What was the plan ost briefly. Master plan ost
Many people have probably heard about the “General Plan Ost,” according to which Nazi Germany was going to “develop” the lands it had conquered in the East. However, this document was kept secret by the top leadership of the Third Reich, and many of its components and applications were destroyed at the end of the war. And only now, in December 2009, this ominous document was finally published.
Only a six-page excerpt from this plan appeared at the Nuremberg trials. It is known in the historical and scientific community as “Comments and proposals of the Eastern Ministry on the “General Plan “Ost”. As it was established at the Nuremberg trials, these “comments and proposals” were drawn up on April 27, 1942 by E. Wetzel, an employee of the Ministry of Eastern Territories, after familiarizing himself with the draft plan prepared by the RSHA. As a matter of fact, it was on this document that until very recently all research on Nazi plans for the enslavement of the “eastern territories” was based.
On the other hand, some revisionists could argue that this document was just a draft drawn up by a minor official in one of the ministries, and it had nothing to do with real politics. However, at the end of the 80s, the final text of the Ost plan, approved by Hitler, was found in the Federal Archives of Germany, and individual documents from it were presented at an exhibition in 1991.
However, it was only in November-December 2009 that the “General Plan “Ost” - the foundations of the legal, economic and territorial structure of the East” was fully digitized and published. This is reported on the website of the Historical Memory Foundation.
As a matter of fact, the German government’s plan to “free up living space” for Germans and other “Germanic peoples,” which included the “Germanization” of Eastern Europe and mass ethnic cleansing of the local population, did not arise spontaneously, nor out of nowhere. First developments in in this direction The German scientific community began to lead the way back under Kaiser Wilhelm II, when no one had heard of National Socialism, and Hitler himself was just a skinny rural boy.
As a group of German historians (Isabelle Heinemann, Willy Oberkrome, Sabine Schleiermacher, Patrick Wagner) clarifies in the study “Science, Planning, Expulsion: “The Ost General Plan of the National Socialists”: “Since 1900 on racial anthropology and eugenics, or racial hygiene can be spoken of as a certain direction in the development of science at the national and international levels. Under National Socialism, these sciences achieved the position of leading disciplines, providing the regime with methods and principles to justify racial policies. There was no precise and uniform definition of "race". Conducted racial studies raised the question of the relationship between “race” and “living space”.
At the same time, “the political culture of Germany already in the Kaiser’s empire was open to thinking in nationalist concepts. The rapid dynamics of modernization at the beginning of the twentieth century. greatly changed the way of life, daily habits and values and raised concerns about the “degeneration” of the “German essence”. “Salvation” from this irritating experience of a turning point lay, it seemed, in a re-awareness of the “eternal” values of the peasant “nationality.”
However, the way in which German society intended to return to these “eternal peasant values” was chosen in a very peculiar way - the seizure of land from other peoples, mainly to the East of Germany. Already in the First World War, after the capture of Western lands by German troops Russian Empire, the occupation authorities began to think about a new state and ethnic order for these lands. In the discussion about the goals of the war, these expectations were concretized. For example, the liberal historian Meinecke said: “Couldn’t Courland also... be useful to us as a land for peasant colonization if the Latvians are expelled to Russia? Previously this would have been considered fantastic, but it is not so impracticable.”
The not so liberal General Rohrbach put it more simply: “The land conquered by the German sword must serve exclusively the benefit of the German people. The rest can roll away." These were the plans for creating a new “national soil” in the East at the beginning of the twentieth century.
Around the same years, German scientists began to argue that “ appearance, spiritual, psychological and cultural values “allow us to conclude about the superiority of the Nordic race. Therefore, it is necessary to put an end to the mixing of races in order to prevent degeneration.” So all that remained for Hitler was to collect these “scientific ingredients”, synthesize both the “racial theory” and the idea of a new “living space”. Which is basically what he did in his book Mein Kampf in 1925.
But it was just a journalistic brochure. The actual military conquest of vast territories populated by tens of millions of people prompted the Nazi leadership to approach the issue with truly German methodicality. This is how the “General Plan “Ost”” was created.
The mentioned group of German researchers reports that “in June 1942, agronomist Konrad Mayer handed over a memo to SS Reichsführer G. Himmler. This document became known as the “General Plan “Ost”. He personifies the criminal nature of National Socialist policy and the unscrupulousness of the experts who participated in it. “The General Plan Ost provided for the settlement of 5 million Germans in annexed Poland and in the occupied Western lands Soviet Union. Millions of Slavic and Jewish inhabitants were to be enslaved, expelled or exterminated.
The scope of the “General Plan Ost” is indicated by this map, made in 1993 by Karl Heinz Roth and Klaus Carstens based on studied documents.
At the same time, the Historical Memory Foundation “insists that the plan was developed in 1941 by the Main Directorate of Reich Security. And, accordingly, it was presented on May 28, 1942 by an employee of the Office of the Headquarters of the Reich Commissioner for the Consolidation of the German People, SS Oberführer Meyer-Hetling under the title “General Plan “Ost” - the foundations of the legal, economic and territorial structure of the East.”
However, this contradiction is apparent, since the German authors clarify that “in the period between 1940 and 1943. Himmler ordered the development of a total of five options for the violent reconstruction of Eastern Europe. Taken together, they formed a comprehensive plan called the Ost General Plan. Four options came from the office of the Reich Commissioner for the Strengthening of German Statehood (RKF), and one from the National Security Main Office (RSHA).
These departments had some “stylistic” differences in their approaches to this issue. As the German authors admit, “according to the RSHA plans of November 1941, 31 million people of the “foreign population” were to be deported to the East or killed. For 14 million “foreigners,” a future as slaves was planned. “The General Plan “Ost” of Konrad Meyer from June 1942 placed emphasis differently: the local population should no longer be forcibly deported, but “transferred” within the occupied regions to collective farm lands. But this plan also provided for a decrease in population as a result of large-scale forced labor and the forced “liquidation of cities” (Entstädterung). In the future, it was a question of exterminating the vast majority of the population or dooming them to starvation.”
However, the Ost plan was preceded by the Rosenberg plan. This was a project developed by the Reich Ministry for Occupied Territories, headed by Alfred Rosenberg. On May 9, 1941, Rosenberg presented the Fuhrer with draft directives on policy issues in the territories that were to be occupied as a result of aggression against the USSR.
Rosenberg proposed creating five governorates on the territory of the USSR. Hitler opposed the autonomy of Ukraine and replaced the term “governorate” with “Reichskommissariat” for it. As a result, Rosenberg’s ideas took the following forms of implementation.
The first, the Reichskommissariat Ostland, was to include Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. "Ostland", where, according to Rosenberg, a population with "Aryan" blood lived, was subject to complete Germanization within two generations.
The second governorate - Reichskommissariat "Ukraine" - included Eastern Galicia (known in fascist terminology as "District Galicia"), Crimea, a number of territories along the Don and Volga, as well as the lands of the abolished Soviet Autonomous Republic of Volga Germans.
The third governorate was called the Reichskommissariat "Caucasus", and separated Russia from the Black Sea.
Fourth – Russia to the Urals.
The fifth governorate was to be Turkestan.
However, this plan seemed “half-hearted” to Hitler, and he demanded more radical solutions. In the context of German military successes, it was replaced by the “General Plan Ost”, which generally suited Hitler.
According to this plan, the Nazis wanted to resettle 10 million Germans to the “eastern lands”, and from there deport 30 million people to Siberia, and not only Russians. Many of those who glorify Hitler's collaborators as freedom fighters would also have been subject to deportation if Hitler had won. It was planned to evict beyond the Urals 85% of Lithuanians, 75% of Belarusians, 65% of Western Ukrainians, 75% of residents of the rest of Ukraine, 50% of Latvians and Estonians each. By the way, about the Crimean Tatars, about whom our liberal intelligentsia loved to lament so much, and whose leaders continue to pump up their rights to this day. In the event of a German victory, which most of their ancestors served so faithfully, they would still have to be deported from Crimea. Crimea was to become a “purely Aryan” territory called Gotengau. The Fuhrer wanted to resettle his beloved Tyroleans there.
The plans of Hitler and his associates, as is well known, failed thanks to the courage and colossal sacrifices of the Soviet people. However, it is worth reading the following paragraphs of the above-mentioned “comments” to the Ost plan - and see that some of its “creative heritage” continues to be implemented, and without any participation of the Nazis.
"To avoid eastern regions an increase in population that is undesirable for us... we must consciously pursue a policy to reduce the population. By means of propaganda, especially through the press, radio, cinema, leaflets, short brochures, reports, etc., we must constantly instill in the population the idea that it is harmful to have many children.
It is necessary to show how much money it costs to raise children, and what could be purchased with these funds. It is necessary to talk about the great danger to a woman’s health that she is exposed to when giving birth to children, etc. Along with this, the broadest propaganda of contraceptives must be launched. It is necessary to establish widespread production of these products. The distribution of these drugs and abortions should not be restricted in any way. We should do everything we can to expand the network of abortion clinics... The better quality abortions are performed, the more confidence the population will have in them. It is clear that doctors must also be authorized to perform abortions. And this should not be considered a violation of medical ethics.”
