Reichskommissariat Ukraine

Reich Commissariat of Ukraine Reichskommissariat Ukraine
Flag of the Reichkommissariat Ukraine
Flag of the Germanic Reich TAG = UKR
Politics
Capital	Kiew
Ruling Party	Arbeitsbereich Osten der Nationalsozialistischen Deutschen Arbeiterpartei (Tr: Working Area East of the National Socialist German Workers' Party)
Head of State	Reichskommissar Erich Koch
Head of Government	Deputy Reichskommissar Georg Leibbrandt
Diplomacy
Sphere	Grossraum Kontinentaleuropa
Foreign Alignment	Autonomous Reichskommissariat, Einheitspakt
Economy
GDP	$10.41B
Credit Rating	Fair
Market Type	Gelenkte Wirtschaft

Reichskommissariat Ukraine (RKU; Ukrainian: Райхскомісаріат Україна, romanized: Raykhskomisariat Ukrayina, Russian: Рейхскомиссариат Украина, romanized: Reykhskomissariat Ukraina, literally 'Realm Commissariat of Ukraine') is a colony of the Greater Germanic Reich established in 1941.

Situated in Eastern Europe, on the lands formerly belonging to the Ukrainian SSR. It is characterized by the systematic oppression perpetrated against the native Slavic population, overseen by Reichskommissar Erich Koch, the man at the helm of this state-sized torture chamber.

The colony is usually referred to as the "Breadbasket of the Reich", as it serves little other purpose than to provide the Einheitspakt with the fruits of its rich fields, leaving only the leftovers for the natives who toil upon them.

Ukraine is a pivotal part of the Lebensraum program, a plan outlining Eastern Europe as a settlement frontier for the Aryan race. Its characterized by the destruction and erasure of all traces of the Ukrainian culture, with almost every major city in the land being Germanized both in name and architecture. German colonists have strongly established themselves in major urban areas and even certain rural regions.

German crimes against the Slavs of Eastern Europe don't stop at just second-class treatment and forceful assimilation, but also genocidal policies, with the most diabolical being the "Hunger Plan", an artificial famine which starved around 40 million Eastern European "undesirables".

However unlike other peoples that are deemed as undesirable, such as Jews, the Slavic population isn't the priority on the Nazi regime's chopping block. As the Germans see it, the Slavic inhabitants of this land are not long for it, as Ukraine is destined to one day be inhabited purely by Aryans, but in the meantime purely for pragmatic reasons, they're allowed to live as slaves to the Reich, although "live" might be considered an overstatement.

In-Game Description

Ostland may strut itself as the "Crown Jewel", Moskowien as the problem child and Poland as the Reich's laboratory, but it is Ukraine that keeps Germany alive. Without its vital source of wheat and grain to the hundred million souls inside the Empire, all of the blood spilled during the Second World War we be for naught.

Crimea, occupying the vital position as the protector of the Black sea, has been formally incorporated into the Reich, with the rest of the region under an occupation government, simply known as "Reichskommissariat Ukraine". Ruled under an iron fist by Reichskommissar, Erich Koch, anyone even suspected of hiding sympathies with the kaleidoscope of partisan movements that haunt the Germans is dealt with, in the only way Koch knows how. A bullet. Yet, in the darkness, something lurks. In the heart of every Ukrainian and every German, the wind has shifted.

Hell will descend over the wheatfields of Ukraine. Whoever survives, wins.

History

Before the German invasion, Ukraine was a constituent republic of the Soviet Union, inhabited by Ukrainians, Russians, Jewish, Belarusian, Romanian, Polish and Roma/Gypsy minorities. It was a key subject of Nazi planning for the post-war expansion of the German state. The Nazi extermination policy in Ukraine, with the help of local Ukrainian collaborators, ended the lives of millions of people in The Holocaust and other mass killings.

In the mind of Adolf Hitler and other German expansionists, the destruction of the USSR, dubbed a "Judeo-Bolshevist" state, was necessary in order to remove a threat from Germany's eastern borders and allow for the colonization of the vast territories of Eastern Europe under the banner of "Lebensraum" (living space) for the fulfilment of the material needs of the Germanic people. Ideological declarations about the German Herrenvolk (master race) having a right to expand their territory especially in the East were and still are widely spread among the German public.

