[Baltic peoples]], who would naturally want the use of their own terminology, could be lost entirely. They would therefore not be won over either as supporters of the German war effort, nor as racially valuable settlers for the region. ===After Operation Barbarossa=== After the [[Operation Barbarossa|German invasion]] of the [[Soviet Union]], vast areas were conquered to Germany's east. At first these areas would remain under military occupation by [[Wehrmacht]] authorities, but as soon as the military situation allowed it, a more permanent form of administration under German rule for these territories would be instituted. A Führer Decree of 17 July 1941 provided for this move. It established [[Reichskommissariat]]s in the east, as administrative units of the [[Nazi Germany|Greater German Reich]] (''Großdeutsches Reich''). The structure of the Reichskommissariats was defined by the same decree. Each of these territories would be led by a German civil governor known as a [[Reichskommissar]] appointed by Hitler and answerable only to him. The official appointed for the Ostland (''Der Reichskommissar für das Ostland'') was [[Hinrich Lohse]], the ''[[Oberpräsident]]'' and ''[[Gauleiter]]'' of [[Schleswig-Holstein]]. An instruction for the administrators (the ''Allgemeine Instruktion für alle Reichskommissare in den besetzten Ostgebieten'') of the territories was prepared by ''Reichsleiter'' Alfred Rosenberg{{Citation needed|date=February 2007}}. Local government in the Reichskommissariat was to be organized under a "National Director" (''Reichskomissar'') in [[Estonia]], a "General Director" in [[Latvia]] and a "General Adviser" in [[Lithuania]]. [[Alfred Rosenberg|Rosenberg]]'s ministerial authority was, in practice, severely limited. The first reason was that many of the practicalities were commanded elsewhere: the [[Wehrmacht]] and the [[Schutzstaffel|SS]] managed the military and security aspects, [[Fritz Sauckel]] as Reich Director of Labour had control over manpower and working areas, [[Hermann Göring]] and [[Albert Speer]] had total management of economic aspects in the territories and the [[Reichspost#Deutsche Reichspost|Reich postal service]] administered the Eastern territories' postal services. These German central government interventions in the affairs of Ostland overriding the appropriate ministries were known as "special administrations" (''Sonderverwaltungen''). Later, from September 1941, the civil administration that had been decreed in the previous July was actually set up. [[Hinrich Lohse|Lohse]] and [[Erich Koch|Koch]] objected to these breaches of their supposed responsibilities, seeking to administer their territories with the independence and authority of [[Gauleiter]]s. on 1 April 1942 an ''arbeitsbereich'' (lit. "working sphere", a name for the party cadre organisation outside the [[Reich]] proper) was established in the civilian-administered parts of the occupied Soviet territories, whereupon Koch and Lohse gradually ceased communication with Rosenberg, preferring to deal directly with [[Adolf Hitler|Hitler]] through [[Martin Bormann]] and the [[Party Chancellery]]. In the process they also displaced all other actors including notably the SS, except in central Belarus where [[HSSPF]] [[Erich von dem Bach-Zelewsky]] had a special command encompassing both military and civil administration territories and engaged in anti-partisan warfare. In July 1941 the civil administration was declared in much of the occupied Soviet territories before one had materialised in the field. A power vacuum emerged which the [[SS]] filled with its [[SS and Police Leader|SS and Police Leadership Structure]], exercising unlimited power over security and policing which it gave up only grudgingly in the autumn when civil administration came into being; indeed [[Heinrich Himmler|Himmler]] would use various tactics until as late as 1943 in unsuccessful efforts to regain this power. This partly explains the strained relations between the SS and the civil administration. In the Ostland, matters were further complicated by the personality of the local superior SS officer [[Friedrich Jeckeln]], attacked by the SS's opponents for his alleged corruption, brutality and mindless foolhardiness. ==German plans== The short-term political objectives for