Land management company Ostland

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The Landbewirtschaftungsgesellschaft Ostland mbH (LBGO or LO) was a German limited liability company, which during the Second World War had the task of exploiting the agriculture in the areas occupied by the German Wehrmacht in the Reichskommissariat Ostland and its income on the one hand to the Wehrmacht, on the other to make available to the German population in the Reich. It was subordinate to the German " Reich Ministry for the Occupied Eastern Territories " (RMfdbO) and had its headquarters in Riga, Latvia .

The LBGO, established on December 10, 1941, should not be confused with the " Ostdeutsche Landbewirtschaftungsgesellschaft " ("Ostland") established on February 28, 1940 , which assumed a similar function in occupied Poland and later in northeast France and when the Reichskommissariates Ostland was renamed in July 1941 in "Reichsgesellschaft für Landbewirtschaftung mbH (Reichsland)".

Legal basis and establishment of the LBGO

Just three months after the German attack on the Soviet Union from June 22, 1941 ordered the Commissioner for the Four Year Plan , Reich Marshal Hermann Goering , with his decrees on 12 and 17 September 1941, the establishment of a land management company in the the July 25, 1941 founded Reichskommissariat Ostland (RKO).

By order of the Reichskommissar of August 19, 1941 on the "securing" of the assets of the USSR, the entire movable and immovable property of the USSR, its member states, public corporations, associations and associations, including all claims, interests, rights and interests, located in the Reichskommissarariat Ostland of all kinds confiscated in favor of the German Reich as of June 20, 1941.

The LBGO was established by a partnership agreement of December 10, 1941 and shortly thereafter, by order of the Reichskommsar Ostland, Hinrich Lohse , instructed in its activities on January 16, 1942.

Landbewirtschaftungsgesellschaft Ostland mbH was entered in the commercial register at the German Court in Riga, Section B, No. 12 on May 28, 1942.

Structure and organization of the LBGO

The land management company was not a commercial company, but a quasi-state body, which the Reichskommissar Ostland used to carry out his tasks. Section 3 of the order on the briefing of the Landbewirtschaftungsgesellschaft Ostland mbH of January 16, 1942 made it clear: "The Landbewirtschaftungsgesellschaft Ostland mbH is solely and exclusively responsible to the Reich Commissioner for the Ostland".

Paragraph 3 of the instruction on the instruction of the Landbewirtschaftungsgesellschaft Ostland mbH of January 16, 1942 stipulates in its paragraph 1: "To cover its costs, the Landbewirtschaftungsgesellschaft Ostland mbH can collect an appropriate contribution to administrative costs from the companies involved, the amount of which is determined by the Reich Commissioner for the Ostland "In paragraph 2 of the same paragraph it says:" The Landbewirtschaftungsgesellschaft Ostland mbH carries out its activities for its own account and is obliged to submit annual accounts to the Reich Commissioner for the East. "

The company's headquarters were in Riga (Latvia) in Wolter-von-Plettenberg-Ring 71/73; a branch in Riga at Karl-Ernst-von-Baer-Strasse 13 was opened in September 1943. In Reval (Estonia), Kauen (Lithuania), Minsk (Belarus) and Pleskau (Russia) there were further branches of the Land Management Gesellschaft Ostland. The managing directors of the main office in Riga were the qualified farmer Georg Krafft and the lawyer Dr. Paul Becker. The lawyer Dr. Paul Becker and the farmer Wilhelm Kotthaus were managing directors of the branches in Riga and Reval; The authorized signatory of both offices was Helmut Bach, a business graduate in Riga.

In accordance with Section 4 of the briefing order, the branch managers were also speakers for public land management at the Food and Agriculture Department of the responsible general district in the Reichskommissariat Ostland.

The branches generally had four departments, namely:

  1. an agricultural and business administration department
  2. a machine department
  3. a commercial department
  4. and an administrative department.

The agricultural and business administration department dealt with all questions that were directly related to operational and economic management. The machine department monitors the use of the machine-tractor station as well as the use of the machines on the self-managed farms. The commercial and administrative departments deal with money and finance as well as internal administration issues.

Within the individual branches, a regional commissioner has been set up for the area.