It is very reminiscent of what began to happen in our country with the beginning of “market reforms”.
I understand that the text is large and you will probably be too lazy to read it, but I have a huge request to you: please read it. Take ten minutes of your time. Dot all the i’s once and for all.
I give all fa and antifa the opportunity to learn first-hand about the long-term plans of Hitler’s National Socialism, about the future they have prepared for our people. I am sure that after reading these documents, you will be able to fully appreciate not only the military valor of your fathers and grandfathers, but also the significance of their victory for the fate of the Motherland. Its transformation into a breeding ground for the Reich, the displacement of the indigenous population in favor of German settlers, the forced reduction in the number of Slavic and other peoples of the USSR, the liquidation of their culture and statehood - this is what we managed to avoid then.
Hitler's policy of genocide was most clearly embodied in the Ost master plan, which was developed by the main imperial security department under the leadership of Himmler together with the eastern ministry of Rosenberg. To this day, the original Ost plan has not been discovered. However, after the defeat of Nazi Germany, a very valuable document was found and made available to the Nuremberg military tribunal, which allows one to get an idea of this plan and, in general, of the policy of German imperialism towards the peoples of Eastern Europe. We are talking about “Comments and proposals on the General Plan “Ost” of the Reichsführer of the SS Troops.” This document was signed on April 27, 1942 by E. Wetzel, head of the colonization department of the 1st Main Political Directorate of the “Eastern Ministry”.
1/214, national importance
Top secret! Of national importance!
Berlin, 27.4.1942.
Comments and suggestions on the General Plan "Ost" of the Reichsfuhrer-SS
“Back in November 1941, I learned that the Main Directorate of Reich Security was working on the Ost master plan. The responsible employee of the Main Directorate of Reich Security, Standartenführer Elich, already then told me the figure provided for in the plan of 31 million people of non-German origin who were to be resettled This matter is in charge of the Reich Security Main Directorate, which now occupies a leading position among the bodies subordinate to the Reichsfuehrer SS. Moreover, the Reich Security Main Directorate, in the opinion of all departments subordinate to the Reichsfuehrer SS, will also perform the functions of the Reich Commissariat for the Strengthening of the German Race .
General comments on the Ost master plan
In terms of its ultimate goal, namely the planned Germanization of the territories in question in the East, the plan should be approved. However, the enormous difficulties that will undoubtedly arise in the implementation of this plan and may even raise doubts about its feasibility, appear in the plan to be comparatively small. First of all, it is striking that Ingria [by this name the Nazis meant the territory of the Novgorod, Pskov and Leningrad regions], the Dnieper region, Tavria and Crimea dropped out of the plan [back in July 1941, Hitler gave the order to evict all residents from Crimea and turn it into “German Riviera”, a project was even developed to resettle the population of South Tyrol to Crimea] as a territory for colonization. This is obviously explained by the fact that in the future the plan will additionally include new colonization projects, which will be discussed at the end.
At present, it is already possible to more or less definitely establish as the eastern border of colonization (in its northern and middle part) a line running from Lake Ladoga to the Valdai Hills and further to Bryansk. Whether these changes will be made to the plan by the command of the SS troops, I cannot judge.
In any case, it must be provided that the number of people subject to resettlement according to the plan should be even more increased.
From the plan it can be understood that we're talking about not about a program to be carried out immediately, but that, on the contrary, the settlement of this space by Germans should take place within about 30 years after the end of the war. According to the plan, 14 million local residents should remain in this territory. However, whether they will lose their national features and undergo Germanization within the prescribed 30 years is more than doubtful, since, again, according to the plan under consideration, the number of German settlers is very small. Obviously, the plan does not take into account the desire of the State Commissioner for Strengthening the German Race (Greifelt's department) to settle persons suitable for Germanization within the German Empire proper...
The fundamental question of the entire plan for the colonization of the East becomes the question of whether we will be able to once again awaken in the German people the desire to move to the East. As far as I can judge from my experience, such a desire is undoubtedly present in most cases. However, we must also not lose sight of the fact that, on the other hand, a significant part of the population, especially from the western part of the empire, sharply rejects resettlement to the east, even to the Wart region, to the Danzig region and to West Prussia [this fact, by the way, suggests that there was nothing in common between the misanthropic plans of the fascist clique in Germany and the interests of the German people. The Nazis feared that after the resettlement of the peoples of Poland, the Baltic states, Western Ukraine and Western Belarus and the disappearance of the problem they had invented, a “people without living space” (Volk ohne Raum) would arise before them new problem- “living space without people” (Raum ohne Volk)] .. It is necessary, in my opinion, that the relevant authorities, especially the eastern ministry, constantly monitor the trends expressed in the reluctance to move to the east, and fight them with the help of propaganda.
Along with encouraging the desire to move to the east, decisive moments also include the need to awaken in the German people, especially among the German colonists in the eastern territories, a desire for increased childbearing. We must not be deceived: the increase in the birth rate observed since 1933 was in itself a gratifying phenomenon, but it cannot in any way be considered sufficient for the existence of the German people, especially taking into account its enormous task of colonizing the eastern territories and the incredible the biological ability to reproduce of our neighboring eastern peoples.
The Ost master plan provides that after the end of the war, the number of settlers for the immediate colonization of the eastern territories should be... 4550 thousand people. This number does not seem too large to me, given the colonization period of 30 years. It is quite possible that it could be more. After all, it must be borne in mind that these 4,550 thousand Germans should be distributed in such territories as the Danzig-West Prussia region, the Wart region, Upper Silesia, the General Government of South-East Prussia, the Bialystok region, the Baltic states, Ingria, Belarus, partially also regions of Ukraine... If we take into account the favorable increase in population through an increase in the birth rate, as well as to a certain extent the influx of immigrants from other countries inhabited by Germanic peoples, then we can count on 8 million Germans to colonize these territories over a period of about 30 years . However, this does not achieve the figure of 10 million Germans envisaged in the plan. According to the plan, these 8 million Germans account for 45 million local residents of NON-German origin, of which 31 million should be evicted from these territories.
If we analyze the previously planned figure of 45 million inhabitants of non-German origin, it turns out that the local population of the territories in question will itself exceed the number of immigrants. On the territory of former Poland there are supposedly about 36 million people [this obviously includes the population of Western Belarus and Western Ukraine]. From them approximately 1 million local Germans (Volksdeutsche) must be excluded. Then there will be 35 million people left. The Baltic countries have a population of 5.5 million people. Obviously, the Ost master plan also takes into account the former Soviet Zhitomir, Kamenets-Podolsk and partly Vinnytsia regions as territories for colonization. The population of the Zhytomyr and Kamenets-Podolsk regions is approximately 3.6 million people, and the Vinnitsa region is about 2 million people, since a significant part of it falls within the sphere of interests of Romania. Consequently, the total population living here is approximately 5.5-5.6 million people. Thus, the total population of the regions under consideration is 51 million. The number of people subject to eviction, according to the plan, should in reality be much higher than envisaged. Only if we take into account that approximately 5-6 million Jews living in this territory will be liquidated even before the eviction is carried out, can we agree with the figure mentioned in the plan of 45 million local residents of non-German origin. However, it is clear from the plan that the mentioned 45 million people also include Jews. It follows from this, therefore, that the plan is based on a clearly incorrect estimate of the population.
In addition, it seems to me that the plan does not take into account that the local population of non-German origin will multiply very quickly over a period of 30 years... Taking all this into account, we must assume that the number of residents of non-German origin in these territories will significantly exceed 51 million . Human. It will amount to 60-65 million people.
This suggests that the number of people who must either remain in these territories or be evicted is significantly higher than provided for in the plan. Accordingly, even more difficulties will arise in executing the plan. If we take into account that 14 million local residents will remain in the territories under consideration, as the plan envisages, then 46-51 million people need to be evicted. The number of residents to be resettled, set by the plan at 31 million people, cannot be considered correct. Further comments on the plan. The plan calls for the resettlement of racially undesirable local residents to Western Siberia. At the same time, percentage figures are given for individual peoples, and thereby the fate of these peoples is decided, although there is still no accurate data on their racial composition. Further, the same approach is established for all peoples, without taking into account whether and to what extent the Germanization of the corresponding peoples is envisaged, whether this concerns peoples friendly or hostile to the Germans.
General remarks on the issue of Germanization, especially on future treatment of residents of the former Baltic states
In principle, the first thing to note here is the following. It goes without saying that the policy of Germanization is applicable only to those peoples whom we consider racially complete. Racially full-fledged, in comparison with our people, can be considered mainly only those local residents of non-German origin who themselves, like their offspring, have pronounced signs of the Nordic race, manifested in appearance, behavior and abilities...
