View source for Greater Germanic Reich

{{Short description|State that Nazi Germany tried to establish}}
{{About|the conceptual entity that the Nazis planned to establish during World War II|the historically existent "Greater German Reich"|Nazi Germany}}
{{see also|Pan-Germanism}}
[[File:Greater Germanic Reich.png|thumb|300px|Boundaries of the planned "Greater Germanic Reich" – including possible puppet states and protectorates – based on various, only partially systematized target projections (e.g. [[Generalplan Ost]]) from [[Nazi Germany|state administration]] and [[Schutzstaffel|SS]] leadership sources<ref>{{cite web |title=Utopia: The 'Greater Germanic Reich of the German Nation' |url=https://www.obersalzberg.de/en/exhibition/zweiter-weltkrieg/occupied-europe/utopie-grossgermanisches-reich/ |publisher=[[Institut für Zeitgeschichte]] |location=München – Berlin |year=1999 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210521204954/https://www.obersalzberg.de/en/exhibition/zweiter-weltkrieg/occupied-europe/utopie-grossgermanisches-reich/ |archive-date=21 May 2021 |url-status=dead}}</ref>]]
The '''Greater Germanic Reich''' ({{langx|de|Großgermanisches Reich}}), fully styled the '''Greater Germanic Reich of the German Nation''' ({{langx|de| Großgermanisches Reich der Deutschen Nation}}),<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Cowie |first=Stuart |title=To what extent was the outbreak of World War Two, a consequence of failures in British Foreign Policy? |url=https://www.academia.edu/11122135/To_what_extent_was_the_outbreak_of_World_War_Two_a_consequence_of_failures_in_British_Foreign_Policy |journal=Academia.edu}}</ref> was the official state name of the political entity that [[Nazi Germany]] tried to establish in Europe during [[World War II]].<ref name="elvert1">Elvert 1999, p. 325.</ref> The territorial claims for the Greater Germanic Reich fluctuated over time. As early as the autumn of 1933, [[Adolf Hitler]] envisioned annexing such territories as [[Bohemia]], western [[Second Polish Republic|Poland]], and [[Federal State of Austria|Austria]] to Germany and the formation of [[Satellite state|satellite]] or [[puppet state]]s without independent economies or policies of their own.<ref>{{cite book|first= Diemut|last= Majer|title= "Non-Germans" under the Third Reich: the Nazi judicial and administrative system in Germany and occupied Eastern Europe with special regard to occupied Poland, 1939–1945|publisher= JHU Press|year= 2003|isbn= 0-8018-6493-3|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=w-IQu7nWQwQC&q=poland+mitteleuropa&pg=PA188|pages=188–189}}.</ref>
This [[Pan-Germanism|pan-Germanic]] Empire was expected to [[Annexation|assimilate]] practically all of [[Germanic-speaking Europe|Germanic Europe]] into an enormously expanded [[Reich]]. Territorially speaking, this encompassed the already-enlarged [[German Reich]] itself (consisting of pre-1938 Germany proper, [[Austria]], [[Bohemia]], [[Moravia]], [[Czech Silesia]], [[Alsace-Lorraine]], [[Eupen-Malmedy]], [[Klaipėda Region|Memel]], [[Lower Styria]], [[Upper Carniola]], [[Carinthia (Slovenia)|Southern Carinthia]], [[Free City of Danzig|Danzig]], and [[Second Polish Republic|Poland]]), the [[Netherlands]], the [[Flanders|Flemish]] part of [[Belgium]], [[Luxembourg]], [[Denmark]], [[Norway]], [[Sweden]], [[Iceland]], [[Liechtenstein]], and at least the [[German-speaking Switzerland|German-speaking]] parts of [[Switzerland]].<ref name="Rich401402">Rich 1974, pp. 401–402.</ref>
The most notable Germanic-speaking exception would have been the [[United Kingdom]]: the [[New Order (Nazism)|Nazis' New Order]] envisaged the role of Britain not as a German province but instead as a German-allied seafaring partner.<ref>Strobl 2000, pp. 202–208.</ref> Another exception was the German-populated territory in [[South Tyrol]], an area which Germany assigned to its fellow-[[Axis power]], [[Fascist Italy]], in 1939. Aside from Germanic Europe, the Reich's western frontiers with France were to revert to those of the earlier [[Holy Roman Empire]], which would have meant the complete German annexation of all of [[Wallonia]], [[Romandy|French Switzerland]], and large areas of northern and eastern France.<ref name="Williams 2005, p. 209">Williams 2005, p. 209.</ref> Additionally, the policy of ''[[Lebensraum]]'' required mass expansion of Germany and the settlement of Germans eastwards as far as the [[Ural Mountains in Nazi planning|Ural Mountains]] (seizing territory from the [[Baltic states]] and the [[Soviet Union]] in the process).<ref>André Mineau. Operation Barbarossa: Ideology and Ethics Against Human Dignity. Rodopi, 2004. p. 36.</ref><ref>[[Rolf Dieter Müller]], [[Gerd R. Ueberschär]]. ''[[Hitler's War in the East, 1941–1945]]: A Critical Assessment''. Berghahn Books, 2009. p. 89.</ref> Hitler originally planned for the deportation of any [[Hunger Plan|"surplus" Russian population]] living west of the [[Ural Mountains|Urals]] to resettlement east of the Urals in [[Siberia]].<ref>
Bradl Lightbody. ''The Second World War: Ambitions to Nemesis''. London; New York: Routledge, 2004. p. 97.</ref>
==Ideological background==
===Racial theories===
{{Nazism sidebar}}
{{Further|Master race}}
[[Nazi racial ideology]] regarded the [[Germanic peoples]] of Europe as belonging to a [[Racial supremacism|racially superior]] [[Nordic theory|Nordic]] subset of the larger [[Aryan race]], who were regarded as the only true culture-bearers of civilized society.<ref name="Bohn">Bohn 1997, p. 7.</ref> These peoples were viewed as either "true Germanic peoples" that had "lost their sense of racial pride", or as close racial relatives of the Germans.<ref name="wright2">Wright 1968, p. 115.</ref> German Chancellor [[Adolf Hitler]] also believed that the [[Ancient Greeks]] and [[Ancient Rome|Romans]] were the racial ancestors of the Germans, and the first torchbearers of "Nordic{{Ndash}}Greek" art and culture.<ref>Hitler 2000, p. 225.</ref><ref>Housden 2000, p. 163.</ref> He particularly expressed [[Laconophilia#Nazi Laconophilia|his admiration]] for [[Ancient Sparta]], declaring it to have been the purest racial state:<ref>Grafton et al 2010, p. 363.</ref>
{{blockquote|"The subjugation of 350,000 [[Helots]] by 6,000 Spartans was only possible because of the racial superiority of the Spartans." The Spartans had created "the first racialist state."<ref name="un.org">[https://www.un.org/holocaustremembrance/docs/paper3.shtml ''Hitler, Pol Pot, and Hutu Power: Distinguishing Themes of Genocidal Ideology''] Professor Ben Kiernan, Holocaust and the United Nations Discussion Paper</ref>}}
Furthermore, Hitler's concept of "Germanic" did not simply refer to an [[Ethnicity|ethnic]], [[Culture|cultural]], or [[linguistic group]], but also to a distinctly [[Scientific racism|biological one]], the superior "Germanic blood" that he wanted to salvage from the control of the enemies of the Aryan race. He stated that Germany possessed more of these "Germanic elements" than any other country in the world, which he estimated as "four fifths of our people".<ref>Hitler 2000, p. 307.</ref>
{{blockquote|Wherever Germanic blood is to be found anywhere in the world, we will take what is good for ourselves. With what the others have left, they will be unable to oppose the Germanic Empire.|author=Adolf Hitler|<ref name="fest685">Fest 1973, p. 685.</ref>}}
According to the Nazis, in addition to the Germanic peoples, individuals of seemingly non-Germanic nationality such as [[French people|French]], [[Polish people|Polish]], [[Walloons|Walloon]], [[Czech people|Czech]] and so on might actually possess valuable Germanic blood, especially if they were of [[Aristocracy|aristocratic]] or [[peasant]] stock.<ref name="fest685"/> In order to "recover" these "missing" Germanic elements, they had to be made conscious of their Germanic ancestry through the process of [[Germanization]] (the term used by the Nazis for this process was ''[[Umvolkung]]'', "restoration to the race").<ref name="fest685"/> If the "recovery" was impossible, these individuals had to be destroyed to deny the enemy of using their superior blood against the Aryan race.<ref name="fest685"/> An example of this type of Nazi Germanization is the [[Kidnapping of children for forced Germanization by Nazi Germany|kidnapping of "racially valuable" Eastern European children]]. Curiously, those chosen for Germanization who rejected the Nazis were viewed as being racially more suitable than those who went along without objections, as according to Himmler "it was in the nature of German blood to resist".<ref>[[Robert Cecil (British diplomat)|Robert Cecil]], ''The Myth of the Master Race: Alfred Rosenberg and Nazi Ideology'' p. 199. {{ISBN|0-396-06577-5}}</ref>
On the very first page of ''[[Mein Kampf]]'', Hitler openly declared his belief that "common blood belongs in a common Reich", elucidating the notion that the innate quality of [[race (classification of humans)|race]] (as the Nazi movement perceived it) should hold precedence over "artificial" concepts such as [[Nationalism|national identity]] (including regional German identities such as [[Prussia]]n and [[Bavaria]]n) as the deciding factor for which people were "worthy" of being assimilated into a Greater German [[Racialism (Racial categorization)|racial state]] (''Ein [[Volk]], Ein [[Reich]], Ein [[Führer]]'').<ref>Hitler 1927, p. 1.</ref> Part of the strategic methods which Hitler chose to ensure the present and future supremacy of the Aryan race (which was, according to Hitler, "gradually approaching extinction"<ref name="Fest 1973, p. 210">Fest 1973, p. 210.</ref>) was to do away with what he described as the "small state rubbish" (''Kleinstaatengerümpel'', compare ''[[Kleinstaaterei]]'') in Europe in order to unite all these Nordic countries into one unified racial community.<ref>Fink 1985, pp. 27, 152.</ref> From 1921 onward he advocated the creation of a "Germanic Reich of the German Nation".<ref name="elvert1"/>
