General Government - Administrative Districts

Administrative Districts

Further information: Administrative division of Polish territories during World War II

For administrative purposes the General Government was subdivided into four Distrikte (districts). These were the Distrikt Warschau, the Distrikt Lublin, the Distrikt Radom, and the Distrikt Krakau. After the German attack on the Soviet Union in June 1941, East Galicia, at that point part of the Ukrainian SSR, was incorporated into the General Government and became its fifth district, the Distrikt Galizien. These new units were much larger than those organized by the Polish government, reflecting the German lack of sufficient administrative personnel to staff smaller units.

These five districts were further sub-divided into Stadtkreise (urban counties) and Kreishauptmannschaften (rural counties). Following a decree on September 15, 1941, the names of most of the major cities (and so respective counties) reverted to their historical German names, or were given germanified versions of their Polish or Ukrainian names if none existed. At the same time the previous names remained valid as well. The districts and counties were as follows:

Distrikt Galizien
Stadtkreise	Lemberg (Lviv/Lwów)
Kreishauptmannschaften	Breschan (Brzeżany), Tschortkau (Czortków), Drohobycz, Kamionka-Strumilowa (Kamianka-Buzka), Kolomea (Kołomyja), Lemberg-Land, Rawa-Ruska (Rava-Ruska), Stanislau (Ivano-Frankivsk), Sambor (Sambir) Stryj, Tarnopol, Solotschiw (Zolochiv), Kallusch (Kalush)
Distrikt Krakau
Stadtkreise	Krakau (Kraków)
Kreishauptmannschaften	Dembitz (Dębica), Jaroslau (Jarosław), Jassel (Jaslo), Krakau-Land, Krosno, Meekow (Miechow), Neumarkt (Nowy Targ), Neu-Sandez (Nowy Sącz), Przemyśl, Reichshof (Rzeszow), Sanok, Tarnau (Tarnów)
Distrikt Lublin
Stadtkreise	Lublin
Kreishauptmannschaften	Biala-Podlaska (Biała Podlaska), Bilgoraj, Cholm (Chelm), Grubeschow (Hrubieszow), Janow Lubelski, Krasnystaw, Lublin-Land, Pulawy, Rehden (Radzyn), Zamosch/Himmlerstadt/Pflugstadt (Zamość)
Distrikt Radom
Stadtkreise	Kielce, Radom, Tschenstochau (Częstochowa)
Kreishauptmannschaften	Busko (Busko-Zdrój), Jedrzejow, Kielce-Land, Konskie (Końskie), Opatau (Opatów), Petrikau (Piotrków Trybunalski), Radom-Land, Radomsko, Starachowitz (Starachowice), Tomaschow Mazowiecki (Tomaszów Mazowiecki)
Distrikt Warschau
Stadtkreise	Warschau (Warsaw)
Kreishauptmannschaften	Garwolin, Grojec (Grójec), Lowitsch (Lowicz), Minsk (Mińsk Mazowiecki), Ostrau (Ostrów Mazowiecka), Siedlce, Sochaczew, Sokolow-Wengrow (Sokołów Podlaski-Węgrów), Warschau-Land

A change in the administrative structure was desired by Finance Minister Lutz von Krosigk, who for financial reasons wanted to see the five existing districts (Warsaw, Kraków, Radom, Lublin, and Galicia) reduced to three. In March 1943 he announced the merger of the Kraków and Galicia districts, and the partition of the Warsaw district between the so-called Deutschtumsdistrikt ("Germandom-district") Lublin and the district Radom, and the changing of Warsaw and Kraków into separate city-districts (stadtkreise), with Warsaw under the direct control of the General Government. This decree was to go into effect on 1 April 1943 and was nominally accepted by Heinrich Himmler, but Martin Bormann opposed the move, as he simply wanted to see the region turned into Reichsgaue. Wilhelm Frick and Friedrich-Wilhelm Krüger were also skeptic about the usefulness of this reorganization, resulting in its abolition after subsequent discussions between Himmler and Frank.