Redistribution and Allocation of Resources in the General Government. Study Based on Budget and Accounting Documentation for the Fiscal Year 1940

Abstract

The accounting and budgetary documentation of the General Government (GG) for the year 1940 appears, at first glance, to be a product of bureaucratic routine—a collection of tables and sections designed for rational administrative management. A close examination of historical sources reveals its function as an active instrument of the occupation administration. Seemingly neutral accounting categories operated as precise tools for managing, legitimizing, and concealing the systemic plunder of material and human resources. The central research problem of this analysis is: In what ways did the budgetary and accounting documentation of the GG reflect and legitimize the mechanisms of forced redistribution and allocation of resources to the occupation apparatus? The thesis assumes that an examination of the GG budget, its structure, and its off-plan expenditures exposes the bureaucratic logic underpinning systemic exploitation and the financing of the apparatus of repression. The neutral language of accounting effectively masked the true nature of violent asset transfers, while financial reporting functioned as a technology of power that bestowed an appearance of legality on practices of plunder. The analysis is based on historical documentation. The study employs a case study approach, analysis of historical sources, and a review of the relevant literature.