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[[File:Bundesarchiv R 49 Bild-0705, Polen, Herkunft der Umsiedler, Karte.jpg|300px|thumb|Origin of German colonisers resettled during "Heim ins Reich" action to [[Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany|annexed Polish territories]]]] |
[[File:Bundesarchiv R 49 Bild-0705, Polen, Herkunft der Umsiedler, Karte.jpg|300px|thumb|Origin of German colonisers resettled during "Heim ins Reich" action to [[Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany|annexed Polish territories]]]] |
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After the Germans occupied western Poland, they established a central registration bureau, called the German People's List (''[[Deutsche Volksliste]]'', DVL), whereby Polish citizens of German ethnicity were registered as ''Volksdeutsche''. The Germans encouraged such registration, in many cases forcing it or subjecting Polish Germans to terror assaults if they refused.<ref>''Historia Encyklopedia Szkolna'', Wydawnictwa Szkolne i, Warszawa" Pedagogiczne, 1993, pp. 357, 358</ref> Those who joined this group were given benefits, including better food as well as a better social status. |
After the Germans occupied western Poland, they established a central registration bureau, called the German People's List (''[[Deutsche Volksliste]]'', DVL), whereby Polish citizens of German ethnicity were registered as ''Volksdeutsche''. The Germans encouraged such registration, in many cases forcing it or subjecting Polish Germans to terror assaults if they refused.<ref>''Historia Encyklopedia Szkolna'', Wydawnictwa Szkolne i, Warszawa" Pedagogiczne, 1993, pp. 357, 358</ref> Those who joined this group were given benefits, including better food as well as a better social status. The "Danziger Neueste Nachrichten" of February 28th, 1942, suggested that people who "''feel that they are German,," should report for registration in the Deutsche Volksliste<ref>"In addition to the conception of [[Walddeutsche|Taubdeutsche]] (see ''Hatschower''), the Germans also talk of "fluid nationalities" (lebendes Volkstum). The "Danziger Neueste Nachrichten" of February 28th, 1942, suggested that people who " feel that they are German " should report for registration in the Deutsche Volksliste. Bracht, the Gauleiter of Silesia, has announced again and again that knowledge of German is not a condition of registration. The "Kolnische Zeitung", of August 6th and 11th, 1942, stated that of course there were very many Poles on the lists. The same journal reported that in Pomerania a Polish woman teacher was registered on the Deutsche Volksliste,telling the commission that " she wanted to try to become a German." Figures for Poznania are entirely lacking." Aims and failures of the German new order. American Polish Council, 1943 - 119, p. 97</ref>. |
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The [[Volksdeutsche Mittelstelle]] organised large-scale looting of property and redistributed goods to the Volksdeutsche. They were given apartments, workshops, farms, furniture, and clothing confiscated from Jews and Poles. In turn, hundreds of thousands of the Volksdeutsche joined the German forces, either willingly or under compulsion. |
The [[Volksdeutsche Mittelstelle]] organised large-scale looting of property and redistributed goods to the Volksdeutsche. They were given apartments, workshops, farms, furniture, and clothing confiscated from Jews and Poles. In turn, hundreds of thousands of the Volksdeutsche joined the German forces, either willingly or under compulsion. |
Revision as of 19:10, 8 December 2011
Volksdeutsche(r) - "German in terms of people/folk" -, defined ethnically, is a historical term from the 20th century. The words volk and volkische conveyed in Nazi thinking the meanings of "folk" and "race" while adding the sense of superior civilization and blood. These terms were used by Nazis to define people in terms of their ethnicity rather than citizenship and thus included Germans living beyond the borders of the Reich.[1] This is in contrast to Imperial Germans (Reichsdeutsche), German citizens living within Germany. The term also contrasts with the usage of the term Auslandsdeutsche (Germans abroad) since 1936, which generally denotes German citizens residing in other countries.[2]
Volksdeutsche were further divided into Volksgruppen - a minority within a minority in a state - with a special cultural, social and historic development as described by Nazis.[3]
Origin of the term
According to the historian Doris Bergen, Adolf Hitler is reputed to have coined the definition of "Volksdeutsche" which appeared in a 1938 memorandum of the German Reich Chancellery. In that document, the Volksdeutsche were defined as "people whose language and culture had German origins but who did not hold German citizenship."
