Master plan Ost.
(Generalplan Ost)
Part 1

Preface, which you don't have to read.
Of course, to be precise, the German phrase "Generalplan Ost" should be translated as "General plan East". Well, or “General Plan “East”. But the phrase “General Plan East” has become commonly used in historical circulation.
So that the unusual name does not hurt the reader’s eyes, we will use what everyone is used to. Those. "Plan Ost".

There is no consensus among historians regarding this German plan.
Anti-Nazi historians in their works refer to this plan as the most convincing evidence that Hitler’s leadership intended to carry out an unprecedented genocide in the occupied territory of our country against Slavic nations, Jews, and at the same time some non-Slavic nationalities. And settle German colonists in the territories thus liberated.
However, these historians usually base their statements not on the Ost plan itself, but on some letters, notes, reflections on this plan, emanating from senior Hitler officials (G. Himmler, M. Bormann), and although Himmler directly refers to the plan in his comments Ost, after all, this is no longer the text of the plan itself.

Yes, these remarks appeared at the Nuremberg trials as evidence of the Nazis' intentions to destroy a significant part of the non-Germans, but it would still be preferable to publish the text of the Ost plan itself.

However, for a long time the text of this plan itself was not in historical and documentary circulation.

It is believed that the Allies were unable to find the Ost plan itself during the preparation and during the Nuremberg trials.

And this greatly undermined the positions of anti-Nazi historians and gave doubters reason to pose the question like this: “They couldn’t find it or didn’t want to find it?”
Maybe in the plan itself everything is much different and there are no brutal intentions there. Like, yes, Germany wanted to conquer Russia and wanted to colonize these lands. And perhaps this would only benefit the peoples inhabiting the “eastern territories”. So to speak, “to liberate the peoples from the totalitarian brutal Stalinist regime” and give them the opportunity to live happily and satisfactorily under the shadow of the German eagle.
And, they say, Himmler, a famous extremist, a super-radical, turned everything in his notes upside down. So, they say, this is just the personal opinion of one of the leaders of Germany, with which others, including Hitler, might not agree.

But the question arises: if this is so, then why didn’t the defendants’ lawyers then try to find this very plan that would largely whitewash the head of the Nazi regime? Also “couldn’t find it or didn’t want to find it?”

Anti-Soviet historians have a much richer arsenal of statements regarding the Ost plan.

The shortest argument is “Such a plan never existed, and Himmler’s notes are a fake.” Well, God knows what we can agree on. This argument can refute anything. Even the Bible. Or the Koran.
I ask those who believe so not to read below. It is simply pointless to debate with people who hold this opinion, since everything will be reduced to bickering like “you give me a shave, and I give you a haircut.” And not one step further.

A more common argument is - Yes, there was such a plan, but it cannot be considered a state planning document. Like, there is no signature (visa, resolution) of Hitler on it, no state seal and no documents developed and communicated to the executors as part of the implementation of the plan, or at least there are no plans for specific events. These are simply the own thoughts and proposals of individual Nazis standing at the lower levels of the party hierarchy.

Well what to answer to this.
Firstly, the time when this plan appeared. Summer 1942. The Wehrmacht has just recovered from the blows it received from the Red Army near Moscow, Leningrad, and Rostov. The summer offensive has not yet begun. Those. There is no complete and final victory over the USSR yet. And without it, specific planning for the development of the “eastern lands” is simply impossible. Neither in terms of locality, nor in terms of timing, nor in terms of finances. Only preliminary long-term planning is possible.

Secondly, Hitler personally signed practically nothing at all. For example, there is no signature under the Barbarossa plan. Under the directive “On special jurisdiction in the Barbarossa region” too.
In Germany, the highest officials of the state rarely bothered to pick up a pen and issue a visa. As a rule, under the documents there is "On behalf of................Reinecke."

On the other hand, a certain professor Dr. K. Mayer, who had the rank of SS-Oberführer, drew up a plan. It is difficult to believe that this paper is simply the fruit of personal reflections and initiative of not the highest rank in the hierarchy of what was then Germany. SS-Oberführer is a rank higher than colonel, but lower than major general. At the same time, he is a highly qualified specialist (professor, doctor). All this gives reason to believe that Mayer drew up the plan on behalf of his superiors. Himmler in particular. Or, in any case, proposals that have found full support and approval. Hence the interest of the SS Reichsführer in the plan and such extensive notes on it.

So by the summer of 1942 it was possible to draw up only a framework, so to speak, draft plan. Well, or a long-term plan. A kind of tentative outline of what and how will be done in the East after the victorious end of the war.

So let each reader decide for himself to what extent the Ost plan is a working plan, and to what extent a declaration of intent. The intentions of this plan are ominous.

And let the reader take into account these lines from Hitler’s book “My Struggle”:

	"We National Socialists begin where we left off six centuries ago. We stop the eternal German expansion into the south and west of Europe and turn our gaze to the countries in the east. Finally, we break with the colonial and trade policies of the pre-war era and move on to the land policies of the future. If we think about lands, then today in Europe again we must keep in mind first of all only Russia and the outlying states subject to it."
	"Wir Nationalsozialisten setzen dort an, wo man vor sechs Jahrhunderten endete. Wir stoppen den ewigen Germanenzug nach dem Suden und Westen Europas und weisen den Blick nach dem Land im Osten. Wir schlie?en endlich ab mit der Kolonial- und Handelspolitik der Vorkriegszeit und "Gehen ueber zur Bodenpolitik der Zukunft. Wenn wir aber heute in Europa von neuem Grund und Boden reden, konnen wir in erster Linie nur an Russland und die ihm Untertanen Randstaaten denken."

This, perhaps, can be called a declaration of intent. And the Ost plan is already concrete planning. After all, it indicates the terms of colonization, the required expenses, the number of participants, and the areas to be colonized.

From the author. And what is curious is that anti-Soviet historians are shaking with might and main the notorious Soviet military plan for attacking Germany “Thunder”, as the most convincing and indisputable proof of Stalin’s aggressive intentions, his plans to attack sweet, good Germany, and then take over all of old Europe. But none of the Soviet senior military leaders even read these few pages, jotted down by the Deputy Chief of Operations of the General Staff, Major General Vasilevsky, on the very eve of the war (May 15, 1941).

The Grom plan does not in any way compare to the Ost plan, but come on, it is considered an argument.

Whatever it was, the Bundesarchiv published the text of the Ost plan and anyone can familiarize themselves with it - http://rutracker.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2566853 .

I don’t need to post the text of the plan in German here in this article. Anyone who needs it can follow the link and download it. This is done very simply.

I don’t dare post here the translation of the plan into Russian. I’m not the best translator, and I just don’t want everything in the criticism of this article to be reduced to petty quibbles about the interpretation of this or that phrase. However, if one of the readers really needs this translation of mine, but has no other opportunities to translate it, please contact me. I'll help.

So, let's take a look at the Ost plan and see what it really was. It is difficult to read this plan, since the Germans scanned the third or fourth typewritten copy. Translating into Russian is even more difficult, since some terms and phrases are used that have no analogues in the Russian language, or are simply incomprehensible to us. There are as many translation options as there are translators, although the deep essence of this plan remains unchanged.

And before we begin to consider and analyze the plan, which was released in June 1942, we note that in its text there are references indicating that before the development of this option, there were at least three documents relating to the development of the “eastern regions”. This

"Presentation from 30.8.1940",
"General plan Ost from July 15, 1941" and
"General Order of the Reich Commissioner for the Strengthening of the German Nationality No. 7/11 of November 6, 1940."

So the Ost Plan of 1942 was not the only document considering aspects of Hitler's Ostpolitik. And it wasn't the first plan. Most likely, the 42 year plan was created on the basis of previous outlines and the 41 year plan. This should be kept in mind.

End of the preface.

So, Plan Ost 1942.

In total, it has 100 pages and one map (unfortunately, it is not attached to the plan). The organizational plan is divided into three parts.

Part A. Requirements for the future organization of settlement.
Part B. Review of development costs of the annexed eastern regions and their structure.
Part C. Demarcation of settlements in the occupied eastern regions and general features of development.

Compiled by SS-Oberführer Professor Dr. Konrad Mayer and submitted for consideration in June 1942.

Part A.

In general, in the initial section “A”, where the general principles of land development in the East are set out, nothing atrocious is noticeable. The principles for the development of new lands are simply set out. In rural areas it is proposed to provide German peasants with land in the “eastern regions” in the form of fief ownership. Those. The German peasant seems to own the land, but under certain conditions. First, he is allocated land for 7 years (temporary fief), then, subject to successful management, the flax becomes hereditary, and finally, after 20 years, this land becomes his property. At the same time, the peasant pays certain amounts to the state for the flax received. Something like a state loan in the form of a land plot, for which he gradually pays off

It’s even somewhat similar to the USSR’s development of its Far East in the sixties and seventies. Land, houses, livestock, and equipment were allocated to willing citizens. ( V.Y.G. The similarity of the names is funny - there is East and here is East).

Only a few phrases in this section are alarming:

The first is that the development and settlement of new lands in the East should initially be led by SS Reichsführer G. Himmler, who at the same time acts as “Reichskommissar for strengthening the German people” (Reichkommissar fuer die festigung deutsche Volkstume).
But this is, let’s say, “not a crime.” You never know who the government can entrust with purely economic tasks.

But here is a phrase from the very beginning of the text: “German weapons finally won for the country the eastern regions, which were always disputed for centuries.”

I don’t know how, but I understand this phrase this way: there can be no talk of any statehood within Poland and the USSR. In any case, in the territories of the USSR west of Moscow. A kind of wild territory that the German people must develop for their needs.

I’ll immediately make a reservation that the Ost 1942 plan practically does not affect the territories belonging to the RSFSR, with the exception of the North-West of the RSFSR (Leningrad, Pskov, Novgorod and Kalinin regions). All attention is focused on the eastern regions of Poland, Ukraine and the Baltic states.

Retreat
When Germany occupied France, Norway, Denmark, Holland, Belgium, Luxembourg, these countries retained their statehood. They received the status of occupied states. All government structures were preserved there, from municipalities to governments and presidents. Of course, loyal to Germany. The previous administrative division of the countries was preserved, as were all other government bodies, including the court, prosecutor's office and police. Those. Germany did not encroach on their national territory (with the exception of certain areas).
But Czechoslovakia and Poland lost the right to be states. Poland was turned into the so-called. "General Government" (General-Gouvernement), Czechoslovakia was torn into two parts. One part became the state of Slovakia, the second became the “Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia” (Protektorat Boehmen und Maehren).

Looking ahead somewhat (III. Creation of administrative divisions. p. 17) I will note that the Ost plan did not envisage preserving Russian statehood in any form or form. Not a single word is said about this at all.
All, I emphasize, all the western territories of the former USSR, including the Baltic states and the territories of Poland that were transferred to the USSR after September 1939, were either to be turned into regions of the Greater German state (the so-called “Gau”), or to be fragmented into separate regions headed by with the German civil administration. Like all of Poland.

From the author. That's it! All the leaflets, proclamations, newspapers that were published in abundance during the war years by Vlasov and KONR (Committee for the Liberation of the Peoples of Russia), and in which it was written that Vlasov’s army and Germany were allies who were fighting together for the liberation of Russia from the Bolsheviks - this is simply impudent and shameless lie. The Germans did not intend to create any Russian state allied to Germany either during the war or after it. This clearly and unambiguously sets out Ost's plan.
Vlasov’s subtle hints that, let the Germans help us liberate Russia from the Bolsheviks, and then we......, can convince only foolish and deeply naive people.
Hitler did not destroy the precious lives of German soldiers in battles so that he could then present the Russians with a “free democratic state without Bolsheviks and Jews” on a silver platter. No, Hitler fought for "living space for the German people."

End of retreat.

And here is the phrase:

Pay attention to what I underlined in the above quote. It turns out that in the occupied eastern lands only Germans can own land.