{{blockquote|It was [[Continental Europe|the continent]] which brought civilization to Great Britain and in turn enabled her to colonize large areas in the rest of the world. America is unthinkable without Europe. Why would we not have the necessary power to become one of the world's centres of attraction? A hundred-and-twenty million people of Germanic origin&nbsp;– if they have consolidated their position this will be a power against which no-one in the world could stand up to. The countries which form the Germanic world have only to gain from this. I can see that in my own case. My [[Austria|birth country]] is one of the most beautiful regions in the Reich, but what could it do if were left to its own devices? There is no possibility to develop one’s talents in countries like Austria or [[Saxony]], Denmark or Switzerland. There is no foundation. That is why it is fortunate that potential new spaces are again opened for the Germanic peoples.|Adolf Hitler|1942.<ref name="Table"/>}}
===Name===
{{Further|Reich}}
The chosen name for the projected empire was a deliberate reference to the [[Holy Roman Empire]] (of the German Nation) that existed in [[Middle Ages|medieval]] times, known as the ''First Reich'' in Nazi historiography.<ref name="hattstein">Hattstein 2006, p. 321.</ref> Different aspects of the legacy of this medieval empire in German history were both celebrated and derided by the government of Nazi Germany. Hitler admired the [[Frankish Empire|Frankish Emperor]] [[Charlemagne]] for his "cultural creativity", his powers of organization, and his renunciation of the [[Individual liberty|rights of the individual]].<ref name="hattstein"/> He criticized the Holy Roman Emperors however for not pursuing an ''Ostpolitik'' ([[Drang Nach Osten|Eastern Policy]]) resembling his own, while being politically focused exclusively on [[Italy|the south]].<ref name="hattstein"/> After the ''Anschluss'', Hitler ordered the old [[Austrian Crown Jewels#The Holy Roman Empire|imperial regalia]] (the [[Imperial Crown of the Holy Roman Empire|Imperial Crown]], [[Imperial Sword]], [[Spear of Destiny#Vienna Lance .28Hofburg spear.29|the Holy Lance]] and other items) residing in [[Vienna]] to be transferred to [[Nuremberg]], where they were kept between 1424 and 1796.<ref>{{cite book | last1 = Hamann | first1 = Brigitte | author-link1 = Brigitte Hamann | title = Hitler's Vienna: A Dictator's Apprenticeship | publisher = Oxford University Press | location = New York | year = 1999 | others = Trans. Thomas Thornton | isbn = 978-0-19-512537-5 | url = https://archive.org/details/hitlersviennadic00hama }}</ref> Nuremberg, in addition to being the former unofficial capital of the Holy Roman Empire, was also the place of the [[Nuremberg rallies]]. The transfer of the regalia was thus done to both legitimize Hitler's Germany as the successor of the "Old Reich", but also weaken Vienna, the former imperial residence.<ref>Haman 1999, p. 110</ref>
After the [[German occupation of Czechoslovakia|1939 German occupation of Bohemia]], Hitler declared that the Holy Roman Empire had been "resurrected", although he secretly maintained his own empire to be better than the old "Roman" one.<ref name="brockmann">Brockmann 2006, p. 179.</ref> Unlike the "uncomfortably [[Multinational state|internationalist]] Catholic empire of [[Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor|Barbarossa]]", the Germanic Reich of the German Nation would be [[racist]] and [[nationalist]].<ref name="brockmann"/> Rather than a return to the values of the Middle Ages, its establishment was to be "[[Progress (history)|a push forward]] to a new [[Golden age (metaphor)|golden age]], in which the best aspects of the past would be combined with modern racist and nationalist thinking".<ref name="brockmann"/>
The historical borders of the Holy Empire were also used as grounds for territorial revisionism by the NSDAP, laying claim to modern territories and states that were once part of it. Even before the war, Hitler had dreamed of reversing the [[Peace of Westphalia]], which had given the territories of the Empire almost complete sovereignty.<ref name="winkler"/> On November 17, 1939, [[Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda|Reich Minister of Propaganda]] [[Joseph Goebbels]] wrote in [[Goebbels Diaries|his diary]] that the "total liquidation" of this historic treaty was the "great goal" of the Nazi regime,<ref name="winkler"/> and that since it had been signed in [[Münster]], it would also be officially repealed in the same city.<ref>Goebbels, p. 51.</ref>
===Pan-Germanism versus Pan-Germanicism===
{{Further|Pan-Germanism}}
Despite intending to grant the other "Germanics" of Europe a racially superior status alongside the [[Germans]] themselves in an anticipated post-war racio-political order, the Nazis did not however consider granting the subject populations of these countries any national rights of their own.<ref name="Bohn"/> The other Germanic countries were seen as mere extensions of Germany rather than individual units in any way,<ref name="Bohn"/> and the Germans were unequivocally intended to remain the empire's "most powerful source of strength, from both an ideological as well as military standpoint".<ref name="Table">Hitler 2000, p. 306.</ref> Even [[Heinrich Himmler]], who among the senior Nazis most staunchly supported the concept, could not shake off the idea of a hierarchical distinction between German ''[[Volk]]'' and Germanic ''Völker''.<ref name="wright1">Wright 1968, pp. 141–142.</ref> The [[Schutzstaffel|SS]]'s official newspaper, ''[[Das Schwarze Korps]]'', never succeeded in reconciling the contradiction between Germanic 'brotherhood' and German superiority.<ref name="wright1"/> Members of Nazi-type parties in Germanic countries were also forbidden to attend public meetings of the [[Nazi Party]] when they visited Germany. After the [[Battle of Stalingrad]] this ban was lifted, but only if the attendees made prior notice of their arrival so that the events' speakers could be warned in advance not to make disparaging remarks about their country of origin.<ref>Rothwell 2005, p. 31.</ref>
Although Hitler himself and Himmler's SS advocated for a pan-Germanic Empire, the objective was not universally held in the Nazi regime.<ref name="lipgens">Lipgens 1985, p. 41.</ref>
===Germanic mysticism===
{{Further|Religious aspects of Nazism}}
There were also disagreements within the NSDAP leadership on the spiritual implications of cultivating a 'Germanic history' in their ideological program. Hitler was highly critical of Himmler's [[esoteric]] [[Völkisch movement|völkisch]] interpretation of the 'Germanic mission'. When Himmler denounced [[Charlemagne]] in a speech as "the butcher of the [[Saxons]]", Hitler stated that this was not a 'historical crime' but in fact a good thing, for the subjugation of [[Widukind]] had brought [[Western culture]] into what eventually became [[Germany]], however he criticised the religious policies that came with it, claiming that even Islam would have been better than Christianity due to its meekness.<ref name="speer2">Speer 1970, pp. 147–148.</ref> He also disapproved of the [[archaeological]] projects which Himmler organized through his [[Ahnenerbe]] organization, such as excavations of pre-historic Germanic sites: "Why do we call the whole world's attention to the fact that we have no past?",<ref name="speer2"/> in reference to Germany's lack of urban civilisation historically.
In an attempt to eventually supplant [[Christianity]] with a religion more amenable to [[Nazi racial theories]], Himmler, together with [[Alfred Rosenberg]], sought to replace it with [[Germanic paganism]] (the indigenous traditional religion or ''Volksreligion'' of the Germanic peoples), of which the Japanese [[Shinto]] was seen as an almost perfect East Asian counterpart.<ref name="dom1">Domarus 2007, p. 158.</ref> For this purpose they had ordered the construction of sites for the worship of Germanic cults in order to exchange [[Christian sacraments|Christian rituals]] for Germanic [[consecration]] ceremonies, which included different marriage and [[burial]] rites.<ref name="dom1"/> In Heinrich Heims' ''Adolf Hitler, Monologe im FHQ 1941–1944'' (several editions, here Orbis Verlag, 2000), Hitler is quoted as having said on 14 October 1941: "It seems to be inexpressibly stupid to allow a revival of the cult of Odin/Wotan. Our old mythology of the gods was defunct, and incapable of revival, when Christianity came...the whole world of antiquity either followed [[Ancient philosophy|philosophical systems]] on the one hand, or [[Paganism|worshipped the gods]]. But in modern times it is undesirable that all humanity should make such a fool of itself." This was in reference to bringing Germans back to idol worship in what Hitler saw as an era of science that would reject it.{{citation needed|date=May 2021}}
==Establishment strategy==
The goal was first proclaimed publicly in the 1937 [[Nuremberg Rallies]].<ref name="speer1">Speer 1970, pp. 115–116.</ref> Hitler's last speech at this event ended with the words "The German nation has after all acquired its Germanic Reich", which elicited speculation in political circles of a 'new era' in Germany's [[foreign policy]].<ref name="speer1"/> Several days before the event Hitler took [[Albert Speer]] aside when both were on their way to the former's Munich apartment with an entourage, and declared to him that "We will create a great empire. All the Germanic peoples will be included in it. It will begin in Norway and extend to [[northern Italy]].<ref group="nb">This passage should in all likelihood be interpreted to mean "extending ''up to'' northern Italy", not that it would also include this region. There is no convincing evidence that Hitler intended to include any Italian provinces in the German state before 1943, including [[South Tyrol]].</ref><ref>Rich 1974, p. 318.</ref> I myself must carry this out. If only I keep [[Adolf Hitler's health|my health]]!"<ref name="speer1"/> On April 9, 1940, as Germany invaded Denmark and Norway in [[Operation Weserübung]], Hitler announced the establishment of the Germanic Reich: "Just as the Bismarck Empire arose from the year 1866, so too will the Greater Germanic Empire arise from this day."<ref name="winkler">Sager & Winkler 2007, p. 74.</ref>
{{quote box
| title = |"[[Germany]] decides [its future goal] to adopt a clear, farsighted policy of space. It thus turns away from all international industrial and international trade policy attempts and instead concentrates all of its strength on marking out a way of life for our people through the allocation of adequate ''[[Lebensraum]]'' for the next one hundred years. Because this space can lie only in the East, the obligation of a naval power takes a back seat. Germany again attempts to fight for its interests by forming a decisive power on land. This goal corresponds equally to the highest national and ethnic requirements."
