Haupttreuhandstelle Ost

Content sourced from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

The Haupttreuhandstelle Ost (HTO) was a Nazi state agency created by Hermann Göring to take over Polish and Jewish businesses in occupied Poland. It liquidated these businesses or sold them to German settlers from the east for a symbolic fee during World War II. The office was staffed by many officials from the Deutsche Bank and Dresdner Bank. It was set up on November 1, 1939, and based in Berlin in the Office of the Four Year Plan, led by Max Winkler. Branch offices were opened in Danzig, Poznań, Ciechanów, Katowice, and Kraków. Two weeks later, on November 15, 1939, Hans Frank, head of the General Government, created a rival trusteeship to challenge its authority. Göring did not object, and jurisdiction was split between the areas under German control and the General Government.