Figure 1.--The Soviet people who first experienced German occupation did not know what to expect. Few understood just what the NAZIs planned. Even many German soldiers did not comprehend what Hitler planned. Older people recalled a very different German invader in World war I. Children were mistified. By that first winter, most Russians and Ukranians understood the nature of the German invader. This photograph was taken by a German soldier. Photographs like this were very common in the heady days after Barbarossa was launched, but gradually became less common.

Hitler's plans for the occupied East are difficult to describe because the Red Army liberated the East before any coherent German plan coud be agreed on and implemented. The German occupation of Poland provides the best example of just what Hitler had in mind. Major figures and institutions in the NAZi regime had their own often very different ideas about the appropriate Ostpolitik. Goebbels, Göring, Himmler, Heydrich, Ribbentrop, Rosenberg as well as the Wehrmacht all had ideas about the appropriate course in the East. And Hitler's leadership style generate such competition. There were advocates of a moderate approach in the East. One scholar sets the general prameters of NAZI policy. He quotes a German interpreter who thought that the Russians should be treated properly so that"many a poor devil will become a hard-working and kindly helper". [Dallin, p. 72.] The other extreme was expressed by the Kreisleiter who proclaimed thsat any Russian in his area who "show signs of intelligence will be shot". [Dallin, p. 149.] Many historians believe that a moderate occupation policy might have attracted considerable support to help fight the Bolshevicks, especially in the Ukraoine. The moderate policies, however, were never attemted. From the onset the German policy was extrondinaraliy brutal and explotative. This probably results from both the the growing influence of the SS and a reflection of what Hitler himself desired. The most severe policies were routinely supported by Hitler whose bliefs about the East are clearly expained in Mein Kampf. Hitler saw the vast sweep of the Eastern steep as an area to be cleared of most of its Slavic population which he saw as threatening Aryan people. The East would become a vast NAZI empire to be settled and reshaped by German colonists commanding a much reduced class of uneducated, mannual workers. And he saw no need to temporaize in 1941 or even 1942 by appealing to the Ukranians and others to make a joint effort against the Bolsheviks.

Hitler and the NAZIs

Occupied Poland

Hitler's plans for the occupied East are difficult to describe because the Red Army liberated the East before any coherent German plan coud be agreed on and implemented. The German occupation of Poland provides the best example of just what Hitler had in mind. The occupation of Poland was one of the most brutal in European history. Occupation aithorities, especially the SS, were under no legal or moral constraints as regards their conduct and the execultion of occupation policies. Poles had no recourse. The NAZI set out to eliminate the Polish intelgencia and reduce the rest of the country to a vast population of slave labor. It is estimated that a quarter of the population of Poland perished during the occupation. Hitler did not view Poland as a legitimate nation. He saw it as a creation of the hated Versailles Treaty ending World War I. Poland had split Germany through the Polish Corridor. He was determined that Poland would never again threaten Germany or limit Germany's drive for lebensraum. The NAZI plan was simple. First they plan to eliminate the Polish inteligencia. Second they would expel Poles and colonize the former Polish areas with Germans. The was given orders to kill Polish prominent civilians and indiviaduals such as government officials, the nobility, teachers, and priests throughout Poland, any would which could promote Polish nationalism or offer leadership. Today their are countless memorial stones and plaques througout Poland where these executions took place. And it was not just men, women and children were also killed. The invasion of Poland brough a much larger area an numbers of foreigners under German control (September 1939). Himmler had asigned the Main Office for the Consolidation of German Nationhood (SS-RKF) the task of preparing a plan for Germanizing Poland. The Chief of SS-RKF Department II (Planning) SS-Oberführer Professor Dr. Konrad Meyer was responsible for preparing the plans. An important part of the program for the program was to reclaim as much suitable generic material as possible which meant kidnapping Polish children and raising them as Germans.

Differences of Opinion

Major figures and institutions in the NAZi regime had their own often very different ideas about the appropriate Ostpolitik. Goebbels, Göring, Himmler, Heydrich, Ribbentrop, Rosenberg as well as the Wehrmacht all had ideas about the appropriate course in the East. And Hitler's leadership style generate such competition. There were advocates of a moderate approach in the East. One scholar sets the general prameters of NAZI policy. He quotes a German interpreter who thought that the Russians should be treated properly so that"many a poor devil will become a hard-working and kindly helper". [Dallin, p. 72.] The other extreme was expressed by the Kreisleiter who proclaimed thsat any Russian in his area who "show signs of intelligence will be shot". [Dallin, p. 149.]

Benefits of a Moderate Occupation Policy

Many historians believe that a moderate occupation policy might have attracted considerable support to help fight the Bolsheviks, especially in the Ukraine. There were large numbers of individuals in the Soviet Union with anti-Soviet attitudes. It is imposible to determine the numbers with any certainty, but the Germans were welcomed as liberators in the western Ukrain and the Baltics. And there were other areas as well, such as the Muslim areas of the Caucauses and Central Area that had large numbers of disaffected people.