Ostland differed from those for the [[Reichskommissariat Ukraine|Ukraine]], the [[Reichskommissariat Kaukasus|Caucasus]] or the [[Reichskommissariat Moskowien|Moscow]] regions. The [[Baltic states|Baltic lands]], which were to be joined together with [[Belarus]] (to serve as a spacious [[hinterland]] of the coastal areas), would be organised as one [[Germanization|Germanized]] [[protectorate]] prior to union with Germany itself in the near future. Rosenberg said that these lands had a fundamentally "European" character, resulting from 700 years of history under [[Swedish Livonia|Swedish]], [[Danish Estonia|Danish]], and [[Baltic Germans|German]] rule, and should therefore provide Germany with "[[Lebensraum]]", an opinion shared by [[Adolf Hitler|Hitler]] and other leading Nazis. The Belorussians, however, were considered by the scholars of the RMfdbO as "little and weak peasant people" dwelling in "folkish indifference", but also "the most harmless and because of this the least dangerous for us of all the peoples in the Eastern Space" and an ideal object of exploitation. Rosenberg suggested that Belarus will be in the future an appropriate reception area of various undesirable population elements from the Baltic part of Ostland and [[German-occupied Poland]]. He also toyed with the idea of turning the country into a huge [[nature reserve]]. The regime planned to encourage the post-war settlement of [[German people|Germans]] to the region, seeing it as a region traditionally inhabited by Germans (see the [[Teutonic Order]] and the [[Northern Crusades]]) that had been overrun by [[Slavic peoples|Slavs]]. During the war itself in [[Pskov]] province ethnic Germans were resettled from [[Romania]] with some [[Netherlands|Dutch]]. The settlement of Dutch settlers was encouraged by the ''Nederlandsche Oost-Compagnie'', a Dutch-German organisation. Historical [[German language|German]] and Germanic-sounding placenames were also retained (or introduced) for many Baltic cities, such as ''Reval'' ([[Tallinn]]), ''Kauen'' ([[Kaunas]]), and ''Dünaburg'' ([[Daugavpils]]), among many others. To underscore the region's planned incorporation into Germany some Nazi ideologists further suggested the future use of the names ''Peipusland'' for [[Estonia]] and ''Dünaland'' for [[Latvia]] once they had become part of Germany. The ancient Russian city of [[Veliky Novgorod|Novgorod]], the easternmost [[kontor|foreign trading post]] of the [[Hanseatic League]], was to be renamed ''Holmgard''. During the occupation, the Germans also published a "local" German-language newspaper, the ''Deutsche Zeitung im Ostland''. ==Administrative and territorial organization== The Reichskommissariat Ostland was sub-divided into four "General Regions" (''Generalbezirke''), namely [[Estonia]], [[Latvia]], [[Lithuania]], and [[White Ruthenia]] ([[Belarus]]), headed by a ''Generalkommissar''. The three [[Baltic states]] were further divided into "Districts" (''Kreisgebiete'') which were grouped into "Main Districts" (''Hauptgebiete''), while Belarus was only composed of Districts. Conquered territories further to the east were under [[military occupation|military control]] for the entirety of the war. The intention was to include these territories in the anticipated future extension of Ostland. This would have incorporated Ingria (''Ingermannland''), as well as the Smolensk, Pskov, and Novgorod areas into the Reichskommissariat. Estonia's new eastern border was planned to be extent to the Leningrad-Novgorod line, with [[Lake Ilmen]] and [[Volkhov River]] forming the new eastern border of the Baltic country, while Latvia was to reach the [[Velikiye Luki]] region. Belarus was to extend east to include the [[Smolensk]] region. The local administration of the Reichskommissariat Ostland was headed by ''[[Reichskommissar]]'' [[Hinrich Lohse]]. Below him there was an administrative hierarchy: a ''Generalkomissar'' led each ''Generalbezirk'', while ''Hauptkommissars'' and ''Gebietskommissars'' administered ''Hauptgebieten'' and ''Kreisgebieten'', respectively. The administrative center for the entire region, as well as the seat of the Reichskommissar, was in [[Riga]], [[Latvia]]. ===''Generalbezirk Estland'' (Estonia)=== District seat: [[Tallinn|Reval]] (Tallinn) Ruled by Generalkommissar [[Karl-Siegmund Litzmann]]. Subdivided into five ''Gebietskommissariate'': *Gebietskommissariat [[Kuressaare|Arensburg]] (Kuressaare) *Gebietskommissariat [[Tartu|Dorpat]] (Tartu) *Gebietskommissariat [[Pernau]] (Pärnu) *Gebietskommissariat [[Pechory|Petschur]] (Pechory) *Gebietskommissariat [[Rakvere|Wesenberg]] (Rakvere) ===''Generalbezirk Lettland'' (Latvia)=== District seat: [[Riga]] Ruled by Generalkommissar [[Otto-Heinrich Drechsler]]. Subdivided into five ''Gebietskommissariate'': *Gebietskommissariat [[Daugavpils|Dünaburg]] (Daugavpils) *Gebietskommissariat [[Liepāja|Libau]] (Liepāja) *Gebietskommissariat [[Jelgava|Mitau]] (Jelgava) *Gebietskommissariat [[Riga]] *Gebietskommissariat [[Valmiera|Wolmar]] (Valmiera) ===''Generalbezirk Litauen'' (Lithuania)=== District seat: [[Kaunas|Kauen]] (Kaunas) Ruled by Generalkommissar [[Adrian_von_Renteln|Theodor Adrian von Renteln]]. Subdivided into four ''Gebietskommissariate'': *Gebietskommissariat [[Kaunas|Kauen]] (Kaunas) *Gebietskommissariat [[Panevėžys|Ponewesch]] (Panevėžys) *Gebietskommissariat [[Šiauliai|Schaulen]] (Šiauliai) *Gebietskommissariat [[Vilnius|Wilna]] (Vilnius) ===''Generalbezirk Weißruthenien'' (Belarus)=== District seat: [[Minsk]] Ruled by Generalkommissar [[Wilhelm Kube]] (1941-1943) and [[Curt von Gottberg]] (1943-1944). *Gebietskommissariat [[Baranovichi|Baranowitsche]] (Baranovichi) *Gebietskommissariat [[Hantsavichy|Ganzewitchi]] (Hantsavichy) *Gebietskommissariat [[Lida]] *Gebietskommissariat [[Hlybokaye|Glubokoye (Hlybokaye)]] *Gebietskommissariat [[Minsk]] *Gebietskommissariat [[Navahrudak|Nowogródek]] (Navahrudak) *Gebietskommissariat [[Slonim]], [[Slutsk|Sluzk]] (Slutsk) *Gebietskommissariat [[Vileyka|Wilejka]] (Vileyka) In March 1943 [[Wilhelm Kube]] succeeded in installing the [[Belarusian Central Rada]] (a collaborationist puppet regime), which existed concurrently with the German civil administration. On 1 April 1944 Generalbezirk Weißruthenien was detached from Reichskommissariat Ostland and was placed directly under the [[Reich Ministry for the Occupied Eastern Territories]]. ===German political leaders=== {{Expand section|date=June 2011}} *Reich Ministry [[Alfred Rosenberg]] *General Commissar [[Karl-Siegmund Litzmann]] *General Commissar [[Wilhelm Kube]] ====Estonian political leaders==== *[[Hjalmar Mäe]] *[[Oskar Angelus]] *[[Alfred Wendt (collaborator)|Alfred Wendt]] (or Vendt) *[[Otto Leesment]] *[[Hans Saar]] *[[Oskar Öpik]] *[[Arnold Radik]] *[[Johannes Soodla]] ===State property=== Upon taking control, [[Hinrich Lohse]] proclaimed the official decree "[[Verkündungsblatt für das Ostland]]" on November 15, 1941, whereby all [[Soviet]] State and Party properties in the [[Baltic provinces|Baltic]] area and [[Belarus]] were confiscated and transferred to the [[Germany|German]] administration. In Ostland, the administration returned lands confiscated by the [[Soviets]] to the former peasant owners. In towns and cities, small workshops, industries and businesses were returned to their former owners, subject to promises to pay taxes and quotas to the authorities. [[Jews|Jewish]] properties were confiscated. In Belarus, a state enterprise was established to manage all former Soviet government properties. One of the German administrators was General commissar [[Wilhelm Kube]]. ''Ostgesellschaften'' (state monopolies) and so-called ''Patenfirmen'', private industrial companies linked to the German government, were quickly appointed to manage confiscated enterprises. The [[Hermann Göring Workshop]]s, [[Mannesmann]], [[IG Farben]] and [[Siemens AG|Siemens]] assumed control of all former Soviet state enterprises in Ostland and [[Ukraine]]. An example of this was the takeover, by [[Daimler-Benz]] and [[Vomag]], of heavy repair workshops, in [[Riga]] and [[Kiev]], for the maintenance of all captured [[Russia]]n [[T-34]] and [[KV-1]] tanks, linked with their repair workshops in Germany. In Belarus, the German authorities lamented the "Jewish-[[Bolshevism|Bolshevik]]" extremist policies that had denied the people knowledge of the basic concepts of private property, ownership, or personal initiative. Unlike the Baltic area, where the authorities saw that "during the war and the occupation's first stages, the population gave examples of sincere collaboration, a way for possibly giving some liberty to autonomous administration". ===Economic exploitation=== According to [[Count Lutz Schwerin von Krosigk|Schwerin von Krosigk]], the Reich Minister of Finances{{Citation needed|date=February 2007}}, until February 1944, Reich Government receiving in concept of occupation costs and taxes (in million of RM) 753,6 RM. The German Ministry of East Affairs required Lohse and the Reichskommissar in Ukraine to deliver immediately [[Slavery|slave labour]] from the occupied territories to Germany: 380,000 farm workers and 247,000 industrial workers.