Establishment & Rosenberg's Power Struggle

Hitler decreed the creation of the Nazi Party organization Arbeitsbereich Osten der NSDAP for the new eastern occupied territories in 1942. This move had been bitterly resisted by both Rosenberg, who rightly feared that the transformation of the administration of the eastern territories from a state to a party bureaucracy would spell the effective end of the authority of his ministry (which was a state organ), and Heinrich Himmler, who rightly feared that an arbeitsbereich's establishment would be accompanied by the commissars becoming RVKs (commissars for war) and thus enormously empowered at the expense of the SS, which had already been steadily losing ground since late September the previous year, when the commissariat government began establishing itself with local commissars asserting control over the police in their territories, hitherto controlled by the SS.

Himmler and Rosenberg's rearguard resistance soon collapsed in the face of pressure from Martin Bormann in Berlin, and Koch and Lohse in the field. Rosenberg at least managed to be appointed Reichsleiter ("Reich leader") of the new arbeitsbereich. Rosenberg later attempted to take such political power into the political section of the ministry to keep all party issues in his control, and prohibited the creation of organizations and any political activity in the East without his express authorization. Needless to say, he was entirely disobeyed.

Hoping that by joining forces they might regain some influence, Himmler and Rosenberg decided upon the appointment of Gottlob Berger, Himmler's political hatchet man and the SS's head of personnel, as Rosenberg's deputy, a move which in theory would give Rosenberg control over SS forces in the occupied Soviet territories under civil administration in return for his support for the SS in its power struggles.

The partnership between Rosenberg and Himmler achieved nothing other than the exasperation of each other beyond endurance and Berger soon withdrew all cooperation. Koch and Lohse thereafter gradually reduced communication with Rosenberg, liaising with Hitler through Bormann and the party chancellery. Both also made a point of establishing strong SA organisations in their jurisdiction as a counterbalance to the SS. Given that many of the commissariat officials were active or reserve SA officers, the pre-existing grudge against the SS was resurrected by these measures and a poisoning of relations was guaranteed. As a last resort, the Höherer SS- und Polizeiführer (HSSPF) in Ukraine, Hans-Adolf Prutzmann, attempted to approach Koch directly only to be contemptuously abused and dismissed.

Post War

In the civil administration of the Reich Ministry for the Occupied Eastern Territories numerous technical staff worked under Georg Leibbrandt, former chief of the east section of the foreign political office in the Nazi Party, now chief of the political section in the Ministry for the Occupied Eastern Territories. Leibbrandt's deputy, Otto Bräutigam, had previously worked as a consul with experience in the Soviet Union. Economic affairs remained under the direct management of Hermann Göring (the Plenipotentiary of Germany's Four Year Plan).

From 1942 Fritz Sauckel had the role of "General Plenipotentiary for Labour Deployment" (Generalbevollmächtigter für den Arbeitseinsatz), charged with recruiting manpower for Germany throughout Europe, though in Ukraine Koch insisted that Sauckel confine himself to setting requirements, leaving the actual "recruitment" of Ost-Arbeiter to Koch and his brutes.

The regime encouraged the settlement of German and other "Germanic" farmers in the region after the war, along with the empowerment of some ethnic Germans in the territory. Ukraine was the furthest eastern settlement of the migrating ancient Goths between the 2nd and 4th centuries and subsequently, according to Hitler, "Only German should be spoken here".

The sending of Dutch settlers was charged to the "Nederlandsche Oost-Compagnie", a Dutch-German Company dedicated to encourage the colonization of the east by Dutch citizens.

Resistance Movements

While any resistance is suppressed by Koch's police, that doesn’t mean none exist. One of the biggest resistance movements that exist underground is Shumskyi’s Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic (U-SSR for short), but many Ukrainians criticise him for attempting to replace one tyrant with another.

Another notable group is the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, which has been fighting for Ukrainian independence for the longest time, though that doesn’t make them the faintest of heart as they have committed many acts of violence and murder against Poles, Germans, Russians and others who don’t support their cause. While they aren’t the best and many compare them to the Germans, a lot of Ukrainians see them as somewhat better than the Communists.

The final group of resistance in Ukraine happens to be None-other-than the Polissian Sich. The Polissian Sich used to be a sub-organization in the UIA, but after Taras-Bulba Borovets has committed a genocide against the local Jews in Olevsk, he felt that he and the UIA had betrayed the idea of Ukrainian Independence by killing innocent people, because of this he felt it was his duty to fight for a cause better than the UIA, and so, the Polissian Sich was created. Yuriy Horlis, a man who had previously fought for Ukrainian independence under the Kholodnyy Yar, had discovered discovered the Polissian Sich and had joined it and gained leadership turning it into a Resistance organization fighting for Democracy. While all these resistance movements see each other as sworn enemies, the Polissian Sich (due to their political diversity) sees Communists and the UIA as not too different from themselves, but the same sentiment is not shared by the UIA (who believe they are nothing more than Polish Puppets) and the Communists (who are opposed to the idea of Democracy in any manner), regardless, they all have the same goal of remove the Nazi Puppet regime that drags its dirty boots over Ukraine.

