The Ural mountains in Nazi planning
Encyclopedia
The Ural mountains
played a prominent role in Nazi planning. Adolf Hitler
and the rest of the Nazi German
leadership made many references to them as a strategic objective of the Third Reich, in the event that it decisively won the battle on the Eastern Front against the Soviet Union
.
to the south of it have traditionally been regarded by most cartographers
as the eastern boundary of Europe
since circa 1850 (some hundred years after it was first proposed in the 18th century), geographically
recognized as a subcontinent
of Eurasia
.
The Nazis rejected the notion that these mountains demarcated the border of Europe, at least in a cultural
if not geographic sense. The Soviet Union was continuously described in Nazi propaganda
and among the Nazi leaders as an "Asiatic state", the Russians
were equated with both the Huns
and the Mongols
, and that the German campaign in the east was fought to ensure the survival of European culture against this "Asian menace". In a major conference on 16 July 1941 where chief aspects of German rule in the occupied territories of Eastern Europe
where laid out, Hitler emphasized to the attendees (Martin Bormann
, Hermann Göring
, Alfred Rosenberg
, and Hans Lammers
) that "the Europe of today was nothing but a geographical term; in reality Asia
extended up to our frontiers."
Hitler also expressed his belief that in Ancient times the concept of Europe was limited to the southern tip of the Greek peninsula, and was then "brought into confusion" by the expanding borders of the Roman Empire
. He stated that if Germany won the war, the boundary of Europe "would extend eastward to the furthest German colony
".
In an attempt to influence Nazi policy, the Norwegian fascist politician Vidkun Quisling
produced a memorandum for the Germans called 'Aide-mémoire
on the Russian Question' (Denkschrift über die russische Frage) which elicited his own ideas on the "Russian question", which he described as "the main problem in world politics today". He advocated the Dnieper river
as a general division line between Western Europe
("Germania") and Russia. This would necessitate the division of Ukraine
, but he argued that this "could be defended from geographical and historical perspectives".
recounted a 1941 episode in his post-war memoirs
wherein he observed Hitler's early ruminations about the Urals. The Soviet Foreign Minister, Vyacheslav Molotov
, travelled to Berlin in mid-November 1940 to discuss Nazi-Soviet relations with Hitler and Joachim von Ribbentrop
. Already before this meeting Hitler determined that he would attack the Soviet Union the following spring, ordering the Wehrmacht
to draw up a military plan which would later become Operation Barbarossa
. A few months later an army adjutant pointed out to Speer an ordinary pencil
line which Hitler had drawn on his globe at the Berghof
, running north-south along the Ural mountains, signifying the future boundary of Germany's sphere of influence
with that of Japan
.
Hitler also mentioned the Urals in his recorded table talks
several times; on one occasion he recounts how others questioned him if they were a sufficiently eastward boundary for the Germans to advance to. He confirmed this objective, but emphasized that the primary goal was to "eradicate Bolshevism", and that further military campaigns to ensure this would be carried out if necessary. He later stated that Joseph Stalin
would be prepared to lose European Russia
if he did not succeed at "solving its problems" and thereby "risked losing everything". He expressed his belief that it would be impossible for Stalin to retake Europe from Siberia
, comparing it to himself hypothetically retaking Germany if he were driven back to Slovakia
, and that the German invasion of the Soviet Union
which was then under way would "bring about the downfall
of the Soviet Empire
". In a discussion with the Danish Foreign Minister Scavenius
on 2 November 1942, German Foreign Minister Ribbentrop stated that the Germans expected Asian Russia to eventually split up into several harmless "peasant republics" after Germany had occupied the country's European parts.
On 16 September 1941 Hitler mentioned to Otto Abetz
, the German ambassador in Paris, that "the new Russia as far as the Urals" would become Germany's India
, but that due to its geographic proximity to Germany was far more favourably located for the Germans than India was for Britain.
