Generalgouvernement

An administrative region of Nazi-occupied Poland established in October 1939 following the German invasion. Per the non-agression pact of August 1939, Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union agreed to partition Poland between their two countries.

Territories in western Poland under Nazi occupation were annexed to the Third Reich, while the "General Government for the Occupied Polish Region"--with the cities of Warsaw, Lublin and Krakow--was placed under Nazi civilian administration led by governor Hans Frank. After the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941, the Generalgouvernement was expanded to include the region around Lvov.

The Generalgouvernement was a collection point for populations deported from other areas of the Third Reich, who were condemned to slave labor or mass extermination.