Function and tasks of the LBGO

The Landbewirtschaftungsgesellschaft Ostland administered, cultivated and exploited the agricultural and horticultural properties and businesses in "Ostland", i.e. all former Soviet state estates ( sovkhozes ), agricultural cooperatives ( kolkhozes ) and all other agricultural operations and properties in the German-occupied areas in Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Belarus. This also included fruit and wine growing operations, fur farms, fishing operations including the technical ancillary operations, machine and tractor stations (MTS) and the associated master workshops.

On the one hand it was supposed to deliver agricultural products to the German armed forces, on the other hand to the population of the German Empire. In doing so, it should, if possible, increase the income of the businesses it manages.

Formally a fiduciary management, the LBGO actually had almost full ownership rights over the operations it managed.

The LO was subordinate to a total of around 13,800 farms, the owners of which had been driven out or murdered partly by Soviet and partly by German troops. Under the direct self-administration of the LO were more than 1800 farms in the "Ostland", with a total of around 500,000 hectares, of which around 250,000 hectares were arable and fields, 136,000 hectares were pasture land; the rest of the land owned by the LO consisted of gardens, fish ponds, forests, etc. The majority of the holdings directly managed by the LO were between 100 and 500 hectares in size, but some holdings were also significantly larger. Well over 12,000 farms with a total area of ​​300,000 hectares were leased, mainly to smaller private businesses, which were also placed under the supervision of the LBGO.

In addition to the agricultural ones, the LO also manages various technical operations such as dairies, distilleries, mills, breweries, brickworks, sawmills, etc. In Lithuania, the LO monitored 94,000 hectares of fish waters, of which 1,200 hectares were fish ponds. At the end of 1942, the Minsk branch of the Ostland Land Management Company founded the North Braslaw Fisheries Department in Wilejka (Belarus), which was responsible for the exploitation of the 30,000 hectare lake area and the important river fisheries in the Braslaw area.

One of the agricultural pattern Operate the LBGO was the Good Kauzminde / Kauzmünde in Latvian Semgallen .

In Estonia, the LBGO managed around 140 farms. As can be seen from an annual report of the Landbewirtschaftungsgesellschaft Ostland, Reval branch, around 43,000 hectares of land were cultivated by the above-mentioned office in the Estonia General District, comprising 17,000 hectares of arable land, 15,000 hectares of grassland and 11,000 hectares of other areas.

Dutch in the "Ostland"

The Nederlandsche Oost Compagnie (NOC) operated its own training center for Dutch colonists in the so-called "Ostland" in Rogachev, Belarus . The director of this NOC agricultural school was the Dutch farmer Arnout de Waard.

The NOC managed the Waka T estate, around 30 kilometers south of Vilnius (Lithuania). There the NOC also ran an agricultural school. About 25 kilometers east of Waka T, in Lentvaris , not far from Trakai , the NOC received a second estate from the LBGO for lease. In the bog of Biala Waka (Baltoji Voke / Weißwacke) the Dutch mined the NOC peat. In the vicinity of the Latvian town of Lemburg , the NOC ran another agricultural and horticultural school as well as growing vegetables.

At the height of its activity, the NOC - including the organizations of the “Werkdienst Holland”, which it took over in 1942/43, and the Dutch “SS front workers” - were subordinate to at least 7,000 Dutch workers. Most of them, however, were not employed in the Reichskommissariat Ostland, but in the Reichskommissariat Ukraine , many of them with the Landbewirtschaftungsgesellschaft Ukraine (LBGU). After the German Wehrmacht and the German authorities began to withdraw from the Ukraine before the Soviet Army in autumn 1943, the NOC's focus of activity initially shifted to the Baltic states and thus to the Reich Commissariat Ostland. However, when these areas were also recaptured by the Red Army in the course of 1944, the Reich Ministry for the Occupied Eastern Territories (RMfdbO) terminated all Dutch in the Ostland land management company at the end of the month in August 1944 . In the weeks that followed, the NOC and the German authorities engaged in fierce bureaucratic disputes about where the Dutch farmers, gardeners, workers and specialists were to be deployed, whether in East Prussia , in the Warthegau , in Pomerania or in the Kurmark ( Oderbruch ), or further inside Germany. At the beginning of October 1944, the Red Army surrounded the German troops ( Army Group North ) in the Baltic States ; Several dozen Dutch farmers and other NOC forces remained in the " Kurland-Kessel ", whose further fate is unknown.

