other · Scandinavia and the Baltic
Reichskommissariat Ostland
Origins
After the invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941, Germany placed the occupied Baltic states and western Belarus under a civil administration, Reichskommissariat Ostland, created in July 1941 under Alfred Rosenberg's Ministry for the Occupied Eastern Territories. Hinrich Lohse became Reich Commissioner, with his seat in Riga.
Rule and society
Ostland was divided into general commissariats for Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and White Ruthenia, each with local auxiliary administrations. The occupiers exploited labour and food and planned eventual German colonisation. The Holocaust was carried out on a vast scale: Jews were murdered at Rumbula near Riga, Ponary near Vilnius, the Ninth Fort in Kaunas and Maly Trostenets near Minsk.
Decline and legacy
Soviet offensives in 1944 retook most of the territory, and Lohse fled. German forces trapped in the Courland Pocket held out until May 1945. The region returned to Soviet rule as the Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republics and Soviet Belarus.
Lineage
On the connections map
Open the full map →Connections (6)
- Republic of Estonia was conquered by Reichskommissariat Ostland1941 CE – 1944 CE
- Republic of Latvia was conquered by Reichskommissariat Ostland1941 CE – 1944 CE
- Republic of Lithuania was conquered by Reichskommissariat Ostland1941 CE – 1944 CE
- Reichskommissariat Ostland was a colony of Nazi Germany1941 CE – 1945 CE
- Estonian Self-Administration was part of Reichskommissariat Ostland1941 CE – 1944 CE
- Latvian Self-Administration was part of Reichskommissariat Ostland1942 CE – 1945 CE
More states of Scandinavia and the Baltic →
Cite this page
- APA
- The Epoch Institute. (2026). Reichskommissariat Ostland. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/reichskommissariat-ostland
- MLA
- “Reichskommissariat Ostland.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/reichskommissariat-ostland. Accessed .
- Chicago
- The Epoch Institute. “Reichskommissariat Ostland.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/reichskommissariat-ostland.
- Harvard
- The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Reichskommissariat Ostland’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/reichskommissariat-ostland (Accessed: ).
Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