What the plan envisaged. Plan "Ost" About the Nazi program of extermination of entire peoples

in General Plan "Ost" translated into Russian

On the picture: At the opening of the exhibition "Planning and building a new order in the East" on March 20, 1941, Konrad Mayer (right) addressed the leading functionaries of the Reich (from left to right): Hitler's deputy Rudolf Hess, Heinrich Himmler, Reichsleiter Buhler, Reichsminister Todt and Chief Heydrich's Imperial Security Office. Let me remind you that at the end of 2009 in Germany it was declassified and for the first time in wide access - the text of Hitler's "Plan Ost" - a project for the Germanization of Eastern Europe, that is, the mass destruction and resettlement of Russians, Poles, Ukrainians.

Considered lost for a long time, the text of the plan was found back in the 80s. But only now anyone can get acquainted with it on the website of the Faculty of Agriculture and Horticulture of the Humboldt University of Berlin.

The publication of documents from the state archive was accompanied by an apology. The Council of the Faculty of Agriculture and Horticulture of the Humboldt University said that it regrets that one of the former directors of the educational institution, SS member Professor Konrad Mayer, did so much to create the "General Plan East".

Now this most secret document, which only the top leaders of the Reich knew about, is available to everyone. “German weapons have conquered the eastern regions, for which there has been a struggle for centuries. The Reich sees it as its most important task to turn them into imperial territories as soon as possible, ”the document says. For a long time the text was considered lost. For the Nuremberg trials, only a six-page extract from it was obtained.

The plan was drawn up by the Imperial Security Main Office, and other versions of the plan, along with other important documents, were burned by the Nazis in 1945.

The “General Plan Vostok” with German thoroughness shows what the USSR would have expected if the Germans had won that war. And it becomes clear why the plan was kept a strict secret. “At the forefront of the front of the German people against Asiaticism, areas of particular importance for the Reich are designated. In order to ensure the vital interests of the Reich in these areas, it is necessary to use not only force and organization, it is precisely there that the German population is needed. In a completely hostile environment, it should be firmly rooted in these areas, ”the text recommends.

Evgeny Kulkov, senior researcher at the Institute of World History of the Russian Academy of Sciences: “They were going to deport the Lithuanians beyond the Urals and to Siberia, or kill them. It's practically the same. 85 percent of Lithuanians, 75 percent of Belarusians, 65 percent of Western Ukrainians, residents of Western Ukraine, 50 percent each from the Baltic states.”

Comparing the sources, the scientists found out that the Nazis wanted to resettle 10 million Germans in the eastern lands, and from there to evict 30 million people to Siberia. Leningrad from a city of three million was to turn into a German settlement for 200,000 inhabitants. Millions of people were to die of starvation and disease.

Hitler planned to finally destroy Russia by dividing it into many isolated parts. Based on the instructions of the Reichsführer SS, one should proceed from the settlement primarily of the following areas: Ingermanlandia (Petersburg region); Gotengau (Crimea and Kherson region, former Tavria), Memelnrav region (Bialystok region and western Lithuania). The Germanization of this area is already proceeding through the return of the Volksdeutsche.”

It is curious that the lands beyond the Urals seemed to the Nazis such a disastrous territory that they were not even considered as a matter of priority. But, fearing that the Poles exiled there would be able to form their own state, the Nazis nevertheless decided to send them to Siberia in small groups.

In this plan, it is calculated not only how many cities will have to be cleared for future colonizers, but also how much it will cost and who will bear the costs. After the war, the drafter of the document, Konrad Mayer, was acquitted by the Nuremberg Tribunal and continued to teach at German universities.

By publishing the original of this sinister plan on the Internet, German scientists express the opinion that society has not yet repented sufficiently before the victims of Nazism.

Today

I understand that the text is long 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. Place once and for all all points over "i".

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 that 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 prowess of 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 elimination of their culture and statehood - that's what we managed to avoid then.

Hitler's policy of genocide was most clearly embodied in the master plan "Ost", which was developed by the Imperial Main Security Directorate under the leadership of Himmler, together with Rosenberg's Eastern Ministry. Until now, the true plan "Ost" has not been discovered. However, after the defeat of fascist Germany, a very valuable document was found and placed at the disposal of the Nuremberg military tribunal, which makes it possible to form an idea of ​​this plan and, in general, of the policy of German imperialism towards the peoples of Eastern Europe. We are talking about "Remarks and suggestions on the master plan" Ost "of the Reichsfuehrer 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! State importance!
Berlin, 27.4.1942.

Remarks and suggestions on the master plan "Ost" of the Reichsführer of the SS troops

“Back in November 1941, I became aware that the Imperial Security Main Office was working on the Ost general plan. The responsible officer of the Imperial Security Main Office, Standartenführer Elih, already told me at that time the figure of 31 million people of non-German origin provided for in the plan, subject to resettlement This matter is in charge of the Reichsfuehrer SS Main Directorate of Security, which now occupies a leading position among the bodies subordinate to the Reichsfuehrer SS Troops.Moreover, the Imperial Security Main Directorate, in the opinion of all departments subordinate to the Reichsfuehrer SS Troops, will also perform the functions of the Reich Commissariat for Strengthening the German Race .

General remarks on the general plan "Ost"

According to 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 give rise to doubts about its feasibility appear relatively small in the plan. First of all, it is striking that Ingermanlandia [by this name the Nazis meant the territory of the Novgorod, Pskov and Leningrad regions], the Dnieper, Tavria and Crimea [back in July 1941, Hitler gave the order to evict all residents from the Crimea and turn it into "German Riviera", a project was even developed for the resettlement of the population of South Tyrol to the Crimea] as a territory for colonization. This is obviously due to the fact that in the future the plan will additionally include new colonization projects, which will be discussed at the end.

At the present time, it is already possible to more or less definitely establish as the eastern border of colonization (in its northern and middle parts) a line running from Lake Ladoga to the Valdai Upland and further to Bryansk. Whether these changes will be made to the plan by the command of the SS troops, I do not presume to judge.

In any case, it must be foreseen that the number of people, according to the plan, subject to resettlement, should be even more increased.

It can be understood from the plan that this is not a program to be implemented immediately, but that, on the contrary, the settlement of this area by the 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 traits and whether they will undergo Germanization within the envisaged 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 the Strengthening of the German Race (Department of Greifelt) to settle persons suitable for Germanization within the German Empire proper...

The fundamental question of the entire plan for the colonization of the East is the question of whether we will be able to awaken again in the German people the desire for resettlement to the East. As far as I can judge from my experience, such a desire in most cases undoubtedly exists. However, one 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, says 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 “people without living space” (Volk ohne Raum), a new problem would arise for them - “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 that are expressed in unwillingness to move to the East, and fight them with the help of propaganda.

