page_title: Territorial evolution of Poland
section_title: World War II
hierarchical_section_title: Territorial evolution of Poland / Second Polish Republic and occupation 1918 to 1945 / 1939 / World War II
caption_attribution_description: English: Line of demarcation between German and Soviet military forces after their joint invasion of Poland in September 1939 Polski: Linia spotkania wojsk radzieckich i niemieckich podczas inwazji na Polskę we wrześniu 1939
context_page_description: Poland is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north. The total area of Poland is 312,679 square kilometres, making it the 69th largest country in the world and the ninth largest in Europe.
  From a nucleus between the Odra and Vistula rivers on the North-Central European Plain, Poland has at its largest extent expanded as far as the Baltic, the Dnieper, the Black Sea and the Carpathians, while in periods of weakness it has shrunk drastically or even ceased to exist.
context_section_description: In 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union invaded Poland and partitioned it pursuant to the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact.
  After the invasion, Germany annexed the lands it lost to reformed Poland in 1919–1922 by the Treaty of Versailles: the Polish Corridor, West Prussia, the Province of Posen, and parts of eastern Upper Silesia. The council of the Free City of Danzig voted to become a part of Germany again, although Poles and Jews were deprived of their voting rights and all non-Nazi political parties were banned. Parts of Poland that had not been part of Wilhelmine Germany were also incorporated into the Reich.
  Two decrees by Adolf Hitler (October 8 and October 12, 1939) provided for the division of the annexed areas of Poland into the following administrative units:
  Reichsgau Wartheland (initially Reichsgau Posen), which included the entire Poznań Voivodeship, most of the Łódź Voivodeship, five counties of the Pomeranian Voivodeship, and one county of the Warszawa Voivodeship;
  Reichsgau Danzig-West Prussia (initially Reichsgau West Prussia), which consisted of the remaining area of the Pomeranian Voivodeship and the Free City of Danzig;
  Ciechanów District (Regierungsbezirk Zichenau), consisting of the five northern counties of Warszawa Voivodeship (Płock, Płońsk, Sierpc, Ciechanów, and Mława), which became a part of East Prussia;
  Katowice District (Regierungsbezirk Kattowitz), or unofficially East Upper Silesia (Ost-Oberschlesien), which included Sosnowiec, Będzin, Chrzanów, and Zawiercie Counties, and parts of Olkusz and Żywiec Counties.
  These territories had an area of 94,000 square kilometres (36,000 sq mi) and a population of 10,000,000 people. The remaining Polish territory was annexed by the Soviet Union or made into the German-controlled General Government occupation zone. Eastern areas of Poland became part of either Soviet Belarus (including Białystok, Łomża, Baranowicze and Brest) or Soviet Ukraine (including Lwów, Tarnopol, Lutsk, Rowne and Stanisławów). The city of Vilnius (Polish: Wilno) with its adjacent area was annexed and returned to Lithuania.
  After the German attack on the Soviet Union in June 1941, the district of Białystok, which included the Białystok, Bielsk Podlaski, Grajewo, Łomża, Sokółka, Volkovysk, and Grodno Counties, was "attached to" (not incorporated into) East Prussia. The former Lwow, Stanislawow and Tarnopol Voivodeships were annexed to the General Government, forming its fifth district, Distrikt Galizien.
caption: USSR and Nazi Germany carve up Poland
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