| author = — [[Adolf Hitler]] describing his agenda of German expansionism
| source = ''[[Hitlers Zweites Buch]]'' p.159<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hitler |first=Adolf |title=Hitler's Second Book |publisher=Enigma Books |year=2006 |isbn=978-1-929631-61-2 |editor-last=L. Weinberg |editor-first=Gerhard |edition=1st English-language |volume= |location=New York, USA |pages=159 |language=German |translator-last=Smith |translator-first=Krista |chapter=13: The Possible Goals}}</ref>
| align = right
| width = 25em
}}
The establishment of the empire was to follow the model of the [[Austria]]n ''[[Anschluss]]'' of 1938, just carried out on a greater scale.<ref name="welch">Welch 1983, p. 145.</ref> Goebbels emphasized in April 1940 that the annexed Germanic countries would have to undergo a similar "national revolution" as Germany herself did after the ''[[Machtergreifung]]'', with an enforced rapid social and political "co-ordination" in accordance with Nazi principles and ideology (''[[Gleichschaltung]]'').<ref name="welch"/>
The ultimate goal of the ''Gleichschaltung'' policy pursued in these parts of occupied Europe was to destroy the very concepts of individual states and nationalities, just as the concept of a separate Austrian state and [[Austrians|national identity]] was repressed after the ''Anschluss'' through the establishment of [[Ostmark (Austria)|new state and party districts]].<ref>Rich 1974, pp. 24–25, 140.</ref> The new empire was to no longer be a [[nation-state]] of the type that had emerged in the 19th century, but instead a "racially pure community".<ref name="winkler"/> It is for this reason that the German occupiers had no interest in transferring real power to the various far-right [[nationalist]] movements present in the occupied countries (such as [[Nasjonal Samling]], the [[National Socialist Movement in the Netherlands|NSB]], etc.) except for temporary reasons of ''[[Realpolitik]]'', and instead actively supported radical [[Collaboration during World War II|collaborators]] who favored pan-Germanic unity (i.e. total integration to Germany) over [[Provincialism|provincial]] nationalism (for example [[DeVlag]]).<ref name="warmbrunn">See e.g. Warmbrunn 1963, pp. 91–93.</ref> Unlike Austria and the [[Sudetenland]] however, the process was to take considerably longer.<ref>Rich 1974, p. 140.</ref> Eventually these nationalities were to be merged with the Germans into a single ruling race, but Hitler stated that this prospect lay "a hundred or so years" in the future. During this interim period it was intended that the 'New Europe' would be run by Germans alone.<ref name="wright1"/> According to Speer, while Himmler intended to eventually [[Germanization|Germanize]] these peoples completely, Hitler intended not to "infringe on their individuality" (that is, [[Germanic languages|their native languages]]), so that in the future they would "add to the diversity and dynamism" of his empire.<ref name="speer3">Speer 1976, p. 47.</ref> The [[German language]] would be its [[lingua franca]] however, likening it to the status of English in the [[Commonwealth of Nations|British Commonwealth]].<ref name="speer3"/>
A primary agent used in stifling the local extreme nationalist elements was the [[Germanic SS]], which initially merely consisted of local respective branches of the ''[[Allgemeine-SS]]'' in [[Belgium]], [[Netherlands]] and [[Norway]].<ref name="bramstedt">Bramstedt 2003, pp. 92–93.</ref> These groups were at first under the authority of their respective pro-Nazi national commanders ([[Staf De Clercq|De Clercq]], [[Anton Mussert|Mussert]] and [[Vidkun Quisling|Quisling]]), and were intended to function within their own national territories only.<ref name="bramstedt"/> During the course of 1942, however, the Germanic SS was further transformed into a tool used by Himmler against the influence of the less extreme collaborating parties and their [[Sturmabteilung|SA]]-style organizations, such as the ''[[Hird (Nazi)|Hird]]'' in Norway and the ''Weerbaarheidsafdeling'' in the Netherlands.<ref name="bramstedt"/><ref name="kroener">Kroener, Müller & Umbreit 2003, pp. 122–123.</ref> In the post-war Germanic Empire, these men were to form the new leadership cadre of their respective national territories.<ref name="morgan">Morgan 2003, p. 182.</ref> To emphasize their pan-Germanic ideology, the ''Norges SS'' was now renamed the ''Germanske SS Norge'', the ''Nederlandsche SS'' the ''[[Germaansche SS in Nederland]]'' and the ''Algemeene-SS Vlaanderen'' the ''[[Germaansche SS in Vlaanderen]]''. The men of these groups no longer swore allegiance to their respective national leaders, but to the ''germanischer Führer'' ("Germanic [[Führer]]"), Adolf Hitler:<ref name="bramstedt"/><ref name="kroener"/>
{{blockquote|I swear to you, Adolf Hitler, as Germanic Führer, loyalty and bravery. I pledge you and the superiors which you appointed obedience until death. So help me God.<ref name="jong1">De Jong 1974, p. 181.</ref>}}
[[File:P_20221107_205156_vHDR_Auto_(1).jpg|thumb|An illustration of Greater Germanic Reich suggested by Nazi authorities in the propaganda map "''Das Grossdeutschland in der Zukunft''" (1943). The map depicts occupied [[Eastern Europe]] as a [[colony]] of Nordic-Germanic settlers.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Kartenskizze eines zukünftigen Europa unter deutscher Herrschaft |trans-title=Sketch map of a future Europe under German rule |url=https://www.dhm.de/lemo/bestand/objekt/d2a24325 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170614003327/https://www.dhm.de/lemo/bestand/objekt/d2a24325 |archive-date=14 June 2017 |website=Deutsches Historisches Museum}}</ref>]]
This title was assumed by Hitler on 23 June 1941, at the suggestion of Himmler.<ref name="jong1"/> On 12 December 1941 the Dutch right-wing nationalist [[Anton Mussert]] also addressed him in this fashion when he proclaimed his allegiance to Hitler during a visit to the [[Reich Chancellery]] in Berlin.<ref name="jong2">De Jong 1974, pp. 199–200.</ref> He had wanted to address Hitler as ''Führer aller Germanen'' ("Führer of all Germanics"), but Hitler personally decreed the former style.<ref name="jong1"/> Historian [[Loe de Jong]] speculates on the difference between the two: ''Führer aller Germanen'' implied a position separate from Hitler's role as ''Führer und Reichskanzler des Grossdeutschen Reiches'' ("Führer and [[Chancellor of Germany|Reich Chancellor]] of the Greater German Reich"), while ''germanischer Führer'' served more as an attribute of that main function.<ref name="jong2"/> As late as 1944 occasional propaganda publications continued to refer to him by this unofficial title as well however.<ref>[http://www.hasufali.nl/titel-a/adolf.htm ''Adolf Hitler: Führer aller Germanen''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181019101413/https://www.hasufali.nl/titel-a/adolf.htm |date=2018-10-19 }}. Storm, 1944.</ref> Mussert held that Hitler was predestined to become the Führer of Germanics because of his congruous personal history: Hitler originally was an Austrian national, who enlisted in the [[Bavarian army]] and lost his Austrian citizenship. He thus remained [[Statelessness|stateless]] for seven years, during which, according to Mussert, he was "the Germanic leader and nothing else".<ref>Lipgens 1985, p. 101</ref>
The [[Swastika flag|Swastika Flag]] was to be used as a symbol to represent not only the [[Nazi Party]], but also the unity of the Nordic-Germanic peoples into a single state.<ref name="Rich4">Rich 1974, p. 26.</ref> The [[swastika]] was seen by many Nazis as a fundamentally Germanic and European symbol despite its presence among many cultures worldwide.