Along with the encouragement of aspirations for resettlement to the east, the decisive moment also includes the need to awaken in the German people, especially among the German colonists in the eastern territories, the desire to increase childbearing. We must not deceive ourselves: the increase in the birth rate observed since 1933 was in itself a gratifying phenomenon, but it cannot by any means be considered sufficient for the existence of the German people, especially considering their huge task of colonizing the eastern territories and the incredible biological capacity for reproduction of the neighboring eastern peoples.

The general plan "Ost" provides that after the end of the war, the number of immigrants for the immediate colonization of the eastern territories should be ... 4550 thousand people. This number does not seem too high to me, given the colonization period of 30 years. It is 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 region of Danzig-West Prussia, the Wart region, Upper Silesia, the general government of Southeast Prussia, the Bialystok region, the Baltic states, Ingria, Belarus, partially also the 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 German 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 by the plan. According to the plan, these 8 million Germans account for 45 million local residents of non-German origin, of which 31 million are to be evicted from these territories.

If we analyze the preliminary 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 the former Poland, there are supposedly about 36 million people [this, obviously, includes the population of Western Belarus and Western Ukraine]. Approximately 1 million local Germans (Volksdeutsche) must be excluded from them. Then there will be 35 million people. The Baltic countries number 5.5 million people. Obviously, the Ost master plan also takes into account the former Soviet Zhytomyr, Kamenetz-Podolsk and partially Vinnitsa regions as territories for colonization. The population of Zhytomyr and Kamenetz-Podolsk regions is approximately 3.6 million people, and Vinnitsa - about 2 million people, since a significant part of it is in 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 to be evicted, 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, can we agree with the figure mentioned in the plan of 45 million local residents of non-German origin. However, the plan shows that Jews are included in the mentioned 45 million people. From this, therefore, it follows that the plan proceeds from an obviously incorrect calculation 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 rapidly over a period of 30 years ... Given all this, one must proceed from the fact 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 leads to the conclusion that the number of people who must either remain in these territories or be evicted is significantly higher than envisaged in the plan. Accordingly, there will be even more difficulties in carrying out the plan. If we take into account that 14 million local residents will remain in the territories under consideration, as the plan provides, 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 notes on the plan. The plan provides for the resettlement of racially undesirable local residents in Western Siberia. At the same time, percentage figures are given for individual peoples, and in this way the fate of these peoples is decided, although there are still no exact data on their racial composition. Further, the same approach is established to all peoples, regardless of whether the Germanization of the respective peoples is envisaged at all and to what extent, whether this applies to peoples friendly or hostile to the Germans.

General remarks on the issue of Germanization, especially on the future attitude towards the inhabitants of the former Baltic States

In principle, the following should be noted here. It goes without saying that the policy of Germanization applies only to those peoples whom we consider racially complete. Racially valuable, in comparison with our people, can be considered basically 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 to our side the local residents suitable for Germanization in the Baltic countries, if the forced eviction of the undesirable population is carried out under the guise of a more or less voluntary resettlement. In practice, this could easily be done. In the vast expanses 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 mastered at least the basic concepts of European culture. Estonians, Latvians and Lithuanians have this data to a large extent...

We should constantly proceed from the fact that, while managing all the vast territories that are within the sphere of interests of the German Empire, we should save the strength 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 Lettish or Lithuanian administration, which, if this principle is skillfully implemented, will undoubtedly have positive consequences for us. At the same time, one should hardly be afraid of the Russification of the Letts or Lithuanians, especially since their number is not so small anymore and they will occupy positions that put them above the Russians. Representatives of this stratum of the population should also be instilled with the feeling and creation of the fact that they represent something special in comparison with the Russians. Perhaps later the danger from this stratum of the population, connected with its desire to become German, will be greater than the danger of its Russification. Regardless of the more or less voluntary resettlement of racially undesirable inhabitants from the former Baltic states to the East proposed here, the possibility of their resettlement in other countries should also be allowed. As for the Lithuanians, whose general racial data is much worse than that of Estonians and Letts, and among whom there are therefore a very significant number of racially undesirable people, it would be worth considering giving them territory suitable for colonization in the East ...

To the solution of the Polish question

a) Poles.

Their number is presumably 20-24 million people. Of all the peoples to be resettled according to the plan, the Poles are the most hostile to the Germans, numerically the largest and therefore the most dangerous people.

The plan provides for the eviction of 80-85 percent of the Poles, that is, out of 20 or 24 million Poles, 16-20.4 million are subject to eviction, while 3-4.8 million will have to remain in the territory inhabited by German colonists . These figures proposed by the Reich Security Headquarters disagree with the data of the Reich Commissioner for the Strengthening of the German Race on the number of racially full-fledged Poles suitable for Germanization. The Reich Commissioner for the Strengthening of the German Race, on the basis of a calculation of the rural population of the regions of Danzig-West Prussia and Warth, estimates the proportion of inhabitants suitable for Germanization at 3 percent. If we take this percentage as a basis, then the number of Poles to be evicted should be even more than 19-23 million...

The Eastern Ministry is now showing particular interest in the question of the accommodation of racially undesirable Poles. The forced resettlement of about 20 million Poles in a certain region of Western Siberia will undoubtedly cause constant danger to the entire territory of Siberia, create a hotbed of continuous revolts against the order established by the German authorities. Such a settlement of the Poles, perhaps, would make sense as a counterbalance to the Russians, if the latter regained state independence and the German control of this territory would therefore become illusory. To this it must be added that we must also strive in every possible way to strengthen the Siberian peoples in order to prevent the strengthening of the Russians. Siberians should feel like a people with their own culture. A compact settlement of a few million Poles can probably have the following consequences: either in the course of 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. Perhaps they are too much attention, but in any case they deserve consideration.

I can agree that much more than 20 million people will be able to settle in the vast expanses of the West Siberian steppe with its black earth 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 envisaged for resettlement, then the number of settlers will be about 700-800 thousand annually. To transport this mass of people, 700-800 trains will be required annually, and to transport property and, possibly, livestock, several hundred more formulations. This means that only 100-120 trains will be needed annually to transport Poles. In relatively peacetime, this can be considered technically feasible.