And one more phrase:

And this phrase can be interpreted in any way you like. And even in a positive way for the Nazis. Well, it seems like a requirement to develop new lands using local resources.
But these lands are inhabited by Poles, Russians, Ukrainians, and Belarusians. The Baltic states, finally. They feed from this land. And there is not an abundance of it in Ukraine and the Baltic states. This is not the Far East, where hundreds of square kilometers of fertile land remain empty even at the beginning of the 21st century.

And now it turns out that only Germans have the right to own land in these areas. How and what will those who have lived here for centuries feed on? In the first sections of the Ost plan these issues are not covered in any way. It’s as if these are completely free territories. But with a “mass of value” that came from nowhere.

All of the above applies to rural areas and agricultural lands.

In the same section “A” we also talk about cities in the “eastern regions”. In the very first phrase of the subsection “II. Urban settlement” we come across the term “Germanization” (Eindeutschung), which is not yet very clear and which can be interpreted very broadly. From understanding it as a complete replacement of the local population of cities with Germans, to the synonym “instilling German culture.”
Just like the phrase “Aufbau der Staedte des Ostens” can be translated as “building cities in the East”, “restoration...”, “organization...”, structuring...”, “perestroika.... Well, and more with tons of options. For now, it is only clear that the population of Soviet cities is in for serious changes.

From the author. Those who wish to interpret the text of the plan in favor of the Nazis have every opportunity here to do so. Especially if we proceed from the legal principle of “presumption of innocence”. That is, if guilt is not proven, then the accused is innocent.
And yet it is clear that before settling some, something needs to be done with others. Evict, relocate, compact. Destroy at last. Or maybe vice versa. Let's say, build new exemplary neighborhoods nearby, showing how cozy, comfortable, clean, cultural a city can be. And also let local residents earn money from construction.
And what actually happened in the occupied territories of our country can be attributed simply to the inevitable cruelties of war.

However, here is a clarification of the German policy of urban settlement. It is clearly stated: “Persons of alien nationalities in cities cannot be landowners.” (II. Urban Settlement, Special Definitions, paragraph 2 on page 14).

From the author. It would be interesting to know the reaction to this point of the Ost plan of those Latvians who today applaud the former Latvian SS men. After all, they fought to ensure that the Ost plan was carried out. Including in the Baltic states. Looking ahead, I will say that the Nazis intended to Germanize some Lithuanians, Latvians, and Estonians (that is, deprive them of their nationality and turn them into Germans), and evict some.

Don't believe me, gentlemen? Did I translate it wrong? Well, here's this point in German:

But all real estate (industrial and public buildings, residential buildings, etc.) in cities belongs to someone. Someone lives and works there. But what about the “sacred right of private property”, so zealously proclaimed and truly observed at all times in European countries, including Germany?

It seems that the Germans were not going to apply this principle to the local population in the “eastern territories”.

Note that when Germans settled Soviet cities, it was planned to provide them with real estate free of charge. At whose expense? Throwing out into the streets those who lived and worked there before the arrival of the Wehrmacht? Or will the German state pay the former owners of the property and then give it to its citizens for free? We will return to this issue later.

In general, this subsection (Urban Settlement) does not stand out in any way interesting. Basically, methods for attracting Germans to populate cities in the East are outlined. Mainly through the creation of preferential conditions for German voluntary migrants, both in terms of providing housing and garden plots, and by creating conditions for craft activities and work in enterprises. Due to what and by whom it is not deciphered.

More interesting in part A is the subsection "III. Settlement and management."

I already mentioned above that the Ost plan did not envisage preserving Russian statehood in any form or form. All western territories of the former USSR, including the Baltic states and the territories of Poland that were ceded to the USSR after September 1939, must either be turned into regions of the Greater German state (the so-called “Gau”), or be fragmented into separate regions headed by a German civil administration. This is clearly stated at the very beginning of this subsection.

The first conclusion can be drawn from the Ost plan -

It is not intended to maintain any independent state or states in the “eastern regions”.

Simply put, there will be neither an independent Ukraine with a sovereign hetman, nor Lithuania with a Sejm, nor Latvia with a president, nor Estonia, nor a Belarusian state, and certainly not small Russian states such as the Pskov Republic, the Principality of Novgorod, the Tula General Government, the Tambov Protectorate ,.....
And there will be German Gau. Or just small areas under the supervision of German administrators.

The Ost plan sets the main tasks of the German administration of the eastern regions as “Germanization and ensuring security.”

From the author. It is interesting that Ost's plan immediately raises some concerns.
According to the plan, the general administrative management of the “eastern regions” will be entrusted to the Reichsstadtholders (governors, chief presidents, heads of civil administration), for whom the main thing is to ensure peace and order in the controlled territories.
At the same time, the so-called “Reich Commissioners for Strengthening the German People” will operate in these same territories, whose main task is to “Germanize” these territories. Those. creating the most favorable conditions for Germans moving to the “eastern regions” with the aim of developing them. This "may objectively require certain sacrifices." And interaction between both types of administration is required.
It is not difficult to guess what the author of the plan means. It is unlikely that the local population will quietly cede land, houses, and enterprises to the settlers, which they will receive through the Reichskommissars. Riots may occur.

I already said above that the Ost plan did not envisage the preservation, or, if you like, the restoration of statehood not only of Russians, but also of Ukrainians and Crimean Tatars. And also the Baltic states. Don't believe me?

Well, here's a quote from page 18:

The underlining is not mine. This is the case in the original text. What does this passage imply? And first of all, the Germans settled in Gotengau, Ingria and Memel-Narev are already considered the local population, and the surrounding Russians, Lithuanians, Latvians, Tatars and Ukrainians are considered a completely alien environment. And here there are few ordinary means of state influence. The plan requires the active participation of all Germans settled in these territories.
Let us also note that the phrase “to ensure its biological composition for a long time” indicates that Germans should not mix with the nations inhabiting these areas.

Reference.

Gotengau. The Germans included the entire Crimea and the southern regions of Ukraine, including Zaporozhye, Dnepropetrovsk, Kherson, and Nikolaev regions, to this area. The Gotengau region is shown on the map to the right.

Ingria. The Germans included the entire north-west of Russia in this area, from Leningrad to the south almost all the way to Moscow. The region of Ingria is shown on the map on the left.
Memel-Narev region. An area that includes almost all of Lithuania, Latvia and part of Estonia, part of Belarus and even a piece of Poland. This area is shown on the map to the right.

Here on pages 18-19 it is emphasized that the main tasks of managing these areas are the Germanization of the territories, the settlement of Germans on it and ensuring border security. All other administrative tasks are secondary.

This is the main idea of ​​the Ost plan. In the future, it is planned to develop German settlements into entire Germanized regions.

In the same subsection III, it is proposed that the functions of “Reichskommissar for strengthening the German people” be assigned to the Reichsführer SS (H. Himmler) for the period of settlement and Germanization of the eastern regions. These areas are removed from the previous administrative-territorial composition and are fully subject to the jurisdiction of the Reichsführer SS, including the publication of special laws for the Germanized areas, judicial and executive powers in them.

From the author. It is well known in what ways and methods the SS solved the tasks assigned to them. And it is no coincidence that the SS, as an organization, was recognized as criminal by the Nuremberg Tribunal, and membership in it itself was a criminal offense. But maybe I am dominated by many years of massive anti-German propaganda?
May be. Although, there are too many bloody traces left from the activities of the SS in the form of a huge number of documents, indisputable facts and objective material evidence.
Again, perhaps the SS committed outrages in other areas, but here they simply performed administrative and economic functions without any atrocities?
May be. Therefore, we read the Ost plan further.

And only after the tasks of Germanization and settlement by Germans in one or another “eastern region” are fully completed, is it possible to annex it to the German state and apply all-German laws to this territory.

Why, during the development of the territory, some special rules and norms established by the Reichsführer of the SS, and not German laws, should apply on it remains unanswered.

A Reichskommissariat should be created in the apparatus of the Reichsführer SS, which will deal with all issues of the development of the “eastern regions”.

The Commissariat was to consist of the following departments
1.) Occupancy and planning policies.
2.) Selection of settlers and use of settlers.
3.) Carrying out check-in.
4.) Administration and financing.

Each settlement administrative-territorial entity is led by a Markhauptmann, who reports directly to the Reichsführer SS.

From the author. In German texts regarding the Ost master plan, the term "Marka" is used as a general name for large areas that will be Germanized, which has many translations into Russian - from "postage stamp" to "Ostmark" (Austria). In most translations, this term is either not translated at all, but is simply written in Russian as “mark”, or the completely ridiculous name “margrave” is used.

Based on the many studied German texts, the author believes that the German word “Mark” in this context should be understood as a certain administrative-territorial entity of a fairly large size. About the same as our autonomous republic, region. But the Germans use the word Mark to designate such administrative-territorial entities that they cannot yet or do not consider it necessary to name definitely.

For example, Austria, which before joining Germany was called "Oesterreich" in German, after the Anschluss became known as Ostmark. Not “Gau”, as the regions have always been part of Germany, but “Mark”.

Therefore, when I encounter the word Mark in the text, I translate it more correctly, in my opinion, as “administrative-territorial entity,” although it is longer.

Markhauptmann carries out its activities through the Office, headed by Amtsmann.

The administrative-territorial entity is divided into districts (krais). Kreis is controlled by Kreishauptmann, who is subordinate to Markhauptmann.

Further, in the text of the plan, it is briefly described what each department of the commissariat and departments of administrative-territorial entities and regions should do. These are all purely organizational and management activities that are not of significant interest.

The only interesting point is the one describing the tasks of the Administration and Financing Directorates. To quote:

Emphasis in bold is by the author. It follows that the peoples who have inhabited the “eastern regions” for centuries are considered by the Ost plan only as foreign labor. If we take into account the previously quoted lines from the Ost plan that only Germans have the exclusive right to own land, then the fate of the Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusians, Balts, and Crimean Tatars is outlined. T.

We can draw a second conclusion from the Ost plan -

The peoples living in the “eastern regions” are assigned the role of farm laborers on lands that now belong exclusively to persons of German nationality.

For the administration of justice in settlement administrative-territorial entities (that is, regions) kreis (that is, districts) courts are created. The president of the court is Markhauptmann, Kreishauptmann or Amtsmann, respectively. The members of the court were from among the German settlers living in the area. There is no question that at least one of the court members should be a lawyer. It is not said who such courts have the right to judge, either exclusively the settlers, or everyone who is on the territory.
But the phrase “Courts make decisions based on the basic laws of the SS and the law in force for administrative-territorial entities” is alarming.
Unfortunately, the author does not have at his disposal documents setting out the “basic laws of the SS”. Therefore, we will limit ourselves to this short remark. Let the reader decide for himself what this means, based on his knowledge and beliefs.

These provisions exhaust Part A.

Part B

Part B begins with a statement of the Reichsführer SS’s demand to determine how much the program for the development of the “eastern regions” can do without financial and other material support from the state, since other tasks facing Germany are very large and require enormous expenses.

Referring to the tabular data and calculations given in the plan below, the author of the plan believes that the economic state of the annexed eastern regions will not allow these areas to be populated by the German population and developed without state help. It is impossible to rely entirely or predominantly on local economic resources.

From the author. Naturally. We should not forget that since the second half of the 19th century, Germany has become one of the most economically, technically, scientifically and culturally developed countries in Europe. The Soviet Union lagged behind in all indicators by several times. But this was not the fault of the Bolsheviks. Until 1914, Russia was predominantly an agricultural country with a very poorly developed (compared to Germany) industry and a very low level of education of the population. Let’s add here 10 years of continuous wars that swept through the most populated regions of the country, social upheavals, redrawing of borders, and the destruction of a single economic and financial space.
Therefore, the economic and industrial power of Germany by 1941 far exceeded the USSR. A lot was done in our country from 1924 to 1941, both in industry, in education, in economics, and in science. But in 17 years it is simply unrealistic and impossible to catch up with almost a century-long backlog. And I don’t think that if the Democrats, and not the Bolsheviks, had won the Civil War, Russia would have come to 1941 in a better state.
And there is no doubt that Hitler would have attacked Russia under any Russian political system. His main idea was to seize “living space for the Germans” and specifically in Russia. And the Bolshevik government has nothing to do with it. He writes about this clearly and unambiguously in his book Mein Kampf.