Hitler had long intended to [[Welthauptstadt Germania|architecturally reconstruct]] the German capital [[Berlin]] into a new imperial metropolis, which he decided in 1942 to rename ''Germania'' upon its scheduled completion in 1950. The name was specifically chosen to make it the clear central point of the envisioned Germanic empire, and to re-enforce the notion of a united Germanic-Nordic state upon the Germanic peoples of Europe.<ref name="Hitler 400">Hitler 2000, p. 400</ref>
{{blockquote|Just as the [[Bavaria]]ns and the [[Prussia]]ns had to be impressed by [[Otto von Bismarck|Bismarck]] of the [[Unification of Germany|German idea]], so too must the [[Germanic peoples]] of continental Europe be steered towards the Germanic concept. He [Hitler] even considers it good that by renaming the Reich capital Berlin into 'Germania', we'll have given considerable driving force to this task. The name Germania for the Reich capital would be very appropriate, for in spite of how far removed those belonging to the Germanic racial core will be, this capital will instill a sense of unity.|Adolf Hitler|<ref>Hillgruber & Picker, p. 182.</ref>}}
==Policies undertaken in Germanic countries==
===Low Countries===
{{Further|Reichskommissariat Niederlande|Military Administration in Belgium and Northern France|German occupation of Luxembourg in World War II}}
{{quote box|align=right|width=30%|border=3px|fontsize=100%|''For [Hitler] it is self-evident that Belgium and Flanders and Brabant will likewise be turned into German [provinces]. The Netherlands will also not be allowed to lead a politically independent life ... Whether the Dutch offer any resistance to this or not, is fairly irrelevant.''|''{{nb5}}&ndash; [[Joseph Goebbels]]''<ref>Unpublished fragment from [[Goebbels diaries|Joseph Goebbels' diaries]], located in the collection of the [[Hoover Institution|Hoover Institution on War, Revolution, and Peace]], Palo Alto, California</ref>}}
The German plans of annexation were more advanced for the [[Low Countries]] than for the [[Nordic States|Nordic states]]. [[Luxembourg]] and [[Belgium]] were both formally annexed into the German Reich during World War II, in 1942 and 1944 respectively, the latter as the new ''[[Reichsgau]]e'' of [[Reichsgau Flandern|Flandern]] and [[Reichsgau Wallonien|Wallonien]] (the proposed third one, [[Province of Brabant|Brabant]], was not implemented in this arrangement) and a [[District of Brussels|Brussels District]]. On April 5, 1942, while having dinner with an entourage including [[Heinrich Himmler]], Hitler declared his intention that the Low Countries would be included whole into the Reich, at which point the ''Greater German Reich'' would be reformed into the ''Germanic Reich'' (simply "the Reich" in common parlance) to signify this change.<ref name="Table"/>
In October 1940 Hitler disclosed to [[Benito Mussolini]] that he intended to leave the [[Netherlands]] semi-independent because he wanted that country to retain [[Dutch colonial empire|its overseas colonial empire]] after the war.<ref name="rich1">Rich 1974, p. 469, note 110.</ref> This factor was removed after the Japanese took over the [[Netherlands East Indies]], the primary component of that domain.<ref name="rich1"/> The resulting German plans for the Netherlands suggested its transformation into a ''[[Gau Westland]]'', which would eventually be further broken-up into five new ''[[Gaue]]'' or ''gewesten'' (historical Dutch term for a type of sub-national [[polity]]). [[Fritz Schmidt (Generalkommissar)|Fritz Schmidt]], a ranking German official in the occupied Netherlands who hoped to become the [[Gauleiter]] of this new province on Germany's western periphery stated that it could even be called ''Gau Holland'', as long as the [[Wilhelmus]] (the Dutch [[national anthem]]) and similar [[patriotic]] symbols were to be forbidden.<ref>De Jong 1969, Vol. 1, p. 97.</ref> [[Rotterdam]], which had actually been [[Rotterdam Blitz|largely destroyed]] in the course of the [[Battle of the Netherlands|1940 invasion]] was to be rebuilt as the most important port-city in the "Germanic area" due to its situation at the mouth of the [[Rhine river]].<ref name="Fest">Fest 1973, p. 689.</ref>
Himmler's personal masseur [[Felix Kersten]] claimed that the former even contemplated [[Forced resettlement|resettling]] the entire [[Dutch people|Dutch population]], some 8 million people in total at the time, to agricultural lands in the [[Vistula]] and [[Bug River]] valleys of [[Occupation of Poland (1939–1945)|German-occupied Poland]] as the most efficient way of facilitating their immediate Germanization.<ref>Waller 2002, p. 20.</ref> In this eventuality he is alleged to have further hoped to establish an ''SS Province of Holland'' in vacated Dutch territory, and to distribute all confiscated Dutch property and real estate among reliable SS-men.<ref>Kersten 1947, pp. 84–85.</ref> However this claim was shown to be a myth by [[Loe de Jong]] in his book ''Two Legends of the Third Reich''.<ref>Louis de Jong, 1972, reprinted in German translation: H-H. Wilhelm and L. de Jong. Zwei Legenden aus dem dritten Reich : quellenkritische Studien, Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt 1974, pp 79–142.</ref>
The position in the future empire of the [[Frisians]], another Germanic people, was discussed on 5 April 1942 in one of [[Hitler's Table Talk|Hitler's many wartime dinner-conversations]].<ref name="Table"/> Himmler commented that there was ostensibly no real sense of community between the different indigenous ethnic groups in the Netherlands. He then stated that the [[Friesland|Dutch Frisians]] in particular seemed to hold no affection for being part of a [[nation-state]] based on the [[Dutch people|Dutch national identity]], and felt a much greater sense of kinship with their German Frisian brethren across the [[Ems (river)|Ems River]] in [[East Frisia]], an observation Field Marshal [[Wilhelm Keitel]] agreed with based on his own experiences.<ref name="Table"/> Hitler determined that the best course of action in that case would be to unite the two Frisian regions on both sides of the border into a single province, and would at a later point in time further discuss the topic with [[Arthur Seyss-Inquart]], the [[Reichskommissar|governor]] of the [[Reichskommissariat Niederlande|German regime]] in the Netherlands.<ref name="Table"/> By late May of that year these discussions were apparently concluded, as on the 29th he pledged that he would not allow the [[West Friesland (historical region)|West-Frisians]] to remain part of Holland, and that since they were "part of the exact same race as the people of East Frisia" had to be joined into one province.<ref>Hitler (2000), 29th of May 1942.</ref>
Hitler considered [[Wallonia]] to be "in reality German lands" which were gradually detached from the [[German-speaking Europe|Germanic territories]] by the French [[Romanization]] of the [[Walloons]], and that Germany thus had "every right" to take these back.<ref name="Williams 2005, p. 209"/> Before the decision was made to include Wallonia in its entirety, several smaller areas straddling the traditional [[Germanic languages|Germanic]]-[[Romance languages|Romance]] language border in Western Europe were already considered for inclusion. These included the small [[Luxembourgish|Lëtzebuergesh]]-speaking area centred on [[Arlon]],<ref>Gildea, Wieviorka & Warring 2006, p. 130.</ref> as well as the [[Low Dietsch]]-speaking region west of [[Eupen]] (the so-called ''Platdietse Streek'') around the city of [[Limbourg]], historical capital of the [[Duchy of Limburg]].<ref>Hamacher, Hertz & Keenan 1989, p. 444.</ref>
===Nordic countries===
{{Further|Reichskommissariat Norwegen|Occupation of Denmark|Sweden during World War II|Military history of Finland during World War II|Operation Ikarus}}
After their invasion in [[Operation Weserübung]], Hitler vowed that he would never again leave Norway,<ref name="Fest"/> and favored annexing [[Denmark]] as a German province even more due to its small size and relative closeness to Germany.<ref name="Roth">Rothwell 2005, p. 32.</ref> Himmler's hopes were an expansion of the project so that [[Iceland]] would also be included among the group of Germanic countries which would have to be gradually incorporated into the Reich.<ref name="Roth"/> He was also among the group of more [[Esoteric Nazism|esoteric Nazis]] who believed either Iceland or [[Greenland]] to be the mystical land of [[Thule]], a purported original homeland of the ancient [[Aryan race]].<ref>Janssens 2005, p. 205.</ref> From a military point of view, the Kriegsmarine command hoped to see the [[Spitsbergen]], Iceland, Greenland, the [[Faroe Isles]] and possibly the [[Shetland Isles]] (which were also claimed by the [[Quisling regime]]<ref>Philip H. Buss, Andrew Mollo (1978). ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=rOVmAAAAMAAJ&q=%22jonas+lie%22+hebrides Hitler's Germanic legions: an illustrated history of the Western European Legions with the SS, 1941–1943]''. Macdonald and Jane's, p. 89</ref>) under its domination to guarantee German naval access to the [[Mid-Atlantic Ridge|mid-Atlantic]].<ref>Stegemann & Vogel 1995, p. 286</ref>
There was preparation for the construction of a new German metropolis of 300,000 inhabitants called ''[[Nordstern (city)|Nordstern]]'' ("[[North Star]]") next to the Norwegian city of [[Trondheim]]. It would be accompanied by a new naval base that was intended to be Germany's largest.<ref name="Fest"/><ref>Weinberg 2006, pp. 26–27.</ref> This city was to be connected to Germany proper by an [[German Autobahnen#History|Autobahn]] across the [[Little Belt|Little]] and [[Great Belt]]s. It would also house an [[art museum]] for the northern part of the Germanic empire, housing "only works of [[German art]]ists."<ref>Weinberg 2005, pp. 26–27.</ref>
