The District of Galicia (German: Distrikt Galizien, Polish: Dystrykt Galicja, Ukrainian: Дистрикт Галичина) was a World War II administrative unit of the General Government created by Nazi Germany on 1 August 1941 after the opening of Operation Barbarossa. Initially, during the invasion of Poland by Germany and the Soviet Union the territory fell under the Soviet occupation in 1939 and temporarily remained in the Soviet hands as part of the Soviet Ukraine. Founded by Adolf Hitler (Document No. 1997-PS of 17 July 1941) with the capital in Lemberg (Lvov), the Galizien province existed from 1941 until 1944. It ceased to exist after the Soviet counter-offensive.