In the above-mentioned conference of 16 July 1941, it was codified as policy that in order to "secure the safety of the Reich
" no non-German military power would ever again be allowed west of the Urals (including non-Russian native militia
s), even if it meant war for the next hundred years. Hitler's future successors were to be instructed of this, if necessary. This was to be done to prevent any western powers hostile to Germany from conspiring against it with its eastern neighbours in the future, like the French had supposedly done with the Turks
, and which the British were alleged to be doing with the Soviets
. No organized Russian state would also be allowed to exist west of this line, which Hitler clarified as actually meaning a line 200–300 km east of the mountains.
Heinrich Himmler
went into some effect about how he envisaged the mountains during the 1943 Posen speeches. He stated that the "Germanic race" would have to gradually expand to this border so that in several generations time this "master race
", as the leader of Europe, would again be ready to "resume the battles of destiny against Asia", which were "sure to break out again". He stated that Europe's defeat would mean "the destruction of the creative power of the earth".
The Urals were noted as a distant objective of Generalplan Ost
, the overall Nazi colonization scheme of Eastern Europe
.
present in the east in order to "preserve the vitality of the race".
The theme of a "living wall" was used by Hitler as early as Mein Kampf
(published 1925-1926). In it he presented the future German state under National Socialist
rule as a "father's house" (Vatershaus), a safe place which would keep in the "right human elements", and keep out those which were undesirable. This metaphorical building was to have solid and supportive foundations (Fundamente) and walls (Mauern), and could only be protected by a living wall (lebendige Mauer) of patriotic and fanatically devoted
German people.
The idea became more prominent in Hitler's mind as the war went on. On 10 December 1942 (as the Battle of Stalingrad
was turning unfavourably against the Germans) he told Anton Mussert
, a Dutch Nazi
collaborator, that the "Asiatic waves were threatening to overrun Europe and exterminate the higher races", and that this threat could only be countered by wall-building and long-term fighting. On 20 April 1943 (Hitler's birthday) he had a discussion with Albert Speer
and Karl-Otto Saur on a design he had personally drawn for a six-person bunker that was to be used in the Atlantic Wall
, featuring machine gun
s, an anti-tank gun, and flame throwers. He indicated that this design was also to be used for defence purposes at Germany's "ultimate eastern border deep within Russia".
The administrative planning carried out by Alfred Rosenberg
from April to June 1941 in his capacity as Plenipotentiary for the Central Treatment of Questions of the Eastern European Space (basis of the future Reich Ministry for the Occupied Eastern Territories
) for the territories that were to be conquered in the Soviet Union based the envisaged civil districts of the
Reichskommissariat
e to a large extent on the borders of the pre-existing Soviet oblasts and autonomous republics
, particularely in Reichskommissariat Moskowien. This included even territory to the east of the mountains, such as the Sverdlovsk
(Yekaterinenburg) region.
The German Wehrmacht
assumed an eastern boundary at the A-A line
(a limit along the Volga river
between the cities of Archangelsk and Astrakhan
), which was the military objective of Operation Barbarossa.
A later treaty with the Japanese
allocated all of Afro-Eurasia
west of the 70th meridian east
to the Germans and Italians
in the case of a total Soviet collapse.
Ural Mountains
The Ural Mountains , or simply the Urals, are a mountain range that runs approximately from north to south through western Russia, from the coast of the Arctic Ocean to the Ural River and northwestern Kazakhstan. Their eastern side is usually considered the natural boundary between Europe and Asia...
played a prominent role in Nazi planning. Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
and the rest of the Nazi German
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
leadership made many references to them as a strategic objective of the Third Reich, in the event that it decisively won the battle on the Eastern Front against the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
.
