Reichskommissariat Ostland

Reichskommissariat Ostland (RKO) was the civilian occupation regime established by Germany in the Baltic states (Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania), the north-eastern part of Poland and the west part of the Belarusian SSR during World War II. It was also known initially as Reichskommissariat Baltenland ("Baltic Land"). The political organization for this territory—after an initial period of military administration before its establishment—was that of a German civilian administration, nominally under the authority of the Reich Ministry for the Occupied Eastern Territories (German: Reichsministerium für die besetzten Ostgebiete) led by Nazi ideologist Alfred Rosenberg, but was in reality controlled by the Nazi official Hinrich Lohse, its appointed Reichskommissar.

The main political objective, which the ministry laid out in the framework of National Socialist policies for the east established by Adolf Hitler, were the complete annihilation of the Jewish population and the settlement of ethnic Germans along with the expulsion or Germanization of parts of the native population - not only in the Reichskommissariat Ostland but also in the other German-occupied Soviet territories. Through the use of Einsatzgruppen A and B over a million Jews were killed in the Reichskommissariat Ostland. The Germanization policies would, built on the foundations of the Generalplan Ost, later be carried through by a series of special edicts and guiding principles for the general settlement plans for the Ostland.

Throughout 1943 and 1944, the Red Army gradually recaptured most of the territory in their advance on Germany, but Wehrmacht forces held out in the Courland pocket. With the end of the war in Europe and the defeat of Germany in 1945, the Reichskommissariat ceased to exist completely.

Ostland should not be confused with Ober Ost, which had a similar role as an occupation authority for Baltic territories by the German Empire in World War I.