page_title: General Government
section_title: Judicial system
hierarchical_section_title: General Government / Administration / Judicial system
caption_attribution_description: Polski: Fragment rozporządzenia Hansa Franka z 31 października 1939 „o zwalczaniu czynów gwałtu w Generalnym Gubernatorstwie”. Owo rozporządzenie wprowadzało karę śmierci m.in. za jakiekolwiek wystąpienia przeciw niemieckiej władzy lub osobom niemieckiej narodowości, a także za nielegalne posiadanie broni. English: Part of Hans Frank’s ordinance from 31st October 1939 on “counteracting the acts of violence in Generalgouvernement”. According to this ordinance a death penalty was introduced for, among other things, 1) any acts against the German government and people of German origins 2) unlawful possession of a weapon.
context_page_description: The General Government, also referred to as the General Governorate for the Occupied Polish Region, was a German zone of occupation established after the invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany, Slovakia and the Soviet Union in 1939 at the onset of World War II. The newly occupied Second Polish Republic was split into three zones: the General Government in its centre, Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany in the west, and Polish areas annexed by the Soviet Union in the east. The territory was expanded substantially in 1941, after the German Invasion of the Soviet Union, to include the new District of Galicia.
  The basis for the formation of the General Government was the "Annexation Decree on the Administration of the Occupied Polish Territories". Announced by Hitler on October 8, 1939, it claimed that the Polish government had totally collapsed. This rationale was utilized by the German Supreme Court to reassign the identity of all Polish nationals as stateless subjects, with the exception of the ethnic Germans of interwar Poland—who, disregarding international law, were named the only rightful citizens of the Third Reich.
context_section_description: Other than summary German military tribunals, no courts operated in Poland between the German invasion and early 1940. At that time, the Polish court system was reinstated and made decisions in cases not concerning German interests, for which a parallel German court-system was established. The German system was given priority in cases of overlapping jurisdiction.
  New laws were passed, discriminating against ethnic Poles and, in particular, the Jews. In 1941 a new criminal law was introduced, introducing many new crimes, and making the death penalty very common. The death penalty was introduced for, among other things:
  on October 31, 1939, for any acts against the German government
  on January 21, 1940, for economic speculation
  on February 20, 1940, for spreading sexually-transmitted diseases
  on July 31, 1940, for any Polish officers who did not register immediately with the German administration (to be taken to prisoner of war camps)
  on November 10, 1941, for giving any assistance to Jews
  on July 11, 1942, for farmers who failed to provide requested contingents of crops
  on July 24, 1943, for not joining the forced labor battalions (Baudienst) when requested
  on October 2, 1943, for impeding the German Reconstruction Plan
caption: Part of Hans Frank's ordinance from 31 October 1939 on "counteracting the acts of violence in the General Government"
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