[[Sweden]]'s future subordination into the '[[New Order (Nazism)|New Order]]' was considered by the regime.<ref name="leitz52">Leitz 2000, p. 52.</ref> Himmler stated that the Swedes were the "epitome of the Nordic spirit and the Nordic man", and looked forward to incorporating central and [[Skåne|southern Sweden]] to the Germanic Empire.<ref name="leitz52"/> Himmler offered [[Meänmaa|northern Sweden]], with its [[Tornedalians|Finnish minority]], to [[Finland]], along with the Norwegian port of [[Kirkenes]], although this suggestion was rejected by [[Foreign Ministry of Finland|Finnish Foreign Minister]] [[Rolf Witting|Witting]].<ref name="ackermann">Ackermann 1970, p. 191.</ref><ref name="kersten1957">Kersten 1957, p. 143.</ref> [[Felix Kersten]], claimed that Himmler had expressed regret that Germany had not occupied Sweden during Operation Weserübung, but was certain that this error was to be rectified after the war.<ref>Rich 1974, p. 500.</ref> In April 1942, Goebbels expressed similar views in his diary, writing that Germany should have occupied the country during its campaign in the north, as "this state has no right to national existence anyway".<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FhEFAAAAMAAJ&q=%22no+right+to+national+existence%22|title=The Goebbels Diaries, 1942–1943|first=Joseph|last=Goebbels|date=1970|publisher=Greenwood Press|isbn=9780837138152|via=Google Books}}</ref> In 1940, [[Hermann Göring]] suggested that Sweden's future position in the Reich was similar to that of [[Kingdom of Bavaria|Bavaria]] in the [[German Empire]].<ref name="leitz52"/> The ethnically Swedish [[Åland|Åland Islands]], which [[Åland crisis|were awarded]] to Finland by the [[League of Nations]] in 1921, were likely to join Sweden in the Germanic Empire. In the spring of 1941, the German [[military attaché]] in [[Helsinki]] reported to his Swedish counterpart that Germany would need [[Sweden during World War II#Midsummer Crisis|transit rights]] through Sweden for the imminent invasion of the Soviet Union, and in the case of finding her cooperative would permit the Swedish annexation of the islands.<ref>Griffiths 2004, pp. 180–181.</ref> Hitler did veto the idea of a [[Finland–Sweden relations|complete union]] between the two states of Sweden and Finland, however.<ref name="Rich3"/>
Despite the majority of its people being of [[Balto-Finnic peoples|Finnic]] origin, Finland was given the status of being an "[[Honorary Aryan#"Honorary Nordic"|honorary Nordic nation]]" (from a [[Racial policy of Nazi Germany|Nazi racial perspective]], not a [[Nordic countries|national one]]) by Hitler as reward for its military importance in the [[Eastern Front (World War II)|ongoing conflict]] against the [[Soviet Union]].<ref name="Rich3">Rich 1974, p. 401.</ref> The [[Swedish-speaking Finns|Swedish-speaking minority]] of the country, who in 1941 comprised 9.6% of the total population, were considered Nordic and were initially preferred over [[Finns|Finnish speakers]] in recruitment for the [[Finnish Volunteer Battalion of the Waffen-SS]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.feldgrau.com/ww2-german-wehrmacht-finnish-volunteers/ |title= Finnish Volunteers in the Wehrmacht in WWII |first1=Jarto |last1= Nieme |first2=Jason |last2= Pipes |work=Feldgrau |access-date=15 October 2010}}</ref> Finland's Nordic status did not mean however that it was intended to be absorbed into the Germanic Empire, but instead expected to become the guardian of Germany's [[Northern Europe|northern]] [[Flanking maneuver#Strategic flanking|flank]] against the hostile remnants of a conquered USSR by attaining control over [[Karelia]]n territory, [[Finnish military administration in Eastern Karelia, 1941-1944|occupied by the Finns]] in 1941.<ref name="Rich3"/> Hitler also considered the [[Climate of Finland|Finnish and Karelian climates]] unsuitable for German colonization.<ref name="boog922">Boog 2001, p. 922.</ref> Even so, the possibility of Finland's eventual inclusion as a [[Territorial autonomy|federated state]] in the empire as a long-term objective was mulled over by Hitler in 1941, but by 1942 he seems to have abandoned this line of thinking.<ref name="boog922"/> According to Kersten, as Finland signed [[Moscow Armistice|an armistice]] with the Soviet Union and broke off diplomatic relations with her former [[Co-belligerence|brother-in-arms]] Germany in September 1944, Himmler felt remorse for not eliminating the Finnish state, government and its "[[Freemasonry|masonic]]" [[Risto Ryti|leadership]] sooner, and transforming the country into a "National Socialist Finland with a Germanic outlook".<ref>Kersten 1947, pp. 131, 247.</ref>
===Switzerland===
{{Further|Operation Tannenbaum}}
The same implicit hostility toward [[Neutral country|neutral nations]] such as Sweden was also held towards [[Switzerland]]. Goebbels noted in his diary on December 18, 1941, that "It would be a veritable insult to [[God]] if they [the neutrals] would not only survive [[World War II|this war]] unscathed while the [[Participants in World War II|major powers]] make such great sacrifices, but also profit from it. We will certainly make sure that this will not happen."<ref>Urner 2002, p. x.</ref>
The [[Swiss people]] were seen by Nazi ideologists as a mere offshoot of the German nation, although one led astray by [[Decadence|decadent]] [[Western culture|Western ideals]] of [[democracy]] and [[materialism]].<ref>Halbrook 1998, pp. 24–25.</ref> Hitler decried the Swiss as "a misbegotten branch of our ''[[Volk]]''" and the Swiss state as "a pimple on the face of Europe" deeming them unsuitable for settling the territories that the Nazis expected to colonize in [[Eastern Europe]].<ref>Hitler 2000.</ref>
Himmler discussed plans with his subordinates to integrate at least the [[Swiss German|German-speaking]] parts of Switzerland completely with the rest of Germany, and had several persons in mind for the post of a [[Reichskommissar]] for the 're-union' of Switzerland with the German Reich (in analogy to the office that [[Josef Bürckel]] held after [[Austria]]'s absorption into Germany during the ''[[Anschluss]]''). Later this official was to subsequently become the new [[Reichsstatthalter]] of the area after completing its total assimilation.<ref name="Rich401402"/><ref>Fink 1985, pp. 71–72.</ref> In August 1940, [[Gauleiter]] of [[Westfalen]]-South [[Josef Wagner (Gauleiter)|Josef Wagner]] and the Minister-President of [[Republic of Baden|Baden]] [[Walter Köhler]] spoke in favor of the amalgamation of Switzerland to ''Reichsgau Burgund'' (see below) and suggested that the seat of government for this new administrative territory should be the dormant [[Palace of Nations]] in [[Geneva]].<ref>{{cite book |author=Hans Rudolf Fuhrer |title=Spionage gegen die Schweiz|publisher=Huber|year=1982|page=68|isbn=3-274-00003-5}}</ref>
[[Operation Tannenbaum]], a military offensive intended to occupy all of Switzerland, most likely in co-operation with [[Kingdom of Italy|Italy]] (which itself desired the [[Swiss Italian|Italian-speaking]] areas of Switzerland), was in the planning stages during 1940–1941. Its implementation was seriously considered by the German military after the [[Armistice of 22 June 1940|armistice with France]], but it was definitively shelved after the start of [[Operation Barbarossa]] had directed the attention of the [[Wehrmacht]] elsewhere.<ref>Halbrook 1998, p. 151.</ref>
===Eastern France===
{{Further|German military administration in occupied France during World War II|Vichy France|Atlantic Wall}}
[[File:Western Europe in the Time of Charles V (1525).png|thumb|upright=1.2|Western Europe in the time of [[Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor|Charles V]] (1525): the german part of the [[Holy Roman Empire]] is marked by the red borders.]]
In the aftermath of the [[Munich Agreement]], Hitler and French Prime Minister [[Édouard Daladier]] in December 1938 made an agreement that officially declared that Germany was relinquishing its previous territorial claims on [[Alsace-Lorraine]] in the interest of maintaining peaceful relations between France and Germany and both pledged to be involved in mutual consultation on matters involving the interests of both countries.<ref name="Nazi Foreign Policy pp. 58">Nazi Foreign Policy, 1933–1941: The Road to Global War. p. 58.</ref> However at the same time Hitler in private advised the High Command of the Wehrmacht to prepare operational plans for a joint German–Italian war against France.<ref name="Nazi Foreign Policy pp. 58"/>
Under the auspices of [[State Secretary]] [[Wilhelm Stuckart]] the [[Federal Ministry of the Interior (Germany)|Interior Ministry]] produced an initial memo for the planned annexation of a strip of eastern France in June 1940, stretching from the mouth of the [[Somme (river)|Somme]] to [[Lake Geneva]],<ref name="schottler">Schöttler 2003, pp. 83–131.</ref> and on July 10, 1940, Himmler toured the region to inspect its Germanization potential.<ref name="winkler"/> According to documents produced in December 1940, the annexed territory would consist of nine [[French department]]s, and the Germanization action would require the settlement of a million Germans from "[[peasant]] families".<ref name="winkler"/> Himmler decided that [[South Tyrol]]ean emigrants (see [[South Tyrol Option Agreement]]) would be used as settlers, and the towns of the region would receive South Tyrolean place-names such as Bozen, [[Brixen]], [[Meran]], and so on.<ref>Steininger 2003, p. 67.</ref> By 1942 Hitler had, however, decided that the South Tyroleans would be instead used to settle the [[Crimea]], and Himmler regretfully noted "For [[Burgundy (region)|Burgundy]], we will just have to find another [Germanic] ethnic group."<ref>Rich 1974, p. 384.</ref>
Hitler claimed French territory even beyond the historical border of the Holy Roman Empire. He stated that in order to ensure German hegemony on the continent, Germany must "also retain [[Atlantic Wall|military strong points]] on what was formerly the French Atlantic coast" and emphasized that "nothing on earth would persuade us to abandon such safe positions as those on the [[English Channel|Channel]] coast, captured during the campaign in France and consolidated by the [[Organisation Todt]]."<ref>Rich 1974, p. 198.</ref> Several major French cities along the coast were given the designation ''[[German World War II strongholds|Festung]]'' ("fortress"; "stronghold") by Hitler, such as [[Le Havre]], [[Brest, France|Brest]] and [[St. Nazaire]],<ref>Zaloga 2007, p. 10.</ref> suggesting that they were to remain under permanent post-war German administration.