For Hitler and the other ethnic Germans of his time, the term "Volksdeutsche" also carried overtones of blood and race not captured in the common English translation "ethnic Germans". According to German estimates in the 1930s, about 30 million Volksdeutsche and Auslandsdeutsche (= German citizens residing abroad, see McKale 1977: The Swastika Outside Germany, p. 4) were living outside the Reich. A significant proportion of them were in eastern Europe: Russia, Poland, Ukraine, the Baltic states, and Romania, Hungary and Yugoslavia, where many were located in villages along the Danube. Many of their ancestors had migrated to such areas of eastern Europe in the 18th century, invited by governments that wanted to repopulate areas decimated by the Ottoman Empire occupation and sometimes by disease.
The Nazi goal of expansion to the east assigned the Volksdeutsche a special role in German plans, to bring them back to German citizenship and elevate them to power over the native populations in those areas. The Nazis detailed such goals in Generalplan Ost.[4]
Historical background
Ostsiedlung
Over the last thousand years, Germans emigrated from traditional German lands in Central Europe and settled further east in Russia, present-day Romania and other countries. Many Germans settled in the Baltic and parts of present day Poland in colonies established by the Teutonic Knights beginning in the thirteenth century. The Knights were also granted rights in Transylvania, resulting in the settlement of many Germans there.
In the sixteenth century Vasili III invited small numbers of German craftsmen, traders and professionals to settle in Russia so that Muscovy could exploit their skills. These settlers (many of whom intended to stay only temporarily) were generally confined to the German Quarter in Moscow (which also included Dutch, British and other western or northern European settlers whom the Russians came to indiscriminately refer to as "Germans"). They were only gradually allowed in other cities, so as to prevent the spread of alien ideas to the general population.
In his youth, Peter the Great spent much time in the German quarter. When he became Tsar, he brought more German experts (and other foreigners) into Russia, and particularly into government service, in his attempts to westernize the empire. He also brought in German engineers to supervise the construction of the new city of Saint Petersburg.
Catherine the Great, herself a German, invited German farmers to immigrate and settle in Russian lands along the Volga River. She guaranteed them the right to retain their language, religion and culture. Germans were also sent[according to whom?] in organized colonization attempts aiming at Germanization of conquered Polish areas.
Frederick the Great (reigned 1740-1786) settled around 300,000 colonists in the eastern provinces of Prussia, acquired in the First Partition of Poland of 1772, with the intention of replacing the Polish nobility. He treated the Poles with contempt and likened the "slovenly Polish trash" in newly occupied West Prussia to Iroquois, the historic Native American confederacy based in the state of New York.[5][6]
Prussia encouraged a second round of colonization with the goal of Germanisation after 1832.[7] Prussia passed laws to encourage Germanisation of the provinces of Posen and West Prussia in the late 19th century. The Prussian Settlement Commission relocated 154,000 colonists, including locals.
Treaty of Versailles
The reconstitution of Poland following the Treaty of Versailles (1919) separated German minorities of the Prussian provinces of the German Empire from a German nation state. Ethnic German inhabitants of provinces of the dissolved Austro-Hungarian Empire, such as Sudeten Germans, Danube Swabians and Transylvanian Saxons, became citizens of newly-established Slavic or Magyar nation-states. Tensions between the new administration and the ethnic German minority arose in the Polish Corridor.
The Nazi era before World War II
During the Nazi years, they used the term "Volksdeutsche" to refer to foreign-born Germans living in countries newly occupied by Nazi Germany and who applied for German citizenship. Prior to World War II, more than 10 million ethnic Germans lived in Central and Eastern Europe. They constituted an important minority far into Russia.
Pre-war relations with the Nazis
In 1931, prior to its rise to power, the Nazi party established the Auslandsorganisation der NSDAP (Foreign Organisation of the Nazi Party), which task was to disseminate Nazi propaganda among the ethnic German minorities living outside Germany (Volksdeutsche). In 1936, the government set up the Volksdeutsche Mittelstelle (Ethnic Germans' Welfare Office), commonly known as VoMi, under the jurisdiction of the SS as the liaison bureau. It was headed by SS-Obergruppenfuehrer Werner Lorenz.
