Five Brothers and a War

Arthur Seyß-Inquart

As the Germans moved into Holland, they necessarily had to set up a mechanism to govern the newly-occupied nation. Their initial notion was that the Dutch could be annexed on a somewhat “brotherly” basis, versus what they did to nations the Nazis hated—particularly the Eastern Europeans. In many ways, they viewed the Dutch much like they viewed the Austrians. So when they set up the government, such as it was, they established a hybrid between civil and military. No one was ever fooled into thinking that the might of the Wehrmacht was not the real power and supporting structure. The real power was absolutely always held on the military side, but the day-to-day governmental affairs were accomplished through the establishment of a Reichskommissariat (“Empire Commission”—more accurately “Governor”). A number of Reichskommissariats were set up in occupied nations, including: • Reichskommissariat Norwegen (German-occupied territories of Norway); 1940–45. • Reichskommissariat Niederlande (German-occupied Netherlands); 1940–45. • Reichskommissariat Belgien-Nordfrankreich (German-occupied Belgium and Nord Pas-de-Calais); 1944. • Reichskommissariat Ostland (RKO) (The Baltic countries and Belarus, extended eastward by including some parts of Western Russia) 1941–1944/45. • Reichskommissariat Ukraine (RKU) (Ukraine minus East Galicia, Romanian Transnistria and the Crimea, and in late May 1941 was extended eastward up to the Volga); 1941-44. • Reichskommissariat Don-Wolga (approximately from the Sea of Azov to the Volga German Republic including Rostov, Voronezh, and Saratov; late May 1941 divided between Ukraine and Kaukasus); never established. • Reichskommissariat Moskowien (RKM) (Moscow metropolitan area and the rest of European Russia minus Karelia and the Kola peninsula, promised to Finland); never fully established. German military advance halted in 1941/42. • Reichskommissariat Kaukasus (RKK) (Southern Russia and the Caucasu area); never fully established because the German military advance was halted in 1942/43. The person who was placed in charge of the Reichskommissariat Niederlande was Arthur Seyß-Inquart, who was a favorite of Hitler, as he was the one chosen to be the Chancellor of Austria following the Anschluß, and then was also tapped after the Polish invasion to be the Reichsstatthalter (“Governor”) of that nation, in a deputy capacity.

nazi germany

Five Brothers and a War

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