{{blockquote|However the war ends, France will have to pay dearly, for she caused and started it. She is now being thrown back to her borders of AD 1500. This means that Burgundy will again become part of the Reich. We shall thereby win a province that so far as beauty and wealth are concerned compares more than favorably with any other German province.|Joseph Goebbels, 26 April 1942|<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FhEFAAAAMAAJ&q=%22france+will+have+to+pay+dearly%22|title=The Goebbels Diaries, 1942–1943|first=Joseph|last=Goebbels|date=1970|publisher=Greenwood Press|isbn=9780837138152|via=Google Books}}</ref>}}
===Atlantic islands===
During the summer of 1940, Hitler considered the possibility of occupying the Portuguese [[Azores]], [[Cape Verde]] and [[Madeira]] and the Spanish [[Canary islands]] to deny the British a staging ground for military actions against Nazi-controlled Europe.<ref name="Fest 1973, p. 210"/><ref name="stegemann211">Stegemann & Vogel 1995, p. 211.</ref> In September 1940, Hitler further raised the issue in a discussion with the Spanish Foreign Minister [[Ramón Serrano Súñer|Serrano Súñer]], offering now Spain to transfer one of the Canary islands to German usage for the price of [[French Morocco]].<ref name="stegemann211"/> Although Hitler's interest in the Atlantic islands must be understood from a framework imposed by the military situation of 1940, he ultimately had no plans of ever releasing these important naval bases from German control.<ref name="stegemann211"/>
It had been alleged by Canadian historian Holger Herwig that both in November 1940 and May 1941, leading into and through to the period in which Japan began planning [[Attack on Pearl Harbor|the naval attack]] that would bring the United States into the war,<ref>{{cite book |last=Gailey |first=Harry A. |date=1997 |title=War in the Pacific: From Pearl Harbor to Tokyo Bay |url=https://archive.org/details/warinpacificfrom0000gail/page/68 |publisher=Presidio |page=[https://archive.org/details/warinpacificfrom0000gail/page/68 68] |isbn=0-89141-616-1 }}</ref> that Hitler had stated that he had a desire to "deploy long-range bombers against American cities from the [[Azores]]." Due to their location, Hitler seemed to think that a Luftwaffe airbase located on the Portuguese Azores islands were Germany's "only possibility of carrying out aerial attacks from a land base against the United States", in a period about a year before the May 1942 emergence of the ''[[Amerikabomber]]'' trans-oceanic range strategic bomber design competition.<ref>Duffy, James P. ''Target America: "Hitler's Plan to Attack the United States"''. The Lyons Press, 2006. {{ISBN|978-1-59228-934-9}}.</ref>
==Role of Britain==
===United Kingdom===
{{Further|Operation Sea Lion}}
The one country in Europe that spoke a Germanic language and was not included in the objective of Pan-Germanic unification was the [[United Kingdom]],<ref>Rich 1974, p. 398.</ref> in spite of its near-universal acceptance by the Nazi government as being part of the Germanic world.<ref>Strobl 2000, pp. 36–60.</ref> Leading [[Nordicism|Nordic ideologist]] [[Hans F. K. Günther]] theorized that the [[Anglo-Saxons]] had been more successful than the Germans in maintaining racial purity and that the coastal and island areas of [[Scotland]], [[Ireland]], [[Cornwall]] and [[Wales]] had received additional Nordic blood through [[Viking expansion#Britain and Ireland|Norse raids and colonization]] during the [[Viking Age]], and the Anglo-Saxons of [[Kingdom of East Anglia|East Anglia]] and Northern England had been [[Danelaw|under Danish rule]] in the 9th and 10th centuries.<ref name="strobl84">Strobl 2000, p. 84.</ref> Günther referred to this historical process as ''Aufnordung'' ("additional nordification"), which finally culminated in the [[Norman conquest of England]] in 1066.<ref name="strobl84"/> Thus, according to Günther, Britain was thus a nation created by struggle and the [[survival of the fittest]] among the various Aryan peoples of the isles, and was able to pursue global conquest and empire-building because of its superior racial heredity born through this development.<ref>Strobl 2000, p. 85.</ref>
Hitler professed an admiration for the imperial might of the [[British Empire]] in ''[[Zweites Buch]]'' as proof of the racial superiority of the Aryan race,<ref name="Zweites">Hitler 2003.</ref> hoping that Germany would emulate British "ruthlessness" and "absence of moral scruples" in establishing its own colonial empire in Eastern Europe.<ref>Strobl 2000, p. 61.</ref> One of his primary foreign policy aims throughout the 1930s was to establish a military alliance with both the British as well as the Italians to neutralize France as a strategic threat to German imperialist ambitions for [[Drang Nach Osten|eastward]] [[Lebensraum|expansion into Eastern Europe]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=W. Bennett |first=Edward |title=German Rearmament and the West, 1932-1933 |publisher=Princeton University Press |year=1979 |isbn=0-691-05269-7 |location=Princeton, New Jersey, USA |pages=313–315, 449, 450}}</ref>
When it became apparent to the Nazi leadership that the United Kingdom was not interested in a military alliance, anti-British policies were adopted to ensure the attainment of Germany's war aims. Even during the war however, hope remained that Britain would in time yet become a reliable German ally.<ref name="Rich2">Rich 1974, p. 396.</ref> Hitler preferred to see the British Empire preserved as a world power, because its [[Societal collapse|break-up]] would benefit other countries far more than it would Germany, particularly the [[United States]] and [[Empire of Japan|Japan]].<ref name="Rich2"/> Hitler's strategy between 1935 and 1937 for winning Britain over was based upon a German guarantee of defence towards the British Empire.<ref name="Nicosia73">Nicosia 2000, p. 73.</ref> After the war, Ribbentrop testified that in 1935 Hitler made a promise to deliver twelve German divisions to the disposal of Britain for maintaining the integrity of her colonial possessions.<ref name="Nicosia74">Nicosia 2000, p. 74.</ref>
The continued military actions against Britain after the fall of France had the strategic goal of making Britain 'see the light' and conduct an [[armistice]] with the [[Axis powers]], with July 1, 1940, being named by the Germans as the "probable date" for the cessation of hostilities.<ref name="Hildebrand99">Hildebrand 1973, p. 99.</ref> On May 21, 1940, [[Franz Halder]], the head of the [[Oberkommando des Heeres|Army General Staff]], after a consultation with Hitler concerning the aims envisaged by the Führer during the present war, wrote in his diary: "We are seeking contact with Britain on the basis of partitioning the world".<ref name="Hildebrand96">Hildebrand 1973, p. 96.</ref>
One of Hitler's secondary goals for the invasion of Russia was to win over Britain to the German side. He believed that after the military collapse of the [[Soviet Union]], "within a few weeks" Britain would be compelled either to surrender or to join Germany as a "junior partner" in the Axis.<ref name="Hildebrand105">Hildebrand 1973, p. 105.</ref> Britain's role in this alliance was reserved to support German naval and the planned ''[[Amerikabomber]]'' project against the US in a fight for [[Hegemony|world supremacy]] conducted from the Axis power bases of Europe, Africa and the Atlantic.<ref name="Hildebrand100105">Hildebrand 1973, pp. 100–105.</ref> On August 8, 1941, Hitler stated that he looked forward to the eventual day when "England and Germany [march] together against America", and on January 7, 1942, he daydreamed that it was "not impossible" for Britain to quit the war and join the Axis side, leading to a situation where "it will be a German-British army that will chase the [[Occupation of Iceland|Americans from Iceland]]".<ref name="pinkus259">Pinkus 2005, p. 259.</ref> Nazi ideologist [[Alfred Rosenberg]] hoped that after the victorious conclusion of the war against the USSR, [[English people|Englishmen]], along with other Germanic peoples, would join the Germans in colonizing the conquered eastern territories.<ref name="fest685"/>
From a historical perspective, Britain's situation was likened to that which the [[Austrian Empire]] found itself in after it was defeated by the [[Kingdom of Prussia]] at [[Battle of Königgrätz|Königgrätz]] in 1866.<ref name="Rich2"/> As Austria was thereafter formally excluded from [[German Confederation|German affairs]], so too would Britain be excluded from [[Continental Europe|continental]] affairs in the event of a German victory. Yet afterwards, [[Austria-Hungary]] became a loyal ally of the German Empire in the pre-[[World War I]] [[Great power politics|power alignments]] in Europe, and it was hoped in vain that Britain would come to fulfill this same role for the Third Reich.<ref name="Rich2"/>
However, other evidence suggests that in the case of a successful invasion of Great Britain the occupiers treatment of the British population may not have been as sympathetic. According to captured German documents, the commander-in-chief of the German Army, [[Walther von Brauchitsch]], directed that "The able-bodied male population between the ages of 17 and 45 will, unless the local situation calls for an exceptional ruling, be interned and dispatched to the Continent". The remaining population would have been terrorised, including civilian hostages being taken and the death penalty immediately imposed for even the most trivial acts of resistance, with the UK being plundered for anything of financial, military, industrial or cultural value.<ref name="Shirer943">Shirer, pp. 782, 943</ref> After the war [[Otto Bräutigam]] of the [[Reich Ministry for the Occupied Eastern Territories]] wrote in his book that he had encountered a personal report by General [[Eduard Wagner]] regarding a discussion with [[Heinrich Himmler]] from February 1943, in which Himmler had expressed the intention for ''[[Einsatzgruppen]]'' to kill about 80% of the populations of France and England after the German victory.<ref>[[Otto Bräutigam]]: "''So hat es sich zugetragen…''" (Holzner Verlag, Germany 1968, p. 590)</ref> At another point, Hitler had on one occasion described the English lower classes "racially inferior".<ref>Adolf Hitler: [[Hitler's Table Talk|table talk]] 5 November 1941 (in: ''[[Hitler's Table Talk]]'', [[Weidenfeld & Nicolson]], 1953)</ref>
===Channel Islands===
{{Further|German occupation of the Channel Islands}}