In my opinion, it is possible to win over suitable local residents in the Baltic countries for Germanization if the forced eviction of the unwanted population is carried out under the guise of more or less voluntary resettlement. In practice this could easily be done. In the vast areas of the East not intended for colonization by the Germans, we will need a large number of people who have been brought up to some extent in the European spirit and have acquired at least the basic concepts of European culture. These data are largely available to Estonians, Latvians and Lithuanians...
We should constantly proceed from the fact that, while managing all the vast territories within the sphere of interests of the German Empire, we must save the forces of the German people as much as possible... Then events unpleasant for the Russian population will be carried out, for example, not by a German, but by a German used for this administration Latvian or Lithuanian, which, if this principle is skillfully implemented, will undoubtedly have positive consequences for us. There is hardly any need to fear the Russification of Latvians or Lithuanians, especially since their number is not so small and they will occupy positions that place them above the Russians. Representatives of this stratum of the population should also be instilled with the feeling and creation that they represent something special in comparison with Russians. Perhaps later the danger from this layer of the population, associated with its desire to become Germanized, will be greater than the danger of its Russification. Regardless of the more or less voluntary relocation of racially undesirable residents from the former Baltic states to the East proposed here, the possibility of their relocation to other countries should also be allowed. As for the Lithuanians, whose general racial characteristics are significantly worse than those of the Estonians and Latvians, and among whom there are therefore very significant number racially undesirable people, then one should think about providing them with territory suitable for colonization in the East...
Towards a solution to the Polish question
a) Poles.
Their number is estimated to be 20-24 million people. Of all the peoples to be resettled according to the plan, the Poles are the most hostile to the Germans, the largest in number and therefore the most dangerous people.
The plan provides for the eviction of 80-85 percent of the Poles, i.e., out of 20 or 24 million Poles, 16-20.4 million will be deported, while 3-4.8 million will have to remain in the territory inhabited by German colonists . These figures proposed by the Main Directorate of Reich Security differ from the data of the Reich Commissioner for Strengthening the German Race on the number of racially full-fledged Poles suitable for Germanization. The Reich Commissioner for the Strengthening of the German Race, based on a census of the rural population of the Danzig-West Prussia and Wart regions, estimates the proportion of inhabitants suitable for Germanization at 3 percent. If we take this percentage as a basis, then the number of Poles subject to eviction should be even more than 19-23 million...
The Eastern Ministry is now taking a special interest in the question of the placement of racially undesirable Poles. The forced resettlement of about 20 million Poles to a certain region of Western Siberia will undoubtedly cause constant danger for the entire territory of Siberia, will create a hotbed of continuous revolts against the order established by the German authorities. Such a settlement of the Poles might have made sense as a counterweight to the Russians, if the latter had regained state independence and German control of this territory would therefore have become illusory. To this we must add that we must also strive to strengthen the Siberian peoples in every possible way in order to prevent the strengthening of the Russians. Siberians should feel like a people with their own culture. A compact settlement of several million Poles could probably have the following consequences: either over time the smaller Siberians will take up arms and a “Greater Poland” will arise, or we will make the Siberians our worst enemies, push them into the arms of the Russians and thereby prevent the formation of the Siberian people.
These are the political considerations that arise when reading the plan. They may be overly focused on, but in any case they deserve consideration.
I can agree that much more than 20 million people will be able to settle on the vast expanses of the Western Siberian steppe with its black soil regions, provided that systematic settlement is carried out. Certain difficulties may arise in the practical implementation of such a mass resettlement. If, according to the plan, a period of 30 years is provided for resettlement, then the number of resettlers will be about 700-800 thousand annually. To transport this mass of people, 700-800 trains will be required annually, and several hundred more to transport property and, possibly, livestock compositions. This means that transporting Poles alone will require 100-120 trains annually. In relatively peacetime, this can be considered technically feasible.
It is absolutely clear that the Polish question cannot be solved by liquidating the Poles, as is done with the Jews. Such a solution to the Polish question would forever burden the conscience of the German people and would deprive us of the sympathy of everyone, especially since others neighboring us. the nations would begin to fear that one day they would suffer the same fate. In my opinion, the Polish question must be resolved in such a way as to minimize the political complications I mentioned above. Back in March 1941, I expressed in a memorandum the view that the Polish question could be partially resolved through a more or less voluntary resettlement of Poles overseas. As I later learned, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is not without interest in the idea of a possible partial solution to the Polish question through the resettlement of Poles in South America, especially to Brazil. In my opinion, it is necessary to ensure that after the end of the war the cultural, and partly other sections of the Polish people, unsuitable for Germanization due to racial or political reasons, would emigrate to South America, as well as to North and Central America... It is quite possible to resettle millions of Poles, who are the most dangerous for us, to South America, especially to Brazil. At the same time, it would be possible to try, through an exchange, to return the South American Germans, especially from Southern Brazil, and settle them in new colonies, for example, in Tavria, Crimea, and also in the Dnieper region, since now there is no talk of settling the African colonies of the empire...
The vast majority of racially undesirable Poles should be resettled in the East. This mainly applies to peasants, agricultural workers, artisans, etc. They can be easily resettled on the territory of Siberia...
When Kuznetsk, Novosibirsk and Karaganda industrial areas will begin to operate at full capacity, a huge amount will be required work force, especially technical workers [the ruling circles of Nazi Germany had no intention of developing industry in Eastern Europe after its occupation. They wanted to use it only temporarily in order to continue the fight against England and the United States. After the final victory in the war, the Nazis intended to turn all of Eastern Europe into a raw materials and agricultural appendage of the third empire. They planned to destroy or transport most of the industrial enterprises of the Soviet Union to the West]. Why shouldn't Walloon engineers, Czech technicians, Hungarian businessmen and the like work in Siberia? In this case, one could rightfully talk about a reserve European territory for colonization and extraction of raw materials. Here European idea would make sense in all respects, while in the territory intended for German colonization, it would be dangerous for us, since in this case it would mean that, by virtue of the logic of things, we accepted the idea of racial mixing of the peoples of Europe... It should always keep in mind that Siberia to the lake. Baikal has always been a territory for European colonization. The Mongols inhabiting these areas, like the Turkic peoples, appeared here in the recent historical period. It must be emphasized once again that Siberia is one of the factors that, if used correctly, could play a decisive role in depriving the Russian people of the opportunity to restore their power.
b) On the question of Ukrainians.
According to the plan of the Main Directorate of Imperial Security, Western Ukrainians should also be resettled in Siberia. This provides for the resettlement of 65 percent of the population. This figure is significantly lower than the percentage of the Polish population subject to eviction...
c) On the issue of Belarusians.
According to the plan, it is planned to evict 75 percent of the Belarusian population from the territory they occupy. This means that 25 percent of Belarusians, according to the plan of the Main Directorate of Imperial Security, are subject to Germanization...
The racially undesirable Belarusian population will remain on the territory of Belarus for many years to come. In this regard, it seems extremely necessary to select, as carefully as possible, Belarusians of the Nordic type, suitable for racial and political reasons for Germanization, and send them to the empire for the purpose of using them as labor... They could be used in agriculture as agricultural workers, as well as in industry or as artisans. Since they would be treated as Germans and due to their lack of national feeling, they could soon, at least in the next generation, be completely Germanized.
The next question is the question of a place for the resettlement of Belarusians who are racially unsuitable for Germanization. According to the master plan, they should also be resettled in Western Siberia. We should proceed from the fact that the Belarusians are the most harmless and therefore the safest people for us among all the peoples of the eastern regions [the Nazis included Belarus as a general commissariat in the imperial commissariat “Ostland”, the administrative center of which was in Riga. V. Kube was appointed Commissioner General of Belarus. From the first days of the occupation, the Belarusian people launched a broad partisan struggle against the invaders. It turned out to be not as “harmless” for the occupiers as portrayed in this document. Suffice it to say that by the end of 1943, the partisans held and controlled 60 percent of the territory of Belarus. On January 1, 1944, 862 partisan detachments were operating in Belarus. On the night of September 21-22, 1943, the partisans destroyed the executioner of the Belarusian people, V. Kube, using a time bomb]. Even those Belarusians whom we cannot, for racial reasons, leave on the territory intended for colonization by our people, we can use to our advantage to a greater extent than representatives of other peoples of the eastern regions. The land of Belarus is scarce. Offering them the best lands means reconciling them with some things that could turn them against us. To this, by the way, it should be added that the Russian and especially the Belarusian population itself is inclined to change their homes, so that resettlement in these areas would not be perceived by the residents as tragically as, for example, in the Baltic countries. One should also think about resettling Belarusians to the Urals or to the regions of the North Caucasus, which in part could also serve as reserve territories for European colonization...
ON THE ISSUE OF TREATMENT OF THE RUSSIAN POPULATION
It is necessary to touch upon one more issue, which is not mentioned at all in the Ost master plan, but is of great importance for solving the entire eastern problem, namely, how can it be preserved and whether it can be preserved for a long time? German domination in the face of the enormous biological power of the Russian people. Therefore, it is necessary to briefly consider the issue of attitude towards the Russians, about which almost nothing is said in the general plan.