It is absolutely clear that the Polish question cannot be solved by liquidating the Poles, just as it is done with the Jews. Such a solution to the Polish question would burden the conscience of the German people for all eternity and would deprive us of the sympathy of all, all the more so of others neighboring us. the peoples would begin to fear that one fine 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 have mentioned above. Back in March 1941, in a memorandum, I expressed the point of view that the Polish question could be partially resolved by more or less voluntary resettlement of Poles across the ocean. As I learned later, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is not without interest in the idea of ​​a possible partial solution of the Polish question through the resettlement of Poles in South America, especially in Brazil. In my opinion, it is necessary to ensure that after the end of the war, the cultural and, in part, other sections of the Polish people, unsuitable for Germanization for racial or political reasons, would emigrate to South America, as well as to North and Central America ... To resettle millions of the most dangerous for us Poles to South America, especially to Brazil, is quite possible. At the same time, one could try to return the South American Germans, especially from South Brazil, through an exchange, and settle them in new colonies, for example, in Tavria, the Crimea, and also in the Dnieper region, since now we are not talking about settling the African colonies of the empire ...

The vast majority of racially undesirable Poles must be resettled in the East. This applies mainly to the images of peasants, agricultural workers, artisans, etc. They can easily be settled on the territory of Siberia ...

When the Kuznetsk, Novosibirsk and Karaganda industrial regions begin to operate at full capacity, a huge amount of labor will be required, especially technical workers [the ruling circles of fascist Germany were by no means going to develop industry in Eastern Europe after its occupation. They wanted to use it only temporarily in order to continue the struggle against England and the United States. After the final victory in the war, the Nazis intended to turn the whole of Eastern Europe into a raw materials and agrarian appendage of the third empire. They planned to destroy most of the industrial enterprises of the Soviet Union or transport them to the West]. Why shouldn't Walloon engineers, Czech technicians, Hungarian merchants and the like work in Siberia? In this case, one could rightly speak of a reserve European territory for colonization and extraction of raw materials. Here the European idea would make sense in every respect, while in the territory destined for German colonization it would be dangerous for us, since in this case it would mean that we would accept, by virtue of the logic of things, the idea of ​​racial mixing of the peoples of Europe. It should always be borne in mind that Siberia to the lake. Baikal has always been a territory for European colonization. The Mongols inhabiting these areas, as well as 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 properly used, could play a decisive role in depriving the Russian people of the opportunity to restore their power.

b) On the issue of Ukrainians.

According to the plan of the main department of imperial security, Western Ukrainians should also be resettled to the territory of 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, 75 percent of the Belarusian population is to be evicted from the territory they occupy. This means that 25 percent of Belarusians, according to the plan of the main department 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 Germanization on racial and political grounds, and send them to the empire in order to be used as labor force ... They could be used in agriculture as agricultural workers, as well as in industry or as artisans. Since they would be treated like Germans and because of 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. It should be assumed that Belarusians are the most harmless and therefore the safest people for us from all the peoples of the eastern regions [the Nazis included Belarus as a general commissariat in the imperial commissariat "Ostland" ("Ostland"), whose administrative center was in Riga. V. Kube was appointed General Commissar of Belarus. From the first days of the occupation, the Belarusian people launched a broad partisan struggle against the invaders. He turned out to be not as "harmless" to the occupiers as portrayed in this document. Suffice it to say that by the end of 1943, the partisans held in their hands and controlled 60 percent of the territory of Belarus. As of January 1, 1944, 862 partisan detachments were operating in Belarus. On the night of September 21-22, 1943, partisans destroyed V. Kube, the executioner of the Belarusian people, with the help of a delayed action mine]. Even those Belarusians whom we cannot leave for racial reasons on the territory intended for colonization by our people, we can, to a greater extent than representatives of other peoples of the eastern regions, use in our own interests. The land of Belarus is scarce. To offer them better lands is to reconcile them to certain things that might turn them against us. To this, by the way, it should be added that the Russian population itself, and especially the Belarusian population, is inclined to change their homes, so that resettlement in these areas would not be perceived by the inhabitants as tragically as, for example, in the Baltic countries. You should also think about resettling Belarusians in the Urals or in the regions of the North Caucasus, which could also partially be reserve territories for European colonization...

TO THE QUESTION OF THE TREATMENT OF THE RUSSIAN POPULATION

It is necessary to touch on one more question, which is not mentioned at all in the Ost general plan, but is of great importance for the solution of the entire Eastern problem in general, namely, how can German domination be maintained and whether it is possible at all to maintain German domination for a long time in the face of a huge biological strength of the Russian people. Therefore, it is necessary to briefly consider the question of the 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 they were very incomplete and outdated, are largely incorrect. This was already noted in the autumn of 1941 by representatives of the race policy department and well-known 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 High Command of the Armed Forces, carried out detailed anthropological studies of 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 clear signs of the Nordic race. These very serious provisions of Abel deserve great attention. It is not only about the defeat of the state with its center 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 the German policy in the eastern regions is carried out in accordance with this, will it be possible to eliminate the danger posed to us by the Russian people.

The way 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 such a case, one must take different paths in order to solve the Russian problem. These paths 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 the time being, one can leave open the question of whether an imperial commissariat should be established in the Urals, or whether separate district administrations should be created here for the non-Russian population living in this territory without a special local central authority. However, it is of decisive importance here that these regions are not administratively subordinate to the German supreme authorities, which will be created in the Russian central regions. The peoples inhabiting these regions must be taught not to orient themselves towards Moscow under any circumstances, even if a German imperial commissar is in Moscow...

Both in the Urals and in the Caucasus there are many different nationalities and languages. It will be impossible, and politically, perhaps, wrong 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 considering the introduction of the German language as a language that connects all these peoples ... Thus, German influence in the East would increase significantly. Consideration should also be given to administratively separating Northern Russia from the territories under the control of the Imperial Commissariat for Russian Affairs [obviously referring to the "Moscow Imperial Commissariat".]... One should not reject the idea of ​​transforming this area in the future into a Great German colonial district, since its population still to a large extent has signs of the Nordic race. On the whole, in the rest of the central regions of Russia, the policy of individual general commissariats should be directed, as far as possible, towards 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 an administrative fragmentation of the Russian territory and the planned isolation of individual regions will turn out to 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 towards the peoples inhabiting the wide expanses of Russia should be to encourage any form of discord and split"(H. 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 in racial terms. 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 groups of the population existing in the Russian people and carry out their gradual Germanization ...

It is important that the majority of the population on Russian territory consists of people of a primitive semi-European type. It will not cause much concern to the German leadership. This mass of racially inferior, stupid people needs, as the age-old history of these areas testifies, 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 such a biological danger as the monstrous ability of these primitive people to reproduce. .

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 prolific peoples of the Caucasus, and in the future, partly to Ukraine. So far, we are interested in increasing the Ukrainian population as opposed to the Russians. But this should not lead to the fact that Ukrainians will eventually take the place of Russians.