Actual Policies in the Soviet Union

The moderate policies, however, were never attemted. From the onset the German policy was extrondinaraliy brutal and explotative. The NAZIs invaded the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941. Radidly the Baltic Republics (occupied by the Soviets in 1940) and large areas came under NAZI control. The NAZIs employed the same ruthless tactics developed in Poland, but on a far larger scale. Heydrich in 1941 ordered the Sicherheitsdienst (SD) (SS Security Service) in 1941 to begin the necessary planning for the Germinization of occupied territories in the Soviet Union. The Reichs-Sicherheitsdienst (RSHA) (Reich Security Head Office). The initial report submitted in November 1941 by the RDHA estimated that 31 million peole should be "evacuated". The SS-RKF was ordered to extend its planning for the Germinization to the occupied area of the Soviet Union. [Padfield, p. 363.] There were differences of opinion within the SS and between the SS and Alfred Rosenberg's Ostministerium (Ministry for the Occupied East) over how to claim the East. There was agreement that large numers of Slavs had to be removed to Siberia. There were differences as to the extent to which forcible evictions should take place. Given the scale of movement involved, such discussions probably were not relistic. [Padfield, p. 363.] The NAZIs looked on the people of the Soviet Union in starkly racial terms. They were willing to work with the native Baltic population and some in the Baltics were willing to work with the NAZIs. The NAZIs were determined that the Slav population in Russia proper and the Ukraine would have to be substantially reduced. Some Slavs would be kept, at least for a while to serve as a slave population to do mannual labor, at least until the region could be Germanized.

Hitler's Influence

This probably results from both the the growing influence of the SS and a reflection of what Hitler himself desired. The most severe policies were routinely supported by Hitler whose bliefs about the East are clearly expained in Mein Kampf.

Hitler's Vision

Hitler saw Germany as being hemmed in by enemies and deprived of needed resources. He was convinced that Germany needed to acquire resources to compete with the great powers and those resources existed in the East in lands occupied by Slavic peoples. Thus he grafted the modern great power struggle on to the Medieval struggle between Germans and Slavs. Hitler saw the vast sweep of the Eastern steep as an area to be cleared of most of its Slavic population which he saw as threatening Aryan people. The East would become a vast NAZI empire to be settled and reshaped by German colonists commanding a much reduced class of uneducated, mannual workers. And he saw no need to temporaize in 1941 or even 1942 by appealing to the Ukranians and others to make a joint effort against the Bolsheviks.

Race

Many historians writing about World War II treat the NAZI Holocaust as a aboration and side show. This was surely the case for the Allies. Their aim was to defeat the NAZI menace and saving Jews was just one of many ancilery benefits flowing from Hitler's defeat. Perhaps this explains the treatment of race. For Hitler and many NAZIs, however, race was not a side show. It was in fact the main goal of the War. And several modern historians have identified race, including the sytemized eliination of Jews, as central to NAZI policy. [Manzower] This explains why Hitler had no real desire after the defeat of France to continue the War with Britain and would have offered fairly favorable terms. (The British of course understood by this time the value of Hitler's assurances.) What he wanted was to reshape the ethnic demographics of the East. And as grotesque as it may seem, the Holocaust of the Jewish people was just a preliminary step. Hitler was determined that the Slavic people would never again threat Aryan Germany. This was the primary goal of the War. Hitler saw history as a struggle between Aryan Germany and the Slavic peoples of Eastern Europe. It is unclear just how many Germans shared this vision. Here historians vary. One historian believes that large numbers of Germans agreed. [Mazower] We are not as convinced of this, but it is a diificult questioin to answer.

Unanswered Question

There is one unanswered question about the NAZI occupied East. And that is just how much of the Slavic people of Eastern Europe. Some NAZIS spoke about a sollution in thirds, one-third to be killed which of course would have dwarded the Holocaust of the Jewish people. One third were to be deiven beyond the Urals, which would have meant tens of millions of more deaths. And the final thirs were to be turned into slave laborors. This may have been over an interim sollution to the East. This would have recreated Spartan society with a slave working population to support the warrior elite. But the NAZIs were strong believers in the value of work. And there are indications that the fonal goal was an East completely populated with a German Aryan population which would have meant millions more would have been slated for eliminsation. Some see a NAZI vision as an East completely populated with Aryans. This is what the Germans did in the area of Western Poland they occupied and there is every reason to believe that they would have dome in the Government General had they won the War. It is also what Heydrich was preparing to do in Czechoslovakia at the tome he was killed by British-trained Czechs (942).

Sources

Dallin, Alexander. German Rule in Russia 1941-1945: A Study in Occupation Policies (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1957), 677p. The documents and information collected by Professor Dallin make this one of the most important studies of German occupation policies in the East.

Mazower, Mark. Hitler's Empire: How the Nazis Ruled Europe.

Padfield, Peter. Himmler: Reichsführer-SS (Henry Holt: New York, 1991), 656p.

Created: 2:25 AM 10/19/2008
Last updated: 2:26 AM 10/19/2008