Now we can say with confidence that our previous anthropological information about the Russians, not to mention the fact that it was very incomplete and outdated, is largely incorrect. This was already noted in the fall of 1941 by representatives of the racial policy department and famous German scientists. This point of view was once again confirmed by Professor Dr. Abel, former first assistant to Professor E. Fischer, who in the winter of this year, on behalf of the Supreme Command of the Armed Forces, carried out detailed anthropological studies of the Russians...
Abel saw only the following possibilities for solving the problem: either the COMPLETE DESTRUCTION of the Russian people, or the Germanization of that part of it that has obvious signs of the Nordic race. These very serious provisions of Abel deserve great attention. This is not only about the defeat of the state centered in Moscow. Achieving this historic goal would never mean a complete solution to the problem. The point is most likely to defeat the Russians as a people, to divide them. Only if this problem is considered from a biological, especially from a racial-biological, point of view, and if German policy in the eastern regions is carried out in accordance with this, will it be possible to eliminate the danger that the Russian people poses to us.
The path proposed by Abel to eliminate the Russians as a people, not to mention the fact that its implementation would hardly be possible, is also not suitable for us for political and economic reasons. In this case, you need to take different paths to solve the Russian problem. These ways are briefly as follows.
A) First of all, it is necessary to provide for the division of the territory inhabited by Russians into various political regions with their own governing bodies in order to ensure separate national development in each of them...
For now, we can leave open the question of whether an imperial commissariat should be established in the Urals or whether separate regional administrations should be created here for the non-Russian population living in this territory without a special local central government body. However, the decisive factor here is that these areas are not administratively subordinate to the German supreme authorities that will be created in the Russian central regions. The peoples inhabiting these areas must be taught that under no circumstances should they be oriented towards Moscow, even if a German imperial commissar sits in Moscow...
Both in the Urals and in the Caucasus there are many different nationalities and languages. It will be impossible, and perhaps politically incorrect, to make Tatar or Mordovian the main language in the Urals, and, say, Georgian in the Caucasus. This could irritate other peoples in these areas. Therefore, it is worth thinking about introducing the German language as a language connecting all these peoples... Thus, German influence in the East would increase significantly. You should also think about separating Northern Russia administratively from the territories under the control of the Imperial Commissariat for Russian Affairs [obviously, the “Moscow Imperial Commissariat” is meant]... The idea of transforming this area in the future into a Great German colonial region should not be rejected, since its population is still exhibits to a large extent the characteristics of the Nordic race. In general, in the remaining central regions of Russia, the policy of individual general commissariats should be aimed, if possible, at the separation and separate development of these regions.
A Russian from the Gorky General Commissariat should be instilled with the feeling that he is somehow different from a Russian from the Tula General Commissariat. There is no doubt that such administrative fragmentation of Russian territory and the systematic isolation of individual regions will be one of the means of combating the strengthening of the Russian people [ In this regard, it is appropriate to mention the following statement by Hitler: “Our policy regarding the peoples inhabiting the vast expanses of Russia must be to encourage every form of discord and division.”(N. Picker. Hitlers Tischgesprache im Fuhrerhauptquartier. Bonn, 1951, S. 72)].
B) The second means, even more effective than the measures indicated in paragraph “A,” is the weakening of the Russian people racially. The Germanization of all Russians is impossible and undesirable for us from a racial point of view. What, however, can and should be done is to separate the Nordic population groups existing among the Russian people and carry out their gradual Germanization...
It is important that on Russian territory the majority of the population consists of people of the primitive semi-European type. It will not cause much trouble for the German leadership. This mass of racially inferior, stupid people needs, as evidenced by the centuries-old history of these areas, leadership. If the German leadership manages to prevent rapprochement with the Russian population and prevent the influence of German blood on the Russian people through extramarital affairs, then it is quite possible to maintain German dominance in this area, provided that we can overcome this biological hazard like the monstrous ability of these primitive people to reproduction.
C) There are many ways to undermine the biological strength of the people... The goal of German policy towards the population on Russian territory will be to bring the birth rate of Russians to a lower level than that of the Germans. The same applies, by the way, to the extremely fertile peoples of the Caucasus, and in the future, partially to Ukraine. For now, we are interested in increasing the size of the Ukrainian population as opposed to the Russians. But this should not lead to Ukrainians taking the place of Russians over time.
In order to avoid an increase in population that is undesirable for us in the eastern regions, it is urgently necessary to avoid in the East all the measures that we used to increase the birth rate in the empire. In these areas we must consciously pursue population reduction policies. By means of propaganda, especially through the press, radio, cinema, leaflets, short brochures, reports, etc., we must constantly instill in the population the idea that it is harmful to have many children.
It is necessary to show how much money it costs to raise children and what could be purchased with these funds. It is necessary to talk about the great danger to a woman’s health that she is exposed to when giving birth to children, etc. Along with this, the broadest propaganda of contraceptives must be launched. It is necessary to establish widespread production of these products. The distribution of these drugs and abortions should not be restricted in any way. Every effort should be made to expand the network of abortion clinics. It is possible, for example, to organize special retraining for midwives and paramedics and train them to perform abortions. The better quality abortions are performed, the more confidence the population will have in them. It is clear that doctors must also be authorized to perform abortions. And this should not be considered a violation of medical ethics.
Voluntary sterilization should also be promoted, efforts to reduce infant mortality should not be allowed, and mothers should not be allowed to learn how to care for infants and preventive measures against childhood diseases. The training of Russian doctors in these specialties should be reduced to a minimum, and no support should be provided to kindergartens and other similar institutions. Along with these measures in the field of health, no obstacles should be created to divorce. Help should not be provided to illegitimate children. We should not allow any tax privileges for people with many children, or provide them with financial assistance in the form of salary supplements...
It is important for us Germans to weaken the Russian people to such an extent that they will no longer be able to prevent us from establishing German domination in Europe. We can achieve this goal in the above ways...
D) On the question of the Czechs. According to current views, most Czechs, since they do not cause racial concern, should be Germanized. About 50 percent of the entire Czech population is subject to Germanization. Based on this figure, there will still be 3.5 million Czechs left who are not intended for Germanization, who must be gradually removed from the territory of the empire...
One should think about resettling these Czechs to Siberia, where they will dissolve among the Siberians and thereby contribute to the further alienation of the Siberians from the Russian people...
The problems discussed above are enormous in scope. But it would be very dangerous to refuse to solve them, declaring them impracticable or fantastic. Future German policy towards the East will show whether we are truly determined to provide a solid basis for the continued existence of a third empire. If the third empire is to last for thousands of years, then our plans must last for generations. This means that the racial-biological idea must have a decisive role in future German politics. Only then will we be able to secure the future of our people.
Dr. Wetzel"
"Vierteljahreshefte fur Zeitgeschichie", 1958, No. 3.
Plan details
Implementation time:
1939 – 1944
Victims: Eastern European and USSR populations (mostly Slavic)
Place: Eastern Europe, occupied territory of the USSR
Character: racial-ethnic
Organizers and executors: the National Socialist Party of Germany, pro-fascist groups and collaborators in the occupied territories “Plan Ost” was a program of mass ethnic cleansing of the population of Eastern Europe and the USSR as part of a more global Nazi plan to “liberate living space” (the so-called Lebensraum) for the Germans and other “Germanic peoples” at the expense of the territories of “lower races” such as the Slavs.
The goal of the plan: Germanization of the lands" in Central and Eastern Europe, provided for the movement of populations in the de facto annexed regions of Western and Southern Europe (Alsace, Lorraine, Lower Styria, Upper Carniola) and from countries that were considered German (Holland, Norway, Denmark ).
Excerpt from the "General Plan Ost" Revision dated June 1942 Part C. Delimitation of settlement territories in the occupied eastern regions and principles of restoration: The penetration of German life into large areas of the East confronts the Reich with the urgent need to find new forms of settlement in order to bring the size of the territory into line and the number of German persons present. In the Ost General Plan of July 15, 1941, the delimitation of new territories was provided as the basis for development for 30 years.
Plan Description
Plan Ost was a plan of the German government of the Third Reich to “liberate living space” for Germans and other “Germanic peoples,” which included mass ethnic cleansing of the population of Eastern Europe. The plan was developed in 1941 by the Main Directorate of Reich Security and presented on May 28, 1942 by an employee of the Office of the Headquarters of the Reich Commissioner for the Consolidation of the German People, SS Oberführer Meyer-Hetling under the title “General Plan Ost - the foundations of the legal, economic and territorial structure of the East” .
The "Ost plan" was not preserved in the form of a completed plan. It was extremely secret, apparently existed in a few copies; at the Nuremberg trials, the only evidence of the existence of the plan was the "Comments and proposals of the Eastern Ministry" on the "Ost" master plan, according to prosecutors, written on April 27, 1942 by E. Wetzel, an employee of the Ministry of Eastern Territories, after familiarizing himself with the draft plan prepared by the RSHA. Most likely, it was deliberately destroyed.