In order to avoid in the eastern regions an increase in population, which is undesirable for us, 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 a policy of population reduction. By means of propaganda, especially through the press, radio, cinema, leaflets, short pamphlets, 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 the upbringing of children costs and what could be purchased with these funds. It is necessary to talk about the great danger to the health of a woman, which she is exposed to when giving birth to children, etc. Along with this, the widest propaganda of contraceptives should be launched. It is necessary to establish a wide production of these funds. The distribution of these drugs and abortion 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 of midwives and paramedics and teach them how to perform abortions. The better abortions are performed, the more confidence the population will have in them. Understandably, doctors also need to have permission to perform abortions. And this should not be considered a violation of medical ethics.

Voluntary sterilization should also be promoted, the struggle to reduce infant mortality should not be allowed, and the education of mothers in the care of infants and preventive measures against childhood diseases should not be allowed. The training of Russian doctors in these specialties should be reduced to a minimum, and no support should be given to kindergartens and other similar institutions. Apart from these measures in the field of health, there should be no obstacles to divorce. Assistance should not be given to illegitimate children. No tax privileges should be allowed for large families, no financial assistance should be provided to them in the form of wage 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) To the question of the Czechs. According to current views, most of the Czechs, since they do not cause fear in racial terms, are subject to Germanization. Germanization is subject to about 50 percent of the entire Czech population. Based on this figure, there will still be 3.5 million Czechs not intended for Germanization, who should be gradually removed from the territory of the empire ...

Consideration should be given to resettling these Czechs in Siberia, where they will dissolve among the Siberians and thereby further alienate 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 unrealizable or fantastic. The future German policy towards the East will show whether we are really determined to provide a solid foundation for the continued existence of a third empire. If the third empire is to last for thousands of years, then our plans must be designed for generations. And this means that the racial-biological idea must be of decisive importance in future German politics. Only then can we secure the future of our people.

Dr. Wetzel"

"Vierteljahreshefte fur Zeitgeschichie", 1958, No. 3.

Recently, NTV once again drew public attention to the topic of the Ost master plan, reporting that for the first time a text of enormous historical value has been posted in wide access. In fact, the text of the document under discussion had long been “in wide access” on the same site, it was simply added to it with a facsimile from the Bundesarchive (however, this is not the only inaccuracy in this short report). After participating in a couple of regular discussions on the topic of GPO, I realized that I was tired of repeating the same thing over and over again, and I decided to systematize the main questions and answers to them. Of course, this text is a "working" version and does not claim to finally close the topic of the "master plan".

The most frequently asked questions are:

1. What is the "General Plan Ost?"
2. What is the history of GPO? What documents are related to it?
3. What is the content of the GPO?
4. In fact, the GPO was developed by a petty official, should it be taken seriously?
5. The plan does not have the signature of Hitler or any other high official of the Reich, which means that it is invalid.
6. The GPO was a purely theoretical concept.
7. Implementing such a plan is unrealistic.
8. When were the Plan Ost documents discovered? Is there any possibility that they are fake?
9. What can I read more about GPO?

1. What is the "General Plan Ost?"

Under the “General Plan Ost” (GPO), modern historians understand a set of plans, draft plans and memorandums devoted to the settlement of 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 the Nazi racial doctrine under the patronage of the Reichskommissariat for the Strengthening of German Statehood (RKF), headed by the Reichsfuehrer SS Himmler, and was supposed to serve as a theoretical foundation for the colonization and Germanization of the occupied territories.

2. What is the history of GPO? What documents are related to it?

A general overview of the documents is given in the following table (with links to materials posted online):

Work on plans for the settlement of the eastern territories began almost immediately after the creation of the Reichskommissariat for the strengthening of German statehood in October 1939. Headed by prof. By Konrad Mayer, the RKF planning department presented the first plan for the settlement of the western regions of Poland annexed to the Reich as early as February 1940. It was under the direction of Mayer that five of the six documents listed above were prepared (The Institute of Agriculture, which appears in document 5, was led by the same Mayer ). It should be noted that the RKF was not the only agency that thought about the future of the eastern territories, such work was carried out 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 particular, the critical response of Wetzel, an employee of the Ministry of the Occupied Eastern Territories, to the version of the plan Ost 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 for the strengthening of the German state in matters of settlement (colonized territories) and planning."

To understand the logic of the development of the GPO, two reviews of Himmler on the plans presented by Mayer are important. In the first, dated 12.06.42 (BA, NS 19/1739, Russian translation), Himmler demands that the plan be expanded to include not only the “Eastern”, but also other territories subject to Germanization (West Prussia, the Czech Republic, Alsace-Lorraine, etc.). etc.), shorten the time frame and aim at the complete Germanization of Estonia, Latvia and the entire Government General.

The consequence of this was the renaming of the GPO into the “master plan of settlement” (document 6), while, however, some of the territories present in document 5 fell out of the plan, to which Himmler immediately draws attention (letter to Mayer dated 12.01.1943, BA, NS 19 /1739): “The eastern territories for settlement should include Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Belarus, Ingermanland, as well as the Crimea and Tavria [...] The named territories should be completely Germanized / completely populated.”

Mayer never presented the next version of the plan: the course of the war made further work on it meaningless.

3. What is the content of the GPO?

The following table uses the data systematized by M. Burchard:

Let us dwell in more detail on the fully preserved and most elaborated document 5: it is supposed to be implemented in stages within 25 years, Germanization quotas for various nationalities are introduced, it is proposed to prohibit the indigenous population from owning property in cities in order to force them into the countryside and use them in agriculture. To control territories with a predominantly German population at first, a form of margraviate is introduced, the first three: Ingermanland (Leningrad region), Gotengau (Crimea, Kherson), and Memel-Narev (Lithuania - Bialystok). In Ingermanland, the population of towns must be reduced from 3 million to 200,000. In Poland, Belarus, the Baltic states, Ukraine, a network of strongholds is being formed, with a total of 36, providing effective communication between the margraviates with each other and with the metropolis (see reconstruction). In 25-30 years, the margraviates should be Germanized by 50%, and the strongholds by 25-30% (In the review already known to us, Himmler demanded that the period for implementing the plan be reduced to 20 years, to consider the complete Germanization of Estonia and Latvia and more active Germanization of Poland).

