Reichskommissariat Moskowien - Political Leadership

Political Leadership

Rosenberg had initially proposed Erich Koch, notorious even among the Nazis as a particularly brutal leader, as Reichskommissar of the province on 7 April 1941.

This occupation will indeed have a completely different character to that in the Baltic Sea provinces, in the Ukraine and in the Caucasus. It will be geared towards the oppression of any Russian or Bolshevist resistance and 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

Koch rejected his nomination in June of that year because it was, as he described it, "entirely negative", and was later given control of Reichskommissariat Ukraine instead. Hitler proposed Wilhelm Kube as an alternative, but this was rejected after Hermann Göring and Rosenberg deemed him too old for the position (Kube was then in his mid-fifties), and instead assigned him to Belarus. SA-Obergruppenführer Siegfried Kasche, the German envoy in Zagreb, was selected instead. Hamburg senator and SA general Wilhelm von Allwörden promoted himself to be nominated as the Commissioner for Economic Affairs for the Moscow area. Kasche's nomination was opposed by Heinrich Himmler, who considered Kasche's SA background as being a problem and characterized him to Rosenberg as "a man of the desk, in no wise energetic or strong, and an outspoken enemy of the SS".

Erich von dem Bach-Zalewski was to become the regional Higher SS and Police Leader, and was already assigned to Army Group Centre as HSSPF-Russland-Mitte (Central Russia) for this purpose. Odilo Globocnik, then the SS and Police Leader in Lublin was to head Generalkommissariat Sverdlovsk, the easternmost district of Moskowien. Rosenberg suggested Wolf-Heinrich Graf von Helldorf as Hauptkommissar of the Yaroslavl district.