In 1936 the Nazis set up an office to act as a contact for the Volksdeutsche. According to the historian Lumans Valdiso,
- "[one of Himmler's goals was] centralizing control over the myriad of groups and individuals inside the Reich promoting the Volksdeutsche cause. Himmler did not initiate the process but rather discovered it in progress and directed it to its conclusion and to his advantage. His principal instrument in this effort was an office from outside the SS, a Nazi party organ, the Volksdeutsche Mittelstelle (VoMi), translated as the Ethnic German Liaison Office."[10]
Internal propaganda
The suffering of Volksdeutsche in foreign lands was often depicted to Germans, before and during the war, to help justify the aggression. The annexation of Poland was presented as necessary to protect the German minorities there.[11] Alleged massacres of Germans, such as Bloody Sunday were used in such propaganda, and the film Heimkehr drew on such attempts although allowing the Volksdeutsche depicted to survive, saved by the arrival of German tanks.[12] Heimkehr's introduction explicitly states that hundreds of thousands of Germans in Poland suffered as the characters in the film did.[13]
Menschen im Sturm reprised Heimkehr's effort to justify the invasion of Slovania, using many of the same atrocities.[14] In The Red Terror, a Baltic German is able to avenge her family's deaths, but commits suicide after, unable to live with meaning in the Soviet Union.[15] Flüchtlinge depicted the sufferings of Volga German refugees in Manchuria, and how a heroic blond leader saved them; it was the first movie to win the state prize.[16] Friesennot depicted the suffering of a village of Volga Germans in the Soviet Union;[17] it also depicted the murder of a young woman for an affair with a Russian -- in accordance with Nazi principle of rassenschande -- as an ancient German custom.[18]
Rassenschande also featured in Die goldene Stadt, where the Sudeten German heroine faces not persecution but the allure of the big city;[19] when she succumbs, in defiance of blood and soil, she is seduced and abandoned by a Czech, and such a relationship leads to her drowning herself.[20]
Collaboration with the Nazis
Before and during World War II, some Volksdeutsche, in countries such as Czechoslovakia, Poland and Yugoslavia, actively supported the Nazis. During the social and economic tensions of the Great Depression, some had begun to feel aggrieved with their minority status. They participated in espionage, sabotage and other means in their countries of origin.
In Yugoslavia, the 7th SS Volunteer Mountain Division Prinz Eugen was formed. It was conspicuous in its operations against the Resistance partisans and among the population. About 300,000 Volksdeutsche from the Nazi-conquered lands and the satellite countries joined the Waffen-SS, the majority conscripted involuntarily. In Hungary, for instance, some 100,000 ethnic Germans volunteered for service in it. "After the initial rush of Volksdeutsche to join, voluntary enlistments tapered off, and the new unit did not reach division size. Therefore, in August 1941, the SS discarded the voluntary approach, and after a favourable judgement from the SS court in Belgrade, imposed a mandatory military obligation on all Volksdeutsche in Serbia-Banat, the first of its kind for non-Reich Germans."[21]
Among the indigenous populations in the Nazi-occupied lands, Volksdeutsche became a term of ignominy.
During the early days of WWII (i.e., before the US entered the war), a small number of Americans of German origin returned to Germany; generally they were immigrants or children of immigrants, rather than descendants of migrations more distant in time. Some of these enlisted and fought in the German army.
During World War II
Volksdeutsche in German-occupied western Poland
In September 1939 in German occupied Poland, an armed ethnic German militia called Selbstschutz (Self-Defence) was created. It organized the mass murder of Polish elites in Operation Tannenberg. At the beginning of 1940, the Selbstschutz was disbanded and its members transferred to various units of the SS and German police. Throughout the invasion of Poland, some ethnic German minority groups assisted Nazi Germany in the war effort. They committed sabotage, diverted regular forces and committed numerous atrocities against civilian population.[22][23]
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1c/Bundesarchiv_Bild_183-J09397%2C_Lodz%2C_Millionster_Umsiedler_im_Wartheland.jpg/250px-Bundesarchiv_Bild_183-J09397%2C_Lodz%2C_Millionster_Umsiedler_im_Wartheland.jpg)
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e9/Bundesarchiv_R_49_Bild-0705%2C_Polen%2C_Herkunft_der_Umsiedler%2C_Karte.jpg/300px-Bundesarchiv_R_49_Bild-0705%2C_Polen%2C_Herkunft_der_Umsiedler%2C_Karte.jpg)
After the Germans occupied western Poland, they established a central registration bureau, called the German People's List (Deutsche Volksliste, DVL), whereby Polish citizens of German ethnicity were registered as Volksdeutsche. The Germans encouraged such registration, in many cases forcing it or subjecting Polish Germans to terror assaults if they refused.[24] Those who joined this group were given benefits, including better food as well as a better social status. The "Danziger Neueste Nachrichten" of February 28th, 1942, suggested that people who "feel that they are German,," should report for registration in the Deutsche Volksliste[25].
The Volksdeutsche Mittelstelle organised large-scale looting of property and redistributed goods to the Volksdeutsche. They were given apartments, workshops, farms, furniture, and clothing confiscated from Jews and Poles. In turn, hundreds of thousands of the Volksdeutsche joined the German forces, either willingly or under compulsion.
