member_of karl hanke
Silesia ( or ; Silesian German : " Schläsing " Silesian : " lnsk " ) is a region of Central ___MASK89___ located mostly in Poland , with small parts in the Czech Republic and Germany . Its area is about , and its population about 8 , 000 , 000 . Silesia is located along the Oder river . It consists of Lower Silesia and Upper Silesia . World War II ( often abbreviated to WWII or WW2 ), also known as the Second World War , was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945 , although related conflicts began earlier . It involved the vast majority of the world ' ___MASK56___ nations  including all of the great powers  eventually forming two opposing military alliances : the Allies and the Axis . It was the most widespread war in history , and directly involved more than 100 million people from over 30 countries . In a state of " total war ", the major participants threw their entire economic , industrial , and scientific capabilities behind the war effort , erasing the distinction between civilian and military resources . Marked by mass deaths of civilians , including the Holocaust ( in which approximately 11 million people were killed ) and the strategic bombing of industrial and population centres ( in which approximately one million were killed , and which included the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki ), it resulted in an estimated 50 million to 85 million fatalities . These made World War II the deadliest conflict in human history . The German Workers ' Party ( DAP ) was a short - lived political party and the precursor of ___MASK100___ Socialist German Workers ' Party ( NSDAP ); commonly referred to in English as the Nazi Party . The DAP only lasted from January 1919 until February 1920 . The ___MASK65___ ( SS ; also stylized as with Armanen runes literally " Protection Squadron ") was a major paramilitary organization under Adolf Hitler and the National Socialist German Workers ' Party ( NSDAP ; Nazi Party ) in Nazi Germany . It began with a small guard unit known as the " Saal - Schutz " ( Hall - Protection ) made up of NSDAP volunteers to provide security for party meetings in Munich . In 1925 , Heinrich Himmler joined the unit , which had by then been reformed and given its final name . Under his direction ( 1929  45 ), it grew from a small paramilitary formation to one of the most powerful organizations in Nazi Germany . From 1929 until the regime ' s collapse in 1945 , the SS was the foremost agency of surveillance and terror within Germany and German - occupied Europe . The Czech Republic , also known by the short name Czechia , is a nation state in Central ___MASK89___ 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 . Adolf Hitler ( 20 April 1889  30 April 1945 ) was a German politician who was the leader of the Nazi Party (" Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei "; NSDAP ), Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945 , and Führer (" Leader ") of Nazi Germany from 1934 to 1945 . As dictator of the German Reich , he initiated World War II in ___MASK89___ with the invasion of Poland in September 1939 and was central to the Holocaust . ___MASK100___ 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 . Heinrich Luitpold Himmler ( 7 October 1900  23 May 1945 ) was " Reichsführer " of the " ___MASK65___ " ( Protection Squadron ; SS ), and a leading member of the Nazi Party ( NSDAP ) of Nazi Germany . Nazi leader Adolf Hitler briefly appointed him a military commander and later Commander of the Replacement ( Home ) Army and General Plenipotentiary for the administration of the entire Third Reich (" Generalbevollmächtigter für die Verwaltung "). Himmler was one of the most powerful men in Nazi Germany and one of the people most directly responsible for the Holocaust . A Gauleiter was the party leader of a regional branch of the NSDAP ( more commonly known as the Nazi Party ) or the head of a " Gau " or of a " Reichsgau ". The word can be singular or plural , depending on the context . " Gauleiter " was the second highest Nazi Party paramilitary rank , subordinate only to the higher rank " Reichsleiter " and to the position of " Führer ". During World War II , the rank of " Gauleiter " was obtained only by direct appointment from Adolf Hitler . Central ___MASK89___ lies between Eastern ___MASK89___ and Western ___MASK89___ . The concept of Central ___MASK89___ is based on a common historical , social and cultural identity . Central ___MASK89___ is going through a phase of " strategic awakening ", with initiatives such as the CEI , Centrope or V4 . While the region ' ___MASK56___ economy shows high disparities with regard to income , all Central European countries are listed by the Human Development Index as very highly developed . The Oder ( Czech , Lower Sorbian and , Upper Sorbian : " Wódra ") is a river in Central ___MASK89___ . It rises in the Czech Republic and flows ( generally north - and northwest - ward ) through western Poland , later forming of the border between Poland and Germany , part of the Oder  Neisse line . The river ultimately flows into the Szczecin Lagoon north of Szczecin and then into three branches ( the Dziwna , wina and Peene ) that empty into the Gulf of Pomerania of the Baltic Sea . Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in central - western ___MASK89___ . 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 ___MASK3___ . After the United States , it is the second most popular immigration destination in the world . Germany ' ___MASK56___ capital and largest metropolis is Berlin . Other major cities include Hamburg , Munich , Cologne , Frankfurt , Stuttgart and Düsseldorf . A political party is a ___MASK99___ of people who come together to contest elections and hold power in the government . The party agrees on some proposed policies and programmes , with a view to promoting the collective good or furthering their supporters ' interests . Reichsführer - SS was a special title and rank that existed between the years of 1925 and 1945 for the commander of the ___MASK65___ ( SS ). " Reichsführer - SS " was a title from 1925 to 1933 , and from 1934 to 1945 it was the highest rank of the SS . The longest serving and by far most noteworthy " Reichsführer - SS " was Heinrich Himmler . Karl August Hanke , Reichsführer - SS und Chef der Deutschen Polizei ( 24 August 1903 -- 8 June 1945 ) was an official of the Nazi Party ( NSDAP ) . He served as governor ( Gauleiter ) of Lower Silesia from 1941 to 1945 and as the final Reichsführer - SS for a few days in 1945 . Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central ___MASK89___ , 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 ___MASK89___ . 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 ___MASK89___ and the sixth most populous member of the ___MASK3___ . 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 .