completion

The Ostland land management company was to be wound up by the end of 1944.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Geraldien von Frijtag Drabbe Künzel, "Hitler's Brudervolk: The Dutch and the Colonization of Occupied Eastern Europe, 1939–1945", Routledge, 2015, p. 61
  2. ↑ Federal Archives, inventory signature: R 82, "Reichsgesellschaft für Landbewirtschaftung mbH", https://portal.ehri-project.eu/virtual/de-002429-bestandeubersicht/de-002429-r_82
  3. ↑ Order of the Reichsmarschall regarding the establishment of land management companies in the RKU and RKO from September 12th and 17th, 1941 as well as corresponding articles of association, BA-MA, RW 31/144 ("Economic Staff East with subordinate area")
  4. ^ "Public land management - The land management company in the general district of Estonia", in: Revaler Zeitung, October 17, 1943, p. 5
  5. ^ "Decree on the Landbewirtschaftungsgesellschaft Ostland mbH. from August 10, 1943 ”, in: Official Gazette of the Reich Commissioner for the East, No. 1, August 25, 1943, https://periodika.lndb.lv/periodika2-viewer/view/index-dev.html?lang= fr # panel: pa% 7Cissue: / p_003_aaro1943s01n01% 7Carticle: DIVL107% 7CissueType: P
  6. ^ Reichskommissar für das Ostland Lohse, "Official Announcements: Order on the instruction of the Landbewirtschaftungsgesellschaft Ostland mbH from January 16, 1942", in: Deutsche Zeitung im Ostland, January 30, 1942, p. 8 .
  7. ^ Deutsche Zeitung im Ostland, June 23, 1942, p. 11, https://dea.digar.ee/page/deutschezeitungimostland/1942/06/23/11
  8. ^ "Public land management - The land management company in the general district of Estonia", in: Revaler Zeitung, October 17, 1943, p. 5
  9. ^ "Official announcements - order on the instruction of the Landbewirtschaftungsgesellschaft Ostland mbH from January 16, 1942", § 3, in: Deutsche Zeitung im Ostland, January 30, 1942, p. 8
  10. ↑ Official notices - order on the briefing of the Landbewirtschaftungsgesellschaft Ostland mbH of January 16, 1942, in: Deutsche Zeitung im Ostland, January 30, 1942, p. 8
  11. ^ "German court Reval, new entry on October 4, 1943, commercial register B No. 17 Landbewirtschaftungsgesellschaft Ostland with limited liability, branch Reval", in: Revaler Zeitung, November 12, 1943, p. 5
  12. ^ Commercial register, German court in Riga, HR B 91, Deutsche Zeitung im Ostland, September 26, 1943, p. 10, https://dea.digar.ee/page/deutschezeitungimostland/1943/09/26/10
  13. ↑ Revaler Zeitung, February 14, 1942, p. 6, https://dea.digar.ee/cgi-bin/dea?a=d&d=revalerzeitung19420214.1.6 . Sa: "Order on the briefing of the Landbewirtschaftungsgesellschaft Ostland mbH from January 16, 1942", § 4: "The Landbewirtschaftungsgesellschaft Ostland mbH establishes a branch in each general district, the head of which is also to be the consultant for public land management at the responsible general commissioner. “, In: Deutsche Zeitung im Ostland, January 30, 1942, p. 8, https://dea.digar.ee/page/deutschezeitungimostland/1942/01/30/8
  14. ^ Deutsche Zeitung im Ostland, June 23, 1942, p. 11, https://dea.digar.ee/page/deutschezeitungimostland/1942/06/23/11
  15. ^ Deutsche Zeitung im Ostland, September 26, 1943, p. 10, https://dea.digar.ee/page/deutschezeitungimostland/1943/09/26/10
  16. ↑ Revaler Zeitung, November 12, 1943, p. 5, https://dea.digar.ee/page/revalerzeitung/1943/11/12/5
  17. ^ Deutsche Zeitung im Ostland, September 26, 1943, p. 10, https://dea.digar.ee/page/deutschezeitungimostland/1943/09/26/10 and Revaler Zeitung, November 12, 1943, p. 5, https : //dea.digar.ee/page/revalerzeitung/1943/11/12/5