In this part of the plan there is a very remarkable phrase (p. 32), which can be interpreted in different ways. Here is this phrase in both Russian and German (so that I can avoid accusations of incorrect translation):

From the author. Something like Lomonosov’s phrase “The power of Russia will increase through Siberia.” But what fate does this plan have in store for the Russians, Ukrainians, and Balts? So far, the Ost plan has passed over this issue in silence, except for slipping phrases like the one that directly says that only Germans can own land in the East.
However, it is possible that in this regard we will not find anything about the fate of local peoples. Personally, I have enough information that the development of the eastern regions has been entrusted to the Reichsführer SS. And I believe that Himmler’s instructions on how to deal with the indigenous population can be set out in completely different documents.
But this article is intended to highlight the content of the Ost plan, and not to convince readers of the brutal intentions of the Nazis. Let the reader draw his own conclusions. Of course, I am not a dispassionate and detached researcher. But the reader may simply not read my comments.

Table I.1 (page 34 of the plan) given in this part of the Ost plan shows that huge amounts of money were supposed to be spent on creating the infrastructure (in modern terms) of the “eastern regions”. So huge that for this purpose not only national, but also regional, municipal and private funds must be raised.
There is no point in citing monetary cost figures here, since they do not tell the modern reader anything. Today the scale of prices and incomes is completely different. Let us only note that large expenses were envisaged for the creation of a road network, the development of railways, water supply and sewerage, electrification, the creation of a network of cultural institutions, and the development of cities and industry.

It turns out that for a certain number of years the so-called. The “eastern regions” had to radically transform and develop.
But for now the question remains open - for whom all these benefits will be created at the expense of the German state. Exclusively for the Germans or for everyone who lived before the war and will live (or will there be?) in Ingria, Gotengau and the Memel-Narev region.

True, there is an interesting phrase:

From the author. Those. in the “eastern regions” a new Germany should be created, where everything, starting with the environment, including roads, agriculture, utilities, industry, should be according to the German model and create complete comfort for the Germans who moved here.

What does the Ost plan say about those who lived in these areas before the start of Germanization? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Not a word about their fates. There is no talk about national relations, about interaction. What will their status be, what will they be entitled to, what responsibilities will they have towards Germany. It’s as if this is a completely empty, unkempt and unexploited land. But that doesn't happen. The assumption arises that by the time colonization of the “eastern regions” begins, no one from the former population will really live there.

An interesting term “Altreich” is also starting to appear, that is, “Old State”, or if you prefer “Old Reich”.

According to the Ost plan, a road network and a railway network should be created in the developed areas, not inferior in density to the road network of East Prussia (obviously, in this region of Germany the road network was exemplary).

The same goes for shipping.

But in the paragraph that talks about the creation of waterways (navigation) in the “eastern regions” we are talking exclusively about the Vistula and Warta rivers, the Oder-Warta and Brache-Nitza canals. And nothing about the Dnieper and other rivers on the territory of the USSR. Consequently, parts of the territory of Poland are also subject to Germanization.

Quote from page 35:

	The settlement of areas previously given to Poland means an almost complete new reconstruction, settlement and settlement of areas belonging to the German state before 1918 and a deep reconstruction that concerns at least half of the territory. The purpose of settlement was set by the General Order of the Reich Commissioner for the Strengthening of the German Nationality No. 7/11 of November 6, 1940. "
The same quote in German:
	"Die Besiedlung der frueher kongresspolnischen Gebiete bedeutet einen fast vollstandigen Neuaufbau, die Besiedlung und Bereinigung der bis 1918 zum deutschen Reich gehorigen Gebiete einen tiefgehenden Umbau, der zumindest die Halfte des Bestehenden beruhrt. Das Ziel der Besied lung ist durch die Allgemeine Anordnung Nr.7/ 11 vom 26.11.40 des Reichskommissars fur Festigung deutschen Volkstume gegeben".

From the author. Thus, Poland, as a state, albeit a puppet state like Slovakia, is not included in the Ost plan at all. The territories that before the First World War belonged to Germany and Austria, and following its results were given to the revived Poland, are subject to deep reconstruction with this plan with the complete reconstruction of the German infrastructure and settlement by the Germans.
There is no place for Poles in Poland! But hatred of Russia clouds the Polish mind so much that they agree to disappear from the face of the Earth, but not have a Polish state loyal to Russia. Apparently their national pride is offended by the fact that the Poles as a nation now exist only thanks to the Soviet Union, and the state of Poland exists only thanks to the Russian Bolsheviks. Lenin and Stalin in particular.
Do you think that the Germans have come to terms with the loss of lands east of the Oder and Neisse? Here is part of the map from a modern German edition. The gray shading on the map shows “German territories”, which today are “under Polish control” and “under Russian control”. You can be sure, citizens of the Poles, the Germans will still present you with their account, as they already did once (in 1939).
Do you think that the French and British will defend your independence and integrity? In 1939 they simply betrayed you.

The Ost plan envisages complete electrification of the developed eastern regions. For this purpose, power plants of all types will be built, from wind to hydro. Electricity coverage should reach the level of the Brandenburg-Pomeranian region.

Rural development involves:
a) creation and equipment of agricultural production,
b) creation of enterprises and public service institutions for the population,
c) creation of production for processing agricultural products,
d) establishment of rural cultural institutions,
e) ensuring that other rural housing needs are met.

But all this is exclusively for the Germans, who must build a young Germany here.

With a very careful and detailed description of the development of agriculture and the creation of infrastructure for it, the development of industry in the eastern regions is given only one paragraph, which briefly states that this will require an additional 650 thousand workers, while the creation of one job will cost 6- 10 thousand marks.

It can be assumed that the Germans did not seriously plan to develop industry in the East. Even in your own interests. Actually, this is understandable - agricultural areas are always in strong and direct dependence on industrialized areas. Obviously, the new Germany in the East was supposed to become an agrarian appendage to the old Germany.

Cities in the east, according to the plan, are intended to be used only as centers of education (institutes, technical schools), cultural institutions (theaters, concert halls, large hospitals), consumer services (again, for the rural population), but not as centers of large industry.
Moreover, educational institutions and institutions are proposed to be built and organized by the German settlers themselves as needed. The old state will allocate funds only for the most necessary buildings.
It is easy to guess that educational institutions (exclusively for Germans) in the eastern regions will train mainly agricultural specialists (agronomists, veterinarians).

And finally the planners come to their senses (p. 40). The transformations in the eastern regions are so grandiose that the Bolsheviks with their five-year plans are nowhere near them. In twenty years it is expected to do what the Soviet leaders, having mobilized the entire Soviet people for socialist transformations, hoped to do in half a century, or even a whole century.
Where can we get so many workers to create a new Germany? In addition, the east will require huge capacities for the production of building materials (brick, concrete, asphalt, roofing materials, etc.). And the urgent development of the railway network, both normal gauge and narrow gauge, will be required in order to be able to transport construction materials from factories to construction sites.
And all the people involved in construction need to be somehow organized, trained, fed, supplied, and provided with accommodation.

In short, in order for German peasants to move to the eastern regions and begin to engage in agricultural production, it is necessary to first create an infrastructure for them, in modern terms.

From the author. Let me remind you that the building materials industry in the USSR at that time was not yet sufficiently developed. For example, by 1941 the entire Soviet Union produced only 14% of German production of cement. So the authors of the Ost plan did not have to rely on captured Soviet cement factories.

But so far the plan does not answer these questions. It only indicates issues that will have to be resolved.

1.Financing within the regular state budget.
2.Financing from emergency budget amounts.
3.Use of indemnities or reparations from defeated countries.

From the author. What a convenient source of financing. Hitler acted quite wisely in preserving the statehood of European countries. Like, you, gentlemen, solve your problems of life within the country yourself, live as best you can. And collect money for us yourself, take funds from your own citizens, your own entrepreneurs. And we will just suck the juices out of you and keep an eye on you.

However, if you look a little lower in the comments on sources of financing, it turns out that the Ost plan (p. 47 “Zu 3.”) primarily intends to use not funds, equipment or materials from the defeated countries of Europe, but living labor. And specifically - prisoners of war, civilian prisoners and even persons arrested by the police on an administrative basis. I don’t think that such labor can be called anything other than slave labor.
Another option is envisaged (in the same paragraph) for using cheap labor from European countries in the East - “Universal labor conscription in exchange for the abolition of the martial law regime.”

From the author. That is, we will somewhat loosen the noose of the occupation regime on your neck, and you, European citizens (each of you), please work in the “eastern regions” for some time for nothing in the interests of great Germany. If we proceed from the Hitlerite system of labor conscription, which existed in Germany itself for the Germans, then this is about 6-12 months.

A third conclusion can be drawn from the Ost plan -

To Germanize the “eastern regions,” it was planned to use the forced labor of prisoners of war, civilian prisoners and other citizens from the occupied countries of Europe.

From the author. What about compliance with the 1929 Geneva Prisoners Convention? Germany ratified this convention already under Hitler. The Nazi leadership did not make any statements that they would not apply it to prisoners from European countries. According to this convention, prisoners must be released and returned home as quickly as possible after the end of a war with a particular country.
It turns out that Germany interpreted this convention as it wanted and did not care too much about its observance even in relation to “civilized countries”.

4.Financing from income or the very values ​​of the captured eastern regions.

This method of financing stands out. Therefore, I will quote the source again, both in German and translated into Russian:

In other words, all material and financial assets in the territory of the eastern regions that the Germans wish to take for themselves become the property of the German state and are used as one of the sources of financing the program for the development of the East.

What does the Ost plan mean by “special property” in the eastern regions?
a) All land and forest that can be exploited profitably.
b) All other real estate.
c) Proceeds from the sale of real estate.
d) Other property, especially industrial plants.
(V.Y.G. Literal translation! Point c) on page 48).
e) Actual income from real estate (rental, letting, profits).
f) Deposits and depreciation of settlers.
g) Enterprises and property outside inhabited areas that are needed for development.
(V.Y.G. That is, from those areas that were “unfortunate” to become areas of Germanization, is being robbed
the property that will be required for the inhabited areas).
h) Income from the use of the labor of foreign peoples and other available labor
(V.Y.G. Simply put, forced laborers will not be paid, but this money goes to Germany and
used as a source of further funding).

Points c, e, f concern German settlers, to whom the state gives ownership of real estate and movable property not at all free of charge, but sells, leases, gives as fief, and for which the settlers must gradually pay the government. And the government uses budget revenues from these operations for further development of the eastern regions.

But points a, b, d, g, h are simply Germany’s open appropriation of other people’s property and funds. In the language of the criminal code, “robbery, i.e. open theft of someone else’s property.”

A fourth conclusion can be drawn from the Ost plan -

All material and financial assets in the “eastern regions” that Germany wishes become the property of the German state and are used in the interests of German settlers.

From the author. This is the huge difference between the occupation of Western countries and the occupation of the USSR and Poland. In the West, Germany preserves the statehood of these countries and does not encroach on their entire state and private property, limiting itself to reparations. In the East, statehood is completely eliminated, all, or almost all, property passes into the hands of the Germans and is used purely in their interests. A robbery that history has not seen since the Middle Ages. Moreover, robbery at the state level. It is not for nothing that G. Goering once said: “I intend to rob, and rob effectively.” But these were just words, albeit from one of the country's top leaders. This is confirmed by the document here. The Nazis reduced the German state to the level of a criminal.

5. Financing by attracting private financial capital under the guarantee of special property in the “eastern regions”.

From the author. Simply put, the state takes loans from private German banks on the security of property stolen in the East. Thus, the Nazis wanted to make German bankers accomplices in the eastern robbery.