{{Citation needed|date=February 2007}} The Germans viewed the [[Slavs]] as a pool of slave work labour for use by the German Reich; if necessary they could be worked to death. ===Extermination of the Jews in Ostland=== [[Image:Map_used_to_illustrate_Stahlecker's_report_to_Heydrich_on_January_31,_1942.jpg|thumb|275px|right|Map titled "Jewish Executions Carried Out by [[Einsatzgruppe]] A" from the Stahlecker's report. Marked "Secret Reich Matter", the map shows the number of Jews shot in Ostland, and reads at the bottom: ''"the estimated number of Jews still on hand is 128,000"''. Estonia is marked as ''[[judenfrei]]''.]] {{main|History of the Jews during World War II|Jewish resistance during the Holocaust|Holocaust in Belarus|Holocaust in Estonia|Holocaust in Latvia|Holocaust in Lithuania|Holocaust in Russia}} At the time of the German invasion, in June 1941, there were significant Jewish minorities in Ostland, nearly 480,000 people. To these were added deportees from Austria, Germany and elsewhere. Jews were confined to [[ghettos]] in [[Riga ghetto|Riga]] and [[Kaunas Ghetto|Kauen]], which rapidly became overcrowded and squalid. From these they were taken to execution sites. The Soviet [[Red Army]], reported the discovery, at Vilna and Kauen, of extermination centres, apparently part of the Nazi [[Final Solution]]. The extermination of the resident Jews began almost immediately after the invasion and was later extended to the deportees. In autumn, 1943, the [[Ghettos in occupied Europe 1939 - 1944|ghettos]] were "liquidated", and the remaining occupants were moved to camps at [[Kaiserwald concentration camp|Kaiserwald]] and [[Stutthof]] near [[Danzig]] or, if not capable of work, killed. ==Partisan movement== German and local security authorities were kept busy by [[Soviet partisan]] activities in Belarus. They noted that "infected zones" of partisan action included an area of 500 or 600 km², around [[Minsk]], [[Pinsk]], [[Gomel]], [[Briansk]], [[Smolensk]] and [[Vitebsk]], including the principal roads and railways in these areas. ===See also=== *[[Belarusian resistance movement]] *[[Estonian anti-German resistance movement 1941-1944]] *[[Jewish partisans]] *[[Latvian resistance movement]] *[[Polish resistance movement in World War II]] *[[Resistance in Lithuania during World War II]] *[[Operation Ostra Brama]] ==See also== *[[Occupation of Estonia by Nazi Germany]] *[[Occupation of Latvia by Nazi Germany]] *[[Occupation of Lithuania by Nazi Germany]] *[[Occupation of Belarus by Nazi Germany]] *[[Reichskommissariat Ukraine]] *[[Reichskommissariat]] *[[Belarusian Central Rada]] *[[Eastern Front of World War II]] ==External links== *[http://libx.bsu.edu/cdm4/collection.php?CISOROOT=/ostlndAtls Statistical and Cartographic Report on the Reichskommissariat Ostland published in 1942] *[http://www.doew.at/projekte/holocaust/shoah/herbst41.html "Deportationen in das "Reichskommissariat Ostland", 1941/42"] *[http://www.silentwall.com/PostalItems48.html "Deutsche Post Ostland"] *[http://www.hot.ee/rudich/Text_files/Articles/World_%20War.history+.htm "German Occupation of the Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Belarus and North Russia"] *[http://www.anythinganywhere.com/commerce/military/ger-naz-bk-3.jpg "Ostland Kalender 1944" (cover)] *[http://bka-roa.chat.ru/generalbezirk.htm "Reichskommissariat Ostland" (map)] *[http://www.ushmm.org/kovno/mass/coffin.htm SS-Brigadeführer Franz Walter Stahlecker's "coffin map"] *[http://www.terra.es/personal7/jqvaraderey/194145fc.gif Map] {{Reichskommissariats}} {{WWII history by nation}} {{Holocaust Lithuania}} {{Holocaust Latvia}} {{coord missing}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Ostland, Reichskommissariat}}