member_of willy lages
The Carpathian Mountains or Carpathians are a mountain range system forming an arc roughly long across Central and Eastern ___MASK18___ , making them the second - longest mountain range in ___MASK18___ ( after the Scandinavian Mountains ). Central ___MASK18___ lies between Eastern ___MASK18___ and Western ___MASK18___ . The concept of Central ___MASK18___ is based on a common historical , social and cultural identity . Central ___MASK18___ is going through a phase of " strategic awakening ", with initiatives such as the CEI , Centrope or V4 . While the region ' ___MASK33___ economy shows high disparities with regard to income , all Central European countries are listed by the Human Development Index as very highly developed . Gdask ( German : ) is a Polish city on the Baltic coast . It is the capital of the Pomeranian Voivodeship , Poland ' ___MASK33___ principal seaport and is also the centre of the country ' ___MASK33___ fourth - largest metropolitan area . Willy Paul Franz Lages ( October 5 , 1901 -- April 2 , 1971 ) was the German chief of the Sicherheitsdienst in Amsterdam during the Second World War . From March 1941 he led the so - called Zentralstelle für jüdische Auswanderung ( Central Bureau for the Jewish Emigration ) . As such he was responsible for the deportation of Dutch Jews to the concentration camps in Germany and occupied Poland . Lages was sentenced to life in prison in the Netherlands . He was imprisoned in Breda , along with Joseph Kotälla , Ferdinand aus der Fünten and Franz Fischer ( the `` Vier van Breda '' / `` The Breda Four '' ___MASK35___ ) . In 1966 he was released from prison for humanitarian reasons as he appeared to be seriously ill . The decision taken by the minister of justice Ivo Samkalden provoked a public outcry . Lages received medical treatment in Germany after which he lived for another five years . The euro ( sign : €; code : EUR ) is the official currency of the eurozone , which consists of 19 of the member states of the ___MASK55___ : Austria , Belgium , Cyprus , Estonia , Finland , France , Germany , Greece , Ireland , Italy , Latvia , Lithuania , Luxembourg , Malta , the Netherlands , Portugal , Slovakia , Slovenia , and Spain . The currency is also officially used by the institutions of the ___MASK55___ and four other European countries , as well as unilaterally by two others , and is consequently used daily by some 337 million Europeans . Outside of Europe , a number of overseas territories of EU members also use the euro as their currency . Warsaw (; see also other names ) is the capital and largest city of Poland . It stands on the Vistula River in east - central Poland , roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains . Its population is estimated at 1 . 750 million residents within a greater metropolitan area of ___MASK37___ . 105 million residents , which makes Warsaw the 9th most - populous capital city in the ___MASK55___ . The city limits cover , while the metropolitan area covers . Berlin is the capital and the largest city of Germany as well as one of its constituent 16 states . With a population of approximately ___MASK37___ . 5 million people , Berlin is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the ___MASK55___ . Located in northeastern Germany on the banks of rivers Spree and Havel , it is the centre of the Berlin - Brandenburg Metropolitan Region , which has about 6 million residents from more than 180 nations . Due to its location in the European Plain , Berlin is influenced by a temperate seasonal climate . Around one - third of the city ' ___MASK33___ area is composed of forests , parks , gardens , rivers and lakes . The Sudetes are a mountain range in Central ___MASK18___ , also known in English ( from their names in German and Czech / Polish ) as the Sudeten or Sudety mountains . Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central ___MASK18___ , situated between the Baltic Sea in the north and two mountain ranges ( the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains ) in the south . Bordered by Germany to the west ; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south ; Ukraine and Belarus to the east ; and the Baltic Sea , Kaliningrad Oblast ( a Russian exclave ) and Lithuania to the north . The total area of Poland is , making it the 69th largest country in the world and the 9th largest in ___MASK18___ . With a population of over 38 . 