6. Financing of some particularly attractive objects, especially in the field of cultural construction, by some organizations and institutions of the old state.

This probably means that, for example, the creation of sports grounds, stadiums, etc. The "Strength through Joy" society can take over the financing of concert halls, theaters, respectively artistic associations and societies.

7. Lending to the created “eastern regions” by the state or German Gau (regions).

Again, on the security of “acquired property and valuables” in the eastern regions.

The table of funding distribution published in the plan is replete with figures that are hardly worth citing here. Let us only note that in general, 45.7 billion marks are expected to be spent on the development of the “eastern space”.
Of these, 3.3 billion is for the development of forestry and generally for the improvement of the area.
7.8 billion for roads, railways, electrification, creation of water supply and sewerage networks.
13.5 billion marks for the development of agriculture.

But for the entire industry there are only 5.2 billion marks. Moreover, here we mean, first of all, production facilities for processing agricultural products, factories for the production of building materials, and mining enterprises. The development of heavy industry and high-tech industries is not envisaged at all. This once again confirms that the development of the “eastern space” was aimed at becoming an agrarian appendage of old Germany.

From the author. Hitler's foresight cannot be denied here. New Germany, being entirely industrially dependent on Old Germany, will never, under any circumstances, strive to become an independent state. Hitler did not want to repeat the mistakes made by Great Britain. I mean the separation from the British Empire of its overseas colony, which we now know as the USA. English settlers at the end of the 18th century, having become economically and industrially independent of the mother country, decided that they could live independently and not obey the English crown.

15.4 billion euros are allocated for the development of the urban economy. This is more than for agriculture. However, the role of cities in the “eastern regions” is reduced only to the role of administrative centers and centers of consumer services, again for the rural population. It’s just that the cost of the events is higher, and the cities are not expected to make a profit.

These are all general tabular figures. Much more interesting are the comments to the table. That is, explanations of what and how will be done for each item. And here it turns out that the plan’s creators understand the term “financing” somewhat differently than ordinary economists.

For example, in the “Forestry” section, financing refers to the free labor of prisoners of war and cheap foreign labor, which we wrote about above. Those. not billions of marks will be spent on afforestation, logging and wood processing, but simply slave labor measured in billions of marks.

But for work on land reclamation (elimination of ravines, drainage, drainage of swamps, construction of ponds, dams, watering of arid places, etc.), it is envisaged not only to use prisoners of war and foreign labor (within the framework of indemnities and labor service), but also attracting German settlers to these events. First of all, in the form of horse-drawn service (they provide horses and carts for transporting materials), and, if necessary, personal labor participation.

From the author. I ask again - what about compliance with the Geneva Prisoner Convention of 1929? It demands that prisoners be returned home immediately after the end of the war. But the Ost plan is designed for 20-30 years. The conclusion suggests itself that here, too, Germany did not intend to adhere to the convention in relation to prisoners of war from European countries.

The fact that prisoners of war are expected to be used for a long time is indicated by the financing of cultural construction (theatres, concert halls, sports facilities, etc.). Commentary on the plan indicates that cultural construction costs are not a priority, but they will take a long time. At the same time, it is said again that the labor of prisoners of war will be used here.

All road construction is financed by using the free labor of prisoners of war, and, if necessary, the labor of low-paid foreign workers.

The construction of roads of national importance (known as autobahns, which the Germans are proud of even today) in the eastern regions was to be financed entirely from the state budget. Apparently the construction itself should have been carried out by German road construction companies with German labor.

With regard to the industry of the eastern regions, the plan proposes to limit itself to the fact that the industrial firms of old Germany will, based on their interests and with their own money, create subsidiaries, which only in the distant future can become independent.

It is easy to guess that the industrial giants of old Germany only need raw materials and primary processed products (iron and steel, coke, round timber, cement, non-ferrous metal castings, plant fiber, etc.). They will probably retain the production of final products (machines, devices, equipment, fabrics, clothing, furniture, etc.), since only the final product of production brings the greatest profits. It is once again confirmed that the eastern regions, even if inhabited by the Germans, will remain an agricultural appendage of the old Reich and a supplier of fuel and raw materials. Of course, in terms of everyday life and amenities for the life of Germans, the standard of living in the West and in the East should not differ.

The fact that Germany, in developing the “eastern regions,” will primarily rely on the forced labor of foreign labor becomes more and more clearly evident as we read the Ost plan.

Here is page 61, paragraph 2

As I said above, the program for “development of the eastern regions” should be completed in 25-30 years. It is curious that the planners use the Soviet method of long-term planning. When drawing up a calendar schedule for the creation of “special areas” on the territory of our country, they also plan events according to five-year plans. Those. Every five years, certain tasks in each area must be completed step by step (land reclamation, road construction, creation of a transport system and power supply system, agricultural development, urban and industrial development, cultural construction, etc.).

And if we abstract from who all this is intended for, it turns out that in 30 years the territory of the western regions of the USSR will be almost in no way inferior to old Germany in terms of living standards. It would seem that these areas are destined for unprecedented development and prosperity, if not for some alarming moments that I already wrote about above. The fate of those peoples who have lived on these lands for centuries is completely ignored. It’s as if these areas are generally deserted and deserted. And it is only briefly mentioned (but clearly, unambiguously and specifically) that all land and real estate in the “eastern regions” can belong only to Germans. And also that during the development of areas the labor of prisoners of war (Kriegsgefanden) and cheap foreign labor (billige fremdvoelkische Arbeitkraefte) will be widely used.

In general, the implementation of the development program for the eastern territories will require:
* in the first and second five-year plans 450 thousand workers,
*in the third five-year plan 300 thousand workers,
* in the fourth five-year plan 150 thousand workers,
* in the fifth five-year plan 90 thousand workers.

If we turn to the Ost plan regarding the sources of labor, it turns out that German workers will be used only for the construction of a network of national highways (autobahns), and German settlers to an insignificant extent for work on the cultivation of the area (reclamation, drainage of swamps, watering of dry lands and etc.). Consequently, most of these tens of thousands of workers are prisoners of war and cheap foreign labor (like the forced labor of the population of occupied European countries). I already wrote about this above.
Thus, the welfare of the new German lands will be created by someone else's hands.

This concludes the first part of the article. In the second part of the article, we will consider whose hands will transform the “eastern space” according to the plans of the creators of the Ost plan and what fate they have prepared for those who for centuries lived east of the Vistula, in the Baltic states, on the Dnieper, in the Crimea.

Sources and literature.

1. Generalpan Ost. Juni 1942. Kopie aus dem Bundesarchiv. Berlin-Licherfelde. 2009
2. Website rutracker.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2566853.
3. Wikipedia website (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bezirk_Bialystok).
4. Small atlas of the world. Federal Service of Geodesy and Cartography of Russia. Moscow. 2002
5.G.Beddeker. Woe to the vanquished. Refugees of the Third Reich 1944-1945. Eksmo. Moscow. 2006
6. "Military history magazine" No. 1-1965, pp. 82-83.
7.B.Lee Davis. Uniform of the Third Reich. AST. Moscow. 2000
8.A.Hitler. My struggle. T-OKO. Moscow. 1992

Among all the alternative history scenarios, the one most often discussed is: what if Hitler had won? What if the Nazis had defeated the Allied forces? What fate would they have prepared for the enslaved peoples?

Today, May 9, is the most suitable day to remember what “alternative future” our great-grandfathers saved us from in 1941-1945.

Very specific documents and evidence have survived to this day, allowing us to get an idea of ​​what plans Hitler and his entourage had for the transformation of the defeated states and the Reich itself. These are the projects of Heinrich Himmler and the plans of Adolf Hitler, set out in their letters and speeches, fragments of the Ost plan in different editions and the notes of Alfred Rosenberg.

Based on these materials, we will try to reconstruct the image of the future that threatened the world in the event of a Nazi victory. And then we’ll talk about how science fiction writers imagined it.

Real projects of the Nazis

Project of a memorial to those who fell on the Eastern Front, which the Nazis intended to erect on the banks of the Dnieper

According to the Barbarossa plan, the war with Soviet Russia was supposed to end two months after it began with the entry of advanced German units to the AA line (Astrakhan-Arkhangelsk). Since it was believed that the Soviet army would still have some amount of manpower and military equipment, a defensive rampart should have been erected on the “A-A” line, which over time would turn into a powerful defensive line.

Geographic map of the aggressor: Hitler’s plan for the occupation and dismemberment of the USSR

The national republics and some regions that were part of the Soviet Union were separated from occupied European Russia, after which the Nazi leadership intended to unite them into four Reichskommissariats.

At the expense of the former Soviet territories, a project of phased colonization of the “eastern lands” was also carried out in order to expand the “living space” of the Germans. Within 30 years, 8 to 10 million purebred Germans from Germany and the Volga region should settle in the territories allocated for colonization. At the same time, the local population was supposed to be reduced to 14 million people, destroying the Jews and other “inferior” people, including the majority of the Slavs, even before the start of colonization.

But nothing good awaited that part of the Soviet citizens that would have escaped destruction. More than 30 million Slavs were to be evicted from the European part of the USSR to Siberia. Hitler planned to turn those who remained into slaves, prohibit them from receiving education and deprive them of their culture.

The victory over the USSR led to the transformation of Europe. First of all, the Nazis were going to rebuild Munich, Berlin and Hamburg. Munich became the museum of the National Socialist movement, Berlin became the capital of the Thousand-Year Empire, which subjugated the whole world, and Hamburg was to become a single shopping center, a city of skyscrapers, similar to New York.

Model of the new building of the Wagner Opera House. After the war, Hitler intended to completely redesign the Wagner concert hall in Bayreuth

The occupied countries of Europe also expected the most extensive “reforms”. The regions of France, which ceased to exist as a single state, faced different fates. Some of them went to Germany’s allies: fascist Italy and Franco’s Spain. And the entire southwest was to turn into a completely new country - the Burgundian Free State, which was supposed to be an “advertising showcase” for the Reich. The official languages ​​in this state would be German and French. The social structure of Burgundy was planned in such a way as to completely eliminate the contradictions between classes, which “are used by Marxists to foment revolutions.”

Some peoples of Europe faced complete resettlement. Most of the Poles, half of the Czechs and three-quarters of the Belarusians were planned to be evicted to Western Siberia, laying the foundation for centuries of confrontation between them and the Siberians. On the other hand, all the Dutch were going to be transported to Eastern Poland.

“Vatican” of the Nazis, a model of the architectural complex that was planned to be built around Wewelsburg Castle

Finland, as a loyal ally of the Reich, became Greater Finland after the war, receiving the northern half of Sweden and areas with a Finnish population. The central and southern territories of Sweden were part of the Great Reich. Norway was losing its independence and, thanks to a developed system of hydroelectric power stations, was becoming a source of cheap energy for Northern Europe

Next in line is England. The Nazis believed that, having lost their last hope for help from the Continent, England would make concessions, conclude an honorable peace with Germany and, sooner or later, join the Greater Reich. If this did not happen and the British continued to fight, preparations for the invasion of the British Isles should have been resumed, ending this threat before the beginning of 1944.

In addition, Hitler was going to establish full Reich control over Gibraltar. If dictator Franco tried to prevent this intention, then he should have occupied Spain and Portugal within 10 days, regardless of their status as “allies” in the Axis.

The Nazis suffered from gigantomania: sculptor J. Thorak is working on a monument to the autobahn builders. The original statue was supposed to be three times larger

After the final victory in Europe, Hitler was going to sign a friendship treaty with Turkey, based on the fact that it would be entrusted with the defense of the Dardanelles. Turkey was also offered participation in the creation of a single European economy.