As a geographic concept
The Ural mountain chain and the Ural riverUral River
The Ural or Jayıq/Zhayyq , known as Yaik before 1775, is a river flowing through Russia and Kazakhstan. It arises in the southern Ural Mountains and ends at the Caspian Sea. Its total length is 1,511 mi making it the third longest river in Europe after the Volga and the Danube...
to the south of it have traditionally been regarded by most cartographers
Cartography
Cartography is the study and practice of making maps. Combining science, aesthetics, and technique, cartography builds on the premise that reality can be modeled in ways that communicate spatial information effectively.The fundamental problems of traditional cartography are to:*Set the map's...
as the eastern boundary of Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
since circa 1850 (some hundred years after it was first proposed in the 18th century), geographically
Geography
Geography is the science that studies the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. A literal translation would be "to describe or write about the Earth". The first person to use the word "geography" was Eratosthenes...
recognized as a subcontinent
Subcontinent
A subcontinent is a large, relatively self-contained landmass forming a subdivision of a continent. By dictionary entries, the term subcontinent signifies "having a certain geographical or political independence" from the rest of the continent, or "a vast and more or less self-contained subdivision...
of Eurasia
Eurasia
Eurasia is a continent or supercontinent comprising the traditional continents of Europe and Asia ; covering about 52,990,000 km2 or about 10.6% of the Earth's surface located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres...
.
The Nazis rejected the notion that these mountains demarcated the border of Europe, at least in a cultural
Culture
Culture is a term that has many different inter-related meanings. For example, in 1952, Alfred Kroeber and Clyde Kluckhohn compiled a list of 164 definitions of "culture" in Culture: A Critical Review of Concepts and Definitions...
if not geographic sense. The Soviet Union was continuously described in Nazi propaganda
Nazi propaganda
Propaganda, the coordinated attempt to influence public opinion through the use of media, was skillfully used by the NSDAP in the years leading up to and during Adolf Hitler's leadership of Germany...
and among the Nazi leaders as an "Asiatic state", the Russians
Russians
The Russian people are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Russia, speaking the Russian language and primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries....
were equated with both the Huns
Huns
The Huns were a group of nomadic people who, appearing from east of the Volga River, migrated into Europe c. AD 370 and established the vast Hunnic Empire there. Since de Guignes linked them with the Xiongnu, who had been northern neighbours of China 300 years prior to the emergence of the Huns,...
and the Mongols
Mongol Empire
The Mongol Empire , initially named as Greater Mongol State was a great empire during the 13th and 14th centuries...
, and that the German campaign in the east was fought to ensure the survival of European culture against this "Asian menace". In a major conference on 16 July 1941 where chief aspects of German rule in the occupied territories of Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is the eastern part of Europe. The term has widely disparate geopolitical, geographical, cultural and socioeconomic readings, which makes it highly context-dependent and even volatile, and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...
where laid out, Hitler emphasized to the attendees (Martin Bormann
Martin Bormann
Martin Ludwig Bormann was a prominent Nazi official. He became head of the Party Chancellery and private secretary to Adolf Hitler...
, Hermann Göring
Hermann Göring
Hermann Wilhelm Göring, was a German politician, military leader, and a leading member of the Nazi Party. He was a veteran of World War I as an ace fighter pilot, and a recipient of the coveted Pour le Mérite, also known as "The Blue Max"...
, Alfred Rosenberg
Alfred Rosenberg
' was an early and intellectually influential member of the Nazi Party. Rosenberg was first introduced to Adolf Hitler by Dietrich Eckart; he later held several important posts in the Nazi government...
, and Hans Lammers
Hans Lammers
Dr.jur. Hans Heinrich Lammers was a German jurist and prominent Nazi politician. From 1933 until 1945 he served as head of the Reich Chancellery under Adolf Hitler....
) that "the Europe of today was nothing but a geographical term; in reality Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
extended up to our frontiers."
Hitler also expressed his belief that in Ancient times the concept of Europe was limited to the southern tip of the Greek peninsula, and was then "brought into confusion" by the expanding borders of the Roman Empire
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
. He stated that if Germany won the war, the boundary of Europe "would extend eastward to the furthest German colony
Lebensraum
was one of the major political ideas of Adolf Hitler, and an important component of Nazi ideology. It served as the motivation for the expansionist policies of Nazi Germany, aiming to provide extra space for the growth of the German population, for a Greater Germany...