During World War II, Polish citizens of German ancestry, who often identified with the Polish nation, were confronted with the dilemma of registering in the Deutsche Volksliste. Many ethnic Germans had families who had lived in Poland for centuries; even the more recent immigrants had arrived 30 years or more before the war. They faced the choice of registering and being regarded as traitors by other Poles, or not signing and being treated by the Nazi occupation as traitors to the Germanic "race".
In Polish Silesia Catholic Church authorities lead by bishop Stanisław Adamski and with agreement from Polish Government in Exile advised Poles to sign up to the Volksliste in order to avoid atrocities and mass murder that happened in other parts of the country[26]
In occupied Poland, the status of "Volksdeutscher" gave many privileges, but one big disadvantage: Volksdeutsche were subject to conscription into the German army. In occupied Pomerania, the Gauleiter of the Danzig-West Prussia region Albert Forster issued a secret order which mandated a creation of a list of people who were considered to be of German ethnicity, in 1941. Since the number of supposedly ethnic Germans who signed up voluntarily was insignificant by 1942, in February of that year Forster made signing of the Volksliste mandatory and empowered local police and other authorities to employ various methods, including physical force and threats, to implement the decree. Consequently, the initially insignificant number of signatories rose to almost a million persons, or about 55% of the population by 1944. The special case of Pomerania, where terror against civilians was particularly intense, and where, unlike in rest of occupied Poland, signing of the list was mandatory for many people, was recognized by the Polish Underground State and other anti-Nazi resistance movements, which tried to explain the situation to other Poles in underground publications.[27]
The Deutsche Volksliste categorised German Poles into one of four categories:[28][29]
- Category I: Persons of German descent committed to the Reich before 1939.
- Category II: Persons of German descent who had remained passive.
- Category III: Persons of German descent who had become partly "polonized", e.g., through marrying a Polish partner or through working relationships (especially Silesians and Kashubians).
- Category IV: Persons of German ancestry who had become "polonized" but were supportive of "Germanisation".
Volksdeutsche of statuses 1 and 2 in the Polish areas annexed by Germany numbered 1,000,000, and Nos. 3 and 4 numbered 1,700,000. In the General Government there were 120,000 Volksdeutsche. Volksdeutsche of Polish ethnic origins were treated by the Poles with special contempt, but were also committing high treason according to Polish law.[citation needed]
Annexed area | Deutsche Volksliste, early 1944 | |||
Cat. I | Cat. II | Cat. III | Cat. IV | |
Warthegau | 230,000 | 190,000 | 65,000 | 25,000 |
Reichsgau Danzig-West Prussia Note: In Pomerania, unlike in rest of occupied Poland, signing of the list was mandatory for a good portion of the population.[27] |
115,000 | 95,000 | 725,000 | 2,000 |
East Upper Silesia | 130,000 | 210,000 | 875,000 | 55,000 |
South East Prussia | 9,000 | 22,000 | 13,000 | 1,000 |
Total | 484,000 | 517,000 | 1,678,000 | 83,000 |
Toal 2.75 million on Volkslisten plus non-German population(Polish) of 6.015 million- Grand Total 8.765 million in annexed territories. | ||||
Source: Wilhelm Deist, Bernhard R Kroener, Germany (Federal Republic). Militärgeschichtliches Forschungsamt, Germany and the Second World War, Oxford University Press, 2003, pp. 132,133, ISBN 0-19-820873-1, citing Broszat, Nationalsozialistische Polenpolitik, p. 134 |
Because of actions by some Volksdeutsche and particularly the atrocities committed by Nazi Germany, after the end of the war, the Polish authorities tried many Volksdeutsche for high treason. In the postwar period, many other ethnic Germans were expelled to the west and forced to leave everything. In 21st century Poland, the word Volksdeutsche is regarded as an insult, synonymous with "traitor".
In some cases, individuals consulted the Polish resistance first, before signing the Volksliste. There were Volksdeutsche who played important roles in intelligence activities of the Polish resistance, and were at times the primary source of information for the Allies. Particularly in Pomerania and Silesia, many of the people who were forced to sign the Volksliste played crucial roles in the anti-Nazi underground, which was noted in a memo to the Polish Government in Exile which stated "In Wielkopolska there's bitter hatred of the Volksdeutshe while in Silesia and Pomerania it's the opposite, the secret organization depends in large measure on the Volksdeutshe" (the memo referred to those of Category III, not I and II).[27] In the turmoil of the postwar years, the Communist government did not consider this sufficient mitigation. It prosecuted many double-agent Volksdeutsche and sentenced some to death.