The British [[Channel Islands]] were to be permanently integrated into the Germanic Empire, and their [[military occupation]] lasted from 30 June 1940 until liberation on 9 May 1945.<ref>Rich 1974, p. 421.</ref> On July 22, 1940, Hitler stated that after the war, the islands were to be given to the control of [[Robert Ley]]'s [[German Labour Front]], and transferred into ''[[Strength Through Joy]]'' holiday resorts.<ref name="sandersxxiv">Sanders 2005, p. xxiv.</ref> German scholar Karl Heinz Pfeffer toured the islands in 1941, and recommended that the German occupiers should appeal to the islanders' Norman heritage and treat the islands as "Germanic [[micro-states]]", whose union with Britain was only an accident of history.<ref name="sanders188">Sanders 2005, p. 188.</ref> He likened the preferred policy concerning the islands similar to the one pursued by the British in [[Crown Colony of Malta|Malta]], where the [[Maltese language]] had been "artificially" supported against the [[Italian language]].<ref name="sanders188"/>
==Role of Ireland==
{{Further|Operation Green (Ireland)}}
A [[military operation plan]] for the invasion of Ireland in support of [[Operation Sea Lion]] was drawn up by the Germans in August 1940. Occupied Ireland was to be ruled along with Britain in a temporary administrative system divided into six military-economic commands, with one of the headquarters being situated in [[Dublin]].<ref>Rich 1974, p. 397.</ref> Ireland's future position in the New Order is unclear, but it is known that Hitler would have [[United Ireland|united]] [[Northern Ireland]] with the Irish state.<ref>Weinberg 2006, p. 35.</ref>
==Role of Northern Italy==
{{Further|South Tyrol Option Agreement|Operational Zone of the Adriatic Littoral|Operational Zone of the Alpine Foothills}}
Hitler regarded northern Italians to be strongly Aryan,<ref>David Nicholls. ''Adolf Hitler: A Biographical Companion''. ABC-CLIO. p. 211.</ref> but not southern Italians.<ref>Hitler: diagnosis of a destructive prophet. Oxford University Press, 2000. p. 418</ref> He even said that the [[Ahnenerbe]], an archaeological organization associated with the SS, asserted that archaeological evidence proved the presence of Nordic-Germanic peoples in the region of South Tyrol in the [[Neolithic|Neolithic era]] that it claimed proved the significance of ancient Nordic-Germanic influence on northern Italy.<ref name="Ingo Haar 1945. p. 130">Ingo Haar, Michael Fahlbusch. German Scholars and Ethnic Cleansing, 1919-1945. p. 130.</ref> The NSDAP regime regarded the ancient Romans to have been largely a people of the [[Mediterranean race]]; however, they claimed that the Roman ruling classes were Nordic, descended from Aryan conquerors from the North; and that this Nordic Aryan minority was responsible for the rise of Roman civilization.<ref name="Alan J. Levine 1996. p. 97">Alan J. Levine. ''Race Relations Within Western Expansion''. Praeger Publishers, 1996. p. 97.</ref> The Nazis viewed the downfall of the [[Roman Empire]] as being the result of the deterioration of the purity of the Nordic Aryan ruling class through its intermixing with the inferior Mediterranean types that led to the empire's decay.<ref name="Alan J. Levine 1996. p. 97"/> In addition, racial intermixing in the population in general was also blamed for Rome's downfall, claiming that Italians were a hybrid of races, including black African races. Due to the darker complexion of Mediterranean peoples, Hitler regarded them as having traces of Negroid blood and therefore did not have strong Nordic Aryan heritage and were thus inferior to those that had stronger Nordic heritage.<ref>Andrew Vincent. ''Modern Political Ideologies''. John Wiley & Sons, 2009, p. 308.</ref>
Hitler held immense admiration for the [[Roman Empire]] and its legacy.<ref name="Alex Scobie pp. 21-22">Alex Scobie. ''Hitler's State Architecture: The Impact of Classical Antiquity''. pp. 21-22.</ref> Hitler praised post-Roman era achievements of northern Italians such as [[Sandro Botticelli]], [[Michelangelo]], [[Dante Alighieri]], and [[Benito Mussolini]].<ref name="ReferenceB">R J B Bosworth. Mussolini's Italy: Life Under the Dictatorship, 1915-1945</ref> The Nazis ascribed the great achievements of post-Roman era northern Italians to the presence of Nordic racial heritage in such people who via their Nordic heritage had Germanic ancestors, such as NSDAP Foreign Affairs official [[Alfred Rosenberg]] recognizing Michelangelo and [[Leonardo da Vinci]] as exemplary Nordic men of history.<ref name="David B. Dennis 2012. p. 17-19">David B. Dennis. ''Inhumanities: Nazi Interpretations of Western Culture''. Cambridge University Press, 2012. p. 17-19.</ref> German official Hermann Hartmann wrote that Italian scientist [[Galileo Galilei]] was clearly Nordic with deep Germanic roots because of his blond hair, blue eyes, and long face.<ref name="David B. Dennis 2012. p. 17-19"/> Some Nazis claimed that aside from biologically Nordic people that a Nordic soul could inhabit a non-Nordic body.<ref>Jo Groebel, Robert A. Hinde. Aggression and War: Their Biological and Social Bases. Cambridge University Press, 1989. p. 159.</ref> Hitler emphasized the role of Germanic influence in Northern Italy, such as stating that the art of [[Northern Italy]] was "nothing but pure German",<ref name="Rich1974">Rich 1974, p. 317.</ref> and Nazi scholars viewed the [[Ladin language|Ladin]] and [[Friulian language|Friulian]] minorities of Northern Italy as being racially, historically and culturally a part of the Germanic world.<ref name="haar121">Wedekind 2006, pp. 113, 122–123.</ref> To put it bluntly, Hitler declared in private talks that the modern Reich should emulate the racial policy of the [[Holy Roman Empire|old Roman-Germanic Holy Empire]], by annexing the Italian lands and especially Lombardy, whose population had well preserved their original Germanic Aryan character, unlike the lands of East Europe, with its racially alien population, scarcely marked by a Germanic contribution.<ref>Norman Cameron, R. H. Stevens. Hitler's Table Talk, 1941-1944: His Private Conversations. Enigma Books, 2000. p. 287.</ref> According to him, Germans are more closely linked with the Italians than with any other people:{{blockquote|From the cultural point of view, we are more closely linked with the Italians than with any other people. The art of Northern Italy is something we have in common with them: nothing but pure Germans.
The objectionable Italian type is found only in the South, and not everywhere even there. We also have this type in our own country. When I think of them: Vienna-[[Ottakring]], Munich-[[Giesing]], Berlin-[[Pankow]] ! If I compare the two types, that of these degenerate Italians and our type, I find it very difficult to say which of the two is the more antipathetic.<ref name=Rich1974/>}}
The Nazi regime's stances in regards to northern Italy was influenced by the regime's relations with the Italian government, and particularly Mussolini's Fascist regime. Hitler deeply admired and emulated Mussolini. Hitler emphasized the racial closeness of his ally Mussolini to Germans of Alpine racial heritage.<ref>Richard Breiting, Adolf Hitler, Édouard Calic (ed.). ''Secret conversations with Hitler:the two newly-discovered 1931 interviews''. John Day Co., 1971. p. 77.</ref> Hitler regarded Mussolini to not be seriously contaminated by the blood of the Mediterranean race.<ref name="ReferenceB"/> Other Nazis had negative views of Mussolini and the Fascist regime. The NSDAP's first leader, [[Anton Drexler]] was one of the most extreme in his negative views of Mussolini&nbsp;– claiming that Mussolini was "probably" a Jew and that Fascism was a Jewish movement.<ref name="B. Bosworth. 2014">R. J. B. Bosworth. ''Mussolini''. Bloomsbury, 2014.</ref> In addition there was a perception in Germany of Italians being racially weak, feckless, corrupt and corrupting, bad soldiers as perceived as demonstrated at the [[Battle of Caporetto]] in World War I, for being part of the powers that established the Treaty of Versailles, and for being a treacherous people given Italy's abandonment of the [[Triple Alliance (1882)|Triple Alliance]] with Germany and Austria-Hungary in World War I to join the Entente.<ref name="B. Bosworth. 2014"/> Hitler responded to the review of Italy betraying Germany and Austria-Hungary in World War I by saying that this was a consequence of Imperial Germany's decision to focus its attention on upholding the moribund Austro-Hungarian empire while ignoring and disregarding the more promising Italy.<ref name="B. Bosworth. 2014"/>
The region of South Tyrol had been a place of contending claims and conflict between [[German nationalism]] and [[Italian nationalism]]. One of the leading founders of Italian nationalism, [[Giuseppe Mazzini]], along with [[Ettore Tolomei]], claimed that the German-speaking South Tyrolian population were in fact mostly a Germanicized population of Roman origin who needed to be "liberated and returned to their rightful culture".<ref name="Jens Woelk 2008. p. 5">Jens Woelk, Francesco Palermo, Joseph Marko. ''Tolerance Through Law: Self Governance and Group Rights In South Tyrol''. Leiden, Netherlands: Koninlijke Brill NV, 2008. p. 5.</ref> With the defeat of [[Austria-Hungary]] in [[World War I]], the peace treaty designated to Italy the South Tyrol, with its border with Austria along the [[Brenner Pass]].<ref name="Jens Woelk 2008. p. 5"/> The Italian Fascist regime pursued [[Italianization]] of South Tyrol, by restricting use of the German language while promoting the Italian language; promoting mass migration of Italians into the region, encouraged mainly through industrialization; and resettlement of the German-speaking population.<ref>Jens Woelk, Francesco Palermo, Joseph Marko. ''Tolerance Through Law: Self Governance and Group Rights In South Tyrol''. Leiden, Netherlands: Koninlijke Brill NV, 2008. p. 6.</ref>
After Mussolini had made clear in 1922 that he would never give up the region of South Tyrol from being in Italy, Hitler adopted this position.<ref name="Christian Leitz p. 10">Christian Leitz. ''Nazi Foreign Policy, 1933-1941: The Road to Global War''. London, England, UK; New York, New York, USA: p. 10.</ref> Hitler in ''[[Mein Kampf]]'' had declared that concerns over the rights of Germans in South Tyrol under Italian sovereignty was a non-issue considering the advantages that would be gained from a German-Italian alliance with Mussolini's Fascist regime.<ref name="H. James Burgwyn 1940. p. 81">[[H. James Burgwyn]]. ''Italian foreign policy in the interwar period, 1918–1940''. Wesport, Connecticut, USA: [[Greenwood Publishing Group]], 1997. p. 81.</ref> In ''Mein Kampf'' Hitler also made clear that he was opposed to having a war with Italy for the sake of obtaining South Tyrol.<ref name="Christian Leitz p. 10"/> This position by Hitler of abandoning German land claims to South Tyrol produced aggravation among some NSDAP members who up to the late 1920s found it difficult to accept the position.<ref name="Christian Leitz p. 10"/>