Having conquered Europe and Russia, Hitler intended to move into the colonial possessions of Britain. The headquarters planned the capture and long-term occupation of Egypt and the Suez Canal, Syria and Palestine, Iraq and Iran, Afghanistan and Western India. After establishing control over North Africa and the Middle East, Chancellor Bismarck's dream of building the Berlin-Baghdad-Basra railway was to come true. The Nazis were not going to abandon the idea of ​​​​returning the African colonies that belonged to Germany before the First World War. Moreover, there was talk of creating the core of a future colonial empire on the “dark continent”. In the Pacific Ocean, it was planned to capture New Guinea with its oil fields and the island of Nauru.

Fascist plans to conquer Africa and America

The United States of America was considered by the leaders of the Third Reich as “the last stronghold of world Jewry,” and they had to be “pressed” in several directions at once. First of all, an economic blockade would be declared on the United States. Secondly, a fortified military area was being built in North-West Africa, from where long-range seaplane bombers and A-9/A-10 intercontinental missiles were to launch to strike America.

Thirdly, the Third Reich had to conclude long-term trade agreements with Latin American countries, supplying them with weapons and pitting them against their northern neighbor. If the United States did not surrender to the mercy of the winner, then Iceland and the Azores should have been captured as springboards for the future landing of European (German and English) troops on US territory.

Das ist fantastic!

In the Third Reich, science fiction existed as a genre, although, of course, German science fiction writers of that time could not compete in popularity with the authors of historical and military prose. Nevertheless, Nazi science fiction writers found their readers, and some of their opuses were published in millions of copies.

The most famous was Hans Dominik, the author of “novels about the future.” In his books, the German engineer triumphed, constructing fantastic superweapons or coming into contact with alien beings - “uranids”. In addition, Dominic was an ardent supporter of racial theory, and many of his works are a direct illustration of the theses about the superiority of some races over others.

Another popular science fiction writer, Edmund Kiss, devoted his work to describing ancient peoples and civilizations. From his novels, the German reader could learn about the lost continents of Thule and Atlantis, on the territory of which the ancestors of the Aryan race allegedly lived.

This is what representatives of the “master race” - “true Aryans” - should have looked like

Alternative history from science fiction writers

An alternative version of history, in which Germany defeated the Allies, has been described by science fiction writers many times. The overwhelming majority of authors believe that the Nazis would have brought the world totalitarianism of the worst type - they would have destroyed entire nations and built a society where there is no place for kindness and compassion.

The first work on this topic - “Night of the Swastika” by Catherine Burdekin - was published in Britain before the Second World War. This is not an alternative history, but rather a warning novel. An English writer, publishing under the pseudonym Murray Constantine, tried to look seven hundred years into the future - into the future built by the Nazis.

Even then she predicted that the Nazis would not bring anything good to the world. After victory in the Twenty Years' War, the Third Reich rules the world. Large cities were destroyed, and medieval castles were erected on their ruins. The Jews were exterminated without exception. Christians are banned and gather in caves. The cult of Saint Adolphus is being established. Women are considered second-class creatures, animals without a soul - they spend their entire lives in cages, subjected to continuous violence.

During World War II, the dark theme developed. Apart from dozens of stories about what will happen to Europe after the Nazi victory, we can recall at least two major works: the novels “If We Lose” by Marion West and “Illusory Victory” by Erwin Lessner. The second is especially interesting - it examines a version of post-war history, where Germany achieved a truce on the Western Front and, after a respite, gathered its forces and started a new war.

The first alternative fantasy reconstruction depicting the world of victorious Nazism appeared in 1952. In the novel The Sound of the Hunting Horn, the English writer John Wall, writing under the pseudonym Sarban, showed Britain transformed by the Nazis into a huge hunting reserve. Guests from the continent, dressed as Wagnerian characters, hunt here for racially inferior people and genetically modified monsters.

Cyril Kornblatt’s story “Two Fates” is also considered a classic. The famous science fiction writer showed America defeated in 1955 and divided into occupation zones by two powers: Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan. The peoples of the United States are subjugated, deprived of the right to education, partially destroyed and driven into “labor camps.” Progress is stopped, science is prohibited and complete feudalism is being imposed.

A similar picture was painted by Philip K. Dick in his novel The Man in the High Castle. Europe is conquered by the Nazis, the United States is divided and given to Japan, the Jews are exterminated, and a new global war is brewing in the Pacific region. However, unlike his predecessors, Dick did not believe that Hitler's victory would lead to the degradation of humanity. On the contrary, his Third Reich stimulates scientific and technological progress and prepares for the colonization of the planets of the solar system. At the same time, the cruelty and treachery of the Nazis is the norm in this alternative world, and therefore the Japanese will soon face the fate of the perished Jews.

American Nazis from the film adaptation of The Man in the High Castle

A unique version of the history of the Third Reich was considered by Sever Gansovsky in the story “The Demon of History.” In his alternative world, there is no Adolf Hitler, but there is a charismatic leader, Jurgen Aster - and he, too, starts a war in Europe in order to throw the conquered world at the feet of the Germans. The Soviet writer illustrated the Marxist thesis about the predetermination of the historical process: an individual does not decide anything, the atrocities of World War II are a consequence of the laws of history.

The German writer Otto Basil, in his novel If the Fuhrer Knew It, arms Hitler with an atomic bomb. And Frederick Mullaly in his novel “Hitler Wins” describes how the Wehrmacht conquers the Vatican. The famous collection of English-language authors, “Hitler the Victorious,” presents the most incredible outcomes of the war: in one story, the Third Reich and the USSR divide Europe after defeating democratic countries, in another, the Third Reich loses its victory due to a gypsy curse.

The most ambitious work about another war was created by Harry Turtledove. In the “World War” tetralogy and the “Colonization” trilogy, he describes how, in the midst of the battle for Moscow, invaders arrive on our planet - lizard-like aliens who have more advanced technologies than earthlings. The war against aliens forces the warring parties to unite and ultimately leads to a scientific and technological breakthrough. In the final novel, the first spaceship built by humans launches into space.

However, the topic is not limited to discussing the results of the war in alternative realities. Many authors use a related idea: what if the Nazis or their opponents learned to travel through time and decided to use future technologies to achieve victory? This twist on the old plot was played out in James Hogan’s novel “Operation Proteus” and in Dean Koontz’s novel “Lightning.”

Poster for the film “It Happened Here”

Cinema did not remain indifferent to the alternative Reich. In a rare pseudo-documentary style for science fiction, the film “It Happened Here” by English directors Kevin Brownlow and Andrew Mollo tells about the consequences of the Nazi occupation of the British Isles. The plot with a time machine and the theft of technology is played out in Stephen Cornwell's action film The Philadelphia Experiment 2. A classic alternative history is presented in the thriller “Fatherland” by Christopher Menall, based on the novel of the same name by Robert Harris.

For example, we can cite Sergei Abramov’s story “A Quiet Angel Flew” and Andrei Lazarchuk’s novel “Another Sky.” In the first case, the Nazis, for no apparent reason, establish European-style democracy in the conquered Soviet Union, after which we suddenly have order and abundance. In Lazarchuk’s novel, the Third Reich also provides fairly comfortable conditions for the conquered peoples, but comes to stagnation and is defeated by the dynamically developing Siberian Republic.

Such ideas are not only harmful, but also dangerous. They contribute to the illusion that the enemy should not have been resisted, that submission to the invaders could change the world for the better. It should be remembered: the Nazi regime carried a colossal charge of hatred, and therefore war with it was inevitable. Even if the Third Reich had won in Europe and Russia, the war would not have stopped, but continued.

Fortunately, most Russian science fiction writers do not believe that the Nazis could have brought peace and democracy to the USSR. In response to novels that portrayed the Third Reich as harmless, works appeared that gave it a sober assessment. Thus, in Sergei Sinyakin’s story “Half-Blood” all the known plans of the top of the Reich to transform Europe and the world are reconstructed. The writer recalls that the basis of Nazi ideology was the division of peoples into full-fledged and inferior, and no reforms could change the Reich’s movement towards the destruction and enslavement of hundreds of millions of people.

Dmitry Kazakov sums up this topic in his novel “The Highest Race.” A detachment of Soviet front-line intelligence officers encounters a group of Aryan “supermen” created in occult laboratories. And our people emerge victorious from the bloody battle.

* * *

Let's remember that in reality, our great-grandfathers and great-grandmothers defeated Hitler's “superman”. And it would be the greatest disrespect for their memory and for the truth itself to claim that they did it in vain...

But this is the real story. Not alternative

Master plan "Ost"(German) Generalplan Ost) - a secret plan of the German government of the Third Reich to carry out ethnic cleansing in Eastern Europe and its German colonization after the victory over the USSR.

A version of the plan was developed in 1941 by the Main Directorate of Reich Security and presented on May 28, 1942 by an employee of the Office of the Headquarters of the Reich Commissioner for the Consolidation of the German People, SS Oberführer Meyer-Hetling under the title “General Plan Ost - the foundations of the legal, economic and territorial structure of the East.” The text of this document was found in the German Federal Archives in the late 1980s, some documents from there were presented at an exhibition in 1991, but was completely digitized and published only in November-December 2009.

At the Nuremberg trials, the only evidence of the existence of the plan was the “Comments and proposals of the “Eastern Ministry” on the Ost master plan,” according to prosecutors, written on April 27, 1942 by an employee of the Ministry of the Eastern Territories E. Wetzel after familiarizing himself with the draft plan prepared by the RSHA.

Rosenberg Project

The master plan was preceded by a project developed by the Reich Ministry for Occupied Territories, headed by Alfred Rosenberg. On May 9, 1941, Rosenberg presented the Fuhrer with draft directives on policy issues in the territories that were to be occupied as a result of aggression against the USSR.

Rosenberg proposed creating five governorates on the territory of the USSR. Hitler opposed the autonomy of Ukraine and replaced the term “governorate” with “Reichskommissariat” for it. As a result, Rosenberg’s ideas took the following forms of implementation.

• Ostland - was supposed to include Belarus, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Ostland, where, according to Rosenberg, a population with Aryan blood lived, was subject to complete Germanization within two generations.
• Ukraine - would include the territory of the former Ukrainian SSR, Crimea, a number of territories along the Don and Volga, as well as the lands of the abolished Soviet Autonomous Republic of the Volga Germans. According to Rosenberg's idea, the governorate was supposed to gain autonomy and become the support of the Third Reich in the East.
• Caucasus - would include the republics of the North Caucasus and Transcaucasia and would separate Russia from the Black Sea.
• Muscovy - Russia to the Urals.
• The fifth governorate was to be Turkestan.

The success of the German campaign in the summer-autumn of 1941 led to a revision and tightening of the German plans for the eastern lands, and as a result, the Ost plan was born.

Plan Description

According to some reports, the “Plan Ost” was divided into two - the “Small Plan” (German. Kleine Planung) and "Big Plan" (German) Große Planung). The small plan was to be carried out during the war. The Big Plan was what the German government wanted to focus on after the war. The plan provided for different percentages of Germanization for the various conquered Slavic and other peoples. The “non-Germanized” were to be deported to Western Siberia or subjected to physical destruction. The execution of the plan was to ensure that the conquered territories would acquire an irrevocably German character.

Wetzel's comments and suggestions

A document known as “Comments and proposals of the “Eastern Ministry” on the “Ost” master plan” has become widespread among historians. The text of this document has often been presented as Plan Ost itself, although it has little in common with the text of the Plan published at the end of 2009.

Wetzel envisioned the expulsion of tens of millions of Slavs beyond the Urals. The Poles, according to Wetzel, “were the most hostile to the Germans, numerically the largest and therefore the most dangerous people.”

"Generalplan Ost", as it should be understood, also meant the "Final Solution of the Jewish Question" (German. Endlösung der Judenfrage), according to which the Jews were subject to total destruction:

In the Baltics, Latvians were considered more suitable for "Germanization", but Lithuanians and Latgalians were not, since there were too many "Slavic admixtures" among them. According to Wetzel's proposals, the Russian people were to be subjected to measures such as assimilation (“Germanization”) and population reduction through a reduction in the birth rate - such actions are defined as genocide.