Volksdeutsche in the territories annexed by the Soviet Union in 1939-40
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/43/Bundesarchiv_Bild_137-058147%2C_Wartheland%2C_Transport_von_Umsiedlern.jpg/220px-Bundesarchiv_Bild_137-058147%2C_Wartheland%2C_Transport_von_Umsiedlern.jpg)
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7b/Bundesarchiv_Bild_121-0693%2C_Graz%2C_Bahnhof%2C_Volksdeutsche_Umsiedler.jpg/220px-Bundesarchiv_Bild_121-0693%2C_Graz%2C_Bahnhof%2C_Volksdeutsche_Umsiedler.jpg)
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/41/Bundesarchiv_Bild_183-E12315%2C_Warthegau%2C_Baltendeutsche_Umsiedler.jpg/220px-Bundesarchiv_Bild_183-E12315%2C_Warthegau%2C_Baltendeutsche_Umsiedler.jpg)
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/57/Bundesarchiv_Bild_183-E12311%2C_Ankunft_baltendeutscher_Umsiedler.jpg/220px-Bundesarchiv_Bild_183-E12311%2C_Ankunft_baltendeutscher_Umsiedler.jpg)
The Soviet invasion of Finland, which had been covertly ceded under the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact secret protocols, created domestic problems for Hitler.[31] Supporting the Soviet invasion became one of the most ideologically difficult aspects of the countries' relationship.[32] The secret protocols caused Hitler to hurriedly evacuate ethnic German families, the Volksdeutsche, who had lived in Finland and the Baltic countries for centuries, while officially condoning the invasions.[33][34] When the three Baltic countries, not knowing about the secret protocols, sent letters protesting the Soviet invasions to Berlin, Ribbentrop returned them.[35]
In August 1940, Soviet Foreign minister Molotov told the Germans that, with the government change, they could close down their Baltic consulates by 1 September.[35] The Soviet annexations in Romania caused further strain.[35] While Germany had given the Soviets Bessarabia in the secret protocols, it had not given them Bucovina.[35] Germany wanted guarantees of the safety of property of ethnic Germans, security for the 125,000 Volksdeutsche in Bessarabia and Bukovina, and reassurance that the train tracks carrying Romanian oil would be left alone.[34]
In October 1940, Germany and the Soviet Union negotiated about the Volksdeutsche in Soviet-occupied territories and their property.[36] Instead of permitting full indemnification, the Soviets put restrictions on the wealth that the Volksdeutsche could take with them and limited the totals that the Soviets would apply to the Reich's clearing accounts.[37] The parties discussed total compensation of between 200 million and 350 million Reichsmarks for the Volksdeutsche, while the Soviets requested 50 million Reichsmarks for their property claims in German-occupied territories.[38] The two nations reached general agreement on German shipments of 10.5-cm flak cannons, gold, machinery and other items.[38]
On 10 January 1941, Germany and the Soviet Union signed the German–Soviet Border and Commercial Agreement to settle all of the open disputes which the Soviets had argued.[39] The agreement covered protected migration to Germany within two and a half months of Volksdeutsche, and similar migration to the Soviet Union of ethnic Russians, Baltic and "White Russian" "nationals" from German-held territories.[40] In many cases, the resulting population transfers resulted in resettlement of Volksdeutsche on land previously held by ethnic Poles or Jews in now Nazi-occupied territories. The agreement formally defined the border between Germany and the Soviet Union areas between the Igorka River and the Baltic Sea.[40]
Territory of origin | Year | Number of resettled Volksdeutsches |
---|---|---|
South Tyrol (see South Tyrol Option Agreement) | 1939–1940 | 83 000 |
Latvia and Estonia | 1939–1941 | 69 000 |
Lithuania | 1941 | 54 000 |
Volhynia, Galicia, Nerewdeutschland | 1939–1940 | 128 000 |
General Government | 1940 | 33 000 |
North Bukovina and Bessarabia | 1940 | 137 000 |
Romania (South Bukovina and North Dobruja) | 1940 | 77 000 |
Jugoslavia | 1941–1942 | 36 000 |
USSR (pre-1939 borders) | 1939–1944 | 250 000 |
Summary | 1939–1944 | 867 000 |
After the German invasion of the USSR
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/51/Bundesarchiv_Bild_146-1981-150-34A%2C_Russland%2C_Identifizierung_ermordeter_Volksdeutscher.jpg/220px-Bundesarchiv_Bild_146-1981-150-34A%2C_Russland%2C_Identifizierung_ermordeter_Volksdeutscher.jpg)
after the Russian Revolution of 1917, the government granted the Volga Germans an autonomous republic. Joseph Stalin abolished the Volga German ASSR after Operation Barbarossa, the German invasion of the USSR. He had many of the inhabitants deported to prison camps in Siberia.[citation needed]
Expulsion and exodus from Eastern Europe at the end of the war
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c9/Vertreibung.jpg/220px-Vertreibung.jpg)
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ec/Bundesarchiv_Bild_101I-464-0383I-26%2C_Nemmersdorf_%28Ostpreu%C3%9Fen%29%2C_ermordete_Deutsche.jpg/220px-Bundesarchiv_Bild_101I-464-0383I-26%2C_Nemmersdorf_%28Ostpreu%C3%9Fen%29%2C_ermordete_Deutsche.jpg)
Most Volksdeutsche left or were expelled from eastern European countries from 1945-1948 towards the end and after the war. Both those who became Volksdeutsche by registering and Reichsdeutsche retained German citizenship during the years of Allied military occupation, after the establishment of East Germany and West Germany in 1949, and later in the reunified Germany.
