General Government

German-occupied zone in Poland in World War II

Key facts

Status: Administratively, autonomous component, of Germany
Capital: Litzmannstadt , (12 October – 4 November 1939) , Krakau , (4 November 1939 – 19 January 1945)
Common languages: German (official) , Polish , Ukrainian , Yiddish
Government: Civil administration
1939 1945: Hans Frank
1939 1940: Arthur Seyss-Inquart
1940 1945: Josef Bühler
Historical era: Occupation of Poland , in World War II
Invasion of poland: 1 September 1939
Establishment: 26 October 1939
Galicia added: 1 August 1941
Poland declared restored: 22 July 1944

Article

Today part ofPoland Ukraine

The General Government (German: Generalgouvernement, IPA: [ɡenəˈʁaːlɡuvɛʁnəˌmã] ; Polish: Generalne Gubernatorstwo; Ukrainian: Генеральна губернія, romanized: Heneralna huberniia), formally the General Governorate for the Occupied Polish Territories (German: Generalgouvernement für die besetzten polnischen Gebiete), was a German zone of occupation established after the invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany, Slovakia and the Soviet Union in 1939 at the onset of World War II. The newly occupied Second Polish Republic was split into three zones: the General Government in its centre, Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany in the west, and Polish areas annexed by the Soviet Union in the east. The territory was expanded substantially in 1941, after the German invasion of the Soviet Union, to include the new District of Galicia. The area of the Generalgouvernement roughly corresponded with the Austrian part of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth after the Third Partition of Poland in 1795.