Reichskommissariat Moskowien
 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (September 2007) |
Reichskommissariat Moskowien | |
|---|---|
.svg) | |
| Status | Projected Reichskommissariat of Germany |
| Capital | Initially Moscow, then not designated |
| Government | Military administration |
| Reichskommissar | |
• (projected) | Siegfried Kasche |
| Historical era | World War II |
.svg)
.svg)
Reichskommissariat Moskowien (RKM; Russian: Рейхскомиссариат Московия, romanized: Reykhskomissariat Moskoviya, lit. 'Reich Commissariat of Muscovy') was the civilian occupation-regime that Nazi Germany intended to establish in central and northern European Russia during World War II, one of several similar Reichskommissariate. It was also known initially as the Reichskommissariat Russland (Reich Commissariat of Russia), but was later renamed as part of German policies of partitioning the Russian state. Siegfried Kasche was the projected Reichskomissar, but due to the Wehrmacht's failure to occupy the territories intended to form the Reichskommissariat, it remained on paper only.
Background
Nazi Germany intended to destroy
As the campaign against the Soviet Union advanced eastward, the occupied territories would gradually be transferred from military to civilian administration. Hitler's final decision on its administration entailed the new eastern territories being divided into four Reichskommissariats in order to destroy Russia as a geographical entity by dividing it into as many different parts as possible. These new institutions were to be under the nominal supervision of Reichsleiter Alfred Rosenberg as head of the Reich Ministry for the Occupied Eastern Territories.
The leaders of these provinces, the Reichskommissars, would however be direct subordinates of Hitler himself, and answerable only to him. Conquered territories of most of Russia proper were initially to become a Reichskommissariat Russland (Reich Commissariat of Russia) according to Rosenberg's plans, although this was later changed to Moskowien (Muscovy) informally also known as Moskau (Moscow). These eastern districts were thought to be the most sensitive to administer of the conquered territories. As a consequence, they would be managed from the regional capitals and directly by the German government in Berlin.
The plans were never fulfilled as the German military's plans to capture
Territorial planning
The envisioned province included most of
The planned administrative subdivisions of the province were largely based boundary-wise on the pre-existing Russian
.The administrative capital was tentatively proposed as Moscow, the historical and political center of the Russian state. As the German armies were approaching the Soviet capital in the
During a conference on 16 July 1941, Hitler stated his personal desires on the division of the eastern territories to be acquired for Germany.
At first, the plans had assumed an eastern limit at the "
Political leadership
Rosenberg had initially proposed Erich Koch, notorious even among the Nazis as a particularly brutal leader,[5] as Reichskommissar of the province on 7 April 1941.[6]
This occupation will indeed have a completely different character to that in the Baltic Sea provinces, in the Ukraine and in the Caucasus.[nb 1] It will be geared towards the oppression of any Russian or Bolshevist resistance and [sic] requires an absolutely ruthless personality, not only on the part of the military representation but also the potential political leadership. The resulting tasks need not be recorded.
— Alfred Rosenberg, memo dated 7 April 1941[6]
Koch rejected his nomination in June of that year because it was, as he described it, "entirely negative", and was later given control of
Planned policies
See also
Notes
- ^ Note that this comment needs to be read in the context of Rosenberg's rejected plan to make use of the Soviet Union's non-Russian ethnic groups in these regions (Balts, Ukrainians, et al) by presenting the German invasion as a liberation from Russian rule and promising them political independence.
References
- ^ Oscar Pinkus (2005). The war aims and strategies of Adolf Hitler, p. 228. MacFarland & Company Inc. Publishers.
- ^ Fabian Von Schlabrendorff (1947). They Almost Killed Hitler: Based on the Personal Account of Fabian Von Schlabrendorf, p. 35. Gero v. S. Gaevernitz.
- ^ a b Ganzenmüller, Jörg (18 July 2011). Blockade Leningrads: Hunger als Waffe. Zeit Online. Retrieved 6 November 2011. (In German)
- ^ a b c Martin Bormann's Minutes of a Meeting at Hitler’s Headquarters (July 16, 1941). German History in Documents and Images. Retrieved 14 May 2011.
- ^ a b c d Kay (2006), p. 88.
- ^ a b Kay, Alex J. (2006). Exploitation, Resettlement, Mass Murder: Political and Economic Planning for German Occupation Policy in the Soviet Union, 1940-1941, p. 79. Berghahn Books.
- ^ Kay (2006), pp. 181-182.
- ISBN 3434520066. p. 79
- ^ Dallin, Alexander (1981). German rule in Russia, 1941-1945: a study of occupation policies. Westview. p. 296
- ^ (German) Gerlach, Christian (1999). Kalkulierte Morde. Hamburger Edition.
Sources
- Rich, Norman (1973). Hitler’s War Aims: Ideology, the Nazi State, and the Course of Expansion. New York: Norton. ISBN 0-393-05454-3.
- Rich, Norman (1974). Hitler’s War Aims: the Establishment of the New Order. New York: Norton. ISBN 978-0-393055-09-2.
- Wasser, Bruno (1993). Himmler's Raumplanung im Osten: Der Generalplan Ost in Polen 1940-1944. Basel: Birkhäuser. ISBN 3-540-30951-9.
- Müller, Rolf-Dieter and Ueberschär, Gerd R. (2009). ISBN 978-1-84545-501-9.