Figure 1.--Hitler in 'Mein Kampf' discusses Germany's needed for Lebensraum at some length. What he does not address was what was to be done with the people already living there. Hitler's answer to that question proved to be horific. It was undertaken as part of the the World War II invasion of the Soviet Union. This photograph was taken by a German soldier, probably in the western Ukraine. It looks to be early November 1941 just as the weather started to turn cold. Notice the flat treeless landscaspe, perfect for the German Panzers.
Lebensraum was a central component of Hitler's argument in Mein Kampf. It was not, however, a term or idea that he coined. Germans had been seeking living space since the Middle Ages. Der Drang nach Osten, the Drive East, conflict with the Slavs dates from earlist phase of medival German history. At the time the term used was "Ostsiedlung" or "east colonization" was used . Der Drang nach Osten is of more recent origins.
Germans in the Middle Ages moved east and set up communities throughout Central and Eastertn Europe. The term Lebensraum was a political term coined by Friedrich Ratzel (1901). It became commonly used in Germany for the acquisition of colonies, referring to the English and French imperial modelsn of founding colonies in Africa and Asia. Germany after unification (1871), began acquiring overseas colonies. The colonies were located in Africa, Asia, and the Pacific. The Germans came late to empire building. And they never thought thst their hodge-podge collection of colonies reflected their country's rightful place in the world. Hitler from an early point began speaking of Germany�s need for Lebensraum (living space), but he was less interested in the colonies lost after World War I than land in the East. And it is the East and not the West that Hitler focuses on in Main Kampf He writes that that Germany and the Aryan race was constrained by all too limited Lebensraum (living space). He insists that German must seize the vast lands ofthe East for the Lebensraum Germany needed. Hitler writes, "The external security of a people in largely determined by the size of its territory." [Hitler] Hitler insisted that when he won power he would occupy Soviet lands in the East. Here there was both a economic and a racial dimensions. Living spave in the East was important for economic reasons as it provided both agricultural land and a crange of resources. Seizing the East would all destoy the threat from the Siviet Union which Hitler saw as a racial threat from Jews and Slavs. Thus seizing the East would not only provide Lebensraum, but also alieviate the Bolshevik/Jewish threat. And he insisted, "The Russian Empire in the East is ripe for collapse; and the end of the Jewish domination of Russia will also be the end of Russia as a state." [Hitler] He claimed that "the taking of 'the East' was nothing but the taking of a legitimate inheritance to which Germany had always been entitled." [Hitler]
Der Drang nach Osten
Germans had been seeking living space since the Middle Ages. Der Drang nach Osten, the Drive East, conflict with the Slavs dates from earlist phase of medival German history. At the time the term used was "Ostsiedlung" or "east colonization" was used . Der Drang nach Osten is of more recent origins.
Germans in the Middle Ages moved east and set up communities throughout Central and Eastertn Europe.
Radical Ideas
The NAZIs and Hitler are creduted with all kinds of abhorent ideas. Thry were not, hoiwver, not bovel thinkers. The originbated few ideas. The put manynideas intompractice, but there were all kinds of Vilkish, euygenic ideas prcolating through German society long befoie Hitker and the NAZIs camr one the scene. These ideas were present in many countries. Ehat made Germany differentbis that Hitler adopted them as state policy and pursued them with a barbaric ruthlesmess.