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 survives these tests, then the nextthe 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 contain specific numbers of residents to be evicted, however, they are derived from the difference between the actual number of residents and the planned one (taking into account the German settlers and the local population suitable for Germanization). As territories to which residents unsuitable for Germanization should be evicted, in document 4 is called Western Siberia. 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 Germanisi

rumeny people, moreover, poisoned for 25 years by the poison of "Judao-Bolshevism." It is difficult to say unambiguously 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 " reduction of the Slavic population by 30 million.". Wetzel wrote about measures to reduce the birth rate (encouragement of abortion, sterilization, refusal to fight infant mortality, etc.), Hitler himself expressed himself more directly: “ Locals? We will have to deal with their filtering. We will kill destructive Jews rem in general. My impression of the Belarusian territory is better than that of the Ukrainian one. We will not go to Russian cities, they must completely die out. We should not torture ourselves with remorse. We do not need to get used to the role of a nanny, we have no obligations to the local residents. Repairing houses, catching lice, German teachers, newspapers? Not! Better we open a radio station under our control, but otherwise it is enough for them to know the traffic signs so as not to get in our way! By freedom, these people understand the right to bathe only on holidays. If we come with shampoo, it will not cause sympathy. There you need to relearn. There is only one task: to carry out Germanization by importing Germans, and the former inhabitants must be considered as Indians.»

4. In fact, the GPO was developed by a petty official, it costs whether to take it seriously?

Petty official Prof. Konrad Mayer was not. As mentioned above, he headed the planning department of the RKF, andalso the land department of the same Reichskommissariat and the Institute of Agriculture at the University of Berlin. He was a Standartenführer, and later Oberführer (in the military table of ranks above colonel, but below major general) of the SS. By the way, another popular misconception is that the GPO was allegedly the product of the inflamed imagination of a crazy SS man. This is also not true: agrarians, economists, managers and other specialists from academia worked on the GPO. For example, in the cover letter to Document 5 Mayer writes

t about promoting my closest collaborators in the planning department and the main land office, as well as the financial expert, Dr. Besler (Jena)". Additional funding went through the German Research Society (DFG): from 1941 to 1945, 510 thousand RM were allocated for “scientific and planning work to strengthen the German statehood”, of which 60-70 thousand RM were spent per year for their working group, the rest went as grants to scientists who conducted research relevant to the RKF. For comparison, the maintenance of a scientist with a scientific degree cost about 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 the chief of the RKF Himmler and in close connection with him, while the correspondence was conducted both through the head of the headquarters of the RKF Greifelt, and directly. Widely known photographs taken during the exhibition "Planning and building a new order in the East", in which Meyer speaks to Himmler, Hess, Heydrich and Todt.

5. The plan does not have the signature of Hitler or any other Nazi leader, which means it is invalid.

The GPO actually did not advance beyond the design stage, which was largely facilitated by the course of hostilities - 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 for the 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 were the object of disputes that had dragged on for many centuries, were finally annexed to the Reich.».

Nevertheless, it would be a mistake to deduce from this the disinterest of Hitler and the leadership of the Reich in the GPO. As already shown above, work on the plan took place on the instructions and under the constant patronage of Himmler, who, in turn, “ I would like to convey this plan also to the Führer at a convenient time"(letter dated 06/12/1942)

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, 02/03/1933, he, speaking to the generals of the Reichswehr, spoke about the "need to conquer the living space in the east and its decisive Germanization" ), after the start of the war, it acquired a clear outline. Here is a recording of one of Hitler's monologues dated 10/17/1941:

... the Fuhrer once again 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 prepared by him should be greatly expanded. In the next twenty years, three million prisoners will be 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 peasant farms will be established along the roads, and the plain Asian-looking steppe will soon take on a completely different look. In 10 years, 4 million Germans 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 joining the Russian expanses. In Russian cities, those that will survive the war - Moscow and Leningrad should not survive it in any way - the foot of a German should not set foot. They must vegetate in their own shit away from the German roads. The Fuhrer again touched upon 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 management with an iron hand, what the Slavs will think about this does not touch him at all. Whoever eats German bread today does not give much thought to the fact that the fields east of the Elbe were reclaimed by the sword in the 12th century.

Of course, his subordinates also echoed him. For example, on October 2, 1941, Heydrich described the future colonization as follows:

D Other lands - 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 the service. These are the lands in the east that we will have to manage and hold. These are lands where, after the solution of the military question, 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 to be treated, as in the construction of a dam and the draining of the coast: in the far 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. From this point of view it is necessary to consider what is happening in the east. The first step would be the creation of a protectorate from the provinces of Danzig-West Prussia and the Warthegau. A year ago, eight million more Poles lived in these provinces, as well as in East Prussia and the Silesian part. These are lands that will gradually be populated by Germans, the Polish element will be squeezed out step by step. These are lands that in due time will become completely German. And then further east, to the Baltic states, which will also become completely German in due time, although here it is necessary to consider what part of the blood of Latvians, Estonians and Lithuanians is suitable for Germanization. The best racially here are the Estonians, they have strong Swedish influences, then the Latvians, and the worst are the Lithuanians.
Then the turn of the rest of Poland will come, this is the next territory, which should be gradually settled by the Germans, and the Poles should be squeezed further to the east. Then Ukraine, which at first as an intermediate The duck decision should be, with the use of, of course, the national idea still dormant in the subconscious, separated from the rest of Russia and used as a source of minerals and provisions under German control. Of course, not allowing the people to strengthen or strengthen there, raising their educational level, since this may later lead to the opposition, which, with the weakening of the central government, will strive for independence ...

A year later, on November 23, 1942, Himmler spoke of the same thing:

The main colony of our Reich lies in the east. Today - a colony, tomorrow - a settlement area, the day after tomorrow - a Reich! [...] If next year or next year 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 space for settlement in the east must be developed, settled and attached to European culture. Over the next 20 years - counting from the end of the war - I have set myself the task (and I hope I can solve it with your help) to move the German border about 500 km to the east. This means that we must resettle farmer families there, the resettlement of the best carriers of German blood and the ordering of the millionth Russian people under our tasks will begin ... 20 years of struggle for peace lie before us ... Then this east will be cleansed of foreign blood and our families will settle there as legal owners.

As you can see, all three quotations correlate perfectly with the main provisions of the GPO.

6. The GPO was a purely theoretical concept.

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 for the Germanization of individual 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) attached to the Reich, the settlement of which was mentioned in document 1. in the ghetto and extermination camps on their own territory: out of 435,000 Jews of the Warthegau, 12,000 survived) by March 1941. more than 280,000 people were deported from the Warthegau alone. The total number of Poles deported from West Prussia and the Warthegau to the General Government is estimated at 365,000. Their yards and apartments were occupied by German settlers, who by March 1942 in these two regions already numbered 287 thousand.

At the end of November 1942, on the initiative of Himmler, the so-called. "Aktion Zamość", the purpose of which was the Germanization of the district of Zamość, 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 went into partisans. To protect future settlers, it was decided to use the enmity between Poles and Ukrainians and create a defensive ring of Ukrainian villages around the settlement area. Due to the lack of forces to maintain order, the action was stopped in August 1943. By that time, only about 9,000 out of 60,000 planned settlers had moved to Zamość County.