According to Hitler’s own instructions, officials ordered that only a few copies of the Ost Plan be made for part of the Gauleiters, two ministers, the “Governor General” of Poland and two or three senior SS officials. The remaining SS Fuhrers of the RSHA had to familiarize themselves with the Ost Plan in the presence of the courier, sign that the document had been read, and return it. But history shows that it was never possible to destroy all traces of crimes on such a scale as those committed by the Nazis. Both in letters and in speeches of Hitler and other SS officers, references to the plan occur more than once. Two memos have also been preserved, from which it is clear that this plan existed and was discussed. From the notes we learn in some detail the contents of the plan.
According to some sources, the "Ost Plan" was divided into two - "Small Plan" and "Big Plan". The Small Plan was to be carried out during the war. The German government wanted to focus on the Big Plan after the war. The plan provided for different percentages of Germanization for different conquered Slavic and other peoples. The “non-Germanized" were to be deported to Western Siberia. The implementation of the plan was to ensure that the conquered territories would acquire an irrevocably German character.
According to the plan, the Slavs living in the countries of Eastern Europe and the European part of the USSR were to be partially Germanized, and partially deported beyond the Urals or destroyed. It was intended that a small percentage of the local population be left behind to be used as free labor for the German colonists.
According to the calculations of Nazi officials, 50 years after the war, the number of Germans living in these territories was supposed to reach 250 million. The plan applied to all peoples living in the territories subject to colonization: it also spoke about the peoples of the Baltic states, which were also supposed to be partially assimilated , and partially deported (for example, Latvians were considered more suitable for assimilation, unlike Lithuanians, among whom, according to the Nazis, there were too many “Slavic impurities”). As can be assumed from the comments to the plan preserved in some documents, the fate of the Jews living in the territories to be colonized was almost not mentioned in the plan, mainly because at that time the project of the “final solution of the Jewish question” had already been launched, according to which the Jews were subject to total destruction. The plan for the colonization of the eastern territories was, in fact, the development of Hitler’s plans regarding the already occupied territories of the USSR - plans that were especially clearly formulated in his statement of July 16, 1941 and then were further developed in his table conversations. He then announced the settlement of 4 million Germans on the colonized lands within 10 years and at least 10 million Germans and representatives of other “Germanic” peoples within 20 years. Colonization should have been preceded by the construction - by prisoners of war - of large transport highways. German cities were to appear near river ports, and peasant settlements along the rivers. In the conquered Slavic territories, the policy of genocide was envisaged in its most extreme forms.
Methods for implementing the GPO plan:
1) physical extermination of large masses of people;
2) population reduction through deliberate organization of famine;
3) population decline as a result of an organized decline in the birth rate and the elimination of medical and sanitary services;
4) extermination of the intelligentsia - the bearer and successor of scientific and technical knowledge and skills of the cultural traditions of each people and the reduction of education to the lowest level;
5) disunity, fragmentation of individual peoples into small ethnic groups;
6) resettlement of masses of the population to Siberia, Africa, South America and other regions of the Earth;
7) agrarianization of captured Slavic territories and deprivation Slavic peoples own industry."
The fate of the Slavs and Jews according to Wetzel's comments and suggestions
Wetzel envisioned the expulsion of tens of millions of Slavs beyond the Urals. The Poles, according to Wetzel, “were the most hostile to the Germans, numerically the largest and therefore the most dangerous people.”
German historians believe that the plan included:
· Destruction or expulsion of 80-85% of Poles. Only approximately 3-4 million people were to remain on Polish territory.
· Destruction or expulsion of 50-75% of Czechs (about 3.5 million people). The rest were subject to Germanization.
· Destruction of 50-60% of Russians in the European part of the Soviet Union, another 15-25% were subject to deportation beyond the Urals.
· Destruction of 25% of Ukrainians and Belarusians, another 30-50% of Ukrainians and Belarusians were to be used as labor
According to Wetzel's proposals, the Russian people were to be subjected to measures such as assimilation ("Germanization") and population reduction through a reduction in the birth rate - such actions are defined as genocide.
From A. Hitler’s directive to the Minister for Eastern Affairs A. Rosenberg on the implementation of the General Plan “Ost” (July 23, 1942)
The Slavs must work for us, and if we no longer need them, let them die. Vaccinations and health protection are unnecessary for them. Slavic fertility is undesirable... education is dangerous. It is enough if they can count to one hundred... Every educated person is our future enemy. All sentimental objections should be abandoned. We must rule this people with iron determination... Military speaking, we must kill three to four million Russians a year.
After the end of the war, out of approximately 40 million dead Slavic peoples (Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusians, Poles, Czechs, Slovaks, Serbs, Croats, Bosnians, etc.), the Soviet Union lost more than 30 million, more than 6 million Poles died and over 2 million inhabitants of Yugoslavia. “Generalplan Ost”, as should be understood, also meant the “Final Solution of the Jewish Question” (German: Endlösung der Judenfrage), according to which the Jews were subject to total extermination. In the Baltics, Latvians were considered more suitable for "Germanization", but Lithuanians and Latgalians were not, since there were too many "Slavic admixtures" among them. Although the plan was supposed to be launched at full capacity only after the end of the war, within its framework, nevertheless, about 3 million Soviet prisoners of war were destroyed, the population of Belarus, Ukraine and Poland was systematically exterminated and sent to forced labor. In particular, in Belarus alone the Nazis organized 260 death camps and 170 ghettos. According to modern data, during the years of German occupation the losses of the civilian population of Belarus amounted to about 2.5 million people, that is, about 25% of the population of the republic.
Almost 1 million Poles and 2 million Ukrainians were - most of them not of their own free will - sent to forced labor in Germany. Another 2 million Poles from the annexed regions of the country were forcibly Germanized. Residents who were declared “racially undesirable” were subject to resettlement to Western Siberia; Some of them were supposed to be used as auxiliary personnel in the management of the regions of enslaved Russia. Fortunately, the plan could not be fully realized, otherwise we would not be here anymore.
Rosenberg's predecessor project
The master plan was preceded by a project developed by the Reich Ministry for Occupied Territories, headed by Alfred Rosenberg. On May 9, 1941, Rosenberg presented the Fuhrer with draft directives on policy issues in the territories that were to be occupied as a result of aggression against the USSR.
Rosenberg proposed creating five governorates on the territory of the USSR. Hitler opposed the autonomy of Ukraine and replaced the term “governorate” with “Reichskommissariat” for it. As a result, Rosenberg’s ideas took the following forms of implementation.
· The first - Reichskommissariat Ostland - was supposed to include Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Belarus. Ostland, where, according to Rosenberg, a population with Aryan blood lived, was subject to complete Germanization within two generations.
· The second governorate - Reichskommissariat Ukraine - included Eastern Galicia (known in fascist terminology as District Galicia), Crimea, a number of territories along the Don and Volga, as well as the lands of the abolished Soviet Autonomous Republic of Volga Germans. According to Rosenberg's idea, the governorate was supposed to gain autonomy and become the support of the Third Reich in the East.
· The third governorate was called the Reichskommissariat Caucasus, and separated Russia from the Black Sea.
· Fourth - Russia to the Urals.
· The fifth governorate was to become Turkestan.
The success of the German campaign in the summer-autumn of 1941 led to a revision and tightening of the German plans for the eastern lands, and as a result, the Ost plan was born.
Let me remind you that 6 pages of the plan appeared in the Nuremberg materials, and the rest was discovered in 1991 and fully published in 2009. And we are not talking about a project, but about one approved and endorsed by Hitler. So, questions and misconceptions.
1.What is “General Plan Ost?”
2. What is the history of the emergence of GPO? What documents relate to it?
3. What is the content of the GPO?
4. In fact, the GPO was developed by a minor official, should it be taken seriously?
5. The plan does not have the signature of Hitler or any other top official of the Reich, which means it is not valid.
6. GPO was a purely theoretical concept.
7. Implementing such a plan is unrealistic.
8. When were the documents on the Ost plan discovered? Is there a possibility that they are falsified?
9.What additional information can I read about GPO?
Brief answers and details under the cut
1. What is “General Plan Ost?”
By “General Plan Ost” (GPO), modern historians understand a set of plans, draft plans and memos devoted to the issues of settling the so-called. "eastern territories" (Poland and the Soviet Union) in the event of a German victory in the war. The GPO concept was developed on the basis of Nazi racial doctrine under the patronage of the Reichskommissariat for the Strengthening of German Statehood (RKF), which was headed by SS Reichsführer Himmler, and was supposed to serve as a theoretical foundation for the colonization and Germanization of the occupied territories.