An estimated 12 million Germans fled or were expelled from the Soviet Union and eastern Europe, many of them being Volksdeutsche.[42][43][44][45] Most left the Soviet-occupied territories of Eastern Europe; they comprised the largest migration of any European people in modern history.[43][46] The Allies had agreed to the expulsions during negotiations in the midst of war. The western powers hoped to avoid ethnic Germans being an issue again in eastern Europe.[47][48][49]
Local authorities forced most of the remaining ethnic Germans to leave between 1945 and 1950. Remnants of the ethnic German community survive in the former Soviet republics of Central Asia. A significant ethnic German community has continued in Siebenbürgen (Transylvania) in Romania but most of it migrated to West Germany throughout the 1980s. There are also remnant German populations near Mukachevo in western Ukraine.[50]
Legacy
The Nazis defined and popularized the term Volksdeutsche, and exploited such peoples for their own purposes. As a result, the term is not much used today.
Instead, ethnic Germans living outside of Germany are called "Auslandsdeutsche", or names more closely associated with their earlier places of residence, such as Wolgadeutsche or Volga Germans, the ethnic Germans living in the Volga basin in Russia; and Baltic Germans, who generally called themselves Balts. They were relocated to German-occupied Poland during World War II by an agreement between Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin, and most were expelled to the West after the war.
Ethnic Germans were among the millions of displaced peoples on the roads of Europe in the years after the war.
See also
- Goralenvolk
- Selbstschutz
- Imperial Germans, for a discussion of the different concepts and the shift of meaning between them.
- Fifth column
- Heimatvertriebene
- Umvolkung
- German exodus from Eastern Europe
- World War II evacuation and expulsion
- Pursuit of Nazi collaborators
- Nur für Deutsche
Bibliography
- Nazi Fifth Column Activities: A List of References, Library of Congress, 1943
- The German fifth column in the Second World War, by L. de Jong
- The German Fifth Column in Poland, Hutchinson & Co Ltd, London
- Luther, Tammo (2004): Volkstumspolitik des Deutschen Reiches 1933-1938. Die Auslanddeutschen im Spannungsfeld zwischen Traditionalisten und Nationalsozialisten. Franz Steiner, Stuttgart
- de Zayas, Alfred M.: Die deutschen Vertriebenen. Graz, 2006. ISBN 3-902475-15-3.
- de Zayas, Alfred M.: Heimatrecht ist Menschenrecht. München, 2001. ISBN 3-8004-1416-3.
- de Zayas, Alfred M.: Nemesis at Potsdam. London, 1977. ISBN 0-8032-4910-1.
- de Zayas, Alfred M.: A terrible Revenge. Palgrave/Macmillan, New York, 1994.
- Franzel, Emil: Sudetendeutsche Geschichte. Mannheim, 1978. ISBN 3-8083-1141-X.
- Franzel, Emil: Die Sudetendeutschen. Aufstieg Verlag München, 1980.
- Meixner, Rudolf: Geschichte der Sudetendeutschen. Nürnberg, 1988. ISBN 3-921332-97-4.
- Naimark, Normn: Ethnic Cleansing in Twentieth-Century Europe. Cambridge, Harvard University Press,2001.
- Prauser, Steffen and Rees, Arfon: The Expulsion of the "German" communities from Eastern Europe at the End of the 2nd World War. Florence, Italy, European University Institute, 2004.
