View source for Reichskommissariat Ukraine

{{Short description|Civilian-administered region of German-occupied Ukraine during WWII}}
{{title lang|de}}
{{Infobox country
| conventional_long_name = {{lang|de|Reichskommissariat Ukraine}}
| empire                 = Nazi Germany
| status                 = {{lang|de|[[Reichskommissariat]]}} of [[Nazi Germany]]
| era                    = [[World War II]]
| government_type        = ''[[Reichskommissariat]]'' of [[Nazi Germany]]<ref name="encyclopediaofukraine">{{Cite web|url=http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?linkpath=pages%5CR%5CE%5CReichskommissariatUkraine.htm|title=Reichskommissariat Ukraine|website=www.encyclopediaofukraine.com|access-date=2020-03-03|quote=A German colony, the RKU constituted an important part of Adolf Hitler's Lebensraum and was completely deprived of autonomy or international status. Nazi plans called for the postwar unification of the RKU with the territory of the German Reich; most Ukrainians (considered unfit for Germanization) were to be resettled beyond the Urals to make room for German colonists. In fact Hitler was unable to inspire many Germans to colonize Ukraine. Despite ambitious plans only a few villages were cleared of their Ukrainian inhabitants and populated with Germans (both groups were resettled under duress). Those experiments were profoundly resented by the local population, which saw them as portents of German postwar intentions. Resettlement was also prevented by the German retreat and then by the formal liquidation of the RKU on 10 November 1944.}}</ref>
| title_leader           = ''[[Reichskommissar]]''
| leader1                = [[Erich Koch]]
| year_leader1           = 1941–1944
| event_pre              = {{nowrap|[[Operation Barbarossa]]}}
| date_pre               = 22 June 1941
| event_start            = Established
| year_start             = 1941
| date_start             = 20 August
| event1                 = Implement civil administration
| date_event1            = 1 September 1941
| event_end              = Remainder part of {{lang|de|[[Reichskommissariat Ostland#Generalbezirk Weissruthenien (Ruthenia or Belarus)|Generalbezirk Weißruthenien]]}}
| date_end               = 25 February
| year_end               = 1944
| event_post             = {{nowrap|Formal disestablishment}}
| date_post              = 10 November 1944
| p1                     = Ukrainian SSR
| flag_p1                = Flag of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic (1937–1949).svg
| p2                     = Ukrainian national government (1941)
| flag_p2                = Flag of Ukraine (1917–1921).svg
| s1                     = Ukrainian SSR
| flag_s1                = Flag of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic (1937–1949).svg
| native_name            = 
| image_flag             = Flag of German Reich (1935–1945).svg
| flag                   = Flag of Nazi Germany
| image_coat             = Reichsadler.svg{{!}}class=skin-invert
| coa_size               = 
| symbol_type            = Emblem
| symbol                 = Coat of arms of Germany#Nazi Germany
| national_anthem        = ''[[Horst-Wessel-Lied]]''{{hsp}}<br />("The Horst Wessel Song")<br />{{center|[[File:Песня Хорста Весселя.ogg]]}}
| image_map              = Reichskommissariat Ukraine (1942).svg
| image_map_caption      = Reichskommissariat Ukraine in 1942
| capital                = [[Kyiv|Kiev]]<!--Do not change per WP:KYIV--> (de jure)<br />[[Rivne|Rovno]] (de facto)
| demonym                = [[Crimean Tatars]]<br />[[Ukrainians]]
| stat_year1             = 1941
| stat_pop1              = 37,000,000
| common_languages       = {{ubl|[[German language|German]] {{small|(official)}}|[[Ukrainian language|Ukrainian]]|[[Russian language|Russian]]|[[Polish language|Polish]]|[[Crimean Tatar language|Crimean Tatar]]}}
| currency               = [[Ukrainian karbovanets#Second karbovanets|Karbovanets]]
| today                  = {{ubl|[[Ukraine]]|[[Poland]]|[[Belarus]]}}
| area_km2               = 340,000
| area_rank              = 
| GDP_PPP                = 
| GDP_PPP_year           = 
| HDI                    = 
| HDI_year               = 
}}
{{History of Ukraine}}

The '''''Reichskommissariat Ukraine''''' ('''RKU'''; {{lit|[[Reich]] [[Commissariat]] of Ukraine}}) was an [[Administrative division|administrative entity]] of the [[Reich Ministry for the Occupied Eastern Territories]] of [[Nazi Germany]] from 1941 to 1944. It served as the German [[Civil authority|civilian]] occupation regime in the [[Ukrainian SSR]], and parts of the [[Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic|Byelorussian SSR]], [[Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic|Russian SFSR]], and eastern [[Second Polish Republic|Poland]] during the [[Eastern Front (World War II)|Eastern Front]] of [[World War II]].