Finally, in 1943, not far from Himmler's headquarters in Zhytomyr, 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 the Crimea.
All these activities are also quite correlated with the GPO. It is interesting to note that Prof. Mayer visited Western Poland, and Zamosc, and Zhytomyr, and the Crimea during business trips, that is, he assessed the feasibility of his concept on the ground.

7. Implementing such a plan is unrealistic.

Of course, one can only guess about the reality of the implementation of the GPO in the form in which it is described in the documents that have come down to 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 result, a new round of armed struggle against the occupiers are practically guaranteed. It is unlikely that the settlers would have rushed to the area where the guerrilla war continues.

On the other hand, we are talking not just about the idea-fix of the leadership of the Reich, but also about scientists (economists, planners, managers) who projected this idea-fix onto reality: no supernatural or impossible obligations were set, the task of Germanizing the Baltic states, Ingermanland, Crimea, Poland, parts of Ukraine and Belarus had to be solved in small steps over 20 years, along the way the details (for example, the percentage of suitability for Germanization) would be corrected and refined. As for the “unreality 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 World War II from the territories in which they lived is also described by 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, means of communication, etc., so we introduce our own rules here. No one should recognize that in this way we introduce our orders forever! All the necessary measures - executions, evictions, etc., we, despite this, are implementing and can implement.
We, however, do not at all wish to prematurely turn anyone into our enemies. Therefore, for the time being, we will act as if this area is a mandated territory. But we ourselves must be perfectly clear that we will never leave it. [...]
Most basic:
The formation of a power capable of waging war to the west of the Urals must never be allowed, even if we have to fight for another hundred years. All the Fuhrer's successors must know: the Reich will be safe only if there is no foreign army to the west of the Urals, Germany takes upon itself the protection of this space from all possible threats.
The iron law should read: "No one but the Germans should ever be allowed to carry weapons!" .

At the same time, it is pointless to compare the situation of 1941-42 with the situation of 1944, when the Nazis made promises much easier, since they were glad for almost any help: an active conscription began in the ROA, Bandera was released, etc. Like the Nazis belonged to the allies who pursued goals that were not approved in Berlin, including those who stood up for (albeit puppet) independence in 1941–42, the example of the same Bandera clearly shows.

8. When were the documents on the Ost plan discovered? Is there any possibility that they are fake?

Dr. Wetzel's response and a number of accompanying documents figured already at the Nuremberg trials, documents 5 and 6 were found in American archives and published by Czesław 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 range of documents, which includes not only the main ones discussed above, but also various accompanying notes, reviews, letters, protocols - in the classic C. Madajczyk's collection contains more than one hundred relevant documents. Therefore, it is absolutely not enough to call one document a falsification, taking it out of the context of the rest. If, for example, Document 6 is a falsification, then what does Himmler write to Maier in his response to it? Or, if Himmler's recall of 06/12/42 is a falsification, then why does document 6 embody the instructions contained in this recall? 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 it is necessary to build a whole conspiracy theory, explaining by whose malicious intent the documents and speeches of Nazi bosses found at different times in different archives line up in a whole picture. And to question the reliability of individual documents (as some authors do, counting on the ignorance of the reading public) is rather pointless.

First of all, books in German:

Collection of documents compiled by C. Madajczyk 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)

A lot of materials, including those used above, are on the thematic site of M. Burchard.

German Plan Ost

In this article you will learn:

In this article, you will learn briefly about the German General Plan Ost, which was developed by the Nazis during the Second World War.

The most brutal political program in the 20th century is the Nazi "General Plan Ost". The initiator of the development of the "Plan Ost" was Heinrich Himmler, his main ideas and the name itself appeared in 1940. The existence of the "General Plan Ost" during the war was not known, the first mention of it was made by Nazi criminals during the Nuremberg Tribunal. During the process, the prosecutors relied on the "Remarks and Suggestions" of E. Wetzel, who during the war years was an employee of the Ministry of Eastern Territories.

The full text of the "Plan Ost" was found only in the late eighties in the German Federal Archives, digitized and published only in 2009.

One of the variants of the "Plan Ost" was presented in the summer of 1942 by the Reich Security Headquarters for the Integration of the People of Germany, SS Oberführer Meyer-Hetling read out.

Plan

The master plan consisted of three parts:

• Basic rules for future settlement.
• Economic review of the annexed territories and their organization.
• Delimitation of settlements in the occupied areas.

Goals

The “General Plan Ost” included a list of documents that dealt with the settlement of the “eastern territories”, which meant Poland and the USSR, after the victory of the Nazis in the war. It was not envisaged to preserve the statehood of any nation, Ukraine, Russia, Latvia and others would simply become part of the Greater German state.

It was based on two documents, which revealed a plan for the further colonization of the eastern territories of Europe by the Germans. Thus, the colonization of 87,600 km2 was envisaged, where about one hundred thousand settlement farms of 29 hectares each were to be created. It was envisaged to overpower here more than four million Germans. In parallel with this, it was planned to eliminate half a million Jews - all the Jews who inhabited these territories - and forty percent of the Poles.

German peasants resettled in the eastern lands would receive land on certain conditions - at first for seven years, and in the event of a successful management, this land would become hereditary, and twenty years later it would become his property. Moreover, a certain payment to the state treasury was supposed for the land. The development and settlement of the eastern territories was to be personally controlled by Himmler. The resettlement of the urban population was also envisaged - the Germans would receive apartments with all their property.

Scales

Initially, the Ost plan extended only to Poland, Ukraine, Belarus, the Baltic states and North-West Russia. The document drew attention to the fact that the possession of the eastern lands is the prerogative of the German nation and all the resources that would be needed to implement the ideas of the Germans had to be extracted from the occupied lands.

The scale of Hitler's territorial "appetite" can be judged from the surviving memorandum to Minister Rosenberg, which included comments and additions to the Ost plan. So the document talked about the resettlement of Germans in the occupied, as a result of the war, eastern territories. It was planned to do this gradually over thirty years, and on the territory of the former USSR by that time it was planned to leave no more than fourteen million inhabitants who were used as cheap labor and would control the Germans resettled here. The rest of the population was to be evicted to Western Siberia, and the Jews who lived here were to be liquidated during the war. However, this point was doubtful by the author himself, since, in his opinion, it is better not to resettle some of the Soviet nationalities, but to Germanize them. To such he attributed the peoples of the Baltic. Rosenberg proposed to deport the Ukrainian and Belarusian population to Siberia, of which 35% of Ukrainians and 25% of Belarusians were proposed to be Germanized. Thus, the remaining indigenous population would become farm laborers for the "German masters".