".
In an attempt to influence Nazi policy, the Norwegian fascist politician Vidkun Quisling
Vidkun Quisling
Vidkun Abraham Lauritz Jonssøn Quisling was a Norwegian politician. On 9 April 1940, with the German invasion of Norway in progress, he seized power in a Nazi-backed coup d'etat that garnered him international infamy. From 1942 to 1945 he served as Minister-President, working with the occupying...
produced a memorandum for the Germans called 'Aide-mémoire
Aide-mémoire
In international relations, an aide-mémoire is a proposed agreement or negotiating text circulated informally among delegations for discussion without committing the originating delegation's country to the contents. It has no identified source, title, or attribution and no standing in the...
on the Russian Question' (Denkschrift über die russische Frage) which elicited his own ideas on the "Russian question", which he described as "the main problem in world politics today". He advocated the Dnieper river
Dnieper River
The Dnieper River is one of the major rivers of Europe that flows from Russia, through Belarus and Ukraine, to the Black Sea.The total length is and has a drainage basin of .The river is noted for its dams and hydroelectric stations...
as a general division line between Western Europe
Western Europe
Western Europe is a loose term for the collection of countries in the western most region of the European continents, though this definition is context-dependent and carries cultural and political connotations. One definition describes Western Europe as a geographic entity—the region lying in the...
("Germania") and Russia. This would necessitate the division of Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
, but he argued that this "could be defended from geographical and historical perspectives".
Planning for a border
Albert SpeerAlbert Speer
Albert Speer, born Berthold Konrad Hermann Albert Speer, was a German architect who was, for a part of World War II, Minister of Armaments and War Production for the Third Reich. Speer was Adolf Hitler's chief architect before assuming ministerial office...
recounted a 1941 episode in his post-war memoirs
Inside the Third Reich
Inside the Third Reich is a memoir written by Albert Speer, the Nazi Minister of Armaments from 1942 to 1945, serving as Hitler's main architect before this period...
wherein he observed Hitler's early ruminations about the Urals. The Soviet Foreign Minister, Vyacheslav Molotov
Vyacheslav Molotov
Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Molotov was a Soviet politician and diplomat, an Old Bolshevik and a leading figure in the Soviet government from the 1920s, when he rose to power as a protégé of Joseph Stalin, to 1957, when he was dismissed from the Presidium of the Central Committee by Nikita Khrushchev...
, travelled to Berlin in mid-November 1940 to discuss Nazi-Soviet relations with Hitler and Joachim von Ribbentrop
Joachim von Ribbentrop
Ulrich Friedrich Wilhelm Joachim von Ribbentrop was Foreign Minister of Germany from 1938 until 1945. He was later hanged for war crimes after the Nuremberg Trials.-Early life:...
. Already before this meeting Hitler determined that he would attack the Soviet Union the following spring, ordering the Wehrmacht
Wehrmacht
The Wehrmacht – from , to defend and , the might/power) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the Heer , the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe .-Origin and use of the term:...
to draw up a military plan which would later become Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa was the code name for Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II that began on 22 June 1941. Over 4.5 million troops of the Axis powers invaded the USSR along a front., the largest invasion in the history of warfare...
. A few months later an army adjutant pointed out to Speer an ordinary pencil
Pencil
A pencil is a writing implement or art medium usually constructed of a narrow, solid pigment core inside a protective casing. The case prevents the core from breaking, and also from marking the user’s hand during use....
line which Hitler had drawn on his globe at the Berghof
Berghof
Berghof or Berghoff may refer to:* Herbert Berghof, founder of HB Studio in New York City* Berghof , Adolf Hitler's home in the mountains of Bavaria* Berghof Foundation for Conflict Studies* The Berghoff , Chicago...