''Ukraine'' was established after the early success of the ''[[Wehrmacht]]''{{'}}s [[Operation Barbarossa]] from territory under the [[Military government|military administration]] of [[Army Group South Rear Area]]. The German civil administration was based in [[Rivne|Rovno]] (Rivne) with [[Erich Koch]] serving as the only ''[[Reichskommissar]]'' during its existence. ''Ukraine'' was part of the [[Generalplan Ost]] which included the [[Holocaust|genocide of the Jewish population]], the expulsion and murder of some of the native non-Jewish population, the settlement of [[Germanic peoples]], and the [[Germanization]] of the rest. The [[SS]] and their ''[[Einsatzgruppen]]'', with active participation of the [[Order Police battalions]] and [[Ukrainian collaboration with Nazi Germany|Ukrainian collaborators]].<ref name="muse">{{Cite web |title=Civil Wars in the Soviet Union |author=Alfred J. Rieber |pages=133, 145–147 |url=http://www.spranceana.com/uploads/2012/12/4.1rieber.pdf |year=2003 |access-date=2022-06-20 |archive-date=2020-10-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201030005123/http://www.spranceana.com/uploads/2012/12/4.1rieber.pdf |url-status=dead }} Slavica Publishers.</ref> It is estimated [[The Holocaust in Ukraine#Death toll|900,000 to 1.6 million Jews]] and 3<ref>{{cite book |last1=Magocsi |first1=Paul Robert |title=A History of Ukraine. |date=1996 |publisher=University of Toronto Press |isbn=9780802078209 |pages=633 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t124cP06gg0C&q=A+History+of+Ukraine}}</ref> to 4<ref>Michael Berenbaum (ed.), A Mosaic of Victims: Non-Jews Persecuted and Murdered by the Nazis, New York University Press, 1990; {{ISBN|1-85043-251-1}}</ref> million non-Jewish [[Ukrainians]] were killed during the occupation; other sources estimate that 5.2 million Ukrainian civilians (of all ethnic groups) perished due to [[crimes against humanity]], war-related [[disease]], and [[famine]] amounting to more than 12% of Ukraine's population at the time.<ref>Vadim Erlikman. Poteri narodonaseleniia v XX veke: spravochnik. Moscow, 2004. {{ISBN|5-93165-107-1}}. pp. 21–35.</ref>

In the course of 1943 and 1944, the [[Red Army]] recaptured most of ''Ukraine'' in their advance westwards. Koch was appointed ''Reichskommissar'' of ''[[Reichskommissariat Ostland]]'' in August 1944 and it was formally dissolved on 10 November 1944.

==History==
[[File:German troops crossing the Soviet border.jpg|thumb|German soldiers crossing the Soviet border in [[Lviv Oblast]] of Ukraine during Operation Barbarossa on 22 June 1941]]
[[File:Gitler-vizvolitel.jpg|thumb|Nazi propaganda poster in Ukrainian that says "Hitler the Liberator"]]
On 22 June 1941, [[Nazi Germany]] launched [[Operation Barbarossa]] against the [[Soviet Union]] in breach of the mutual [[German-Soviet Frontier Treaty|Treaty of Non-Aggression]]. In anticipation of the invasion, [[Adolf Hitler]] had tasked [[Alfred Rosenburg]] with preparing the [[Reich Ministry for the Occupied Eastern Territories]] (''Ostministerium'') to oversee administration of the Soviet territories conquered by the ''[[Wehrmacht]]''.