A general overview of the documents is given in the table below:
| Name | date | Volume | Prepared by whom | Original | Objects of colonization | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Planungsgrundlagen (Planning Basics) | February 1940 | 21 pp. | RKF planning department | BA, R 49/157, S.1-21 | Western regions of Poland |
| 2 | Materialien zum Vortrag “Siedlung” (materials for the report “Settlement”) | December 1940 | 5 pages | RKF planning department | facsimile in G.Aly, S.Heim "Bevölkerungsstruktur und Massenmord" (p.29-32) | Poland |
| 3 | July 1941 | ? | RKF planning department | lost, dated according to cover letter | ? | |
| 4 | Gesamtplan Ost (overall plan Ost) | December 1941 | ? | planning group III B RSHA | lost; Dr. Wetzel's lengthy review (Stellungnahme und Gedanken zum Generalplan Ost des Reichsführers SS, 04/27/1942, NG-2325; abridged Russian translation) allows us to reconstruct the content | Baltic States, Ingria; Poland, Belarus, Ukraine (strong points); Crimea (?) |
| 5 | Generalplan Ost (general plan Ost) | May 1942 | 84 pp. | Institute of Agriculture at the University of Berlin | BA, R 49/157a, facsimile | Baltic States, Ingermanland, Gotengau; Poland, Belarus, Ukraine (strong points) |
| 6 | Generalsiedlungsplan (general settlement plan) | October-December 1942 | planned 200 pages, a general outline of the plan and main digital indicators have been prepared | RKF planning department | BA, R 49/984 | Luxembourg, Alsace, Lorraine, Czech Republic, Lower Styria, Baltics, Poland |
Work on plans for the settlement of the eastern territories began virtually immediately after the creation of the Reichskommissariat to strengthen German statehood in October 1939. Headed by Prof. Konrad Mayer, the planning department of the RKF presented the first plan concerning the settlement of the western regions of Poland annexed to the Reich already in February 1940. It was under the leadership of Mayer that five of the six documents listed above were prepared (the Institute of Agriculture, which appears in document 5, was headed by the same Mayer ). It should be noted that the RKF was not the only department thinking about the future of the eastern territories; similar work was carried out both in the Rosenberg ministry and in the department responsible for the four-year plan, which was headed by Goering (the so-called “Green Folder”). It is this competitive situation that explains, in part, the critical response of Wetzel, an employee of the Ministry of the Occupied Eastern Territories, to the version of the Ost plan presented by the RSHA planning group (document 4). Nevertheless, Himmler, not least thanks to the success of the propaganda exhibition “Planning and Building a New Order in the East” in March 1941, gradually managed to achieve a dominant position. Document 5, for example, speaks of "the priority of the Reichskommissar to strengthen German statehood in matters of settlement (of colonized territories) and planning."
To understand the logic of the development of the GPO, two responses from Himmler to the plans presented by Mayer are important. In the first, dated 06/12/42 (BA, NS 19/1739, Russian translation), Himmler demands to expand the plan to include not only the “eastern”, but also other territories subject to Germanization (West Prussia, the Czech Republic, Alsace-Lorraine, etc.). etc.), reduce the time frame and set the goal of the complete Germanization of Estonia, Latvia and the entire General Government.
The consequence of this was the renaming of the GPO into the “master settlement plan” (document 6), while, however, some territories present in document 5 were excluded from the plan, to which Himmler immediately draws attention (letter to Mayer dated January 12, 1943, BA, NS 19 /1739): "The eastern territories for settlement should include Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Belarus, Ingria, as well as Crimea and Tavria [...] The named territories must be completely Germanized/fully populated."
Mayer never presented the next version of the plan: the course of the war made further work on it pointless.
The following table uses data organized by M. Burchard:
| Territory of settlement | Number of displaced persons | Population subject to eviction/not subject to Germanization | Cost estimation. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 87600 sq. km. | 4.3 million | 560,000 Jews, 3.4 million Poles in the first stage | - |
| 2 | 130,000 sq. km. | 480,000 farms | - | - |
| 3 | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| 4 | 700,000 sq. km. | 1-2 million German families and 10 million foreigners with Aryan blood | 31 million (80-85% Poles, 75% Belarusians, 65% Ukrainians, 50% Czechs) | - |
| 5 | 364231 sq. km. | 5.65 million | min. 25 million (99% Poles, 50% Estonians, more than 50% Latvians, 85% Lithuanians) | RM 66.6 billion |
| 6 | 330,000 sq. km. | 12.21 million | 30.8 million (95% Poles, 50% Estonians, 70% Latvians, 85% Lithuanians, 50% French, Czechs and Slovenes) | RM 144 billion |
Let us dwell in more detail on the fully preserved and most elaborated document 5: it is expected to be gradually implemented over 25 years, Germanization quotas are introduced for various nationalities, it is proposed to prohibit the indigenous population from owning property in cities in order to push them out into the countryside and use them in agriculture. To control territories with an initially non-dominant German population, a form of margraviate is introduced, the first three: Ingria (Leningrad region), Gotengau (Crimea, Kherson), and Memel-Narev (Lithuania - Bialystok). In Ingria, the population of cities should be reduced from 3 million to 200 thousand. In Poland, Belarus, the Baltic states, and Ukraine, a network of strongholds is being formed, with a total of 36, ensuring effective communication of the margraviates with each other and with the metropolis (see reconstruction). After 25-30 years, the margraviates should be Germanized by 50%, and strongholds by 25-30% (In the review we already know, Himmler demanded that the implementation period of the plan be reduced to 20 years, that the complete Germanization of Estonia and Latvia and a more active Germanization of Poland be considered).
In conclusion, it is emphasized that the success of the settlement program will depend on the will and colonization power of the Germans, and if it passes these tests, then the next generation will be able to close the northern and southern flanks of colonization (i.e., populate Ukraine and central Russia.)
It should be noted that documents 5 and 6 do not include specific numbers of residents subject to eviction; however, they are derived from the difference between the actual number of residents and the planned number (taking into account German settlers and the local population suitable for Germanization). Document 4 names Western Siberia as the territory to which residents unsuitable for Germanization should be evicted. The leaders of the Reich have repeatedly spoken about the desire to Germanize the European territory of Russia up to the Urals.
From a racial point of view, Russians were considered the least Germanized people, moreover, poisoned for 25 years by the poison of “Judeo-Bolshevism”. It is difficult to say unequivocally how the policy of decimation of the Slavic population would be carried out. According to one of the testimonies, Himmler, before the start of Operation Barbarossa, called the goal of the campaign against Russia "decrease in the Slavic population by 30 million.". Wetzel wrote about measures to reduce the birth rate (encouraging abortion, sterilization, abandoning the fight against infant mortality, etc.), Hitler himself expressed himself more directly: "Local residents? We will have to start filtering them out. We will remove the destructive Jews altogether. My impression of the Belarusian territory is still better than that of the Ukrainian one. We will not go to Russian cities, they must completely die out. We should not torment ourselves with remorse. We there is no need to get used to the role of a nanny, we have no obligations to the local residents. Repair houses, catch lice, German teachers, newspapers? No! It’s better that we open a radio station under our control, and for the rest they just need to know the road signs so as not to get caught "We are on the way! By freedom, these people understand the right to wash only on holidays. If we come with shampoo, it will not arouse sympathy. There we need to retrain. There is only one task: to carry out Germanization through the importation of Germans, and the former inhabitants must be treated as Indians."
A minor official, Prof. Konrad Mayer was not. As mentioned above, he headed the planning department of the RKF, as well as the land department of the same Reichskommissariat and the Institute of Agriculture at the University of Berlin. He was a Standartenführer, and later an Oberführer (in the military ranks above colonel, but below major general) of the SS. By the way, another popular misconception is that the GPO was supposedly a figment of the fevered imagination of one crazy SS man. This is also not true: agrarians, economists, managers and other specialists from academic circles worked on the GPO. For example, in the cover letter to document 5, Mayer writes about facilitating "my closest collaborators in the planning department and the general land office, as well as the financial expert Dr. Besler (Jen)." Additional funding went through the German Research Society (DFG): for “scientific planning work to strengthen German statehood” from 1941 to 1945. 510 thousand RM were allocated, of which Mayer spent 60-70 thousand a year on his working group, the rest went as grants to scientists conducting research relevant to RKF. For comparison, the content of a scientist with scientific degree cost approximately 6 thousand RM per year (data from the report of I. Heinemann.)
It is important to note that Mayer worked on the GPO on the initiative and on the instructions of RKF chief Himmler and in close connection with him, while correspondence was conducted both through the chief of staff of the RKF Greifelt and directly. The photographs taken during the exhibition “Planning and Building a New Order in the East”, in which Mayer speaks to Himmler, Hess, Heydrich and Todt, are widely known.
The GPO actually did not advance beyond the design stage, which was greatly facilitated by the course of military operations - from 1943 the plan began to quickly lose relevance. Of course, the GPO was not signed by Hitler or anyone else, since it was a plan post-war settlement of the occupied regions. The very first sentence of Document 5 states this directly: Thanks to German weapons The eastern territories, which had been the subject of centuries-long disputes, were finally annexed to the Reich.
