During World War II, Reichskommissariat Ukraine (abbreviated as RKU), was the civilian occupation regime of much of German-occupied Ukraine (which included adjacent areas of modern Belarus and pre-war Poland). Between September 1941 and March 1944, the Reichskommissariat was administered by Reichskommissar Erich Koch. The administration's tasks included the pacification of the region and the exploitation, for German benefit, of its resources and people. Adolf Hitler issued a Führer Decree defining the administration of the newly occupied Eastern territories on 17 July 1941.