On 17 July 1941, Hitler issued a [[List of Adolf Hitler's directives|Führer decree]] defining the administration of the newly-occupied Eastern territories.<ref>{{cite web
 | title = Nazi Conspiracy and Aggression
 | work = Decree of the Fuehrer concerning the administration of the newly-occupied Eastern territories.
 | publisher = The Avalon Project at Yale Law School
 | date = 1996–2007
 | url = http://avalon.law.yale.edu/imt/1997-ps.asp
 | access-date = 2007-10-04 }}</ref>

On 20 August, Hitler established the ''[[Reichskommissariat]] Ukraine'' and appointed [[Erich Koch]], the ''[[Gauleiter]]'' of [[East Prussia]], as its ''[[Reichskommissar]]''. On the same day, Hitler announced that the region would be under [[civil administration]] from noon on 1 September and delineated the boundaries of the region.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Führer-Erlasse" 1939–1945}}</ref><ref name="Berkhoff4">Berkhoff, p. 36.</ref>

In the mind of Hitler and other German expansionists, the destruction of the Soviet Union, dubbed a "[[Jewish Bolshevism|Judeo-Bolshevist]]" state, would remove a threat from Germany's eastern borders and allow for the colonization of the vast territories of [[Eastern Europe]] under the banner of ''[[Lebensraum]]'' for the fulfilment of the material needs of the [[Germanic peoples|Germanic people]]. Ideological declarations about the German ''[[Master race|Herrenvolk]]'' (master race) having a right to expand their territory especially in the East were widely spread among the German public and Nazi officials of various ranks. Later on, in 1943, Koch said about his mission: "We are a master race, which must remember that the lowliest German worker is racially and biologically a thousand times more valuable than the population here."<ref name="WS939">{{cite book | title = The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich | date = 2011 | publisher = William Shirer | isbn = 978-1-4516-5168-3 | page = 939}}</ref>

On 14 December 1941, Rosenberg discussed with Hitler various administrative issues regarding the ''Reichskommissariat Ukraine''.<ref name="AvP">{{cite web | title = Nazi Conspiracy and Aggression | work = About Discussions [of Rosenberg] with the Fuehrer on 14 December 1941 | publisher = The Avalon Project at Yale Law School | date = 1996–2007 | url = http://avalon.law.yale.edu/imt/1517-ps.asp | access-date = 2007-10-04 }}</ref> 

On 28 July 1944, the [[Red Army]] occupied the last part of the ''Reichskommissariat Ukraine'' in [[Brest, Belarus|Brest]], though it continued to exist as a legal entity. In August 1944, Koch was transferred to ''[[Reichskommissariat Ostland]]'' when its ''Reichskommissar'' [[Hinrich Lohse]] fled the territory without permission due to the Red Army advance. ''Reichskommissariat Ukraine'' was officially dissolved on 10 November 1944.<ref name="encyclopediaofukraine" />

==Geography==
The ''Reichskommissariat Ukraine'' excluded several parts of present-day [[Ukraine]], and included some territories outside of its modern borders. It extended in the west from the [[Volhynia]] region around [[Lutsk]], to a line from [[Vinnytsia]] to Mykolaiv along the [[Southern Bug]] river in the south, to the areas surrounding [[Kyiv|Kiev]], [[Poltava]] and [[Zaporizhzhia (region)|Zaporozhye]] in the east. Conquered territories further to the east, including the rest of Ukraine ([[Crimea]], [[Chernihiv Oblast|Chernigov]], [[Kharkiv Oblast|Kharkov]], and the [[Donbas|Donets Basin]]), were under military governance until the German withdrawal 1943–44.<ref name="Berkhoff5">Berkhoff, pp. 299ff.</ref>

[[Eastern Galicia]] was transferred to the control of the [[General Government]] following a Hitler decree, becoming its fifth district, ([[District of Galicia]]).{{citation needed|date=May 2024}}

It also encompassed several southern parts of today's [[Belarus]], including [[Polesia]], a large area to the north of the [[Pripyat (river)|Pripyat River]] with forests and marshes, as well as the city of [[Brest-Litovsk]], and the towns of [[Pinsk]] and [[Mazyr|Mozyr]].<ref name=":0">Berkhoff, Karel C. (2004). ''Harvest of despair: life and death in Ukraine under Nazi rule'', p. 37. [[President and Fellows of Harvard College]].</ref> This was done by the Germans in order to secure a steady [[Lumber|wood supply]] and efficient railroad and water transportation.<ref name=":0"/>