Notes
- ^ The Greenwood Encyclopedia of International Relations: S-Z Cathal J. Nolan, page 1793, 2002
- ^ Vokabular des Nationalsozialismus by Cornelia Schmitz-Berning 1998, page 651
- ^ Himmler's Auxiliaries: The Volksdeutsche Mittelstelle and the German National Minorities of Europe, 1933-1945 by Valdis O. Lumans 1993, page 23
- ^ Bergen, Doris. "The Nazi Concept of 'Volksdeutsche' and the Exacerbation of Anti-Semitism in Eastern Europe, 1939-45", Journal of Contemporary History, Vol. 29, No. 4 (Oct. 1994), pp. 569-582
- ^ Ritter, Gerhard (1974), Frederick the Great: A Historical Profile, Berkeley: University of California Press, pp. 179–180, ISBN 0-520-02775-2,
It has been estimated that during his reign 300,000 individuals settled in Prussia.... While the commission for colonization established in the Bismarck era could in the course of two decades bring no more than 11,957 families to the eastern territories, Frederick settled a total of 57,475.... It increased the German character of the population in the monarchy's provinces to a very significant degree.... in West Prussia where he wished to drive out the Polish nobility and bring as many of their large estates as possible into German hands.
- ^ "In fact from Hitler to Hans we find frequent references to Poles and Jews as Indians. This, too, was a long standing trope. It can be traced back to Frederick the Great, who likened the 'slovenly Polish trash' in newly' reconquered West Prussia to Iroquois". David Blackbourn, James N. Retallack, Localism, Landscape, and the Ambiguities of Place: German-speaking Central Europe, 1860-1930, University of Toronto, 2007
- ^ Wielka historia Polski t. 4 Polska w czasach walk o niepodległość (1815 - 1864). Od niewoli do niepodległości (1864 - 1918)Marian Zagórniak, Józef Buszko 2003 page 186
- ^ http://www.uni-leipzig.de/unigeschichte/professorenkatalog/leipzig/Lehmann_763
- ^ Edgar Lehmann, Meyers Handatlas, ausgabe B, Bibliographisches Inst., Leipzig 1932.
- ^ Lumans VALDISO, Himmler's Auxiliaries: The Volksdeutsche Mittelstelle and the German National Minorities of Europe, 1933-1945, Chapel Hill, NC and London: University of North Carolina Press,
- ^ Cinzia Romani, Tainted Goddesses: Female Film Stars of the Third Reich p145 ISBN 0-9627613-1-1
- ^ Robert Edwin Hertzstein, The War That Hitler Won p289 ISBN 399-11845-4
- ^ Robert Edwin Hertzstein, The War That Hitler Won p287 ISBN 399-11845-4
- ^ Robert Edwin Hertzstein, The War That Hitler Won p292-3 ISBN 399-11845-4
- ^ Erwin Leiser, Nazi Cinema pp 44-5 ISBN 0-02-570230-0
- ^ Erwin Leiser, Nazi Cinema p29-30 ISBN 0-02-570230-0
- ^ Erwin Leiser, Nazi Cinema p39-40 ISBN 0-02-570230-0
- ^ Richard Grunberger, The 12-Year Reich, p 384, ISBN 03-076435-1
- ^ Cinzia Romani, Tainted Goddesses: Female Film Stars of the Third Reich p86 ISBN 0-9627613-1-1
- ^ Anthony Rhodes, Propaganda: The art of persuasion: World War II, p20 1976, Chelsea House Publishers, New York
- ^ Valdis O. Lumans, Himmler's Auxiliaries: The Volksdeutsche Mittelstelle and the German National minorities of Europe, 1939-1945 (University of North Carolina Press, 1993), page.235.
