Areas captured from Nazi Germany during 1944–1945 became part of which geopolitical unit within the USSR?

• A. Autonomous republics within the USSR
• B. Regions governed by military councils
• C. Soviet Socialist Republics
• D. Free states under occupation

Answer: (A)

The lands taken from Germany in the final years of World War II were organized as autonomous republics within the USSR. This means they were kept as part of the Soviet Union but given a degree of self-government under a larger union republic (such as the Ukrainian or Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republics) rather than becoming independent states or full separate union republics. The system used autonomous republics to incorporate newly acquired or reorganized territories while maintaining centralized control. The other options don’t fit this arrangement: military councils describe wartime governance, free states under occupation aren’t a situation that existed inside the USSR, and full Soviet Socialist Republics are the major union-level units, not the newly added lands.