, running north-south along the Ural mountains, signifying the future boundary of Germany's sphere of influence
Sphere of influence
In the field of international relations, a sphere of influence is a spatial region or conceptual division over which a state or organization has significant cultural, economic, military or political influence....
with that of Japan
Empire of Japan
The Empire of Japan is the name of the state of Japan that existed from the Meiji Restoration on 3 January 1868 to the enactment of the post-World War II Constitution of...
.
Hitler also mentioned the Urals in his recorded table talks
Hitler's Table Talk
Hitler's Table Talk is the title given to a series of wartime conversations and monologues delivered by Adolf Hitler, which were transcribed from 1941 to 1944...
several times; on one occasion he recounts how others questioned him if they were a sufficiently eastward boundary for the Germans to advance to. He confirmed this objective, but emphasized that the primary goal was to "eradicate Bolshevism", and that further military campaigns to ensure this would be carried out if necessary. He later stated that Joseph Stalin
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...
would be prepared to lose European Russia
European Russia
European Russia refers to the western areas of Russia that lie within Europe, comprising roughly 3,960,000 square kilometres , larger in area than India, and spanning across 40% of Europe. Its eastern border is defined by the Ural Mountains and in the south it is defined by the border with...
if he did not succeed at "solving its problems" and thereby "risked losing everything". He expressed his belief that it would be impossible for Stalin to retake Europe from Siberia
Siberia
Siberia is an extensive region constituting almost all of Northern Asia. Comprising the central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, it was part of the Soviet Union from its beginning, as its predecessor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire, conquered it during the 16th...
, comparing it to himself hypothetically retaking Germany if he were driven back to Slovakia
Slovakia
The Slovak Republic is a landlocked state in Central Europe. It has a population of over five million and an area of about . Slovakia is bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south...
, and that the German invasion of the Soviet Union
Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa was the code name for Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II that began on 22 June 1941. Over 4.5 million troops of the Axis powers invaded the USSR along a front., the largest invasion in the history of warfare...
which was then under way would "bring about the downfall
Societal collapse
Societal collapse broadly includes both quite abrupt societal failures typified by collapses , as well as more extended gradual declines of superpowers...
of the Soviet Empire
Soviet Empire
During the Cold War, the informal term "Soviet Empire" referred to the Soviet Union's influence over a number of smaller nations who were nominally independent but subject to direct military force if they tried to leave the Soviet system; see Hungarian Revolution of 1956 and Prague Spring.Though...
". In a discussion with the Danish Foreign Minister Scavenius
Erik Scavenius
Erik Julius Christian Scavenius was the Danish foreign minister 1909–1910, 1913–1920 and 1940–1943, and prime minister from 1942 to 1943. His cabinet resigned in 1943 and suspended operations...
on 2 November 1942, German Foreign Minister Ribbentrop stated that the Germans expected Asian Russia to eventually split up into several harmless "peasant republics" after Germany had occupied the country's European parts.
On 16 September 1941 Hitler mentioned to Otto Abetz
Otto Abetz
Dr. Heinrich Otto Abetz was the German ambassador to Vichy France during World War II.-Early years:Abetz was born in Schwetzingen on May 26, 1903. He was the son of an estate manager, who died when Otto was only 13...
, the German ambassador in Paris, that "the new Russia as far as the Urals" would become Germany's India
British Raj
British Raj was the British rule in the Indian subcontinent between 1858 and 1947; The term can also refer to the period of dominion...
, but that due to its geographic proximity to Germany was far more favourably located for the Germans than India was for Britain.
In the above-mentioned conference of 16 July 1941, it was codified as policy that in order to "secure the safety of the Reich
Reich
Reich is a German word cognate with the English rich, but also used to designate an empire, realm, or nation. The qualitative connotation from the German is " sovereign state." It is the word traditionally used for a variety of sovereign entities, including Germany in many periods of its history...
