Militärbefehlshaber in Belgien und Nordfrankreich

During the Second World War, the Militärverwaltung (MV)(lit. “military administration”) was the occupation administration for Belgium and the former French départements Nord and Pas-de-Calais. It was installed late May-early June 1940, soon after the capitulation of Belgium, and directed by Militärbefehlshaber in Belgien und Nordfrankreich Alexander von Falkenhausen. The MV was dependent on the Oberkommando des Heeres (Supreme High Command) of the German army. The administrative apparatus of the MV was divided into two main pillars, with a Präsidiälbüro in place for issues concerning both sections. The first section, the Kommandostab (directed by Bodo von Harbou), was responsible for i.a. military command of the territory and counterintelligence. It also disposed of various police services such as the Feldgendarmerie, Geheime Feldpolizei, etc. General administrative management of occupied Belgium (and northern France) was the task of the second section, the Verwaltungsstab (led by Eggert Reeder). This subdivision itself consisted out of two main branches. Policy concerning culture, public health, education, justice, finances, police, etc. was the responsibility of the Verwaltungsabteilung (led by Harry von Craushaar) and its subdivisions (‘Gruppen’). The Wirtschaftsabteilung worked specifically on economic issues, such as commerce, industry, banking, price regulation, etc. The infamous Gruppe XII Feind- und Judenvermögen, committed to the ‘aryanization’ (Arisierung) of the Belgian economy, was a subsection of the Wirtschaftsabteilung. The respective Oberfeldkommandanturen (OFK) and Feldkommandanturen (FK) functioned as antennas of the MV at the regional and local level. The main goal of the German occupation administration was to maintain public order and security, and support the German war economy (with raw materials, industrial and agricultural products), while deploying a minimum of manpower and materiel. Cooperation of existing Belgian institutions was therefore highly desirable. In the process, Belgian liberal democracy was abolished and substituted by technocratic and corporatist structures – a local application of the societal model of Nazi Germany. In July 1944 the regime of the Militärverwaltung came to a sudden end, when it was replaced by a Zivilverwaltung (lit. “civil administration”) directed by Joseph Grohé and Richard Jungclaus. Von Falkenhausen was succeeded as Militärbefehlshaber by general Grase. While initially the MV was portrayed as a classic and ‘correct’ occupation administration (especially compared to the Generalgouvernement of 1914-1918), and although tensions and conflicts with the SS and Nazi Party structures existed, today the myth of a ‘clean Wehrmacht’ has been decisively debunked. Perhaps the most clear illustration of the criminal logic of the Militärverwaltung is its key role in the systematic exclusion, persecution and plunder of Jews and Roma in Belgium.