Developed variants of the Ost plan

The following documents were developed by the planning team Gr. lll B planning service of the Main Staff Office of the Reich Commissioner for the Consolidation of the German People Heinrich Himmler (Reichskommissar für die Festigung Deutschen Volkstums (RKFDV) and the Institute of Agrarian Policy of the Friedrich Wilhelm University of Berlin:

• Document 1: “Planning Fundamentals” was created in February 1940 by the RKFDV planning service (volume: 21 pages). Contents: Description of the extent of the planned eastern colonization in West Prussia and Wartheland. The colonization area was to be 87,600 km², of which 59,000 km² was agricultural land. About 100,000 settlement farms of 29 hectares each were to be created on this territory. It was planned to resettle about 4.3 million Germans into this territory; of which 3.15 million are in rural areas and 1.15 million in cities. At the same time, 560,000 Jews (100% of the population of the region of this nationality) and 3.4 million Poles (44% of the population of the region of this nationality) were to be gradually eliminated. The costs of implementing these plans have not been estimated.

• Document 2: Materials for the report “Colonization”, developed in December 1940 by the RKFDV planning service (volume 5 pages). Contents: Fundamental article to the “Requirement of territories for forced resettlement from the Old Reich” with a specific requirement for 130,000 km² of land for 480,000 new viable settlement farms of 25 hectares each, as well as in addition 40% of the territory for forest, for the needs of the army and reserve areas in Wartheland and Poland.

Documents created after the attack on the USSR on June 22, 1941

• Document 3 (missing, exact contents unknown): “General Plan Ost”, created in July 1941 by the RKFDV planning service. Contents: Description of the extent of the planned eastern colonization in the USSR with the boundaries of specific areas of colonization.

• Document 4 (missing, exact contents unknown): "General Plan Ost", created in December 1941 by the planning group Gr. lll B RSHA. Contents: Description of the scale of the planned eastern colonization in the USSR and the General Government with specific boundaries of individual areas of settlement.

• Document 5: “General Plan Ost”, created in May 1942 by the Institute of Agriculture and Politics of the Friedrich-Wilhelms-University of Berlin (volume 68 pages).

Contents: Description of the scale of the planned eastern colonization in the USSR with specific boundaries of individual areas of settlement. The colonization area was supposed to cover 364,231 km², including 36 strong points and three administrative districts in the Leningrad region, the Kherson-Crimean region and in the Bialystok region. At the same time, settlement farms with an area of ​​40-100 hectares, as well as large agricultural enterprises with an area of ​​at least 250 hectares, should have emerged. The required number of resettlers was estimated at 5.65 million. The areas planned for settlement were to be cleared of approximately 25 million people. The cost of implementing the plan was estimated at 66.6 billion Reichsmarks.

• Document 6: “Master Plan for Colonization” (German) Generalsiedlungsplan), created in September 1942 by the RKF planning service (volume: 200 pages, including 25 maps and tables).

Contents: Description of the scale of the planned colonization of all areas envisaged for this with specific boundaries of individual settlement areas. The region was supposed to cover an area of ​​330,000 km² with 360,100 rural households. The required number of migrants was estimated at 12.21 million people (of which 2.859 million were peasants and those employed in forestry). The area planned for settlement was to be cleared of approximately 30.8 million people. The cost of implementing the plan was estimated at 144 billion Reichsmarks.

There are certain reasons to believe that the Soviet leadership, especially Stalin, seriously expected to remain aloof from the outbreak of the world war. And the prerequisites for this should have been our military power, unprecedented in scale at that time. Of course, the power is potential, hypothetical, in reality useless, as time has shown.

CARD GAMES

In September 1940, the People's Commissariat of Defense reported to the Politburo of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks its considerations for the deployment of troops at the western border in light of the events that had taken place in Europe. It was assumed that the concentration of the main forces of the German army was most likely north of the mouth of the San River. Therefore, the main forces of our army need to be deployed from the Baltic Sea to Polesie, in the Baltic and Western districts.

Stalin suggested that the main blow would be in the southwest, to seize Ukraine, the Donetsk basin, and the Caucasus - the richest industrial, raw materials and agricultural areas. This is what it says in the Soviet History of the Second World War.

A new plan was developed, which appeared by the end of 1940. According to it, the main enemy attack was expected in the Lviv-Kyiv direction. An auxiliary attack could be launched from East Prussia on Vilnius-Vitebsk.

The concentration of the main forces in the Lvov-Kiev direction was aimed at preventing the advance of large enemy tank masses into Ukraine. It was taken into account that in this direction the terrain was most convenient for the deployment of tank and motorized infantry units, of which we had much more German ones. It is important to note that the military still assumed the possibility of a flank attack on the central group of Germans by part of the forces in the southern direction, but subject to the mandatory retention of the Kovel, Rivne, Lvov area.

In December 1940, a meeting of the senior command staff of our army was held, at which the problems of modern war were discussed. An interesting description was given by the then Chief of the General Staff Meretskov in his report on the draft Field Manual to the Soviet and German troops. He argued that our division was much stronger than the German one and would certainly defeat it in a head-on battle. In defense, our division will repel the attack of two or three enemy divisions. In an offensive, one and a half of our divisions will overcome the defense of the enemy division. According to the army general’s plan, it turned out that our division had no less than double superiority over the German one. This is a typical assessment for those times.

After the meeting, two operational-strategic games took place on maps, the design of which reflected Soviet military doctrine. According to the instructions for the first game, the “western” (commander Zhukov) carried out an attack on the “eastern” (commander Pavlov) and by July 23-25 ​​advanced into the territory of Belarus and Lithuania 70-120 km from the border. But as a result of retaliatory actions, they were thrown back to their original position by August 1.

According to the instructions for the second game, the South-Eastern Front of the “Western” (commander Pavlov) and their allies began military operations on August 1, 1941 against the Lvov-Ternopil group of the “Easterns” (commander Zhukov) and invaded the territory of Ukraine to a depth of 50-70 km , however, at the Lvov-Kovel line they were met by a strong counterattack from the “eastern” South-Eastern Front and by the end of August 8 they had retreated to previously prepared lines.

In the games there was not even an attempt to consider the actions of the “Easterns” in the event of an attack by a real enemy. That is, it was assumed that the plan to cover the state border was carried out successfully in the first days. What seemed to the game developers for granted in conditions of superiority in forces and means, especially in aviation and tanks. In the first game - 2.5:1 for tanks, 1.7:1 for aviation. In the second - for tanks 3:1, for aircraft 1.3:1.

In both games, the attacking side was the Eastern side. In the first game, the offensive of the “Easterns” was interrupted by a flank attack from the “Westerns”. In the second game, the Eastern offensive was more successful.

On March 11, 1941, a “refined plan” was drawn up for the strategic deployment of the Armed Forces of the Soviet Union, taking into account the results of the games. In this regard, it was finally recognized as the main direction of the enemy’s attack in the south, to capture Ukraine. Accordingly, our troops had to concentrate there in order to defeat the attackers and, in the very first stage of the war, cut off Germany from the Balkan countries, deprive it of its most important economic bases and decisively influence the Balkan countries regarding their participation in the war against the USSR. After successfully repelling the first strike with powerful mechanized formations, carry out and develop a deep breakthrough and quickly decide the outcome of the war.

THE PREVENTIVE STRIKE REMAINED ON PAPER

By this time, the German army had already been prepared - all that remained was to turn on the mechanism for the massive transfer of formations and units from the western regions of Germany to the border of the USSR. Moreover, the German command relied on the superiority of the railway network, believing that it did not matter much where the troops planned for concentration in the east would be located - in Pomerania, Brandenburg, Silesia or in Western Germany. The further the forces are from the upcoming concentration area, the more sudden the start of this concentration will be, which Germany is able to carry out much faster than the enemy.

In fact, the ratio of the speed of mobilization and deployment of the army, which was at the beginning of the First World War, has been preserved: Germany in 10 days, Russia in 40. The fact is that the railway network developed in the USSR in the 20-30s. extremely unsatisfactory, and in the newly captured areas they only managed to change the existing network to a wider gauge. It should be especially noted that at that time military power was understood somehow one-sidedly: tanks, guns, planes, people. But the fact that there weren’t enough roads, and it was extremely dangerous, didn’t bother me.

In May 1941, the notorious document appeared signed by the then deputy chief of the operational department of the General Staff. He insisted on the need to seize the initiative from the German command and forestall it in deployment. To do this you need to attack the German army, which is in the process of deployment. This is favored by the fact that Germany is bogged down in a war with England.

The second thing that, according to Vasilevsky, favored the offensive operation was that out of the supposedly 287 German divisions, only 120 (actually 123) were concentrated on our border. And Germany could field 180 divisions (including 19 tank and 15 motorized) and up to 240 - together with the allies.

The idea was to deliver the main blow with the forces of the Southwestern Front in the direction of Krakow-Katowice and cut off Germany from its allies - Hungary and Romania. The left wing of the Western Front was supposed to strike in the direction of Sedlec-Demblin. This blow could have shackled the Warsaw group and contributed to the defeat of the Lublin group by the Southwestern Front. It was necessary to conduct an active defense against Finland, East Prussia, Hungary, and Romania, but be prepared to strike against Romania.

All this looked not only like a project, but even stupidity from the point of view of the direction of the attacks and their goals. Indeed, it took Germany almost a year to develop and implement the Barbarossa plan. But Germany had an excellent military apparatus, which we practically did not have.

In short, there was clearly not enough time to prepare a major offensive operation. Even less experience. And the sad example of the Finnish campaign allows us to doubt the possibility of successful offensive actions of our army in those conditions and in its condition. The assumptions that are now emerging that a preventive strike would allow us to defeat Germany more easily are very doubtful. As well as the version that entering the war in 1939 would be a great blessing.

PLANS OF GERMANY

Already in October 1939, Hitler formulated the idea of ​​a Western campaign - a decisive blow and a quick victory, a deep breakthrough of tank units through the Ardennes to the English Channel coast and the encirclement of the bulk of enemy troops. Conduct the offensive on the widest possible front so that the enemy cannot organize a strong defense. Dismember his front. Concentrate large forces in the depths of your troops, aiming them against individual sections of the enemy’s front. It is then that it will be possible to more fully realize the superiority of the German leadership. The main thing is the will to defeat the enemy.

This is very important to emphasize - the attacker himself chooses the direction, time, and force of the blow. The defender’s destiny is to withstand the first blow, regroup, wear down the enemy with competent defense, and only then strike himself. This is great art, which we did not have at all then.

In November 1939, Hitler, at a meeting of the Wehrmacht leadership, stated that Russia did not pose a threat at the moment, and its armed forces had low combat effectiveness. A little more than six months pass - and the tone becomes even more categorical: a war against the USSR, as opposed to a war with France, will only look like a game of Easter cakes. The basis for such a statement was the idea that the Soviet officer corps was not able to provide qualified leadership of troops, which was confirmed by the experience of the Finnish campaign.

The chief of staff of the 4th German Army, Blumentritt, on May 9, 1941, at a meeting in the operational department of the ground forces headquarters, argued that the Soviet military command was inferior to the German one: it thought formally and did not show self-confidence. The remaining top military leaders should be even less feared than the former, well-trained generals of the tsarist army. German troops are superior to the enemy in combat experience, training and weapons. The systems of command and control, organization and training of troops are the most correct. There will be stubborn battles for 8-14 days, and then success will not be long in coming. The glory and aura of invincibility that precedes the Wehrmacht everywhere will have a particularly paralyzing effect on the enemy.

If we remember that in July 1940, when Hitler’s first orders were given to begin practical preparations for the operation against the USSR, it was about a duration of about 5 months, then within a year the period was reduced to almost a week. Hitler immediately started talking about the main attack on Moscow, which would create extremely unfavorable conditions for military operations of the most powerful Soviet group in Ukraine (war with an “inverted front”).