== Administration ==
===Political figures related to the German administration of Ukraine===
{{Unreferenced section|date=June 2022}}
[[Image:Bundesarchiv Bild 146-1994-006-30A, Kiew, Alfred Rosenberg.jpg|thumb|[[Erich Koch]] (right) and [[Alfred Rosenberg]] (center) in [[Kyiv|Kiev]]]]
* Alfred Rosenberg, [[Reich Ministry for the Occupied Eastern Territories|Reich Minister for the Occupied Eastern Territories]]
** [[Georg Leibbrandt]], Eastern Ministry
** [[Otto Bräutigam]], Eastern Ministry
* ''[[Reichskommissar]]'' of Ukraine, [[Erich Koch]]
** [[Alfred Eduard Frauenfeld]], Generalkommissar for Generalbezirk Krim-Taurien
** Kurt Klemm, Generalkommissar for Generalbezirk Shitomir (October 1941 – October 1942)
** Ernst Ludwig Leyser, Generalkommissar for Generalbezirk Shitomir (October 1942 – October 1943)
** Helmut Quitzrau, Generalkommissar for Generalbezirk Kiev (September 1941 – February 1942)
** [[Waldemar Magunia]], Generalkommissar for Generalbezirk Kiev (February 1942 – 1944)
** Ewald Oppermann, Generalkommissar for Generalbezirk Nikolajev
** [[Heinrich Schoene]], Generalkommissar for Generalbezirk Wolhynien-Podolien (September 1941 – February 1944)
** Claus Selzner, Generalkommissar for Generalbezirk Dnepropetrowsk (September 1941 – June 1944)
* [[Karl Stumpp]], [[ethnographer]] and leader of the ''SS Sonderkommando Dr Karl Stumpp''

===Military commanders linked with the German administration of Ukraine===
{{Unreferenced section|date=June 2022}}
* [[Wehrmachtsbefehlshaber]] Ukraine (WBU)
** [[Generalleutnant]] d.R. [[Waldemar Henrici]] (until October 1942)
** [[General der Flieger]] Karl Kitzinger (from October 1942)
* [[SS and police leader|Höherer SS- und Polizeiführer]] Southern Russia ([[HSSPF]] Russland-Süd)
** SS-[[Obergruppenführer]] [[Friedrich Jeckeln]] (June–October 1941)
** SS-Obergruppenführer [[Hans-Adolf Prützmann]] (October 1941 – 1944; from October 1943 also [[SS and police leader|Höchster SS- und Polizeiführer]] (HöSSPF) Ukraine)
* Höherer SS- und Polizeiführer Black Sea ([[HSSPF]] Schwarzes Meer)
** SS-Gruppenführer [[Ludolf-Hermann von Alvensleben]] (October–December 1943)
** SS-Obergruppenführer [[Richard Hildebrandt]] (December 1943 – August 1944)
* [[Gruppenführer|SS-Gruppenführer]] [[Adolf von Bomhard]], head of police
* SS-Gruppenführer [[Walter Schimana]], commander of the [[SS Division Galicia]]
* [[Brigadeführer|SS-Brigadeführer]] [[Fritz Freitag]], commander of the [[14th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (1st Galician)|SS Division Galicia]]

===Administrative divisions===
{{more citations needed|section|date=June 2022}}
[[File:ReichskommissariatUkraineMap.png|thumb|Administrative map, September 1942]]
[[File:General District of Crimea (1942).svg|thumb|General District of Crimea in 1942]]

The administrative capital of the ''Reichskommissariat'' was [[Rivne|Rovno]], and it was divided into six ''Generalbezirke'' (general districts), called ''Generalkommissariate'' (general commissariats) in the pre-Barbarossa planning. This administrative structure was in turn subdivided into 114 ''Kreisgebiete'', and further into 443 ''Parteien''.{{cn|date=June 2022}}

Each ''Generalbezirk'' was administered by a ''Generalkommissar''; each ''Kreisgebiete'' "circular [i.e., district] area" was led by a ''Gebietskommissar'' and each ''Partei'' "party" was governed by a Ukrainian or German "Parteien Chef" ([[Party leader|Party Chief]]). At the level below were German or Ukrainian ''Akademiker'' ("Academics" – i.e., District Chiefs) (similar to Polish "[[wójt|Wojts]]" in the General Government). At the same time at a smaller scale, the local Municipalities were 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 was in charge.{{cn|date=June 2022}}