  18. ↑ "Tasks of Landbewirtschaftung im Ostland", in: Deutsche Zeitung im Ostland No. 88, March 29, 1942, https://periodika.lndb.lv/periodika2-viewer/view/index-dev.html?lang=fr# panel: pa% 7Cissue: / p_003_dzos1942s01n88% 7Carticle: DIVL369% 7CissueType: P
  19. ↑ "Tasks of Landbewirtschaftung im Ostland", in: Deutsche Zeitung im Ostland No. 88, March 29, 1942, https://periodika.lndb.lv/periodika2-viewer/view/index-dev.html?lang=fr# panel: pa% 7Cissue: / p_003_dzos1942s01n88% 7Carticle: DIVL369% 7CissueType: P
  20. ↑ "Tasks of Landbewirtschaftung im Ostland", in: Deutsche Zeitung im Ostland No. 88, March 29, 1942, https://periodika.lndb.lv/periodika2-viewer/view/index-dev.html?lang=fr# panel: pa% 7Cissue: / p_003_dzos1942s01n88% 7Carticle: DIVL369% 7CissueType: P
  21. ^ "Public land management - The land management company in the general district of Estonia", in: Revaler Zeitung, October 17, 1943, p. 5
  22. ^ The Reichskommissar für das Ostland Hinrich Lohse, "Official Announcements - Order on the instruction of the Landbewirtschaftungsgesellschaft Ostland mbH from January 16, 1942", there: § 2 Paragraph 2, in: Deutsche Zeitung im Ostland, January 30, 1942, p. 8th
  23. ^ "Agricultural special assets in the occupied east", in: Revaler Zeitung, March 30, 1943, p. 7
  24. ↑ Geraldien von Frijtag Drabbe Künze, "Hitler's Brudervolk: The Dutch and the Colonization of Occupied Eastern Europe, 1939–1945", Routledge, 2015, p. 61
  25. ^ "Landbewirtschaftungsgesellschaft Ostland", in: Revaler Zeitung, February 14, 1942, p. 6 : "The land management company can assert all rights of the owner, in particular also order that all measures be taken in the interest of increasing the performance of the company and its proper management are necessary ". See also § 2, Paragraph 3 of the instruction on the instruction of the Landbewirtschaftungsgesellschaft Ostland mbH of January 16, 1942: “To carry out its tasks, the Landbewirtschaftungsgesellschaft Ostland m b. H. assert all rights of an owner and in particular order that the owner (tenant, usufructuary, etc.) of an agricultural operation or property must take or tolerate all measures that are in the interest of increasing the performance of the operation, its proper management or economic Concerns of the Reichskommissariat Ostland appear necessary. "; see: "Official announcements - order on the briefing of the Landbewirtschaftungsgesellschaft Ostland mbH from January 16, 1942", in: Deutsche Zeitung im Ostland, January 30, 1942, p. 8
  26. ↑ "Landbewirtschaftungsgesellschaft Ostland", in: Algemeen Handelsblad, September 7th 1943, p. 3, https://www.delpher.nl/nl/kranten/view?cql%5B%5D=%28date+_gte_+%2201- 01-1940% 22% 29 & cql% 5B% 5D =% 28date + _lte _ +% 2208-05-1945% 22% 29 & coll = ddd & redirect = true & page = 2 & identifier = KBNRC01% 3A000042916% 3Ampeg21% 3Aa0047 & resultsidentifier = KBNRC01% 3A00mpeg
  27. ↑ "Landbewirtschaftungsgesellschaft Ostland", in: Algemeen Handelsblad, September 7th 1943, p. 3, https://www.delpher.nl/nl/kranten/view?cql%5B%5D=%28date+_gte_+%2201- 01-1940% 22% 29 & cql% 5B% 5D =% 28date + _lte _ +% 2208-05-1945% 22% 29 & coll = ddd & redirect = true & page = 2 & identifier = KBNRC01% 3A000042916% 3Ampeg21% 3Aa0047 & resultsidentifier = KBNRC01% 3A00mpeg
  28. ^ "Promotion of fish farming", in: Revaler Zeitung, December 17, 1942, p. 6, https://dea.digar.ee/page/revalerzeitung/1942/12/17/6