- ^ *Maria Wardzyńska "Był rok 1939 Operacja niemieckiej policji bezpieczeństwa w Polsce. Intelligenzaktion" IPN Instytut Pamięci Narodowej, 2009 ISBN 978-83-7629-063-8
- ^ Browning, Christopher R. The Origins of the Final Solution: The Evolution of Nazi Jewish Policy, September 1939-March 1942, 2007 p. 33
- ^ Historia Encyklopedia Szkolna, Wydawnictwa Szkolne i, Warszawa" Pedagogiczne, 1993, pp. 357, 358
- ^ "In addition to the conception of Taubdeutsche (see Hatschower), the Germans also talk of "fluid nationalities" (lebendes Volkstum). The "Danziger Neueste Nachrichten" of February 28th, 1942, suggested that people who " feel that they are German " should report for registration in the Deutsche Volksliste. Bracht, the Gauleiter of Silesia, has announced again and again that knowledge of German is not a condition of registration. The "Kolnische Zeitung", of August 6th and 11th, 1942, stated that of course there were very many Poles on the lists. The same journal reported that in Pomerania a Polish woman teacher was registered on the Deutsche Volksliste,telling the commission that " she wanted to try to become a German." Figures for Poznania are entirely lacking." Aims and failures of the German new order. American Polish Council, 1943 - 119, p. 97
- ^ Historia społeczno-polityczna Górnego Śląska i Śląska w latach 1918-1945 Maria Wanatowicz - 1994 Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Śląskiego, 1994, p. 180
- ^ a b c Chrzanowski, B., Gasiorowski, A., and Steyer, K. Polska Podziemna na Pomorzu w Latach 1939-1945 (Underground Polish State in Pomerania in the years 1939-1945), Oskar, Gdansk, 2005, pgs. 59-60
- ^ Georg Hansen, Ethnische Schulpolitik im besetzten Polen: Der Mustergau Wartheland, Waxmann Verlag, 1995, pp. 30ff, ISBN 3-89325-300-9 [1]
- ^ Bruno Wasser, Himmlers Raumplanung im Osten: Der Generalplan Ost in Polen, 1940-1944, Birkhäuser, 1993, pp. 109ff, ISBN 3-7643-2852-5 [2]
- ^ Among the resettled people were the parents of today's German president Horst Köhler
- ^ Philbin III 1994, p. 71
- ^ Philbin III 1994, p. 129
- ^ Shirer 1990, p. 665
- ^ a b Ericson 1999, p. 134
- ^ a b c d Shirer 1990, p. 794
- ^ Ericson 1999, p. 144
- ^ Ericson 1999, p. 138
- ^ a b Ericson 1999, p. 149
- ^ Ericson 1999, p. 150
- ^ a b Johari, J.C., Soviet Diplomacy 1925-41: 1925-27, Anmol Publications PVT. LTD., 2000, ISBN 81-7488-491-2 pages 134-137
- ^ Enzyklopadie Migration in Europa. Vom 17. Jahrhundert bis zur Gegenwart. München: K.J.Bade, 2007, ss. 1082–1083.
- ^ Jürgen Weber, Germany, 1945-1990: A Parallel History, Central European University Press, 2004, p.2, ISBN 963-9241-70-9
- ^ a b Arie Marcelo Kacowicz, Pawel Lutomski, Population resettlement in international conflicts: a comparative study, Lexington Books, 2007, p.100, ISBN 073911607: "...largest movement of any European people in modern history" [3]
- ^ Peter H. Schuck, Rainer Münz, Paths to Inclusion: The Integration of Migrants in the United States and Germany, Berghahn Books, 1997, p.156, ISBN 1-57181-092-7
- ^ The Expulsion of 'German' Communities from Eastern Europe at the end of the Second World War, Steffen Prauser and Arfon Rees, European University Institute, Florense. HEC No. 2004/1. p.4
- ^ Bernard Wasserstein, Barbarism and civilization: a history of Europe in our time, Oxford University Press, 2007, p.419: "largest population movement between European countries in the twentieth century and one of the largest of all time." ISBN 0-19-873074-8
- ^ Text of Churchill Speech in Commons on Soviet=Polish Frontier, The United Press, December 15, 1944
- ^ Detlef Brandes, Der Weg zur Vertreibung 1938-1945: Pläne und Entscheidungen zum "Transfer" der Deutschen aus der Tschechoslowakei und aus Polen, Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag, 2005, pp. 398ff, ISBN 3-486-56731-4
- ^ Klaus Rehbein, Die westdeutsche Oder/Neisse-Debatte: Hintergründe, Prozess und Ende des Bonner Tabus, LIT Verlag Berlin-Hamburg-Münster, 2005, pp. 19,20, ISBN 3-8258-9340-5
- ^ Grushenko, Kateryna. Kyiv Post. Oct 14, 2010. World in Ukraine: German heritage alive in Transcarpathian Ukraine. http://www.kyivpost.com/news/guide/world-in-uktaine/detail/86372/
References
- Ericson, Edward E. (1999), Feeding the German Eagle: Soviet Economic Aid to Nazi Germany, 1933-1941, Greenwood Publishing Group, ISBN 0275963373
- Philbin III, Tobias R. (1994), The Lure of Neptune: German-Soviet Naval Collaboration and Ambitions, 1919 - 1941, University of South Carolina Press, ISBN 0872499928
- Roberts, Geoffrey (2006), Stalin's Wars: From World War to Cold War, 1939–1953, Yale University Press, ISBN 0300112041