The next point of the document discussed the issue with Poland. In Germany, the Poles were considered the most dangerous people who fiercely hate Germany, so they were asked to be resettled in South America. Fifty percent of the Czech population was also supposed to be deported, and the other fifty percent to be Germanized.

A whole sub-item was set aside for the Russian population, since it was considered the cornerstone of the entire “Eastern problem”. This people, it was originally proposed to completely destroy, or in extreme cases to Germanize those Russians who have obvious Nordic signs. But already in the notes to the Ost plan, it was said that this was impossible, so it was proposed to simply gradually weaken the Russian people, reduce its birth rate, and also proposed to separate the population of Siberia from the other Russian population.

Judging by other German documents that were related to the Ost plan, the Germans planned to increase the number of Germans living in the conquered territories to two hundred and fifty million in fifty years. Moreover, in the eastern lands, it was planned to completely repeat the German order - “the creation of a new Germany” where the environment, roads, agricultural and communal services, industry would be exactly copied from the German model, so that the Germans resettled here would live comfortably.

Timing

The implementation of this plan was planned not earlier than the end of the war, but the prerequisites for this were laid during the war, when the Germans destroyed about three million prisoners of war, millions of people from Ukraine, Poland and Belarus were taken to forced labor and concentration camps. Also, do not forget about the more than six million Jews who died during the Holocaust.

Outcome

In fact, if Nazi Germany and its allies had won the Second World War, then the previously carried out genocide of the Jews would have been the first step towards the destruction of tens of millions of Eastern Europeans.

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 this is not about a project, but about approved and endorsed by Hitler. So, questions and misconceptions.
1. What is the "General Plan Ost?"
2. What is the history of GPO? What documents are related to it?
3. What is the content of the GPO?
4. In fact, the GPO was developed by a petty official, should it be taken seriously?
5. The plan does not have the signature of Hitler or any other high official of the Reich, which means that it is not valid.
6. The GPO was a purely theoretical concept.
7. Implementing such a plan is unrealistic.
8. When were the Plan Ost documents discovered? Is there any possibility that they are fake?
9.What can I read more about GPO?
Short answers and details under the cut

1. What is the "General Plan Ost?"

Under the "General Plan Ost" (GPO), modern historians understand a set of plans, draft plans and memorandums devoted to the settlement of 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 the Nazi racial doctrine under the patronage of the Reichskommissariat for the Strengthening of German Statehood (RKF), headed by the Reichsfuehrer SS 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 following table:

To understand the logic of the development of the GPO, two reviews of Himmler on the plans presented by Mayer are important. In the first, dated 12.06.42 (BA, NS 19/1739, Russian translation), Himmler demands that the plan be expanded to include not only the "Eastern", but also other territories subject to Germanization (West Prussia, the Czech Republic, Alsace-Lorraine, etc.). etc.), shorten the time frame and aim at the complete Germanization of Estonia, Latvia and the entire Government General.
The consequence of this was the renaming of the GPO into the "general plan of settlement" (document 6), while, however, some of the territories present in document 5 fell out of the plan, to which Himmler immediately draws attention (letter to Mayer dated 12.01.1943, BA, NS 19 /1739): "The eastern territories for settlement should include Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Belarus, Ingermanland, as well as Crimea and Tavria [...] The named territories should be completely Germanized / completely populated."
Mayer never presented the next version of the plan: the course of the war made further work on it meaningless.

The following table uses the data systematized by M. Burchard:

It should be noted that documents 5 and 6 do not contain specific numbers of residents to be evicted, however, they are derived from the difference between the actual number of residents and the planned one (taking into account the German settlers and the local population suitable for Germanization). Document 4 names Western Siberia as the territories 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, the Russians were considered the least Germanized people, moreover, they were poisoned for 25 years by the poison of Judeo-Bolshevism. It is difficult to say unambiguously 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 "a decrease in the Slavic population by 30 million.". Wetzel wrote about measures to reduce the birth rate (encouragement of abortion, sterilization, refusal to fight infant mortality, etc.), Hitler himself expressed himself more directly: "Local residents? We will have to filter them. We will remove destructive Jews altogether. My impression of the Belarusian territory is better than that of the Ukrainian one. We will not go to Russian cities, they should completely die out. We should not torment ourselves with remorse. We we don't need to get used to the role of a nanny, we have no obligations to the residents there. Repair houses, catch lice, German teachers, newspapers? No! It's better we open a radio station under our control, but otherwise it is enough for them to know the traffic signs so as not to get caught by us on the way! By freedom, these people mean the right to bathe only on holidays. If we come with shampoo, it will not arouse sympathy. There you need to retrain. There is only one task: to carry out Germanization by importing Germans, and the former inhabitants must be treated as Indians. "

Petty 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 Oberführer (in the military table of ranks above colonel, but below major general) of the SS. By the way, another popular misconception is that the GPO was allegedly the product of the inflamed imagination of a crazy SS man. This is also not true: agrarians, economists, managers and other specialists from academia 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 main 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 the German state" from 1941 to 1945. 510 thousand RM were allocated, of which Mayer spent 60-70 thousand per year on his working group, the rest went as grants to scientists who conducted research relevant to the RKF. For comparison, the maintenance of a scientist with a scientific degree cost about 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 the RKF chief Himmler and in close connection with him, while the correspondence was conducted both through the head of the RKF headquarters Greifelt and directly. Widely known photographs taken during the exhibition "Planning and building a new order in the East", in which Meyer speaks to Himmler, Hess, Heydrich and Todt.

The GPO actually did not advance beyond the design stage, which was largely facilitated by the course of hostilities - 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 settlements in the occupied regions. The very first sentence of Document 5 states this explicitly: Thanks to German weapons, the eastern territories, which were the object of disputes that had dragged on for many centuries, were finally annexed to the Reich.

Nevertheless, it would be a mistake to deduce from this the disinterest of Hitler and the leadership of the Reich in the GPO. As already shown above, work on the plan took place on the instructions and under the constant patronage of Himmler, who, in turn, I would like to convey this plan also to the Führer at a convenient time.(letter dated 06/12/1942)
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, 02/03/1933, he, speaking to the generals of the Reichswehr, spoke about "the need to conquer the living space in the east and its decisive Germanization" ), after the start of the war, it acquired a clear outline. Here is a recording of one of Hitler's monologues dated 10/17/1941:
... the Fuhrer once again 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 prepared by him should be greatly expanded. In the next twenty years, three million prisoners will be 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 peasant farms will be established along the roads, and the plain Asian-looking steppe will soon take on a completely different look. In 10 years, 4 million Germans 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 joining the Russian expanses. In Russian cities, those that will survive the war - Moscow and Leningrad should not survive it in any way - the foot of a German should not set foot. They must vegetate in their own shit away from the German roads. The Fuhrer again touched upon 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 management with an iron hand, what the Slavs will think about this does not touch him at all. Whoever eats German bread today does not give much thought to the fact that the fields east of the Elbe were reclaimed by the sword in the 12th century.