" no non-German military power would ever again be allowed west of the Urals (including non-Russian native militia
Militia
The term militia is commonly used today to refer to a military force composed of ordinary citizens to provide defense, emergency law enforcement, or paramilitary service, in times of emergency without being paid a regular salary or committed to a fixed term of service. It is a polyseme with...
s), even if it meant war for the next hundred years. Hitler's future successors were to be instructed of this, if necessary. This was to be done to prevent any western powers hostile to Germany from conspiring against it with its eastern neighbours in the future, like the French had supposedly done with the Turks
Franco-Ottoman alliance
The Franco-Ottoman alliance, also Franco-Turkish alliance, was an alliance established in 1536 between the king of France Francis I and the Turkish ruler of the Ottoman Empire Suleiman the Magnificent. The alliance has been called "the first non-ideological diplomatic alliance of its kind between a...
, and which the British were alleged to be doing with the Soviets
Anglo-Soviet Agreement
The Anglo-Soviet Agreement was a formal military alliance signed by the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union against Germany on July 12, 1941; shortly after the German invasion of the latter...
. No organized Russian state would also be allowed to exist west of this line, which Hitler clarified as actually meaning a line 200–300 km east of the mountains.
Heinrich Himmler
Heinrich Himmler
Heinrich Luitpold Himmler was Reichsführer of the SS, a military commander, and a leading member of the Nazi Party. As Chief of the German Police and the Minister of the Interior from 1943, Himmler oversaw all internal and external police and security forces, including the Gestapo...
went into some effect about how he envisaged the mountains during the 1943 Posen speeches. He stated that the "Germanic race" would have to gradually expand to this border so that in several generations time this "master race
Master race
Master race was a phrase and concept originating in the slave-holding Southern US. The later phrase Herrenvolk , interpreted as 'master race', was a concept in Nazi ideology in which the Nordic peoples, one of the branches of what in the late-19th and early-20th century was called the Aryan race,...
", as the leader of Europe, would again be ready to "resume the battles of destiny against Asia", which were "sure to break out again". He stated that Europe's defeat would mean "the destruction of the creative power of the earth".
The Urals were noted as a distant objective of Generalplan Ost
Generalplan Ost
Generalplan Ost was a secret Nazi German plan for the colonization of Eastern Europe. Implementing it would have necessitated genocide and ethnic cleansing to be undertaken in the Eastern European territories occupied by Germany during World War II...
, the overall Nazi colonization scheme of Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is the eastern part of Europe. The term has widely disparate geopolitical, geographical, cultural and socioeconomic readings, which makes it highly context-dependent and even volatile, and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...
.
The "Living Wall"
Hitler later rejected the mountains as an adequate border, calling it absurd that "these middle-sized mountains" represented the boundary between the "European and Asiatic worlds", stating that one might as well accord that title to one of the large Russian rivers. He explained that only a "living [racial] wall" of Aryan fighters would do as a frontier, and to keep a permanent state of warPerpetual war
Perpetual war refers to a lasting state of war with no clear ending conditions. It also describes a situation of ongoing tension that seems likely to escalate at any moment, similar to the Cold War.-In past history:...
present in the east in order to "preserve the vitality of the race".
The theme of a "living wall" was used by Hitler as early as Mein Kampf
Mein Kampf
Mein Kampf is a book written by Nazi leader Adolf Hitler. It combines elements of autobiography with an exposition of Hitler's political ideology. Volume 1 of Mein Kampf was published in 1925 and Volume 2 in 1926...
(published 1925-1926). In it he presented the future German state under National Socialist
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
rule as a "father's house" (Vatershaus), a safe place which would keep in the "right human elements", and keep out those which were undesirable. This metaphorical building was to have solid and supportive foundations (Fundamente) and walls (Mauern), and could only be protected by a living wall (lebendige Mauer) of patriotic and fanatically devoted
Führerprinzip
The Führerprinzip , German for "leader principle", prescribes the fundamental basis of political authority in the governmental structures of the Third Reich...
