Kniffka Philatelie

The General Government (German: Generalgouvernement) refers to a part of the territories of Poland under German military occupation (that were occupied in September 1939) during World War II by Nazi Germany and was an autonomous part of "Greater Germany". In August 1941, former Polish voivodeships of Eastern Galicia (with a minority of Ukrainian population), which since September 1939 had been occupied by the Soviet Union (see: Soviet invasion of Poland) were added to the General Government (as Galicia District) by decree of Adolf Hitler. According to section III of the Fourth Hague Convention (1907), accepted by Germany, all these acts were illegal from the beginning in the terms of international law (The Law of Nations), and civil law too. The area was not a puppet state and had no goal of collaborating with Poles throughout the war, regardless of their political orientation. Germans made a determined effort to avoid mentioning the word Poland in each and every document or administrative naming regarding the region, the only exception being the Germany-backed banknotes and coins (denominated 'zloty' and 'grosz') printed in 1940 where that word was used for propaganda purposes. The government and administration of General Government was composed entirely of Germans and the area was eventually to become a German province. The only locals remaining would be those of German descent.