On 7 May 1938, Hitler during a public visit to [[Rome]] declared his commitment to the existing border between Germany (that included Austria upon the Anschluss) and Italy at the Brenner Pass.<ref name="Rolf Steininger p. 49">Rolf Steininger. ''South Tyrol: A Minority Conflict of the Twentieth Century''. p. 49.</ref>
In 1939, Hitler and Mussolini resolved the problem of self-determination of Germans and maintaining the [[Brenner Pass]] frontier by an agreement in which German South Tyroleans were given the choice of either assimilation into Italian culture, or leave South Tyrol for Germany; most opted to leave for Germany.<ref name="Rolf Steininger p. 49"/>
After King [[Victor Emmanuel III]] of the Kingdom of Italy removed Mussolini from power, Hitler on 28 July 1943 was preparing for the expected abandonment of the Axis for the Allies by the Kingdom of Italy's new government, and was preparing to exact retribution for the expected betrayal by planning to partition Italy.<ref name="Allen Welsh Dulles 1996">[[Allen Welsh Dulles]], Neal H. Petersen, United States. [[Office of Strategic Services]]. Bern Office. ''From Hitler's Doorstep: The Wartime Intelligence Reports of Allen Dulles, 1942-1945''. Pennsylvania State Press, 1996.</ref> In particular Hitler was considering the creation of a "Lombard State" in northern Italy that would be incorporated into the Greater Germanic Reich, while South Tyrol and Venice would be annexed directly into Germany.<ref name="Allen Welsh Dulles 1996"/>
In the aftermath of the Kingdom of Italy's abandonment of the Axis on 8 September 1943, Germany seized and ''de facto'' incorporated Italian territories into its direct control.<ref name="Susan Zuccotti 1996. p. 148">Dr Susan Zuccotti, Furio Colombo. The ''Italians and the Holocaust: Persecution, Rescue, and Survival''. [[University of Nebraska Press]] paperback edition, 1996. p. 148.</ref>
According to Goebbels in his personal diary on 29 September 1943, Hitler had expressed the idea that the Italian-German border should extend to include the region of [[Veneto]], after the Kingdom of Italy capitulated to the Allies in September 1943.<ref name="petacco50">Petacco 2005, p. 50.</ref> Veneto was to be made part of the Reich in an "autonomous form", and to benefit from the post-war influx of German tourists.<ref name="petacco50"/> At the time when Italy was on the verge of declaring [[Armistice between Italy and Allied armed forces|an armistice]] with the Allies, Himmler declared to [[Felix Kersten]] that Northern Italy, along with the [[Swiss Italian|Italian-speaking]] part of Switzerland, was "bound to eventually be included in Greater Germany anyway".<ref>Kersten 1947, p. 186.</ref>
{{blockquote|Whatever was once an [[Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia|Austrian possession]] we must get back into our own hands. The Italians by their infidelity and treachery have lost any claim to a national state of the modern type.|[[Joseph Goebbels]], September 1943|<ref>Rich 1974, pp. 320, 325</ref>}}
After the rescue of Mussolini and the establishment of the [[Italian Social Republic]] (RSI), in spite of urging by local German officials, Hitler refused to officially annex [[South Tyrol]], instead he decided that the RSI should hold official sovereignty over these territories, and forbade all measures that would give the impression of official annexation of South Tyrol.<ref name="Rolf Steininger p. 69">Rolf Steininger. ''South Tyrol: A Minority Conflict of the Twentieth Century''. p. 69.</ref> However, in practice the territory of [[South Tyrol]] within the boundaries defined by Germany as ''[[Operational Zone of the Alpine Foothills|Operationszone Alpenvorland]]'' that included [[Trento|Trent]], [[Bolzano]], and [[Belluno]], were ''de facto'' incorporated into Germany's ''[[Reichsgau Tirol-Vorarlberg]]'' and administered by its ''[[Gauleiter]]'' [[Franz Hofer]].<ref name="Susan Zuccotti 1996. p. 148"/><ref>Giuseppe Motta. ''The Italian Military Governorship in South Tyrol and the Rise of Fascism''. English translation edition. Edizioni Nuova Cultura, 2012. p. 104.</ref> While the region identified by Germany as ''[[Operational Zone of the Adriatic Littoral|Operationszone Adriatisches Küstenland]]'' that included [[Udine]], [[Gorizia]], [[Trieste]], [[Pula|Pola]], [[Province of Fiume|Fiume]] (Rijeka), and [[Province of Ljubljana|Ljubljana]] were ''de facto'' incorporated into ''Reichsgau Kärnten'' and administered by its ''Gauleiter'' [[Friedrich Rainer]].<ref>Arrigo Petacco. ''Tragedy Revealed: The Story of Italians from Istria, Dalmatia, and Venezia Giulia, 1943-1956''. Toronto, Ontario, Canada: University of Toronto Press, 2005. p. 50.</ref>
In a supplementary OKW order dated 10 September 1943, Hitler decrees on the establishment of further Operational Zones in Northern Italy, which were the stretch all the way to the French border.<ref name="germanyandthesecondwwvolvIIp79">Kroener, Müller, Umbreit (2003), ''Germany and the Second World War: Volume V/II: Organization and Mobilization in the German Sphere of Power: Wartime Administration, Economy, and Manpower Resources 1942-1944/5'', p. 79, {{ISBN|0-19-820873-1}}</ref> Unlike ''Alpenvorland'' and ''Küstenland'', these zones did not immediately receive high commissioners (''oberster kommissar'') as civilian advisors, but were military regions where the commander was to exercise power on behalf of [[Army Group B]].<ref name="germanyandthesecondwwvolvIIp79"/> Operation zone ''Nordwest-Alpen'' or ''Schweizer Grenze'' was located between the [[Stelvio Pass]] and [[Monte Rosa]] and was to contain wholly the Italian provinces of [[Province of Sondrio|Sondrio]] and [[Province of Como|Como]] and parts of the provinces of [[Province of Brescia|Brescia]], [[Province of Varese|Varese]], [[Province of Novara|Novara]], and [[Province of Vercelli|Vercelli]].<ref name="wedekind100101">Wedekind 2003, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=3n1oAAAAMAAJ&q=%22franz%C3%B6sische+grenze%22+operationszone Nationalsozialistische Besatzungs- und Annexionspolitik in Norditalien 1943 bis 1945]'', pp. 100–101</ref> The zone of ''Französische Grenze'' was to encompass areas west of Monte Rosa and was to incorporate the province of [[Province of Aosta|Aosta]] and a part of the [[province of Turin]], and presumably also the provinces of [[Province of Cuneo|Cuneo]] and [[Province of Imperia|Imperia]].<ref name="wedekind100101"/>
From Autumn 1943 onward, members of the [[Ahnenerbe]], associated with the SS, asserted that archaeological evidence of ancient farmsteads and architecture proved the presence of Nordic-Germanic peoples in the region of South Tyrol in the Neolithic era including prototypical Lombard style architecture, the significance of ancient Nordic-Germanic influence on Italy, and most importantly that South Tyrol by its past and present and historic racial and cultural circumstances, was "Nordic-Germanic national soil".<ref name="Ingo Haar 1945. p. 130"/>
==Expected participation in the colonization of Eastern Europe==
{{Further|Generalplan Ost|Wehrbauer}}
[[File:Großdeutsches Reich.png|thumb|Großdeutsches Reich in 1942, with Reichskommissariat Ostland (upper centre), Reichskommissariat Ukraine (lower right) and (never fully realized) Reichskommissariat Moskowien]]
Despite the pursued aim of pan-Germanic unification, the primary goal of the German Reich's territorial [[expansionism]] was to acquire sufficient ''[[Lebensraum]]'' (living space) in [[Eastern Europe]] for the Germanic ''übermenschen'' or superior humans. The primary objective of this aim was to transform Germany into a complete economic [[autarky]], the end-result of which would be a state of continent-wide German hegemony over Europe. This was to be accomplished through the enlargement of the territorial base of the German state and the expansion of the German population,<ref>Rich 1974, p. 331.</ref> and the wholesale [[Genocide|extermination]] of the indigenous [[Slavic peoples|Slavic]] inhabitants and the [[Germanisation]] of [[Baltic peoples|Baltic]] inhabitants.<ref name="GEAST">Madajczyk.</ref>
{{blockquote|[on German colonization of Russia] As for the two or three million men whom we need to accomplish this task, we will find them more quickly than we think. They will come from Germany, Scandinavia, the western countries, and America. I shall no longer be here to see all that, but in twenty years the [[Ukraine]] will already be a home for twenty million inhabitants besides the natives.|Adolf Hitler|<ref>Rich 1974, p. 329.</ref>}}
Because of their perceived racial worth, the NSDAP leadership was enthusiastic at the prospect of "recruiting" people from the Germanic countries to also [[Settler colonialism|settle these territories]] after the Slavic inhabitants would have been driven out.<ref>Poprzeczny 2004, p. 181.</ref> The racial planners were partly motivated in this because studies indicated that Germany would likely not be able to recruit enough colonial settlers for the eastern territories from its own country and other Germanic groups would therefore be required.<ref name="GEAST"/> Hitler insisted however that German settlers would have to dominate the newly colonized areas.<ref name="wright2"/> Himmler's original plan for the [[Hegewald (colony)|Hegewald settlement]] was to settle Dutch and Scandinavians there in addition to Germans, which was unsuccessful.<ref>Nicholas 2006, pp. 330-331</ref>
==See also==
{{Portal|Germany|Politics}}
{{div col }}
*[[Administrative divisions of Nazi Germany#Planned future districts|Administrative divisions of Nazi Germany]]
*[[Areas annexed by Nazi Germany]]
*[[Fourth Reich]]
*[[German-occupied Europe]]
*[[Racial policy of Nazi Germany]]
*[[Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere]]
*[[New Order (Nazism)#Plans for North America|Plans for North America]]
*[[Hypothetical Axis victory in World War II]]
*[[Italian imperialism under fascism]]
*[[Japanese colonial empire]]
*[[Kleindeutschland and Grossdeutschland]]
*[[Latin Bloc (proposed alliance)]]
*[[Pan movements]]
{{div col end}}
==References==
===Informational notes===
<references group="nb" />
===Citations===
{{reflist|colwidth=27em}}
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{{refend}}
==External links==
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20110722023002/http://www.obersalzberg.de/utopie-grossgermanisches-reich.98.html?&L=1 Map detailing the early political plans for the creation of the Greater Germanic Reich]
{{good article}}
{{Nazism}}
{{Authority control}}
[[Category:German irredentism]]
[[Category:Politics of Nazi Germany]]
[[Category:Germany in World War II]]
[[Category:Proposed countries]]
[[Category:German words and phrases]]
[[Category:Pan-Germanism]]
[[Category:Nordicism]]