Nevertheless, it would be a mistake to infer from this the disinterest of Hitler and the Reich leadership in the GPO. As shown above, work on the plan took place according to instructions and under the constant patronage of Himmler, who, in turn, I would like to convey this plan also to the Fuhrer at a convenient time.(letter dated June 12, 1942)
Let us recall that already in Mein Kampf Hitler wrote: "We stop the eternal advance of the Germans to the south and west of Europe and direct our gaze to the eastern lands". The concept of “living space in the east” was repeatedly mentioned by the Fuhrer in the 30s (for example, immediately after coming to power, on 02/03/1933, he, speaking to the Reichswehr generals, spoke about “the need to conquer living space in the east and its decisive Germanization” ), after the start of the war it acquired clear outlines. Here is a recording of one of Hitler’s monologues dated 10/17/1941:
... the Fuhrer once again general outline outlined his thoughts on the development of the eastern regions. The most important thing is the roads. He told Dr. Todt that the original plan he had prepared needed to be significantly expanded. In the next twenty years, he will have three million prisoners at his disposal to solve this problem... German cities should appear at large river crossings in which the Wehrmacht, the police, the administrative apparatus and the party will be based.
German troops will be founded along the roads. peasant farms, and the monochromatic Asian-looking steppe will soon take on a completely different look. In 10 years, 4 million will move there, in 20 - 10 million Germans. They will come not only from the Reich, but also from America, as well as Scandinavia, Holland and Flanders. The rest of Europe can also take part in annexing Russian spaces. The Russian cities, those that will survive the war - Moscow and Leningrad must not survive it under any circumstances - should not be touched by a German. They must vegetate in their own shit away from German roads. The Fuhrer again raised the topic that “contrary to the opinion of individual headquarters,” neither the education of the local population nor the care of it should be dealt with...
He, the Fuhrer, will introduce new control with an iron hand; what the Slavs will think about this does not bother him at all. Anyone who eats German bread today doesn't think much about the fact that the fields east of the Elbe were conquered by the sword in the 12th century.
Of course, his subordinates echoed him. For example, on October 2, 1941, Heydrich described future colonization as follows:
Other lands are eastern lands, partly inhabited by Slavs, these are lands where one must clearly understand that kindness will be perceived as a sign of weakness. These are lands where the Slav himself does not want to have equal rights with the master, where he is used to being in service. These are the lands in the east that we will have to manage and hold. These are lands where, after the military issue is resolved, German control should be introduced up to the Urals, and they should serve us as a source of minerals, labor, like helots, roughly speaking. These are lands that must be treated as when building a dam and draining the coast: far in the east a protective wall is being built to protect them from Asian storms, and from the west the gradual annexation of these lands to the Reich begins. It is from this point of view that we must consider what is happening in the east. The first step would be to create a protectorate of the provinces of Danzig-West Prussia and Warthegau. A year ago, another eight million Poles lived in these provinces, as well as in East Prussia and the Silesian part. These are lands that will gradually be populated by the Germans; the Polish element will be squeezed out step by step. These are lands that will one day become completely German. And then further east, to the Baltic states, which will also one day become completely German, although here you need to think about what part of the blood of Latvians, Estonians and Lithuanians is suitable for Germanization. Racially speaking, the best people here are Estonians, they have strong Swedish influences, then Latvians, and the worst are Lithuanians.
Then the turn of the rest of Poland will come, this is the next territory that should be gradually populated by the Germans, and the Poles should be squeezed out further to the east. Then Ukraine, which at first, as an intermediate solution, should be using, of course, the national idea still dormant in the subconscious, was separated from the rest of Russia and used as a source of minerals and provisions under German control. Of course, not allowing the people there to strengthen or strengthen themselves, raising their educational level, since from this later an opposition may grow, which, with the weakening of the central government, will strive for independence...
A year later, on November 23, 1942, Himmler spoke about the same thing:
The main colony of our Reich lies in the east. Today - a colony, tomorrow - a settlement area, the day after tomorrow - the Reich! [...] If next year or the year after Russia is likely to be defeated in a bitter struggle, we will still have a great task before us. After the victory of the Germanic peoples, the settlement space in the east must be reclaimed, settled and integrated into European culture. Over the next 20 years - counting from the end of the war - I have set myself the task (and I hope that I can solve it with your help) to move the German border about 500 km to the east. This means that we must resettle farming families there, the resettlement of the best carriers of German blood will begin and the ordering of the million-strong Russian people for our tasks... 20 years of struggle to achieve peace lie before us... Then this east will be cleansed of foreign blood and ours families will settle there as legal owners.
As is easy to see, all three quotes perfectly correlate with the main provisions of the GPO.
In a broad sense, this is true: there is no reason to implement a plan for the post-war settlement of the occupied territories until the war is over. This does not mean, however, that measures to Germanize certain regions were not carried out at all. First of all, it should be noted here that the western regions of Poland (West Prussia and Warthegau) annexed to the Reich, the settlement of which was discussed in document 1. During multi-stage measures for the deportation of Jews and Polish (the former were first deported, like the Poles, to the General Government, then they were taken into ghettos and extermination camps on their own territory: of the 435,000 Jews of Warthegau, 12,000 remained alive) by March 1941. More than 280 thousand people were taken from Warthegau alone. The total number of Poles deported from West Prussia and Warthegau to the General Government is estimated at 365 thousand people. Their yards and apartments were occupied by German settlers, of whom there were already 287 thousand in these two regions by March 1942.
At the end of November 1942, on the initiative of Himmler, the so-called "Action Zamość", the goal of which was the Germanization of the Zamość district, which was declared the "first area of German settlement" in the General Government. By August 1943, 110 thousand Poles were evicted: about half were deported, the rest fled on their own, many joined the partisans. To protect future settlers, it was decided to take advantage of the hostility between Poles and Ukrainians and create a defensive ring of Ukrainian villages around the settlement area. Due to a lack of forces to support order, the action was stopped in August 1943. By that time, only about 9,000 of the 60,000 planned settlers had moved to the Zamość district.
Finally, in 1943, not far from Himmler’s headquarters in Zhitomir, the German town of Hegewald was created: the place of 15,000 Ukrainians expelled from their homes was taken by 10,000 Germans. At the same time, the first settlers went to Crimea.
All these activities also fully correlate with GPO. It is interesting to note that prof. Mayer visited Western Poland, Zamosc, Zhitomir, and Crimea during business trips, i.e. assessed the feasibility of his concept on the ground.
Of course, one can only guess about the reality of implementing the GPO in the form in which it is described in the documents that have reached us. We are talking about the resettlement of tens of millions (and, apparently, the extermination of millions) of people; the need for migrants is estimated at 5-10 million people. The discontent of the expelled population and, as a consequence, a new round of armed struggle against the occupiers is practically guaranteed. It is unlikely that settlers would be eager to move to areas where guerrilla warfare continues.
On the other hand, we are talking not just about the fixed idea of the Reich leadership, but also about scientists (economists, planners, managers) who projected this fixed idea onto reality: no supernatural or impossible obligations were set, the task of Germanization of the Baltic states, Ingermanland, Crimea, Poland, parts of Ukraine and Belarus were to be resolved in small steps over 20 years, with details (for example, the percentage of suitability for Germanization) being adjusted and clarified along the way. As for the “unrealism of the GPO” in terms of scale, we must not forget that, for example, the number of Germans expelled during and after the end of the Second World War from the territories in which they lived is also described as an eight-digit number. And it took not 20 years, but five times less.
Hopes (expressed today, mainly by adherents of General Vlasov and other collaborators) that some part of the occupied territories would gain independence or at least self-government are not reflected in real Nazi plans (see, for example, Hitler in Bormann's notes, 07/16/41: ...we will again emphasize that we were forced to occupy this or that area, restore order in it and secure it. In the interests of the population, we are forced to take care of peace, food, communications, etc., so we are introducing our own rules here. No one should recognize that in this way we are introducing our rules forever! All necessary measures- executions, evictions, etc., despite this, we carry out and can carry out.
We, however, do not wish to prematurely turn anyone into our enemies. Therefore, for now we will act as if this area is a mandated territory. But it must be absolutely clear to us that we will never leave it. [...]
The most basic:
The formation of a power to the west of the Urals capable of waging war should never be allowed, even if we have to fight for another hundred years. All the Fuhrer's successors must know: the Reich will only be safe if there is no foreign army west of the Urals; Germany takes upon itself the defense of this space from all possible threats.
The iron law should read: “No one other than Germans should ever be allowed to bear arms!”)
At the same time, it makes no sense to compare the situation in 1941-42. with the situation in 1944, when the Nazis made promises much more easily, since they were happy with almost any help: active conscription into the ROA began, Bandera was released, etc. How did the Nazis treat the allies who were pursuing goals not approved in Berlin, incl. who stood up for (albeit puppet) independence in 1941-42, is clearly shown by the example of the same Bandera.