Of course, his subordinates also echoed him. For example, on October 2, 1941, Heydrich described the future colonization as follows:
Other lands - eastern lands, partly inhabited by Slavs, 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 the service. These are the lands in the east that we will have to manage and hold. These are lands where, after the solution of the military question, 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 to be treated, as in the construction of a dam and the draining of the coast: in the far 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. From this point of view it is necessary to consider what is happening in the east. The first step would be the creation of a protectorate from the provinces of Danzig-West Prussia and the Warthegau. A year ago, eight million more Poles lived in these provinces, as well as in East Prussia and the Silesian part. These are lands that will gradually be populated by Germans, the Polish element will be squeezed out step by step. These are lands that in due time will become completely German. And then further east, to the Baltic states, which will also become completely German in due time, although here it is necessary to consider what part of the blood of Latvians, Estonians and Lithuanians is suitable for Germanization. The best racially here are the Estonians, they have strong Swedish influences, then the Latvians, and the worst are the Lithuanians.
Then the turn of the rest of Poland will come, this is the next territory, which should be gradually settled by the Germans, and the Poles should be squeezed further to the east. Then Ukraine, which at first as an intermediate solution should be, with the application, of course, still dormant in the subconscious of the national idea, separated from the rest of Russia and used as a source of minerals and provisions under German control. Of course, not allowing the people to strengthen or strengthen there, raising their educational level, since this may later lead to the opposition, which, with the weakening of the central government, will strive for independence ...

A year later, on November 23, 1942, Himmler spoke of the same thing:
The main colony of our Reich lies in the east. Today - a colony, tomorrow - a settlement area, the day after tomorrow - a Reich! [...] If next year or next year 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 space for settlement in the east must be developed, settled and attached to European culture. Over the next 20 years - counting from the end of the war - I have set myself the task (and I hope I can solve it with your help) to move the German border about 500 km to the east. This means that we must resettle farmer families there, the resettlement of the best carriers of German blood and the ordering of the millionth Russian people under our tasks will begin ... 20 years of struggle for peace lie before us ... Then this east will be cleansed of foreign blood and our families will settle there as legal owners.

As you can see, all three quotations correlate perfectly 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 for the Germanization of individual 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) attached to the Reich, the settlement of which was mentioned in document 1. in the ghetto and extermination camps on their own territory: out of 435,000 Jews of the Warthegau, 12,000 survived) by March 1941. more than 280,000 people were deported from the Warthegau alone. The total number of Poles deported from West Prussia and the Warthegau to the General Government is estimated at 365,000. Their yards and apartments were occupied by German settlers, who by March 1942 in these two regions already numbered 287 thousand.

At the end of November 1942, on the initiative of Himmler, the so-called. "Aktion Zamość", the purpose of which was the Germanization of the district of Zamość, 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 went into partisans. To protect future settlers, it was decided to use the enmity between Poles and Ukrainians and create a defensive ring of Ukrainian villages around the settlement area. Due to the lack of forces to maintain order, the action was stopped in August 1943. By that time, only about 9,000 out of 60,000 planned settlers had moved to Zamość County.

Finally, in 1943, not far from Himmler's headquarters in Zhytomyr, 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 the Crimea.
All these activities are also quite correlated with the GPO. It is interesting to note that Prof. Mayer visited Western Poland, and Zamosc, and Zhytomyr, and the Crimea during business trips, i.e. evaluated the feasibility of his concept on the ground.

Of course, one can only guess about the reality of the implementation of the GPO in the form in which it is described in the documents that have come down to us. We are talking about the resettlement of tens of millions (and, apparently, the extermination of millions) people, the need for migrants is estimated at 5-10 million people. The discontent of the expelled population and, as a result, a new round of armed struggle against the occupiers are practically guaranteed. It is unlikely that the settlers would have rushed to the area where the guerrilla war continues.

On the other hand, we are talking not just about the idea-fix of the leadership of the Reich, but also about scientists (economists, planners, managers) who projected this idea-fix onto reality: no supernatural or impossible obligations were set, the task of Germanizing the Baltic states, Ingermanland, Crimea, Poland, parts of Ukraine and Belarus had to be solved in small steps over 20 years, along the way the details (for example, the percentage of suitability for Germanization) would be corrected and refined. As for the "unreality 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 World War II from the territories in which they lived is also described by 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, means of communication, etc., so we introduce our own rules here. No one should recognize that in this way we introduce our orders forever! All the necessary measures - executions, evictions, etc., we, despite this, are implementing and can implement.
We, however, do not at all wish to prematurely turn anyone into our enemies. Therefore, for the time being, we will act as if this area is a mandated territory. But we ourselves must be perfectly clear that we will never leave it. [...]
Most basic:
The formation of a power capable of waging war to the west of the Urals must never be allowed, even if we have to fight for another hundred years. All the Fuhrer's successors must know: the Reich will be safe only if there is no foreign army to the west of the Urals, Germany takes upon itself the protection of this space from all possible threats.
The iron law should read: "No one but the Germans should ever be allowed to carry weapons!".)
At the same time, it is pointless to compare the situation of 1941-42. with the situation in 1944, when the Nazis made promises much easier, since they were glad for almost any help: an active conscription began in the ROA, Bandera was released, etc. How did the Nazis treat allies who pursued goals that were not approved in Berlin, incl. who stood up for (albeit puppet) independence in 1941-42, the example of the same Bandera clearly shows.

Dr. Wetzel's response and a number of accompanying documents figured already at the Nuremberg trials, documents 5 and 6 were found in American archives and published by Czesław 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 range of documents, which includes not only the main ones discussed above, but also various accompanying notes, reviews, letters, protocols - in the classic C. Madajczyk's collection contains more than one hundred relevant documents. Therefore, it is absolutely not enough to call one document a falsification, taking it out of the context of the rest. If, for example, Document 6 is a falsification, then what does Himmler write to Maier in his response to it? Or, if Himmler's recall of 06/12/42 is a falsification, then why does document 6 embody the instructions contained in this recall? 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 it is necessary to build a whole conspiracy theory, explaining by whose malicious intent the documents and speeches of Nazi bosses found at different times in different archives line up in a whole picture. And to question the reliability of individual documents (as some authors do, counting on the ignorance of the reading public) is rather pointless.

First of all, books in German:
- a collection of documents compiled by C. Madajczyk 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.