Military Government of Lublin

The Government General of Lublin, depicted in light green

Governor-General of Warsaw Hans Hartwig von Beseler (1st left) with Governor-General of Lublin  [de] (2nd left) in Lublin, 1916

The General Government of Lublin was an area of the Russian Empire conquered by the Central Powers during the First World War, which was administered under the command of Austro-Hungarian Governors-General based in Lublin.

History[]

On August 25, 1915, the Imperial and Royal Army formed the General Government of Kielce, which was called the General Government of Lublin from October 1, 1915. It covered the southern parts of Russian Poland. On October 10, 1916, the German Chancellor Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg demanded the eviction of the Austrian General Government of Lublin and the creation of a joint administration with the German General Government of Warsaw. However, this was done by the Austrian-Hungarian Foreign Minister Stephan Burián von Rajeczdeclined. On October 18, 1916, an agreement was reached on the uniform legislation and administration of the General Governorates of Warsaw and Lublin. As a result of the proclamation of the Kingdom of Poland on November 5, 1916, the gradual transfer of administration to Poland was planned. Due to different ideas from the German and Austrian-Hungarian side regarding the future role of Poland and Polish independence efforts, the establishment of Polish state organs has stalled several times. It was only in the summer of 1917 that the first parts of the judiciary and the teaching system were released from the direct management of the occupation administration. Interventions by the Governor-General continued to take place.

Governors-General[]

No.	Portrait	Name	Term	Notes
1	–	Major General Freiherr  [cs]	October 1915 – May 1916	Governor-general based in Kielce from August to October of 1915 and Lublin for the remainder of his term.
2		General of the Artillery  [de]	May 1916 – April 1917	Along with his German counterpart, Governor-General of Warsaw Hans Hartwig von Beseler, he established a nominally independent Kingdom of Poland in December of 1916. Removed from his post by Emperor Karl I.
3		Major General Count Stanisław Szeptycki	April 1917 – February 1918	Resigned in protest of the transfer of the Chełm region to Ukraine as part of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (Ukraine–Central Powers).
4		General of the Infantry Anton Lipošćak	March 1918 – November 1918	Notable for having saved the Piotrków Trybunalski Royal Castle from pillage by the Austro-Hungarian Army. He resigned from his post November 2, 1918 following the dissolution of Austria-Hungary.

See also[]

• Imperial German General Government of Belgium
• Government General of Warsaw

Literature[]

• Gerhard Hirschfeld / Gerd Krumeich / Irina Renz (ed.): Encyclopedia First World War , keyword: "Generalgouvernement", Paderborn 2004, p. 524 f.
• Stephan Lehnstaedt: The Military General Government of Lublin. The "utilization" of Poland by Austria-Hungary in the First World War; Journal of East Central Europe Research, 2012, digitized (PDF; 0.6 MB)