German-occupied Europe

German-occupied Europe
German-occupied Europe
1938–1945
	Flag Emblem
	Anthem: Das Lied der Deutschen; lit. 'The Song of the Germans'
	Map of Germany and all European territory under German occupation by August–September 1942, excluding puppet states: Germany; Civilian-administered occupied territory; Military-administered occupied territory;
Capital	Berlin
Official languages	German
Reichskommissar
• 1938–1945	Fritz Katzmann
Reichsstatthalter
• 1938–1945	Adolf Eichmann
• 1940–1946	Heinrich Himmler
• 1941–1945	Hermann Göring
Historical era	Interbellum (until 1939); World War II (until 1945)
• German annexation of Austria	12 March 1938
• German invasion of Poland	1 September 1939
• German invasion of the Soviet Union	22 June 1941
• Allied invasion of Italy	3 September 1943
• Soviet invasion of Germany	13 January 1945
• Western Allied invasion of Germany	22 March 1945
• Fall of Berlin	7 May 1945
• German Instrument of Surrender	8 May 1945
• Allied occupation of Germany	5 June 1945
Area
Total (1941)	3,300,000 km2 (1,300,000 sq mi)
Population
• Total (1941)	238,000,000
Currency	Reichsmark (ℛℳ)
	Succeeded by
Allied-occupied Germany

Between 1938 and 1945, Nazi Germany occupied or controlled vast territories of Europe. Peaking in 1941–1942, Germany and the other Axis powers (namely Italy) were governing more than half of the entire continent's population through direct administration, civil occupation, and military occupation, as well as by establishing puppet states. Germany's expansionist campaigns under the Nazi Party of Adolf Hitler ultimately led to the beginning of World War II in 1939. Also inside some of these occupied states, particularly Poland, was a large network of Nazi camps that facilitated what would later become known as the Holocaust.

The Wehrmacht occupied European territory:

as far north and east as Franz Josef Land in the Soviet Union
as far south as Gavdos in Greece
as far west as Ushant in France

German weather stations within Europe existed as far north as Schatzgräber in Franz Josef Land's Alexandra Land. Although the Kriegsmarine operated globally during World War II, it was chiefly focused on establishing and maintaining hegemony in the North Atlantic, especially the North Sea.