The ethnic and political re-definition of the Adriatic Littoral was considered during the war on a theoretical level. In a telegram sent on 9 September 1943 to foreign minister Ribbentrop, Gauleiter Rainer suggests the future establishment of Reich protectorates in Gorizia, Istria and Carniola, based on the subdivisions of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire. Initial German occupation policy, however, favored incorporating the area into the Reichsgau of Carinthia.