German people.
The idea became more prominent in Hitler's mind as the war went on. On 10 December 1942 (as the Battle of Stalingrad
Battle of Stalingrad
The Battle of Stalingrad was a major battle of World War II in which Nazi Germany and its allies fought the Soviet Union for control of the city of Stalingrad in southwestern Russia. The battle took place between 23 August 1942 and 2 February 1943...
was turning unfavourably against the Germans) he told Anton Mussert
Anton Mussert
Anton Adriaan Mussert was one of the founders of the National Socialist Movement in the Netherlands and its de jure leader. As such, he was the most prominent national socialist in the Netherlands before and during the Second World War...
, a Dutch Nazi
National Socialist Movement in the Netherlands
The National Socialist Movement in the Netherlands was a Dutch fascist and later national socialist political party. As a parliamentary party participating in legislative elections, the NSB had some success during the 1930s...
collaborator, that the "Asiatic waves were threatening to overrun Europe and exterminate the higher races", and that this threat could only be countered by wall-building and long-term fighting. On 20 April 1943 (Hitler's birthday) he had a discussion with Albert Speer
Albert Speer
Albert Speer, born Berthold Konrad Hermann Albert Speer, was a German architect who was, for a part of World War II, Minister of Armaments and War Production for the Third Reich. Speer was Adolf Hitler's chief architect before assuming ministerial office...
and Karl-Otto Saur on a design he had personally drawn for a six-person bunker that was to be used in the Atlantic Wall
Atlantic Wall
The Atlantic Wall was an extensive system of coastal fortifications built by Nazi Germany between 1942 and 1944 along the western coast of Europe as a defense against an anticipated Allied invasion of the mainland continent from Great Britain.-History:On March 23, 1942 Führer Directive Number 40...
, featuring machine gun
Machine gun
A machine gun is a fully automatic mounted or portable firearm, usually designed to fire rounds in quick succession from an ammunition belt or large-capacity magazine, typically at a rate of several hundred rounds per minute....
s, an anti-tank gun, and flame throwers. He indicated that this design was also to be used for defence purposes at Germany's "ultimate eastern border deep within Russia".
Related plans
Various German agencies assumed a number of different boundaries in the east.The administrative planning carried out by Alfred Rosenberg
Alfred Rosenberg
' was an early and intellectually influential member of the Nazi Party. Rosenberg was first introduced to Adolf Hitler by Dietrich Eckart; he later held several important posts in the Nazi government...
from April to June 1941 in his capacity as Plenipotentiary for the Central Treatment of Questions of the Eastern European Space (basis of the future Reich Ministry for the Occupied Eastern Territories
Reich Ministry for the Occupied Eastern Territories
The Reich Ministry for the Occupied Eastern Territories was created by Adolf Hitler on July 1941 and headed by the Nazi theoretical expert and Baltic German, Alfred Rosenberg. Alfred Meyer was Rosenberg's deputy. This ministry was created to control the vast areas captured by the Germans in...
) for the territories that were to be conquered in the Soviet Union based the envisaged civil districts of the
Reichskommissariat
Reichskommissariat
Reichskommissariat is the German designation for a type of administrative office headed by a government official known as a Reichskommissar...
e to a large extent on the borders of the pre-existing Soviet oblasts and autonomous republics
Autonomous republics of the Soviet Union
Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republics of the Soviet Union were administrative units created for certain nations. The ASSRs had a status lower than the union republics of the Soviet Union, but higher than the autonomous oblasts and the autonomous okrugs....
, particularely in Reichskommissariat Moskowien. This included even territory to the east of the mountains, such as the Sverdlovsk
Sverdlovsk
Sverdlovsk is a city in Luhansk Oblast of south-eastern Ukraine. Serving as the administrative center of Sverdlovskyi Raion , the city itself is also designated as a separate raion within the oblast, and is located approximately 80 km from the oblast capital, Luhansk.The current estimated...
