Figure 1.--

Large number of Germans citizens and people of German ancestry living in foreign countries. This had a range of implications for the NAZIs, primarily diplomatic concerns and intelligence gathering. This included countries in Europe as well as North America, Latin America, and Africa. Some of these Germans proved useful to the NAZIs. Others were more of a complication. And there were significant differences in the appeal of NAZIism. The largest number of overseas German, in fact the majority lived in the United States and had largely assimilated. Although the German-American Bund nade headlines, the NAZIs had little appeal to the vast majority of German-Americans who like most other Americans saw the NAZIs as repungnant when they began to appear in movie newsreels. And Hitler's primary concern with German Americans was to keep them quiet so as not to incite American public policy. His primary goal was to keep America out of the War as long as possible. The Germans in areas of the former German Empire that had been lost to new or neigboring countries were a different matter. They tended to be very pro-NAZI as the NAZIs provided the possibility of reunion with the Reich. NAZI diplomacy used them to stir up trouble and to provide an excuse to persude Allied politicans like Primeminister Chanberlain to accept NAZI expansionism. Other German populations in Europe varied with some support for the NAZIs as well as other group such as the Folkdeutsch were mpre apolitical. There were Germans in several Latin American countries. Germans there resisted asimilation and NAZI influence was widespread. This varied from country to country. The largest population was in Brazil, but the greatest influence was in Argentina. Even small numbers, however, became a security threat when Hitler launched World War II and information such as ship sailings became important. Germany before World War I had several African colonies. The only one where any substantial number of Germans settled was Southwest Africa (Naminia) which became a BRitish-South African mandate after the War. Some Germans stayed in Southwest Africa and they tended to be pro-NAZI.

Overseas Germans

Large number of Germans citizens and people of German ancestry living in foreign countries. Most live in Germany with smaller numbers in Switzerland and Austria. Almost as many live in North America, especially the United States. Much smaller numbers live in other European countries, Latin America, Africa, and Oceania. We have developed information on the distribution of the Germans around the world. It is similar to the distributioin at the time of World War II. The primary difference is that mmost of the Germans in Eastern European countries have been repatriated to Germany in the aftermath of the War. Figure 1.--The worldwide German population totals about 170 million people. It rivals the Russians in terms of the largest Euopean national group. Interestingly only about half of the people of German ancestry live in Germany or neigboring Austria and Switzerland. The rest of the German population is scattered around the world. The worldwide German population totals about 170 million people. It rivals the Russians in terms of the largest Euopean national group. Interestingly only about half of the people of German ancestry live in Germany or neigboring Austria and Switzerland. The rest of the German population is scattered around the world. The most important single country outside of Germany and it European neigbors is the United States. There are almost as many people of German ancestry in America as in Germany itself. A brief population survey gives us a break-down of where people of German ancestry live throughout the world.

Implications for the NAZIs

The Germans in foreign countries had a range of implications for the NAZIs, primarily diplomatic concerns and intelligence gathering. This included countries in Europe as well as North America, Latin America, and Africa. Some of these Germans proved useful to the NAZIs. Others were more of a complication. And there were significant differences in the appeal of NAZIism. The largest number of overseas German, in fact the majority lived in the United States and had largely assimilated. Although the German-American Bund nade headlines, the NAZIs had little appeal to the vast majority of German-Americans who like most other Americans saw the NAZIs as repungnant when they began to appear in movie newsreels. And Hitler's primary concern with German Americans was to keep them quiet so as not to incite American public policy. His primary goal was to keep America out of the War as long as possible. The Germans in areas of the former German Empire that had been lost to new or neigboring countries were a different matter. They tended to be very pro-NAZI as the NAZIs provided the possibility of reunion with the Reich. NAZI diplomacy used them to stir up trouble and to provide an excuse to persude Allied politicans like Primeminister Chanberlain to accept NAZI expansionism. Other German populations in Europe varied with some support for the NAZIs as well as other group such as the Folkdeutsch were mpre apolitical. There were Germans in several Latin American countries. Germans there resisted asimilation and NAZI influence was widespread. This varied from country to country. The largest population was in Brazil, but the greatest influence was in Argentina. Even small numbers, however, became a security threat when Hitler launched World War II and information such as ship sailings became important. Germany before World War I had several African colonies. The only one where any substantial number of Germans settled was Southwest Africa (Naminia) which became a British-South African mandate after the War. Some Germans stayed in Southwest Africa and they tended to be pro-NAZI.