General considerations about the possibility of developments were set out in a memorandum prepared on September 15, 1940 by Colonel Lossberg, head of the ground forces group in the operations department of the German General Staff. In his opinion, in the war against Germany, the USSR had three options: a preventive strike on the German troops beginning to concentrate near the border; taking on the blow of the German armed forces, deploying at the border in order to hold in their hands new positions captured on both flanks (Baltic and Black Seas); a retreat into the depths of one’s own space in order to impose on the advancing armies the difficulties of extended communications and the associated supply difficulties, and then only in the further course of the campaign a counterattack.

The first option seemed incredible - at best, operations against Finland or Romania. The second option is more likely, since it cannot be assumed that such a powerful military power will cede its richest regions, including recently conquered ones, without a fight. In addition, a particularly well-equipped network of air force ground facilities has been deployed west of the Dnieper. When retreating, this network will be lost.

For the German army, such a solution, in which the enemy will take the battle with large forces at an early stage, is favorable, because after defeat in the border battle, the Soviet command is unlikely to be able to ensure an organized withdrawal of the entire army.

If the Soviet troops make plans in advance to first take the attack of the German troops with small forces, and concentrate their main group in the deep rear, then the boundary of the latter’s location north of the Pripyat swamps could be a powerful water barrier formed by the Dvina (Daugava) and the Dnieper . Lossberg considered such an unfavorable decision possible. But it seemed incredible to him that the southern regions of Ukraine south of the Pripyat swamps would be left without a fight.

Of the three options, the most likely was the one that was most unfavorable for us. In fact, this is what happened. Moreover, the impossibility for Stalin to act differently was calculated - political, psychological, and even economic.

All subsequent German developments developed these ideas. In mid-December 1940, a preparatory strategic game for Operation Barbarossa took place at the headquarters of the ground forces command. The plan for the operation was outlined by Paulus. He called the first goal the capture of Ukraine (including Donbass), Moscow, and Leningrad. This made it possible to capture almost the entire military and heavy industry. The second goal is to achieve the Arkhangelsk-Volga-Astrakhan line. According to the developers, such an outcome would deprive the USSR of any hope for revival.

When assessing the possible behavior of the Soviet command, the calculation was clearly made on its desire to provide stubborn resistance on the border. Motives - it is difficult to decide to voluntarily give up areas that were recently captured. And besides, try to weaken the German forces from the very beginning and ensure the possibility of deploying the army.

Therefore, the tasks of the German ground forces were formulated in this way - with the support of aviation, destroy the enemy’s best personnel troops, achieving a decisive battle, and thereby prevent the systematic and full use of the enormous human potential of the USSR. After the success of the first breakthrough, strive to destroy the enemy forces piece by piece and prevent them from creating a united new front. If with the help of these decisions it is not possible to achieve the final victory of the war, then the enemy will still not be able to hold out, much less achieve a turning point in the war.

On January 31, 1941, a directive appeared on the strategic deployment of German ground forces, which finally enshrined the intention to destroy Soviet troops by quickly moving forward tank strike groups to prevent withdrawal into the interior of the country. Moreover, our command was expected to carry out major offensive operations to eliminate the German breakthrough, as well as to ensure the withdrawal of troops beyond the Dnieper-Dvina line.

On June 11, 1941, Hitler’s directive # 32 was released, in which, after the defeat of the USSR, by the fall of 1941 (this is about 3 months, this is exactly the period expected back in March for the “final solution to the Russian problem”) a breakthrough to the Middle East was to follow (via Turkey or from Transcaucasia and through Egypt) in 1942. This plan was confirmed in Hitler’s July directive, however, the collapse of the USSR was expected by the winter of 1941 with access to the Volga.

The Soviet leadership hoped that the German leadership would realize the danger of an attack on the USSR. Stalin, as a pragmatist, assumed that it was impossible for Hitler to successfully carry out a campaign against the USSR. And he believed that there simply wouldn’t be a war. And Hitler cleverly took advantage of Stalin’s natural desire.

As for the ratio of the military potential of the USSR and Germany in 1939 and 1941, it has not changed, since internal politics in the USSR, leadership style, principles of military planning and everything else have not changed. Therefore, severe defeats were inevitable.

Let me remind you that 6 pages of the plan appeared in the Nuremberg materials, and the rest was discovered in 1991 and fully published in 2009. And we are not talking about a project, but about one approved and endorsed by Hitler. So, questions and misconceptions.
1.What is “General Plan Ost?”
2. What is the history of the emergence of GPO? What documents relate to it?
3. What is the content of the GPO?
4. In fact, the GPO was developed by a minor official, should it be taken seriously?
5. The plan does not have the signature of Hitler or any other top official of the Reich, which means it is not valid.
6. GPO was a purely theoretical concept.
7. Implementing such a plan is unrealistic.
8. When were the documents on the Ost plan discovered? Is there a possibility that they are falsified?
9.What additional information can I read about GPO?
Brief answers and details under the cut

1. What is “General Plan Ost?”

By “General Plan Ost” (GPO), modern historians understand a set of plans, draft plans and memos devoted to the issues of settling the so-called. "eastern territories" (Poland and the Soviet Union) in the event of a German victory in the war. The GPO concept was developed on the basis of Nazi racial doctrine under the patronage of the Reichskommissariat for the Strengthening of German Statehood (RKF), which was headed by SS Reichsführer Himmler, and was supposed to serve as a theoretical foundation for the colonization and Germanization of the occupied territories.

A general overview of the documents is given in the table below:

	Name	date	Volume	Prepared by whom	Original	Objects of colonization
1	Planungsgrundlagen (Planning Basics)	February 1940	21 pp.	RKF planning department	BA, R 49/157, S.1-21	Western regions of Poland
2	Materialien zum Vortrag “Siedlung” (materials for the report “Settlement”)	December 1940	5 pages	RKF planning department	facsimile in G.Aly, S.Heim "Bevölkerungsstruktur und Massenmord" (p.29-32)	Poland
3		July 1941	?	RKF planning department	lost, dated according to cover letter	?
4	Gesamtplan Ost (overall plan Ost)	December 1941	?	planning group III B RSHA	lost; Dr. Wetzel's lengthy review (Stellungnahme und Gedanken zum Generalplan Ost des Reichsführers SS, 04/27/1942, NG-2325; abridged Russian translation) allows us to reconstruct the content	Baltic States, Ingria; Poland, Belarus, Ukraine (strong points); Crimea (?)
5	Generalplan Ost (general plan Ost)	May 1942	84 pp.	Institute of Agriculture at the University of Berlin	BA, R 49/157a, facsimile	Baltic States, Ingermanland, Gotengau; Poland, Belarus, Ukraine (strong points)
6	Generalsiedlungsplan (general settlement plan)	October-December 1942	planned 200 pages, a general outline of the plan and main digital indicators have been prepared	RKF planning department	BA, R 49/984	Luxembourg, Alsace, Lorraine, Czech Republic, Lower Styria, Baltics, Poland

Work on plans for the settlement of the eastern territories began virtually immediately after the creation of the Reichskommissariat to strengthen German statehood in October 1939. Headed by Prof. Konrad Mayer, the planning department of the RKF presented the first plan concerning the settlement of the western regions of Poland annexed to the Reich already in February 1940. It was under the leadership of Mayer that five of the six documents listed above were prepared (the Institute of Agriculture, which appears in document 5, was led by the same Mayer ). It should be noted that the RKF was not the only department thinking about the future of the eastern territories; similar work was carried out both in the Rosenberg ministry and in the department responsible for the four-year plan, which was headed by Goering (the so-called “Green Folder”). It is this competitive situation that explains, in part, the critical response of Wetzel, an employee of the Ministry of the Occupied Eastern Territories, to the version of the Ost plan presented by the RSHA planning group (document 4). Nevertheless, Himmler, not least thanks to the success of the propaganda exhibition “Planning and Building a New Order in the East” in March 1941, gradually managed to achieve a dominant position. Document 5, for example, speaks of "the priority of the Reichskommissar to strengthen German statehood in matters of settlement (of colonized territories) and planning."

To understand the logic of the development of the GPO, two responses from Himmler to the plans presented by Mayer are important. In the first, dated 06/12/42 (BA, NS 19/1739, Russian translation), Himmler demands to expand the plan to include not only the “eastern”, but also other territories subject to Germanization (West Prussia, the Czech Republic, Alsace-Lorraine, etc.). etc.), reduce the time frame and set the goal of the complete Germanization of Estonia, Latvia and the entire General Government.
The consequence of this was the renaming of the GPO into the “master settlement plan” (document 6), while, however, some territories present in document 5 were excluded from the plan, to which Himmler immediately draws attention (letter to Mayer dated January 12, 1943, BA, NS 19 /1739): "The eastern territories for settlement should include Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Belarus, Ingermanland, as well as Crimea and Tavria [...] The named territories must be completely Germanized/fully populated."
Mayer never presented the next version of the plan: the course of the war made further work on it pointless.

The following table uses data organized by M. Burchard:

	Territory of settlement	Number of displaced people	Population subject to eviction/not subject to Germanization	Cost estimation.
1	87600 sq. km.	4.3 million	560,000 Jews, 3.4 million Poles in the first stage	-
2	130,000 sq. km.	480,000 farms	-	-
3	?	?	?	?
4	700,000 sq. km.	1-2 million German families and 10 million foreigners with Aryan blood	31 million (80-85% Poles, 75% Belarusians, 65% Ukrainians, 50% Czechs)	-
5	364231 sq. km.	5.65 million	min. 25 million (99% Poles, 50% Estonians, more than 50% Latvians, 85% Lithuanians)	RM 66.6 billion
6	330,000 sq. km.	12.21 million	30.8 million (95% Poles, 50% Estonians, 70% Latvians, 85% Lithuanians, 50% French, Czechs and Slovenes)	RM 144 billion

Let us dwell in more detail on the fully preserved and most elaborated document 5: it is expected to be gradually implemented over 25 years, Germanization quotas are introduced for various nationalities, it is proposed to prohibit the indigenous population from owning property in cities in order to push them out into the countryside and use them in agriculture. To control territories with an initially non-dominant German population, a form of margraviate is introduced, the first three: Ingria (Leningrad region), Gotengau (Crimea, Kherson), and Memel-Narev (Lithuania - Bialystok). In Ingria, the population of cities should be reduced from 3 million to 200 thousand. In Poland, Belarus, the Baltic states, and Ukraine, a network of strongholds is being formed, with a total of 36, ensuring effective communication of the margraviates with each other and with the metropolis (see reconstruction). After 25-30 years, the margraviates should be Germanized by 50%, and strongholds by 25-30% (In the review we already know, Himmler demanded that the implementation period of the plan be reduced to 20 years, that the complete Germanization of Estonia and Latvia and a more active Germanization of Poland be considered).
In conclusion, it is emphasized that the success of the settlement program will depend on the will and colonization power of the Germans, and if it passes these tests, then the next generation will be able to close the northern and southern flanks of colonization (i.e., populate Ukraine and central Russia.)

It should be noted that documents 5 and 6 do not include specific numbers of residents subject to eviction; however, they are derived from the difference between the actual number of residents and the planned number (taking into account German settlers and the local population suitable for Germanization). Document 4 names Western Siberia as the territory to which residents unsuitable for Germanization should be evicted. The leaders of the Reich have repeatedly spoken about the desire to Germanize the European territory of Russia up to the Urals.
From a racial point of view, Russians were considered the least Germanized people, moreover, poisoned for 25 years by the poison of “Judeo-Bolshevism”. It is difficult to say unequivocally how the policy of decimation of the Slavic population would be carried out. According to one of the testimonies, Himmler, before the start of Operation Barbarossa, called the goal of the campaign against Russia "decrease in the Slavic population by 30 million.". Wetzel wrote about measures to reduce the birth rate (encouraging abortion, sterilization, abandoning the fight against infant mortality, etc.), Hitler himself expressed himself more directly: "Local residents? We will have to start filtering them out. We will remove the destructive Jews altogether. My impression of the Belarusian territory is still better than that of the Ukrainian one. We will not go to Russian cities, they must completely die out. We should not torment ourselves with remorse. We there is no need to get used to the role of a nanny, we have no obligations to the local residents. Repair houses, catch lice, German teachers, newspapers? No! It’s better that we open a radio station under our control, and for the rest they just need to know the road signs so as not to get caught "We are on the way! By freedom, these people understand the right to wash only on holidays. If we come with shampoo, it will not arouse sympathy. There we need to retrain. There is only one task: to carry out Germanization through the importation of Germans, and the former inhabitants must be treated as Indians."