The six general districts were (English names and administrative centres in parentheses):
* Shitomir ([[Zhytomyr]]) – headed by [[Regierungsbezirk|Regierungpräsident]] Kurt Klemm, then by SS-Brigadeführer Ernst Ludwig Leyser (from 1942)
* Kiew ([[Kyiv|Kiev]]) – headed by SA-Brigadeführer Helmut Quitzrau (till February 14, 1942), then SA-Oberführer [[Waldemar Magunia]] (from February 14, 1942)
* Nikolajew ([[Mykolaiv|Nikolayev]]) – headed by [[NSFK]]-Obergruppenführer Ewald Oppermann
* Wolhynien und Podolien ([[Volhynia]] and [[Podolia]]; [[Lutsk|Luzk]]) – headed by [[Sturmabteilung|SA]] [[Obergruppenführer]] Heinrich Schoene
* Dnjepropetrowsk ([[Dnipro|Dnepropetrovsk]]) – headed by ''[[Oberbefehlshaber Süd|Oberbefehlshaber]] der NSDAP'' ('party commander in chief') Claus Selzner
* Krym-Taurien ([[Crimea]]-[[Taurida]]; [[Melitopol]]) – headed by [[Gauleiter]] [[Alfred Frauenfeld]]

Scheduled for incorporation into the ''Reichskommissariat Ukraine'' but never transferred to civil administration were the ''Generalkommissariate Tschernigow'' ([[Chernihiv|Chernigov]]), ''Charkow'' ([[Kharkiv|Kharkov]]), ''Stalino'' ([[Donetsk]]), ''Woronezh'' ([[Voronezh]]), ''Rostow'' ([[Rostov-on-Don]]), [[Stalingrad]], and ''Saratow'' ([[Saratov]]), which would have brought the boundary of the province to the western border of [[Kazakhstan]].<ref>Dallin, Alexander (1958). ''Deutschen Herrschaft in Russland 1941–1945'', p. 67 (in German). Droste.</ref> In addition, ''Reichskommissar'' Koch had wishes of further extending his ''Reichskommissariat'' to [[Reichskommissariat Kaukasus|Ciscaucasia]].<ref>Kroener, Müller & Umbreit (2003) ''Germany and the Second World War V/II'', p. 50</ref>

====Krym-Taurien====
{{main|German occupation of Crimea during World War II}}
The administrative position of the Krim ''Generalbezirk'' remained ambiguous.{{cn|date=June 2022}} According to the original German plan it was to correspond approximately to the old [[Taurida Governorate]] (therefore including also mainland portions of Ukraine), and was to consist of two ''Teilbezirke'' (sub-districts):{{cn|date=June 2022}}
* Taurien (the mainland sections, including parts of the [[Mykolaiv|Nikolayev]] and [[Zaporizhzhia|Zaporozhye]] provinces.)
* Krym (the [[Crimean peninsula]])

Only the first of these saw transfer to civil administration in September 1942, with the peninsula remaining under military control for the duration of the war.<ref name="Berkhoff2" /> Its administrator, Frauenfeld, played off the military and civil authorities against each other and gained the freedom to run the territory as he saw fit. He thereby enjoyed complete autonomy, verging on independence, from Koch's authority. Frauenfeld's administration was much more moderate than Koch's and consequentially more economically successful. Koch was greatly angered by Fraunfeld's insubordination (a comparable situation also existed in the administrative relationship between the Estonian general commissariat and ''[[Reichskommissariat Ostland]]'').{{cn|date=June 2022}}

The district's title was a misnomer, it only included the area north of the [[Crimean peninsula]] up to the [[Dnieper river]].<ref name="Berkhoff2">Berkhoff, p. 39.</ref>

==Demographics==
The official German press, in 1941, reported the Ukrainian urban and rural populations as 19 million each. During the commissariat's existence the Germans only undertook one official census, for January 1, 1943, documenting a population of 16,910,008 people.<ref>Berkhoff, pp. 36-37.</ref> 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, however the borders of the administrative region of the Soviet Ukrainian SSR were noticeably different from those of the ''Reichskommissariat''. In 1939, a new census reported the Ukrainian urban population as 11,195,620 and rural population as 19,764,601 – a total of 30,960,221. The Ukrainian Soviets counted 17% of total Soviet population, and a significant portion was also separately [[Romanian occupation of Transnistria|occupied by Romania]].{{citation needed|date=May 2024}}

==Security==
{{Unreferenced section|date=June 2022}}
The Wehrmacht came under pressure for political reasons to gradually restore private property in zones under military control and to accept local volunteer recruits into their units and into the [[Waffen-SS]], as promoted by local Ukrainian nationalist organizations, [[Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists|the OUN-B and the OUN-M]], whilst receiving political support from the Wehrmacht.{{cn|date=June 2022}}