(Yekaterinenburg) region.
The German Wehrmacht
Wehrmacht
The Wehrmacht – from , to defend and , the might/power) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the Heer , the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe .-Origin and use of the term:...
assumed an eastern boundary at the A-A line
A-A line
The Arkhangelsk-Astrakhan line, or A-A line for short, was the military goal of Operation Barbarossa. It is also known as the Volga-Arkhangelsk line, as well as the Volga-Arkhangelsk-Astrakhan line...
(a limit along the Volga river
Volga River
The Volga is the largest river in Europe in terms of length, discharge, and watershed. It flows through central Russia, and is widely viewed as the national river of Russia. Out of the twenty largest cities of Russia, eleven, including the capital Moscow, are situated in the Volga's drainage...
between the cities of Archangelsk and Astrakhan
Astrakhan
Astrakhan is a major city in southern European Russia and the administrative center of Astrakhan Oblast. The city lies on the left bank of the Volga River, close to where it discharges into the Caspian Sea at an altitude of below the sea level. Population:...
), which was the military objective of Operation Barbarossa.
A later treaty with the Japanese
Axis power negotiations on the division of Asia during World War II
As the Axis powers of Germany, Italy, and Japan cemented their joint military alliance by mutually declaring war against the United States by December 11, 1941, the Japanese proposed a clear territorial arrangement with the two main European Axis powers concerning the Asian continent...
allocated all of Afro-Eurasia
Afro-Eurasia
Afro-Eurasia or less commonly Afrasia or Eurafrasia is the term used to describe the largest landmass on earth. It may be defined as a supercontinent, consisting of Africa and Eurasia...
west of the 70th meridian east
70th meridian east
The meridian 70° east of Greenwich is a line of longitude that extends from the North Pole across the Arctic Ocean, Asia, the Indian Ocean, the Southern Ocean, and Antarctica to the South Pole....
to the Germans and Italians
Fascist Italy
"Fascist Italy" refers to Italy under the rule of Benito Mussolini and Italian Fascism. The Fascists led two polities:*The Kingdom of Italy , under the National Fascist Party, and,...
in the case of a total Soviet collapse.
See also
- A-A lineA-A lineThe Arkhangelsk-Astrakhan line, or A-A line for short, was the military goal of Operation Barbarossa. It is also known as the Volga-Arkhangelsk line, as well as the Volga-Arkhangelsk-Astrakhan line...
- Axis power negotiations on the division of Asia during World War IIAxis power negotiations on the division of Asia during World War IIAs the Axis powers of Germany, Italy, and Japan cemented their joint military alliance by mutually declaring war against the United States by December 11, 1941, the Japanese proposed a clear territorial arrangement with the two main European Axis powers concerning the Asian continent...
- East Wall (defensive line)East Wall (defensive line)The East Wall was a German defensive line on the Eastern Front of World War II, built after the battle of Kursk. While it appeared that in ordering the East Wall Adolf Hitler had accepted a general retreat on the Eastern Front as inevitable, subsequent decisions revealed that he actually intended...
- Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity SphereGreater East Asia Co-Prosperity SphereThe Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere was a concept created and promulgated during the Shōwa era by the government and military of the Empire of Japan. It represented the desire to create a self-sufficient "bloc of Asian nations led by the Japanese and free of Western powers"...
- LebensraumLebensraumwas one of the major political ideas of Adolf Hitler, and an important component of Nazi ideology. It served as the motivation for the expansionist policies of Nazi Germany, aiming to provide extra space for the growth of the German population, for a Greater Germany...
- Ural bomberUral bomberThe Ural bomber was a program to develop a long-range bomber for the Luftwaffe, created and led by General Walther Wever in the early 1930s. Wever died in an air crash in 1936 and the program ended almost immediately...
, a mid-to-late 1930s design competition for a Luftwaffe strategic bomber with the Urals as its maximum range.