  29. ↑ "Landbewirtschaftungsgesellschaft Ostland", in: Algemeen Handelsblad, September 7th 1943, p. 3, https://www.delpher.nl/nl/kranten/view?cql%5B%5D=%28date+_gte_+%2201- 01-1940% 22% 29 & cql% 5B% 5D =% 28date + _lte _ +% 2208-05-1945% 22% 29 & coll = ddd & redirect = true & page = 2 & identifier = KBNRC01% 3A000042916% 3Ampeg21% 3Aa0047 & resultsidentifier = KBNRC01% 3A00mpeg
  30. ↑ “Public Land Management - The Land Management Company in the General District of Estonia”, in: Revaler Zeitung, October 17, 1943, p. 5 : “Currently approx. 140 companies. ". “Agricultural Business Organization in Estonia”, in: Deutsche Zeitung im Ostland, 23 August 1942, p. 7 : “The Agricultural Ledger Office Ostland, Estonia branch, has started operations with 182 farms. 136 of these farms are managed by the land management company Ostland. "
  31. ↑ “Public Land Management in Estonia”, in: Deutsche Zeitung im Ostland, No. 270, October 2nd, 1943, https://periodika.lndb.lv/periodika2-viewer/view/index-dev.html?lang=fr# panel: pa% 7Cissue: / p_003_dzos1943s01n270% 7Carticle: DIVL444
  32. ↑ “Nederlandsche boeren als bedrijfsleider - De taak in de Oekraïne”, in: Provinciale Geldersche courant: Nijmeegsche courant, March 22, 1943, https://www.delpher.nl/nl/kranten/view?cql%5B%5D= % 28date + _gte _ +% 2201-01-1940% 22% 29 & cql% 5B% 5D =% 28date + _lte _ +% 2208-05-1945% 22% 29 & query = Landbewirtschaftungsgesellschaft & coll = ddd & redirect = true & page = 4 & identifier = ddd% 3A010522168% 3Ampeg21% 3Aa0029 & resultsidentifier = ddd% 3A010522168% 3Ampeg21% 3Aa0029 . Sa: van Eek, "Steunpunten in Europäische Strijd - Op school bij de Nederlandsche boeren in Oekrajine", in: Source: De Waag: algemeen cultureel, politiek en economisch weekblad voor Nederland, March 5, 1943, 7th year, no , https://www.delpher.nl/nl/kranten/view?cql%5B%5D=%28date+_gte_+%2201-01-1940%22%29&cql%5B%5D=%28date+_lte_+%2208 -05-1945% 22% 29 & query = Landbewirtschaftungsgesellschaft & coll = ddd & redirect = true & page = 5 & identifier = ddd% 3A010310923% 3Ampeg21% 3Aa0026 & resultsidentifier = ddd% 3A010310923% 3Ampeg21% 3Aa0026
  33. ↑ Victor Flietstra, “Arnout de Waard: Bezetter of Boer?”, P. 3, https://dspace.library.uu.nl/bitstream/handle/1874/252224/Biografisch_Project_Arnout_de_Waard.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y ; see also: van Eek, "Steunpunten in Europäische Strijd - Op school bij de Nederlandsche boeren in Oekrajine", in: De Waag - algemeen cultureel, politiek en economisch weekblad voor Nederland, March 5, 1943, 7th year, no. 9, P. 136/137, https://resolver.kb.nl/resolve?urn=ddd:010310923:mpeg21:pdf
  34. ↑ Geraldien von Frijtag Drabbe Künzel, "Hitler's Brudervolk: The Dutch and the Colonization of Occupied Eastern Europe, 1939–1945", Routledge, 2015, p. 87
  35. ↑ Geraldien von Frijtag Drabbe Künzel, "Hitler's Brudervolk: The Dutch and the Colonization of Occupied Eastern Europe, 1939-1945", Routledge, 2015, p. 88
  36. ↑ Dietrich Eichholtz, "Zerfall des Occupationssystems, case study: Netherlands", in: "Geschichte der deutschen Kriegswirtschaft 1939–1945", p. 326
  37. ↑ Dietrich Eichholtz, “History of the German War Economy 1939–1945”, p. 327
  38. ↑ Dietrich Eichholtz, “History of the German War Economy 1939–1945”, p. 327
  39. ^ Letter from Alfred Rosenberg to Martin Bormann of October 17, 1944, II 1 c 1183/44 g, Nürnberger Hauptkriegsverbrecher-Prozess, Docum.-No. 327-PS, p. 353 ff., P. 354, https://archive.org/stream/TheNurnbergTrial/NT_Vol-XXV_djvu.txt