5 million people , Poland is the 34th most populous country in the world , the 8th most populous country in ___MASK18___ and the sixth most populous member of the ___MASK55___ . Poland is a unitary state divided into 16 administrative subdivisions , and its capital and largest city is Warsaw . Other metropolises include Kraków , Wrocaw , Pozna , Gdask and Szczecin . Reinhard Tristan Eugen Heydrich ( 7 March 1904  4 June 1942 ) was a high - ranking German Nazi official during World War II , and a main architect of the Holocaust . He was an SS -" Obergruppenführer und General der Polizei " ( Senior ___MASK35___ Leader and Chief of Police ) as well as chief of the Reich Main Security Office ( including the Gestapo , Kripo , and SD ). He was also " Stellvertretender Reichsprotektor " ( Deputy / Acting Reich - Protector ) of Bohemia and Moravia , in what is now the Czech Republic . Heydrich served as president of the International Criminal Police Commission ( ICPC ; later known as Interpol ) and chaired the January 1942 Wannsee Conference , which formalised plans for the Final Solution to the Jewish Question  the deportation and genocide of all Jews in German - occupied Europe . Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in central - western ___MASK18___ . It includes 16 constituent states , covers an area of , and has a largely temperate seasonal climate . With about 82 million inhabitants , Germany is the most populous member state of the ___MASK55___ . After the United States , it is the second most popular immigration destination in the world . Germany ' ___MASK33___ capital and largest metropolis is Berlin . Other major cities include Hamburg , Munich , Cologne , Frankfurt , Stuttgart and Düsseldorf . ___MASK89___ Socialist German Workers ' Party ( abbreviated NSDAP ), commonly referred to in English as the Nazi Party , was a political party in Germany that was active between 1920 and 1945 and practised the ideology of Nazism . Its precursor , the German Workers ' Party (" Deutsche Arbeiterpartei "; DAP ), existed from 1919 to 1920 . The Randstad is a megalopolis in the central - western Netherlands consisting primarily of the four largest Dutch cities ( Amsterdam , Rotterdam , The Hague and Utrecht ) and their surrounding areas . Among other things , it contains the Port of Rotterdam ( the largest seaport in ___MASK18___ , and until 2004 also the world ' ___MASK33___ busiest seaport ), and Amsterdam Airport Schiphol ( one of the largest European airports ). With a population of 7 , 100 , 000 it is one of the largest metropolitan regions in ___MASK18___ , comparable in size to Milan or the San Francisco Bay Area , and covers an area of approximately 8 , 287 km² . It ' ___MASK33___ also one of the most important and densely populated economic areas in northwestern ___MASK18___ . Szczecin ( German and , known also by other alternative names ) is the capital city of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship in Poland . Located near the Baltic Sea , it is a major seaport and Poland ' ___MASK33___ seventh - largest city . As of June 2011 , the population was 407 , 811 . The Kingdom of the Netherlands , commonly known as the Netherlands , is a sovereign state and constitutional monarchy with territory in western ___MASK18___ and in the Caribbean . A parliamentary republic is a republic that operates under a parliamentary system of government where the executive branch ( the government ) derives its legitimacy from and is accountable to the ___MASK72___ ( the parliament ). There are a number of variations of parliamentary republics . Most have a clear differentiation between the head of government and the head of state , with the head of government holding real power , much like constitutional monarchies . Some have combined the roles of head of state and head of government , much like presidential systems , but with a dependency upon parliamentary power . The Gestapo , abbreviation of Geheime Staatspolizei , or the Secret State Police , was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and German - occupied ___MASK18___ . Kraków , also Cracow or Krakow , is the second largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland . Situated on the Vistula River in the Lesser Poland region , the city dates back to the 7th century . Kraków has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Polish academic , cultural , and artistic life and is one of Poland ' ___MASK33___ most important economic hubs . It was the capital of the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland from 1038 to 1569 ; the Polish  Lithuanian Commonwealth from 1569 to 1795 ; the Free City of Kraków from 1815 to 1846 ; the Grand Duchy of Cracow from 1846 to 1918 ; and Kraków Voivodeship from the 14th century