The German ''[[Reichsführer-SS]]'' and chief of German Police, [[Heinrich Himmler]], initially had direct authority over any SS formations in Ukraine to order "Security Operations", but soon lost it – especially after the summer of 1942 when he tried to regain control over policing in Ukraine by gaining authority for the collection of the harvest, and failed miserably, in large part because Koch withheld cooperation. In Ukraine, Himmler soon became the voice of relative moderation, hoping that an improvement in the Ukrainians' living conditions would encourage greater numbers of them to join the [[Waffen-SS]]'s foreign divisions. Koch, appropriately nicknamed the "hangman of Ukraine", was contemptuous of Himmler's efforts. In this matter Koch had the support of Hitler, who remained skeptical when not hostile to the idea of recruiting [[Slavs]] in general and Soviet nationals in particular into the [[Wehrmacht]].{{cn|date=June 2022}}

{| class="toccolours" border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="2" style="margin:1em auto;"
|-
|colspan="8" style="text-align:center;"| ''Sleeve badges of battalions of the so-called «Ukrainian Hilfspolizei» in the German Ordnungspolizei of the Reichskommissariat Ukraine''<ref>Музичук С. країнські військові нарукавні емблеми під час Другої світової війни 1939-45 рр. // ''Знак'', 2004. — ч. 33. — с. 9 – 11.</ref>
|-
|[[File:Ukr-polizei 106 bat.svg|110px]]
|&nbsp;&nbsp;
|[[File:Ukr-polizei 114 bat.svg|80px]]
|&nbsp;&nbsp;
|[[File:Ukr-polizei 115-118 bat.svg|100px]]
|&nbsp;&nbsp;
|[[File:Ukr-polizei oficer.svg|90px]]
|-
|style="text-align:center;"| <small>106th</small>
|
|style="text-align:center;"| <small>114th</small>
|
|style="text-align:center;"| <small>115th and 118th</small>
|
|style="text-align:center;"| <small>Officers' badge</small>
|}

==Economic exploitation==
{{Unreferenced section|date=June 2022}}
In the civil administration of the Reich Ministry for the Occupied Eastern Territories numerous technical staff worked under [[Georg Leibbrandt]], former chief of the east section of the [[NSDAP Office of Foreign Affairs|foreign political office in the Nazi Party]], now chief of the political section in the Ministry for the Occupied Eastern Territories. Leibbrandt's deputy, [[Otto Bräutigam]], had previously worked as a consul with experience in the Soviet Union. Economic affairs remained under the direct management of [[Hermann Göring]] (the [[Plenipotentiary]] of Germany's [[Four Year Plan]]). From 21 March 1942 [[Fritz Sauckel]] had the role of "General Plenipotentiary for Labour Deployment" (Generalbevollmächtigter für den Arbeitseinsatz), charged with recruiting manpower for Germany throughout Europe, though in Ukraine Koch insisted that [[Fritz Sauckel|Sauckel]] confine himself to setting requirements, leaving the actual "recruitment" of ''[[Ost-Arbeiter]]'' to Koch and his brutes. The [[Todt Organization]] Ost Branch operated from Kiev. Other members of the German administration in Ukraine included Generalkommissar Leyser and Gebietkommissar Steudel.

The Ministry of Transport had direct control of "[[Ostbahn (General Government)|Ostbahns]]" and "Generalverkehrsdirektion 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).

The position of the Eastern Affairs Ministry was weak because its 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 supplementary 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.
[[File:2Karbowanez-1942 a.JPG|thumbnail|Banknotes denominated in karbovanets (''Karbowanez'' in German). The karbovanets replaced the Soviet rouble at par and was in circulation between 1942 and 1945. It was pegged to the Reichsmark at a rate of 10 karbovantsiv = 1 Reichsmark.]]
The ''Reichskommissariat Ukraine'' paid occupation taxes and funds to the [[German Reich]] until February 1944 in the amount of {{Reichsmark|1.246 billion|link=yes}} (equivalent to €{{Inflation|DE|1.246|1944}} billion {{Inflation-year|DE}}) and 107.9 million&nbsp;[[Soviet rouble|Rbl]]s, in accord with information composed by [[Lutz von Krosigk]], the Reich Minister of Finances.

