During World War II, the Crimean Peninsula was subject to military administration by Nazi Germany following the success of the Crimean campaign. Officially part of Generalbezirk Krym-Taurien, an administrative division of Reichskommissariat Ukraine, Crimea proper never actually became part of the Generalbezirk, and was instead subordinate to a military administration. This administration was first headed by Erich von Manstein in his capacity as commander of the 11th Army and then by Paul Ludwig Ewald von Kleist as commander of Army Group A. German interests in Crimea were multifaceted and a matter of great sensitivity due to Germany–Turkey relations, with Turkey serving as the primary champion of the rights of Crimean Tatars. Basing their interests in Crimea off of the historical existence of the Crimean Goths (the last surviving Gothic peoples), German authorities sought to transform Crimea into a tourist destination, including the deportation and genocide of Crimea's non-German inhabitants. Plagued by Soviet resistance from the outset of occupation, they failed to establish order to any extent that allowed for colonisation to take place, and lost further support due to the slow pace of land reform programmes and a lack of response to Crimean Tatar nationalist sentiment. A matter of significant strategic and ideological importance, Germany's occupation of Crimea remained a matter of hot debate between the Wehrmacht, NSDAP Office of Foreign Affairs, and Reich Ministry for the Occupied Eastern Territories. It was variously proposed to be annexed into Reichskommissariat Ukraine, made part of Germany proper, or transformed into an independent state under German suzerainty. Collaboration by some Crimean Tatars during the German occupation served as the basis for the deportation of the Crimean Tatars in 1944, despite active Crimean Tatar participation in the war effort and the desire by certain sectors of the German government to deport Tatars themselves. Background Crimean Tatars against the Soviet government Prior to Operation Barbarossa, Crimea operated as an Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic of the Soviet Union. Though Crimean Tatars, a Turkic and religiously-Muslim ethnic group, were the eponymous people and a significant portion of the population, tensions existed between them and ethnic Slavs (primarily Russians). These tensions were compounded by Soviet government opposition to expressions of Crimean Tatar national desires, such as a government-backed proposal for Jewish autonomy in Crimea in the early 1920s, the arrest and execution of national communist leader in 1928, and the mass killings of Crimean Tatar leaders during the