to 1998 . It has been the capital of Lesser Poland Voivodeship since 1999 . Nazi Germany is the common English name for the period in German history from 1933 to 1945 , when Germany was governed by a dictatorship under the control of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party ( NSDAP ). Under Hitler ' ___MASK33___ rule , Germany was transformed into a fascist state in which the Nazi Party took totalitarian control over nearly all aspects of life . The official name of the state was " Deutsches Reich " from 1933 to 1943 and " Großdeutsches Reich " (" Greater German Reich ") from 1943 to 1945 . The period is also known under the names the Third Reich and the National Socialist Period ( abbreviated as " NS - Zeit "). The Nazi regime came to an end after the Allied Powers defeated Germany in May 1945 , ending World War II in Europe . Hamburg ( local pronunciation ; Low German / Low Saxon : " Hamborg " ), officially " Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg " ( Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg ), is the second largest city in Germany and the eighth largest city in the ___MASK55___ . It is the second smallest German state by area . Its population is over 1 . 7 million people , and the wider Hamburg Metropolitan Region covers more than 5 . 1 million inhabitants . The city is situated on the river Elbe . ___MASK18___ is a continent that comprises the westernmost part of Eurasia . ___MASK18___ is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north , the Atlantic Ocean to the west , and the Mediterranean Sea to the south . To the east and southeast , ___MASK18___ is generally considered as separated from ___MASK11___ by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains , the Ural River , the Caspian and Black Seas , and the waterways of the Turkish Straits . Yet the non - oceanic borders of ___MASK18___  a concept dating back to classical antiquity  are arbitrary . The primarily physiographic term " continent " as applied to ___MASK18___ also incorporates cultural and political elements whose discontinuities are not always reflected by the continent ' ___MASK33___ current overland boundaries . Sicherheitsdienst (" Security Service "), full title Sicherheitsdienst des Reichsführers - SS , or SD , was the intelligence agency of the SS and the Nazi Party in Nazi Germany . The organization was the first Nazi Party intelligence organization to be established and was considered a sister organization with the Gestapo , which the SS had infiltrated heavily after 1934 . Between 1933 and 1939 , the SD was administered as an independent SS office , after which it was transferred to the authority of the Reich Main Security Office (" Reichssicherheitshauptamt "; RSHA ), as one of its seven departments / offices . Its first director , Reinhard Heydrich , intended for the SD to bring every single individual within the Third Reich ' ___MASK33___ reach under " continuous supervision ." A city proper is the area contained within city limits . A city proper is not limited to a city ; it can describe the complete area of any locality that fits the definition . The ___MASK23___ defines the term as "" the single political jurisdiction which contains the historical city centre ."" Lithuania ( UK and US : ), officially the Republic of Lithuania , is a country in Northern ___MASK18___ . One of the three Baltic states , it is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea , to the east of Sweden and Denmark . It is bordered by Latvia to the north , Belarus to the east and south , Poland to the south , and Kaliningrad Oblast ( a Russian exclave ) to the southwest . Lithuania has an estimated population of 2 . 9 million people , and its capital and largest city is Vilnius . Lithuanians are a Baltic people . The official language , Lithuanian , along with Latvian , is one of only two living languages in the Baltic branch of the Indo - European language ___MASK50___ . Slovakia , officially the Slovak Republic , is a landlocked country in Central ___MASK18___ . It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria to the west , Poland to the north , Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south . Slovakia ' ___MASK33___ territory spans about and is mostly mountainous . The population is over 5 million and comprises mostly ethnic Slovaks . The capital and largest city is Bratislava . The official language is Slovak , a member of the Slavic language family . Ukraine ( tr . ) is a sovereign state in Eastern ___MASK18___ , bordered by Russia to the east and northeast , Belarus to the northwest , Poland and Slovakia to the west , Hungary , Romania , and Moldova to the southwest , and the Black Sea and Sea of Azov to the south and southeast , respectively . Ukraine is currently in territorial dispute with Russia over the Crimean Peninsula which Russia annexed in 2014 but which Ukraine and most of the international community recognise as Ukrainian . Including Crimea , Ukraine has an area of , making it the largest country entirely within ___MASK18___ and the 46th largest country in the world . It has a population of about 44 . 