Economy

"Ukraine and the Eastern lands would produce 7 million, or more likely 10 or 12 million tonnes of grain to provide Germany's food needs." -Adolf Hitler

Ukraine's economy is hopelessly dependent on agriculture. Little industry that existed prior to Operation Barbarossa, and by some miracle managed to survive the war, was torn down by the new regime, as it had no interest in industrializing their new colony. For the Germans, the purpose of Ukraine is simple, yet incredibly important; to feed the Einheitspakt. It has no other use, other than of course to be a settlement frontier for the Aryan race. Despite it being Ukraine's single most productive sector, the Ukrainian locals are always the last on the priority list of mouths to feed, while the Reich's needs take precedence.

That being said however, mechanization and general "modernization" of farms did and continues to take place. Initial agricultural reform was overseen by Alfred Rosenberg, who implemented an "Agrarian New Order" in Ukraine, ordering the confiscation of Soviet state properties in the name of the German state. Additionally the replacement of Russian Kolkhozes and Sovkhozes, by their own "Gemeindwirtschaften" (German Communal Farms), the installation of state enterprise "Landbewirstschaftungsgessellschaft Ukraine M.b.H." for managing the new German state farms and cooperatives.

The Germans founded numerous "Kombines" (Great German exploitation Monopolies) with government or private capital in the territory in order to exploit local resources.

Parties and Factions

Name	Ideologies	Leader
Working Area East of the National Socialist German Workers' Party	National Socialism Rosenbergite Tendency Reformed National Socialism	Erich Koch
Ukrainian National Council	Naturalised National Socialism	Peter Kozhevnikov
Ukrainian National Army - Shandrukite	Military Junta	Pavlo Shandruk
Ukrainian National Committee - Melnykite	Fascism	Andriy Melnyk

A thing of note is that the AOdNSDAP is that they are split between 3 factions: The Conservatives (Kochs Group), the Reformists (Bräutigams Group) and the Hardliners (Ohlendorfs group).

In-Game Paths

There are 13 posssible paths for the country.

• Georg Leibbrandt's Rosenbergite academics and collaborators taking over when the Ukrainian Civil War erupts and the disappearance of Erich Koch.
• If Leibbrandt gives nominal independence to the nation, it will be known as the Ukrainian National Republic and can be led by the Ukrainian-Nazi collaborator, Peter (formally Petro) Kozhevnikov, ensuring the nation follows a future of Naturalised National Socialism.
• Should Hans-Otto Bräutigam and his liberal clique get their way, Ukraine will follow a future of Reformed National Socialism.
• But should the hardliner Nazi, Otto Ohlendorf and his allies and the SS get their way, Ukraine will be unrecognizable.
• Should the Dutch-Nazi collaborator and leader of the Dutch East Company, Pieter Schelte Heerma take over; Ukraine will be known as the People's Directorate of Ukraine and follow a future of Technocratic Nazism.
• Should Oleksandr Shumskyi's Ukrainian SSR win, the country will follow a future of National Communism.
• Should the UNRA win the Civil War under Provisional Governor, Yuriy Horlis; democratic elections will be held between three candidates as the next president of the Republic of Ukraine: Vasyl Stus (of the United Struggle), Ivan Dziuba (of the Culturalists) and Oleksander Ohloblyn (of the Co-Authors). Ohloblyn is notably the only Ukrainian partisan leader who can negotiate with Germany to avoid war in exchange for Ukraine's re-entry into the Einheitspakt as a satellite state of the Reich.
• Should the OUN (Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists) win, there is a power struggle even before and during the Civil War between the Ultramilitarist Dmytro Klyachivsky, Revolutionary Nationalist Roman Shukhevych, and Naturalized National Socialist Yaroslav Stetsko. Should anyone of them win the struggle kills the other two, becomes the Vozhd, and leads the Ukrainian State. Klyachkivsky could get assassinated if either Shukhevych or Stetsko wield more influence than him, the temporary Ultramilitarist and head of government, Stepan Levkavskyi could rule until either only Shukhevych or Stetsko finally wins, organizes a fraternal coup, and kills the other.
• Should any Civil War combatant beside the RK win, they will all get inevitably re-invaded by Germany besides Ohlobyn's Ukrainian Republic, who can negotiate with the Reich, but even success in that isn‘t for sure.