Lebensraum
Lebens raum was one if the ideas Hitler embraced, but did not create. The term Lebensraum was coined by the German geographer, Friedrich Ratzel (1844-1904). Ratzel developed aSicial Darwinian theory that proposed that the success of all living species, humans included, is primarily determined by their adaptation to their geographic circumstances. It needs to be said that this is not a theory proposed bt Darwin, but lter thinkers who picked up on the idea of survivsl of the fitest and applied it to humans. Ratzel studued the migration of animsks and saw it as the cetral factor in the success of a species. According to Ratzel, a sppecies that successfully adapted to one location could spread naturally to others. And he asrgued that to remain healthy and griww , a people must continually expand the area of space which they occupy. For Ratzel, migration is a natural aspect of all species -- the expression of a inate need for living space. [Ratzel, Ant.. He applied this idea to human social adaptation and cultural change. He saw this process functioning among humans who collectively acted as 'peoples' (Völker). Throughout histiry one Völk effectively struggled with another. Tstzel was not just tslking about modern European wars in which one country seized a privince or two from another. Ratzel's idea was not as militaroistic and gressive as NAXZI Lebensrau,. He believed that this was just a naturak evilutiinaryb process. He believed, however, that ultimately one Volk could only suceed if they conquering another Volk and colonised their new territory. [Ratzel. Leb.] And the cental idea in his mind was the creation of a vast agricultural colony -- recreating German peasant agriculture abroad. The German peasant farmer was seen as the soul of the nation. Himmler in particulsr was obsessed with this agricultural vission. And you see this in Gereralplan Ost.
European Colonization
There were aspects of this that achieved currency in other European countries. Several countries adopted colonization programs that sought to not only exploit ioversea colkonies, but to populate them as well. Rarely did this work. The British populated the vatklanyic seaboard og North America., but then had to worry that their Noirth Ameroican cokonies would eventually grow vlarger than the mother country. When the CAmerican coloniists saw that they would beverk receive cutizenshio rights, the rebvelled (1776). There were onky two such suceeses--Australia and New Zealand.
Imperial German Colonies
The term Lebensraum was a political term coined by Friedrich Ratzel (1901). It became commonly used in Germany for the acquisition of colonies, referring to the English and French imperial modeln of founding colonies in Africa and Asia. Germany after unification (1871), began acquiring overseas colonies. The colonies were located in Africa, Asia, and the Pacific. The Germans came late to empire building. And they never thought thst their hodge-podge collection of colonies reflected their country's rightful place in the world. The Gernans lost their overseas colonies asca result of Worlkd War I (19140-18). Some German natiinalists were obsessed vwith regaining these colonies. Hitker never paid more than lip servuce to these colonies. He noted that very few Germans ever moved to the African and Pacific colonies of Imperial Germany. The British attempted to buy him off in the 1930s by dangling the return of the former colomies to him, but he was never interested in them. His malevolent gaze was firmly fixed East.
Mein Kampf
Lebensraum was a central component of Hitler's argument in Mein Kampf. Hitler from an early point began speaking of Germany's need for Lebensraum (living space), but he was less interested in the colonies lost after World War I than land in the East. And it is the East and not the West that Hitler focuses on in Main Kampf He writes that that Germany and the Aryan race was constrained by all too limited Lebensraum (living space). And he wanted both territirial and settlement (colonization). He writes, For it is not in colonial [overseas] acquisitions that we must see the solution of yhis problm, but exclusively in the acquisition of a terriutiry bfor settlement, which will enhsnce the area of the mother country, nfd hsnce not only keep nthe new settlers in the most intimate communitty bwith the vlnd of theur origin, but secure fir the total area thise advantages which lie in its inified magnitude. [Hitler]
He insists that German must seize the vast lands of the East for the Lebensraum Germany needed. Hitler writes, "The external security of a people in largely determined by the size of its territory." [Hitler] Hitler insisted that when he won power he would occupy Soviet lands in the East. Here there was both a economic and a racial dimensions. Living spave in the East was important for economic reasons as it provided both agricultural land and a crange of resources. Seizing the East would all destoy the threat from the Siviet Union which Hitler saw as a racial threat from Jews and Slavs. Thus seizing the East would not only provide Lebensraum, but also alieviate the Bolshevik/Jewish threat. And he insisted, "The Russian Empire in the East is ripe for collapse; and the end of the Jewish domination of Russia will also be the end of Russia as a state." [Hitler] He claimed that "the taking of 'the East' was nothing but the taking of a legitimate inheritance to which Germany had always been entitled." [Hitler]
Sources
Hitler, Adolf. Mein Kampf.
Ratzel, Friedrich. Anthropogeographie (1882 and 1891).