Dr. Wetzel's opinion and a number of accompanying documents appeared already at the Nuremberg trials; documents 5 and 6 were discovered in American archives and published by Czeslaw Madajczyk (Przeglad Zachodni Nr. 3 1961).
Theoretically, the possibility that a particular document is falsified always exists. In this case, however, it is important that we are dealing not with one or two, but with a whole complex of documents, which includes not only the main ones discussed above, but also various accompanying notes, reviews, letters, protocols - in the classic The collection of Ch. Madaychik contains more than a hundred relevant documents. Therefore, it is absolutely not enough to call one document a falsification, taking it out of the context of the others. If, for example, document 6 is a falsification, then what does Himmler write to Mayer in his response to it? Or, if Himmler’s review dated June 12, 1942 is a falsification, then why does document 6 embody the instructions contained in this review? And most importantly, why do the GPO documents, if they are falsified, correlate so well with the statements of Hitler, Himmler, Heydrich, etc.?
Those. here you need to build a whole conspiracy theory, explaining by whose evil intent the documents and speeches of Nazi bosses found at different times in different archives are built into a coherent picture. And to question the reliability of individual documents (as some authors do, counting on the uneducated reading public) is quite pointless.
First of all, books in German:
- collection of documents compiled by Ch. Madayczyk Vom Generalplan Ost zum Generalsiedlungsplan, Saur, München 1994;
- Mechthild Rössler, Sabine Schleiermacher (Hrsg.): Der „Generalplan Ost“. Hauptlinien der nationalsozialistischen Planungs- und Vernichtungspolitik, Akademie, Berlin 1993;
- Rolf-Dieter Müller: Hitlers Ostkrieg und die deutsche Siedlungspolitik, Frankfurt am Main 1991;
- Isabel Heinemann: Rasse, Siedlung, deutsches Blut. Das Rasse- und Siedlungshauptamt der SS und die rassenpolitische Neuordnung Europas, Wallstein: Göttingen 2003 (partially available)
Lots of materials, incl. used above, on the thematic site of M. Burchard.
Master plan "Ost"(German) Generalplan Ost) - a secret plan of the German government of the Third Reich to carry out ethnic cleansing in Eastern Europe and its German colonization after the victory over the USSR.
A version of the plan was developed in 1941 by the Main Directorate of Reich Security and presented on May 28, 1942 by an employee of the Office of the Headquarters of the Reich Commissioner for the Consolidation of the German People, SS Oberführer Meyer-Hetling under the title “General Plan Ost - the foundations of the legal, economic and territorial structure of the East.” The text of this document was found in the German Federal Archives in the late 1980s, some documents from there were presented at an exhibition in 1991, but was completely digitized and published only in November-December 2009.
At the Nuremberg trials, the only evidence of the existence of the plan was the “Comments and proposals of the “Eastern Ministry” on the Ost master plan,” according to prosecutors, written on April 27, 1942 by an employee of the Ministry of the Eastern Territories E. Wetzel after familiarizing himself with the draft plan prepared by the RSHA.
Rosenberg Project
The master plan was preceded by a project developed by the Reich Ministry for Occupied Territories, headed by Alfred Rosenberg. On May 9, 1941, Rosenberg presented the Fuhrer with draft directives on policy issues in the territories that were to be occupied as a result of aggression against the USSR.
Rosenberg proposed creating five governorates on the territory of the USSR. Hitler opposed the autonomy of Ukraine and replaced the term “governorate” with “Reichskommissariat” for it. As a result, Rosenberg’s ideas took the following forms of implementation.
- Ostland - was supposed to include Belarus, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Ostland, where, according to Rosenberg, a population with Aryan blood lived, was subject to complete Germanization within two generations.
- Ukraine - would include the territory of the former Ukrainian SSR, Crimea, a number of territories along the Don and Volga, as well as the lands of the abolished Soviet Autonomous Republic of the Volga Germans. According to Rosenberg's idea, the governorate was supposed to gain autonomy and become the support of the Third Reich in the East.
- Caucasus - would include the republics of the North Caucasus and Transcaucasia and would separate Russia from the Black Sea.
- Muscovy - Russia to the Urals.
- The fifth governorate was to be Turkestan.
The success of the German campaign in the summer-autumn of 1941 led to a revision and tightening of the German plans for the eastern lands, and as a result, the Ost plan was born.
Plan Description
According to some reports, the “Plan Ost” was divided into two - the “Small Plan” (German. Kleine Planung) and "Big Plan" (German) Große Planung). The small plan was to be carried out during the war. The Big Plan was what the German government wanted to focus on after the war. The plan provided for different percentages of Germanization for the various conquered Slavic and other peoples. The “non-Germanized” were to be deported to Western Siberia or subjected to physical destruction. The execution of the plan was to ensure that the conquered territories would acquire an irrevocably German character.
Wetzel's comments and suggestions
A document known as “Comments and proposals of the “Eastern Ministry” on the “Ost” master plan” has become widespread among historians. The text of this document has often been presented as Plan Ost itself, although it has little in common with the text of the Plan published at the end of 2009.
Wetzel envisioned the expulsion of tens of millions of Slavs beyond the Urals. The Poles, according to Wetzel, “were the most hostile to the Germans, numerically the largest and therefore the most dangerous people.”
"Generalplan Ost", as it should be understood, also meant the "Final Solution of the Jewish Question" (German. Endlösung der Judenfrage), according to which the Jews were subject to total destruction:
In the Baltics, Latvians were considered more suitable for "Germanization", but Lithuanians and Latgalians were not, since there were too many "Slavic admixtures" among them. According to Wetzel's proposals, the Russian people were to be subjected to measures such as assimilation (“Germanization”) and population reduction through a reduction in the birth rate - such actions are defined as genocide.
Developed variants of the Ost plan
The following documents were developed by the planning team Gr. lll B planning service of the Main Staff Office of the Reich Commissioner for the Consolidation of the German People Heinrich Himmler (Reichskommissar für die Festigung Deutschen Volkstums (RKFDV) and the Institute of Agrarian Policy of the Friedrich Wilhelm University of Berlin:
- Document 1: “Planning Fundamentals” was created in February 1940 by the RKFDV planning service (volume: 21 pages). Contents: Description of the extent of the planned eastern colonization in West Prussia and Wartheland. The colonization area was to be 87,600 km², of which 59,000 km² was agricultural land. About 100,000 settlement farms of 29 hectares each were to be created on this territory. It was planned to resettle about 4.3 million Germans into this territory; of which 3.15 million are in rural areas and 1.15 million in cities. At the same time, 560,000 Jews (100% of the population of the region of this nationality) and 3.4 million Poles (44% of the population of the region of this nationality) were to be gradually eliminated. The costs of implementing these plans have not been estimated.
- Document 2: Materials for the report “Colonization”, developed in December 1940 by the RKFDV planning service (volume 5 pages). Contents: Fundamental article to the “Requirement of territories for forced resettlement from the Old Reich” with a specific requirement for 130,000 km² of land for 480,000 new viable settlement farms of 25 hectares each, as well as in addition 40% of the territory for forest, for the needs of the army and reserve areas in Wartheland and Poland.
Documents created after the attack on the USSR on June 22, 1941
- Document 3 (missing, exact contents unknown): “General Plan Ost”, created in July 1941 by the RKFDV planning service. Contents: Description of the extent of the planned eastern colonization in the USSR with the boundaries of specific areas of colonization.
- Document 4 (missing, exact contents unknown): "General Plan Ost", created in December 1941 by the planning group Gr. lll B RSHA. Contents: Description of the scale of the planned eastern colonization in the USSR and the General Government with specific boundaries of individual areas of settlement.
- Document 5: “General Plan Ost”, created in May 1942 by the Institute of Agriculture and Politics of the Friedrich-Wilhelms-University of Berlin (volume 68 pages).
Contents: Description of the scale of the planned eastern colonization in the USSR with specific boundaries of individual areas of settlement. The colonization area was supposed to cover 364,231 km², including 36 strong points and three administrative districts in the Leningrad region, the Kherson-Crimean region and in the Bialystok region. At the same time, settlement farms with an area of 40-100 hectares, as well as large agricultural enterprises with an area of at least 250 hectares, should have emerged. The required number of resettlers was estimated at 5.65 million. The areas planned for settlement were to be cleared of approximately 25 million people. The cost of implementing the plan was estimated at 66.6 billion Reichsmarks.
- Document 6: “Master Plan for Colonization” (German) Generalsiedlungsplan), created in September 1942 by the RKF planning service (volume: 200 pages, including 25 maps and tables).
Contents: Description of the scale of the planned colonization of all areas envisaged for this with specific boundaries of individual settlement areas. The region was supposed to cover an area of 330,000 km² with 360,100 rural households. The required number of migrants was estimated at 12.21 million people (of which 2.859 million were peasants and those employed in forestry). The area planned for settlement was to be cleared of approximately 30.8 million people. The cost of implementing the plan was estimated at 144 billion Reichsmarks.