The Reich Ministry for the Occupied Eastern Territories ordered Koch and [[Hinrich Lohse]] (the ''Reichskommissar'' of Ostland) in March 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. This and subsequent "worker registration" drives in Ukraine would eventually backfire after the [[Battle of Kursk]] (July–August 1943) when the Germans would attempt to build a defensive line along the Dnieper only to discover that the necessary manpower had been either recruited to forced labour in Germany or had gone underground to forestall such "recruitment".

Alfred Rosenberg implemented an "[[Agrarianism|Agrarian]] New Order" in Ukraine, ordering the confiscation of Soviet state properties to establish German [[Sovereign state|state]] properties. Additionally the replacement of Russian{{clarify|does this mean Soviet?|date=June 2022}} [[Kolkhoz]]es and [[Sovkhoz]]es, by their own "Gemeindwirtschaften" (German Communal Farms), the installation of state enterprise "Landbewirstschaftungsgessellschaft Ukraine M.b.H." for managing the new German state farms and cooperatives, and the foundation of numerous "Kombines" (Great German exploitation Monopolies) with government or private capital in the territory, to exploit the resources and [[Donbas]] area.

==German intentions==
{{Further|Generalplan Ost|Lebensraum|Wehrbauer}}
According to the Nazis, both Jewish and Slavic Ukrainians were [[untermensch]] and therefore only fit for enslavement or extermination. [[Erich Koch]], who was chosen by Adolf Hitler to rule Ukraine, made the point about the inferiority of Ukrainians with a certain simplicity: "Even if I find a Ukrainian who is worthy of sitting at my table, I must have him shot"<ref>{{cite web | url=https://quotefancy.com/quote/2545004/Timothy-Snyder-Erich-Koch-chosen-by-Hitler-to-rule-Ukraine-made-the-point-about-the | title=Timothy Snyder Quote: 'Erich Koch, chosen by Hitler to rule Ukraine, made the point about the inferiority of Ukrainians with a certain simplici... '}}</ref> and "remember that the lowliest German worker is racially and biologically a thousand times more valuable than the population here, which is more distinct from [[Aryan race|Aryan]] genealogy than Leningrad."<ref>{{Cite book|isbn = 0449219771|title = The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany|last1 = Shirer|first1 = William Lawrence|year = 1990| publisher=Fawcett Crest }}</ref>

The regime was planning to encourage the settlement of [[Germans|German]] and other "[[Germanic peoples|Germanic]]" farmers in the region after the war, along with the empowerment of some ethnic Germans in the territory. Ukraine was the furthest eastern settlement of the migrating ancient Goths between the 2nd and 4th centuries and subsequently, according to Hitler, "Only German should be spoken here".<ref>Wendy Lower, Nazi Empire-Building and the Holocaust in Ukraine, p. 161</ref> The sending of [[Dutch people|Dutch]] settlers was charged to the [[Dutch East Company]] ({{lang|nl|Nederlandsche Oost-Compagnie}}), a Dutch National Socialist organization aimed to establish Dutch colonies in the territories conquered by the Nazis.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.archieven.nl/nl/zoeken?mivast=0&mizig=210&miadt=298&micode=176&miview=inv2#inv3t3 |title=Nederlandsche Oost Compagnie |trans-title=Dutch East Company |publisher=NIOD Instituut voor Oorlogs-, Holocaust- en Genocidestudies |website=www.archieven.nl |date=1980 |access-date=2025-06-24 |language=nl}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=von Frijtag Drabbe Künzel |first=Geraldien |title=Hitler's Brudervolk: The Dutch and the Colonization of Occupied Eastern Europe, 1939-1945 |series=Routledge Studies in Modern European History |date=2015 |publisher=Routledge |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XgoXCgAAQBAJ |pages=2, 87-88 |isbn=9781317622482}}</ref>

In Ukraine, the Germans published a local journal in the German language, the ''Deutsche Ukrainezeitung''.{{citation needed|date=May 2024}}