A minor official, Prof. Konrad Mayer was not. As mentioned above, he headed the planning department of the RKF, as well as the land department of the same Reichskommissariat and the Institute of Agriculture at the University of Berlin. He was a Standartenführer, and later an Oberführer (in the military ranks above colonel, but below major general) of the SS. By the way, another popular misconception is that the GPO was supposedly a figment of the fevered imagination of one crazy SS man. This is also not true: agrarians, economists, managers and other specialists from academic circles worked on the GPO. For example, in the cover letter to document 5, Mayer writes about facilitating "my closest collaborators in the planning department and the general land office, as well as the financial expert Dr. Besler (Jen)." Additional funding went through the German Research Society (DFG): for “scientific planning work to strengthen German statehood” from 1941 to 1945. 510 thousand RM were allocated, of which Mayer spent 60-70 thousand per year on his working group, the rest went as grants to scientists conducting research relevant to RKF. For comparison, maintaining a scientist with a scientific degree costs approximately 6 thousand RM per year (data from the report of I. Heinemann.)

It is important to note that Mayer worked on the GPO on the initiative and on the instructions of RKF chief Himmler and in close connection with him, while correspondence was conducted both through the chief of staff of the RKF Greifelt and directly. The photographs taken during the exhibition “Planning and Building a New Order in the East”, in which Mayer speaks to Himmler, Hess, Heydrich and Todt, are widely known.

The GPO actually did not advance beyond the design stage, which was greatly facilitated by the course of military operations - from 1943 the plan began to quickly lose relevance. Of course, the GPO was not signed by Hitler or anyone else, since it was a plan post-war settlement of the occupied regions. The very first sentence of Document 5 states this directly: Thanks to German weapons, the eastern territories, which had been the subject of centuries-long disputes, were finally annexed to the Reich.

Nevertheless, it would be a mistake to infer from this the disinterest of Hitler and the Reich leadership in the GPO. As shown above, work on the plan took place according to instructions and under the constant patronage of Himmler, who, in turn, I would like to convey this plan also to the Fuhrer at a convenient time.(letter dated June 12, 1942)
Let us recall that already in Mein Kampf Hitler wrote: "We stop the eternal advance of the Germans to the south and west of Europe and direct our gaze to the eastern lands". The concept of “living space in the east” was repeatedly mentioned by the Fuhrer in the 30s (for example, immediately after coming to power, on 02/03/1933, he, speaking to the Reichswehr generals, spoke about “the need to conquer living space in the east and its decisive Germanization” ), after the start of the war it acquired clear outlines. Here is a recording of one of Hitler’s monologues dated 10/17/1941:
... the Fuhrer once again outlined his thoughts on the development of the eastern regions. The most important thing is the roads. He told Dr. Todt that the original plan he had prepared needed to be significantly expanded. In the next twenty years, he will have three million prisoners at his disposal to solve this problem... German cities should appear at large river crossings in which the Wehrmacht, the police, the administrative apparatus and the party will be based.
German peasant farms will be established along the roads, and the monotonous Asian-looking steppe will soon take on a completely different appearance. In 10 years, 4 million will move there, in 20 - 10 million Germans. They will come not only from the Reich, but also from America, as well as Scandinavia, Holland and Flanders. The rest of Europe can also take part in annexing Russian spaces. The Russian cities, those that will survive the war - Moscow and Leningrad must not survive it under any circumstances - should not be touched by a German. They must vegetate in their own shit away from German roads. The Fuhrer again raised the topic that “contrary to the opinion of individual headquarters,” neither the education of the local population nor the care of it should be dealt with...
He, the Fuhrer, will introduce new control with an iron hand; what the Slavs will think about this does not bother him at all. Anyone who eats German bread today doesn't think much about the fact that the fields east of the Elbe were conquered by the sword in the 12th century.

Of course, his subordinates echoed him. For example, on October 2, 1941, Heydrich described future colonization as follows:
Other lands are eastern lands, partly inhabited by Slavs, these are lands where one must clearly understand that kindness will be perceived as a sign of weakness. These are lands where the Slav himself does not want to have equal rights with the master, where he is used to being in service. These are the lands in the east that we will have to manage and hold. These are lands where, after the military issue is resolved, German control should be introduced up to the Urals, and they should serve us as a source of minerals, labor, like helots, roughly speaking. These are lands that must be treated as when building a dam and draining the coast: far in the east a protective wall is being built to protect them from Asian storms, and from the west the gradual annexation of these lands to the Reich begins. It is from this point of view that we must consider what is happening in the east. The first step would be to create a protectorate of the provinces of Danzig-West Prussia and Warthegau. A year ago, another eight million Poles lived in these provinces, as well as in East Prussia and the Silesian part. These are lands that will gradually be populated by the Germans; the Polish element will be squeezed out step by step. These are lands that will one day become completely German. And then further east, to the Baltic states, which will also one day become completely German, although here you need to think about what part of the blood of Latvians, Estonians and Lithuanians is suitable for Germanization. Racially speaking, the best people here are Estonians, they have strong Swedish influences, then Latvians, and the worst are Lithuanians.
Then the turn of the rest of Poland will come, this is the next territory that should be gradually populated by the Germans, and the Poles should be squeezed out further to the east. Then Ukraine, which at first, as an intermediate solution, should be using, of course, the national idea still dormant in the subconscious, was separated from the rest of Russia and used as a source of minerals and provisions under German control. Of course, not allowing the people there to strengthen or strengthen themselves, raising their educational level, since from this later an opposition may grow, which, with the weakening of the central government, will strive for independence...

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

As is easy to see, all three quotes perfectly correlate with the main provisions of the GPO.

In a broad sense, this is true: there is no reason to implement a plan for the post-war settlement of the occupied territories until the war is over. This does not mean, however, that measures to Germanize certain regions were not carried out at all. First of all, it should be noted here that the western regions of Poland (West Prussia and Warthegau) annexed to the Reich, the settlement of which was discussed in document 1. During multi-stage measures for the deportation of Jews and Polish (the former were first deported, like the Poles, to the General Government, then they were taken into ghettos and extermination camps on their own territory: of the 435,000 Jews of Warthegau, 12,000 remained alive) by March 1941. More than 280 thousand people were taken from Warthegau alone. The total number of Poles deported from West Prussia and Warthegau to the General Government is estimated at 365 thousand people. Their yards and apartments were occupied by German settlers, of whom there were already 287 thousand in these two regions by March 1942.

At the end of November 1942, on the initiative of Himmler, the so-called "Action Zamość", the goal of which was the Germanization of the Zamość district, which was declared the "first area of ​​German settlement" in the General Government. By August 1943, 110 thousand Poles were evicted: about half were deported, the rest fled on their own, many joined the partisans. To protect future settlers, it was decided to take advantage of the hostility between Poles and Ukrainians and create a defensive ring of Ukrainian villages around the settlement area. Due to a lack of forces to support order, the action was stopped in August 1943. By that time, only about 9,000 of the 60,000 planned settlers had moved to the Zamość district.

Finally, in 1943, not far from Himmler’s headquarters in Zhitomir, the German town of Hegewald was created: the place of 15,000 Ukrainians expelled from their homes was taken by 10,000 Germans. At the same time, the first settlers went to Crimea.
All these activities also fully correlate with GPO. It is interesting to note that prof. Mayer visited Western Poland, Zamosc, Zhitomir, and Crimea during business trips, i.e. assessed the feasibility of his concept on the ground.

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

On the other hand, we are talking not just about the fixed idea of ​​the Reich leadership, but also about scientists (economists, planners, managers) who projected this fixed idea onto reality: no supernatural or impossible obligations were set, the task of Germanization of the Baltic states, Ingermanland, Crimea, Poland, parts of Ukraine and Belarus were to be resolved in small steps over 20 years, with details (for example, the percentage of suitability for Germanization) being adjusted and clarified along the way. As for the “unrealism of the GPO” in terms of scale, we must not forget that, for example, the number of Germans expelled during and after the end of the Second World War from the territories in which they lived is also described as an eight-digit number. And it took not 20 years, but five times less.

Hopes (expressed today, mainly by adherents of General Vlasov and other collaborators) that some part of the occupied territories would gain independence or at least self-government are not reflected in real Nazi plans (see, for example, Hitler in Bormann's notes, 07/16/41: ...we will again emphasize that we were forced to occupy this or that area, restore order in it and secure it. In the interests of the population, we are forced to take care of peace, food, communications, etc., so we are introducing our own rules here. No one should recognize that in this way we are introducing our rules forever! Despite this, we are carrying out and can carry out all the necessary measures - executions, evictions, etc.
We, however, do not wish to prematurely turn anyone into our enemies. Therefore, for now we will act as if this area is a mandated territory. But it must be absolutely clear to us that we will never leave it. [...]
The most basic:
The formation of a power to the west of the Urals capable of waging war should never be allowed, even if we have to fight for another hundred years. All the Fuhrer's successors must know: the Reich will only be safe if there is no foreign army west of the Urals; Germany takes upon itself the defense of this space from all possible threats.
The iron law should read: “No one other than Germans should ever be allowed to bear arms!”)
At the same time, it makes no sense to compare the situation in 1941-42. with the situation in 1944, when the Nazis made promises much more easily, since they were happy with almost any help: active conscription into the ROA began, Bandera was released, etc. How did the Nazis treat the allies who were pursuing goals not approved in Berlin, incl. who stood up for (albeit puppet) independence in 1941-42, is clearly shown by the example of the same Bandera.

Dr. Wetzel's opinion and a number of accompanying documents appeared already at the Nuremberg trials; documents 5 and 6 were discovered in American archives and published by Czeslaw Madajczyk (Przeglad Zachodni Nr. 3 1961).
Theoretically, the possibility that a particular document is falsified always exists. In this case, however, it is important that we are dealing not with one or two, but with a whole complex of documents, which includes not only the main ones discussed above, but also various accompanying notes, reviews, letters, protocols - in the classic The collection of Ch. Madaychik contains more than a hundred relevant documents. Therefore, it is absolutely not enough to call one document a falsification, taking it out of the context of the others. If, for example, document 6 is a falsification, then what does Himmler write to Mayer in his response to it? Or, if Himmler’s review dated June 12, 1942 is a falsification, then why does document 6 embody the instructions contained in this review? And most importantly, why do the GPO documents, if they are falsified, correlate so well with the statements of Hitler, Himmler, Heydrich, etc.?
Those. here you need to build a whole conspiracy theory, explaining by whose evil intent the documents and speeches of Nazi bosses found at different times in different archives are built into a coherent picture. And to question the reliability of individual documents (as some authors do, counting on the uneducated reading public) is quite pointless.

First of all, books in German:
- collection of documents compiled by Ch. Madayczyk Vom Generalplan Ost zum Generalsiedlungsplan, Saur, München 1994;
- Mechthild Rössler, Sabine Schleiermacher (Hrsg.): Der „Generalplan Ost“. Hauptlinien der nationalsozialistischen Planungs- und Vernichtungspolitik, Akademie, Berlin 1993;
- Rolf-Dieter Müller: Hitlers Ostkrieg und die deutsche Siedlungspolitik, Frankfurt am Main 1991;
- Isabel Heinemann: Rasse, Siedlung, deutsches Blut. Das Rasse- und Siedlungshauptamt der SS und die rassenpolitische Neuordnung Europas, Wallstein: Göttingen 2003 (partially available)
Lots of materials, incl. used above, on the thematic site of M. Burchard.