Structure
The German government in the Netherlands was headed by Seyss-Inquart as Reichskommissar. Beneath him were four Generalkommissare. These were:
- Hans Fischböck, Generalkommissar für Finanz und Wirtschaft (finance and economics);
- Hanns Albin Rauter, Generalkommissar für das Sicherheitswesen (security) who also maintained the position of Higher SS and Police Leader;
- Fritz Schmidt, Generalkommissar zur Besonderen Verwendung ('special tasks'). Succeeded by Willi Ritterbusch after the former’s suicide on 26 June 1943;
- Friedrich Wimmer, Generalkommissar für Verwaltung und Justiz (administration and justice).
Despite his nominal government subordination to Seys-Inquart, Rauter as an SS officer was actually only responsible to Heinrich Himmler as Reichsführer-SS. His own deputies in turn were the Befehlshaber der Sicherheitspolizei und des SD (commander of the criminal police and the SD) Wilhelm Harster, the Aussenstelle (deputy) in Amsterdam (headed by Willy Lages), and the Zentralstelle für jüdische Auswanderung (Central Office for Jewish "Emigration") led by Ferdinand aus der Fünften.
No new ministers were appointed; the secretaries-general maintained control over their respective departments, but were now operating under the authority of Seyss-Inquart. The existing lower-level governments remained completely intact as well, although these were gradually being replaced by NSB members as the war progressed.
Read more about this topic: Reichskommissariat Niederlande
Famous quotes containing the word structure:
“One theme links together these new proposals for family policy—the idea that the family is exceedingly durable. Changes in structure and function and individual roles are not to be confused with the collapse of the family. Families remain more important in the lives of children than other institutions. Family ties are stronger and more vital than many of us imagine in the perennial atmosphere of crisis surrounding the subject.”
—Joseph Featherstone (20th century)
“What is the most rigorous law of our being? Growth. No smallest atom of our moral, mental, or physical structure can stand still a year. It grows—it must grow; nothing can prevent it.”
—Mark Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens] (1835–1910)
“Science is intimately integrated with the whole social structure and cultural tradition. They mutually support one other—only in certain types of society can science flourish, and conversely without a continuous and healthy development and application of science such a society cannot function properly.”
—Talcott Parsons (1902–1979)