The General Commissariat of Belarus or the General Commissariat of Belarus ( Belorussian General Kamysaryat “Belarus” , German Generalkommissariat Weißruthenien ) is the highest body of the occupying civil administration in the territory of the general district of Belarus .
Description
It was formed in late July - early August 1941. It consisted of five main departments: politics, management, economy, technology and labor. Leading positions were held by persons of German nationality. By 1944, it had nine departments:
- politics and propaganda department
- press department
- industry department
- Department of Agriculture and Food
- forest and timber department
- use department
- labor department
- law department
- department of culture
- Department of Health and Veterinary Medicine.
Starting September 1, 1941 , the head of the General Commissariat of Belarus was Wilhelm Kube , the former Gauleiter of the NSDAP from Brandenburg . On September 22, 1943, Cuba was killed as a result of an attempted assassination organized by partisans, and his post was temporarily taken by the deputy chief of the SS and police of Central Russia, SS group-führer Kurt von Gotberg ( September 27, 1943 [1] - June 1944 ). De facto, until March 30, 1944, the General Commissariat was controlled by the leadership from Riga.
The regional commissariats, the city commissariat of Minsk, the police, security services and SD were directly subordinate to the general commissariat. Five main commissariats (guard commissariats), five city commissariats (headquarters commissariats) and 37 district (commissariat commissariats) subordinated to him [2] :
- Main Commissariat Minsk (City Commissariat Minsk, regional commissariats Gleboke, Vileyka, Borisov, Slutsk, Stary-Dorogi, Minsk-Land and Glussk)
- The main commissariat of Baranavichy (District commissariats of Grodno, Lida, Yuratsishki, Novogrodek, Volkovyk, Slonim, Baranovichi, Columns, Ganevichi, Telekhani and Bereza-Kartusskaya)
- Main Commissariat of Vitebsk (City Commissariat of Vitebsk, district commissariats of Driss, Polotsk, Lepel, Gorodok, Ezerische, Vitebsk-Land, Beschenkovichi, Tolotshchino and Orsha)
- Main Commissariat Mogilev (City Commissariats Mogilev and Bobruisk, district commissariats Bobruisk-Land, Mogilev, Gorky, Klimovichi and Shlobin)
- Main Commissariat Smolensk (City Commissariat Smolensk, the regional commissariats Nevel, Smolensk-Land, Yartsevo, Rosslavl and Shukovka)
The Commissariat implemented a policy based on the most efficient use of the economic potential, human and material resources of the occupied territory in the interests of Nazi Germany, conducted various political and ideological experiments, especially in the framework of the Waysrutenization policy.
The leadership of the General Commissariat was involved in crimes against the civilian population, including the extermination of Jews : for example, it compiled lists of residents of Jewish origin and provided them to the Wehrmacht general, Baron Gustav von Bechtolsheim, who led the mass executions. Some of the members of the General Commissariat were not subjected to harassment: after the war, the head of the department of agriculture and food, Heinz Rudolph, quietly took over the post of social minister in Lower Saxony, believing that he had not done anything wrong, “having replaced the submachine gun with a feather” [3] .
It ceased to exist in June 1944 after the liberation of Belarus by Soviet troops .
Notes
- ↑ Territoriale Veränderungen in Deutschland und deutsch verwalteten Gebieten (German)
- ↑ Generalkommissar für Weißruthenien in Minsk . Das Bundesarchiv (German)
- ↑ Das große Morden . Der Spiegel . 12/13/1999. Von Wiegrefe, Klaus (German)