Erich Koch: Difference between revisions

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= Reichskommissar for the Ukraine =

[[File:Erich Koch and Rosenberg.jpg|250px|thumb|<center>''Erich Koch (right) and <br>Alfred Rosenberg (center)''</center>]] On September 1st 1941, Koch became Reichskommissar for the [[Reichskommissariat Ukraine|Ukraine]] with control of the Gestapo and the uniformed police. As Reichskommissar he had full authority in his realm, which led to conflict with other elements of the Nazi bureaucracy. Alfred Rosenberg, Reich Minister for the Occupied Eastern Territories (Reichsministerium für die besetzten Ostgebiete), expressed his disapproval of Koch's autonomous actions to Hitler in 1941.

Koch's first act as Reichskommissar was to close local schools, declaring that ''"Ukrainian children need no schools. What they'll have to learn will be taught to them by their German masters."''

Koch's first act as Reichskommissar was to close local schools, declaring that;<blockquote>''"Ukrainian children need no schools. What they'll have to learn will be taught to them by their German masters."''</blockquote>

~~Koch~~ works with the General Plenipotentiary for Labour Deployment (Generalbevollmächtigter für den Arbeitseinsatz) in providing the Reich with forced labor. He is also involved in the persecution of Polish and Ukrainian Jews. He enforced the [[Hunger Plan|"Hunger Plan"]] against the "undesirables" of Ukraine. ~~Koch~~ remarked the Slavic population of the Reichskommissairat in a quote;<blockquote>''"We are a master race, which must remember that the lowliest German worker is racially and biologically a thousand times more valuable than the population here."'' </blockquote>

The Reichskommissar works with the General Plenipotentiary for Labour Deployment (Generalbevollmächtigter für den Arbeitseinsatz) in providing the Reich with forced labor. He was also involved in the persecution of Polish and Ukrainian Jews. Koch enforced the [[Hunger Plan|"Hunger Plan"]] against the "undesirables" of Ukraine. He remarked the Slavic population of the Reichskommissairat in a quote;<blockquote>''"We are a master race, which must remember that the lowliest German worker is racially and biologically a thousand times more valuable than the population here."'' </blockquote>

Koch's rule was and still is characterized characterized by disturbing brutality, which gave rise to numerous and persistent resistance movements. These include the [[Ukrainian Workers' and Peasants' Red Army]], [[Ukrainian Insurgent Army]] and the [[Ukrainian National Revolutionary Army]]. All of which plague his fiefdom in a determined fight for the freedom of Ukraine. After the [[West Russian War]] (1955-1957) these movements gained substantially more traction, fighting fiercely against the Nazi occupiers, causing Koch enough headaches to lose faith in the prospects of the Reichskommissariat. Koch now only does the bare minimum required of him and dreams of being rid of his position as Reischkommissar.