United States

The largest number of overseas German, in fact the majority lived in the United States and had largely assimilated. Although the German-American Bund made headlines, the NAZIs had little appeal to the vast majority of German-Americans who like most other Americans saw the NAZIs as repungnant when they began to appear in movie newsreels. And Hitler's primary concern with German Americans was to keep them quiet so as not to incite American public policy. His primary goal was to keep America out of the War as long as possible. And here he was aided by the fact that the backbone of the isolationist movement was the Mid-West and the Germans were a major element in the Midwest. American isolationism did not favor the NAZIs, although some individualm isolations like Charles Lindbery and Henry Ford were sympsthetic. Rather it was a fear of war.

Europe

The Germans in areas of the former German Empire that had been lost to new or neigboring countries were a different matter. They tended to be very pro-NAZI as the NAZIs provided the possibility of reunion with the Reich. The Sudeten Germans became especially important. NAZI diplomacy used them to stir up trouble and to provide an excuse to persude Allied politicans like Primeminister Chanberlain to accept NAZI expansionism. One group of Germans Hitler abandoned, the Germans in the South Tyrol which has been awarded to Italy after World War I. The Baltic Germans and the Germans in Romania became important in NAZI-Soviet negotiations after the signing of the Non-Agression Pact (August 1939). Other German populations in Europe varied with some support for the NAZIs as well as other group such as the Folkdeutsch were mpre apolitical.

Latin America

There were Germans in several Latin American countries. Germans there resisted asimilation and NAZI influence was widespread. This varied from country to country. The largest population was in Brazil, but the greatest influence was in Argentina. Even small numbers, however, became a security threat when Hitler launched World War II and information such as ship sailings became important.

Southwest Africa

Germany before World War I had several African colonies. The only one where any substantial number of Germans settled was Southwest Africa (modern Naminia). One author writes, "The German terms Lebensraum and Konzentrationslager, both widely known because of their use by the Nazis, were not coined by the Hitler regime. These terms were minted many years earlier in reference to German South West Africa, now Namibia, during the first decade of the twentieth century, when Germans colonized the land and committed genocide against the local Herero and Nama peoples. Later use of these borrowed words suggests an important question: did Wilhelmine colonization and genocide in Namibia influence Nazi plans to conquer and settle Eastern Europe, enslave and murder millions of Slavs and exterminate Gypsies and Jews? This article argues that the German experience in Namibia was a crucial precursor to Nazi colonialism and genocide and that personal connections, literature, and public debates served as conduits for communicating colonialist and genocidal ideas and methods from the colony to Germany." [Madley] A reader writes, "I don't know if there really is a connection between German Southwest Africa and the racial policy of the Nazis. It is a fact that most Germans who stayed in the country after 1918 admired Hitler. To suggest that certain Nazi-terms like Lebensraum and Konzentrationslager had had their source in German Southwest Africa I think is a little far out. Actually the British started putting Afrikaner women and children in camps during the Boer war and these were named Concentratie Kampen in Afrikaans (concentration camps). I don't know if the Germans used such camps. I do know that they killed thousands of Hereros and other natives." Southwest Africa became a British-South African mandate after the War. Some Germans stayed in Southwest Africa and they tended to be pro-NAZI.

Sources

Madley, Nenjamin. "From Africa to Auschwitz: How German South West Africa Incubated Ideas and Methods Adopted and Developed by the Nazis in Eastern Europe," European History Quarterly Vol. 35, No. 3, (2005), pp. 429-64.

Created: 11:20 PM 5/22/2010
Last updated: 11:20 PM 5/22/2010