General-Gouvernement

   Following its occupation of Poland in September 1939, the Germans attached the western territory to the Reich and created an administrative unit in the unannexed part of the country. The area in central Poland called the GeneralGouvernement included the districts of Galicia, Krakow, Lublin, Radom, and Warsaw. Initially, the area was to be used to intern Jews until they were resettled in the Lublin district (Lublin Plan). Toward this objective, the Germans established ghettos in Polish cities in the General-Gouvernement as temporary areas of Jewish settlement. Once the decision was made to implement the Final Solution, the ghettos became centers for the deportation of Jews to the death camps. The General-Gouvernement was administered by its governor-general, Hans Frank.