5 million , making it the 32nd most populous country in the world . Amsterdam is the capital and most populous municipality of the Kingdom of the Netherlands . Its status as the capital is mandated by the Constitution of the Netherlands , although it is not the seat of the government , which is The Hague . Amsterdam has a population of 847 , 176 within the city proper , 1 , 343 , 647 in the urban area , and 2 , 431 , 000 in the Amsterdam metropolitan area . The city is located in the province of North Holland in the west of the country . The metropolitan area comprises much of the northern part of the Randstad , one of the larger conurbations in ___MASK18___ , with a population of approximately 7 million . Pozna ( known also by other historical names ) is a city on the Warta river in west - central Poland , in the Greater Poland region . It is best known for its renaissance Old Town , destroyed during World War II and then rebuilt , and Ostrów Tumski Cathedral . Today , Pozna is an important cultural and business centre and one of Poland ' ___MASK33___ most populous regions with many regional customs such as Jarmark witojaski , traditional Saint Martin ' ___MASK33___ croissants and a local dialect . The ___MASK55___ ( EU ) is a political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe . It has an area of , and an estimated population of over 510 million . The EU has developed an internal single market through a standardised system of laws that apply in all member states . EU policies aim to ensure the free movement of people , goods , services , and capital within the internal market , enact legislation in justice and home affairs , and maintain common policies on trade , agriculture , fisheries , and regional development . Within the Schengen Area , passport controls have been abolished . A monetary union was established in 1999 and came into full force in 2002 , and is composed of 19 EU member states which use the euro currency . The Hague ( or "< nowiki >'</ nowiki > ___MASK33___ - Gravenhage " ) is a city located in the western coast of the Netherlands , and the capital city of the province of South Holland . Belarus ( lat . ',      ), officially the Republic of Belarus , formerly known by its Russian name Byelorussia ( though this name is no longer used in Belarus itself , even in Russian language ), is a landlocked country in Eastern ___MASK18___ bordered by Russia to the northeast , Ukraine to the south , Poland to the west , and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest . Its capital and most populous city is Minsk . Over 40 % of its is forested . Its strongest economic sectors are service industries and manufacturing . Until the 20th century , different states at various times controlled the lands of modern - day Belarus , including the Principality of Polotsk ( 11th to 14th centuries ), the Grand Duchy of Lithuania , the Polish  Lithuanian Commonwealth , and the Russian Empire . The Czech Republic , also known by the short name Czechia , is a nation state in Central ___MASK18___ bordered by Germany to the west , Austria to the south , Slovakia to the east and Poland to the northeast . The Czech Republic covers an area of with mostly temperate continental climate and oceanic climate . It is a unitary parliamentary republic , has 10 . 5 million inhabitants and the capital and largest city is Prague , with over 1 . 