During the occupation a very small number of cities and their accompanying districts maintained [[German language|German]] names. These cities were designated as urban strongholds for Volksdeutsche natives.<ref name="Lower">Lower, p. 267.</ref> ''[[Hegewald (colony)|Hegewald]]'' (Himmler's field headquarters and the location of a small, experimental German colony),<ref>[[Wendy Lower|Lower, Wendy]]: ''Nazi empire-building and the Holocaust in Ukraine'', pp. 162–181. University of North Carolina Press, 2005. [https://books.google.com/books?id=UwDmUJWdcJkC&pg=PA162]</ref> ''[[Cherniakhiv (UTS)|Försterstadt]]'' (also a Volksdeutsche colony),<ref>Lower 2005, p. 197.</ref> ''[[Molotschna|Halbstadt]]'' (a Low German [[Mennonite]] settlement),<ref name="Lower" /> ''Alexanderstadt'',<ref>Jehke, Rolf: ''Territoriale Veränderungen in Deutschland und deutsch verwalteten Gebieten 1874–1945''. 23 February 2010. (In German). Retrieved 10 August 2010. [http://territorial.de/ukra/nikolaje/alexanst.htm]</ref> ''Kronau''<ref name="Lower" /> and ''[[Frielendorf|Friesendorf]]''<ref>{{cite web |author=Rolf Jehke |url=http://territorial.de/ukra/dnjeprop/dnje.htm#fnverweis6 |title=Generalbezirk Dnjepropetrowsk |publisher=Territorial.de |access-date=2014-06-03 |archive-date=2017-12-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171204223607/http://www.territorial.de/ukra/dnjeprop/dnje.htm#fnverweis6 |url-status=dead }}</ref> were some of these.

On 12 August 1941, Hitler ordered the complete destruction of the Ukrainian capital of Kiev by the use of [[incendiary bombs]] and gunfire.<ref name="Berkhoff">Berkhoff, pp. 164–165.</ref> Because the German military lacked sufficient material for this operation it wasn't carried out, after which the Nazi planners instead [[Hunger Plan|decided to starve]] the city's inhabitants. Heinrich Himmler on the other hand considered Kiev to be "an ancient German city" because of the [[Magdeburg Rights|Magdeburg city rights]] that it had acquired centuries prior.<ref name="Berkhoff"/>

== See also ==
* [[Babi Yar]]
* [[The Death Match]]
* [[Massacres of Poles in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia]]
* ''[[Ostarbeiter]]''
* ''[[Word of the Righteous]]''

==References==
{{reflist|2}}

==Further reading==
{{See also|Bibliography of Poland during World War II|Bibliography of the Soviet Union during World War II|Bibliography of Ukrainian history#World War II}}
* {{Citation |first1=Arnold |last1=Toynbee |author-link=Arnold J. Toynbee |first2=Veronica |last2=Toynbee |title=Hitler's Europe |chapter=Ukraine, under German Occupation, 1941–44 |location=London |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1954 |pages=316–337 |display-authors=etal}}.
* {{Citation |last=Berkhoff |first=Karel C. |title=Harvest of Despair: Life and Death in Ukraine Under Nazi Rule |location=Cambridge, Mass. |publisher=Belknap Press |year=2004 |isbn=0-674-01313-1 |author-link=Karel C. Berkhoff |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/harvestofdespair0000berk }}.
* {{Citation |last=Rich |first=Norman |title=Hitler's War Aims: The Establishment of the New Order |publisher=W. W. Norton & Company |location=New York |year=1974 |isbn=0-393-05509-4 }}.

==External links==
* {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091029030611/http://geocities.com/~orion47/REICH-GOVERNMENT/Ostministerium.html |date=October 29, 2009 |title=Officials of the Ostministerium and the Reichskommissariats }}
* [http://www.terra.es/personal7/jqvaraderey/194145fc.gif Map of Occupied Europe] {{Webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20121205082208/www.terra.es/personal7/jqvaraderey/194145fc.gif |date=2012-12-05 }}

{{Reichskommissariats}}
{{Holocaust Ukraine}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Reichskommissariat Ukraine| ]]
[[Category:Ukraine in World War II|*]]
[[Category:Nazi colonies in Eastern Europe|Ukraine]]
[[Category:German occupation of Poland during World War II]]
[[Category:Byelorussia in World War II]]
[[Category:Military history of Germany during World War II]]
[[Category:Military history of the Soviet Union during World War II]]
[[Category:Holocaust locations]]
[[Category:Military history of Ukraine during World War II|*]]
[[Category:1941 establishments in Ukraine]]
[[Category:1944 disestablishments in Ukraine]]
[[Category:States and territories established in 1941]]
[[Category:States and territories disestablished in 1944]]
[[Category:Babi Yar]]
[[Category:German military occupations]]