2 million residents . The Czech Republic includes the historical territories of Bohemia , Moravia , and Czech Silesia . The Reich Main Security Office ( German : " Reichssicherheitshauptamt " or RSHA ) was an organization subordinate to Heinrich Himmler in his dual capacities as " Chef der Deutschen Polizei " ( Chief of German Police ) and " Reichsführer - SS ", the head of the Nazi Party ' ___MASK33___ " ___MASK24___ " ( SS ). The organization ' ___MASK33___ stated duty was to fight all " enemies of the Reich " inside and outside the borders of Nazi Germany . The Constitution for the Kingdom of the Netherlands is one of two fundamental documents governing the Kingdom of the Netherlands as well as the fundamental law of the European territory of the Kingdom of the Netherlands . The present constitution is generally seen as directly derived from the one issued in 1815 , constituting a constitutional monarchy . A revision in 1848 instituted a system of parliamentary democracy . In 1983 , a major revision of the constitution was undertaken , almost fully rewriting the text and adding new civil rights . The text is very sober , devoid of legal or political doctrine . It includes a bill of rights . The constitution prohibits the judiciary to test laws and treaties against the constitution , as this is considered a prerogative of the ___MASK72___ . There is no constitutional court in the Netherlands , except for the Constitutional Court of Sint Maarten which only governs the Sint Maarten legislator . The Kingdom of the Netherlands also includes Aruba , Curaçao and Sint Maarten : there is an overarching instrument of the entire kingdom that has constitution characterisics : the Statute of the Kingdom of the Netherlands . Munich ( also in British English ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Bavaria , on the banks of River Isar north of the Bavarian Alps . Munich is the third largest city in Germany , after Berlin and Hamburg , and the 12th biggest city of the ___MASK55___ , with a population of above 1 . 5 million . The Munich Metropolitan Region is home to 5 . 8 million people . Stuttgart ( Swabian : " Schduagert "), often nicknamed the "" Schwabenmetropole "" in reference to its location in the center of Swabia and the local dialect spoken by some natives , is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden - Württemberg . It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley locally known as the " Stuttgarter Kessel " an hour from the Swabian Jura and the Black Forest . Stuttgart ' ___MASK33___ name comes from the Old High German word "" Stuogarten "," or " stud farm "  a reference to the city ' ___MASK33___ founding in 950 AD as a stud farm . Stuttgart  ___MASK33___ urban area has a population of 623 , 738 , and a further making it the sixth largest city in Germany , 2 . 7 million people live in the city  ___MASK33___ administrative region , and another 5 . 3 million people in its metropolitan area , making it the fourth largest metropolitan area in Germany . Frankfurt am Main is a metropolis and the largest city in the German state of Hesse and the fifth - largest city in Germany , with a 2015 population of 731 , 095 within its administrative boundaries , and 2 . ___MASK37___ million in its urban area . The city is at the centre of the larger Frankfurt Rhine - Main Metropolitan Region , which has a population of 5 . 8 million and is Germany ' ___MASK33___ second - largest metropolitan region after Rhine - Ruhr . Since the enlargement of the European Union in 2013 , the geographic centre of the EU is about to the east of Frankfurt ' ___MASK33___ CBD , the Bankenviertel . Frankfurt is culturally and ethnically diverse , with around half of the population , and a majority of young people , having a migration background . A quarter of the population are foreign nationals , including many expatriates . Wrocaw (, ; ) is the largest city in western Poland . It is on the River Oder in the Silesian Lowlands of Central ___MASK18___ , roughly 350 kilometres ( 220 mi ) from the Baltic Sea to the north and 40 kilometres ( 25 mi ) from the Sudeten Mountains to the south . Wrocaw is the historical capital of Silesia and Lower Silesia . Today , it is the capital of the Lower Silesian Voivodeship . At various times in history , it has been part of the Kingdom of Poland , Bohemia , Hungary , the Austrian Empire , Prussia and Germany . It became part of Poland in 1945 , as a result of the border changes after the Second World War . The population of Wrocaw in 2016 was 637 , 075 making it the fourth - largest city in Poland and the main city of Wrocaw agglomeration . A republic ( from ) is a sovereign state , country , or government which is organized with a form of government in which power resides in elected individuals representing the citizen body and government leaders exercise power according to the rule of law . In modern times , the definition of a republic commonly refers to a government which excludes a monarch . Currently , 147 of the world ' ___MASK33___ 206 sovereign states use the word " republic " as part of their official names ; not all of these are republics in the sense of having elected governments , nor do all nations with elected governments use the word " republic " in their names .