Volksdeutsche

Volksdeutsche (ethnic Germans) is a historical term that the German government started using in the early 20th century to describe ethnic Germans living outside of (or more precisely, born outside) the Reich. This is in contrast to Imperial Germans (Reichsdeutsche), German citizens living within Germany. The term also contrasts with the modern term Auslandsdeutsche (Germans abroad), which generally denotes German citizens residing in other countries.

This is the loosest meaning of the term, used mainly during the Weimar Republic regime. In a stricter sense, under Hitler and the Nazis, "Volksdeutsche" was used to mean ethnic Germans living outside the country but without German citizenship, i.e., the juxtaposition with "Reichsdeutsche" was sharpened to denote difference in citizenship as well as residence.

Origin of the term

According to the historian Doris Bergen, Adolf Hitler is reputed to have coined the definition of "Volksdeutsche" which appeared in a 1938 memorandum of the German Reich Chancellery. In that document, the Volksdeutsche were defined as "people whose language and culture had German origins but who did not hold German citizenship."

For Hitler and other Germans of his time, the term "Volksdeutsche" also carried overtones of blood and race not captured in the common English translation "ethnic Germans". According to German estimates in the 1930s, about 30 million Volksdeutsche and Auslandsdeutsche (= German citizens residing abroad, see McKale 1977: The Swastika Outside Germany, p. 4) were living outside the Reich. A significant proportion of them were in eastern Europe: Russia, Poland, Ukraine, the Baltic states, and Romania, Hungary and Yugoslavia, where many were located in villages along the Danube. Many of their ancestors had migrated to such areas of eastern Europe in the 18th century, invited by governments that wanted to repopulate areas decimated by the Ottoman Empire occupation and sometimes by disease.

The Nazi goal of expansion to the east assigned the Volksdeutsche a special role in German plans, to bring them back to German citizenship and elevate them to power over the native populations in those areas. The Nazis detailed such goals in Generalplan Ost.

History of the term

Ostsiedlung

Over the last thousand years, Germans emigrated from traditional German lands in Central Europe and settled further east in Russia, present day Romania and other countries. Many Germans settled in the Baltic and parts of present day Poland in colonies established by the Teutonic Knights beginning in the thirteenth century. The Knights were also granted rights in Transylvania, resulting in the settlement of many Germans there.

In the sixteenth century Vasili III invited small numbers of German craftsmen, traders and professionals to settle in Russia so that the empire could exploit their skills. These settlers (many of whom intended to stay only temporarily) were generally confined to the German Quarter in Moscow (which also included Dutch, British and other western or northern European settlers whom the Russians came to indiscriminately refer to as "Germans"). They were only gradually allowed in other cities, so as to prevent the spread of alien ideas to the general population.

In his youth, Peter the Great spent much time in the German quarter. When he became Tsar, he brought more German experts (and other foreigners) into Russia, and particularly into government service, in his attempts to westernize the empire. He also brought in German engineers to supervise the construction of the new city of Saint Petersburg.

Catherine the Great, who was German, invited German farmers to immigrate and settle in Russian lands along the Volga River. She guaranteed them the right to retain their language, religion and culture. Germans were also sent in organized colonization attempts aiming at Germanization of conquered Polish areas.

Frederick the Great settled around 300,000 colonists in the eastern provinces of Prussia, acquired in Partitions of Poland, with the intention of replacing the Polish nobility. He treated the Poles with contempt and likened the 'slovenly Polish trash' in newly reconquered West Prussia to Iroquois, the historic Native American confederacy based in the state of New York.

Prussia encouraged a second round of colonization with the goal of Germanisation after 1832. Prussia passed laws to encourage Germanisation of the provinces of Posen and West Prussia in the late 19th century. The Prussian Settlement Commission relocated 154,000 colonists, including locals.

Treaty of Versailles

The reconstitution of Poland following the Treaty of Versailles separated German minorities of the Prussian provinces of the German Empire from a German nation state. Ethnic German inhabitants of provinces of the dissolved Austro-Hungarian Empire, such as Sudeten Germans, Danube Swabians and Transylvanian Saxons, became citizens of newly established Slavic or Magyar nation states. Tensions between the new administration and the ethnic German minority arose in the Polish Corridor.

The Nazi era before World War II

(1938).]] During the Nazi years, they used the term "Volksdeutsche" to refer to foreign-born Germans living in countries newly occupied by Germany and who applied for German citizenship. Prior to World War II, more than 10 million ethnic Germans lived in Central and Eastern Europe. They constituted an important minority far into Russia.

Pre-war relations with the Nazis

In 1931, prior to its rise to power, the Nazi party established the Auslandsorganisation der NSDAP (Foreign Organisation of the Nazi Party), which task was to disseminate Nazi propaganda among the ethnic German minorities living outside Germany (Volksdeutsche). In 1936, the government set up the Volksdeutsche Mittelstelle (Ethnic Germans' Welfare Office), commonly known as VoMi, under the jurisdiction of the SS as the liaison bureau. It was headed by SS-Obergruppenfuehrer Werner Lorenz.

In 1936 the Nazis set up an office to act as a contact for the Volksdeutsche. According to the historian Lumans Valdiso, :"[one of Himmler's goals was] centralizing control over the myriad of groups and individuals inside the Reich promoting the Volksdeutsche cause. Himmler did not initiate the process but rather discovered it in progress and directed it to its conclusion and to his advantage. His principal instrument in this effort was an office from outside the SS, a Nazi party organ, the Volksdeutsche Mittelstelle (VoMi), translated as the Ethnic German Liaison Office."

Collaboration with the Nazis

Before and during World War II, some Volksdeutsche, in countries such as Czechoslovakia, Poland and Yugoslavia, actively supported the Nazis. During the social and economic tensions of the Great Depression, some had begun to feel aggrieved with their minority status. They participated in espionage, sabotage and other means in their countries of origin.

In Yugoslavia, the 7th SS Volunteer Mountain Division Prinz Eugen was formed. It was conspicuous in its operations against the Resistance partisans and among the population. About 300,000 Volksdeutsche from the Nazi-conquered lands and the satellite countries joined the Waffen-SS, the majority conscripted involuntarily. In Hungary, for instance, some 100,000 ethnic Germans volunteered for service in it. "After the initial rush of Volksdeutsche to join, voluntary enlistments tapered off, and the new unit did not reach division size. Therefore, in August 1941, the SS discarded the voluntary approach, and after a favourable judgement from the SS court in Belgrade, imposed a mandatory military obligation on all Volksdeutsche in Serbia-Banat, the first of its kind for non-Reich Germans."

Among the indigenous populations in the Nazi-occupied lands, Volksdeutsche became a term of ignominy.

During the early days of WWII (i.e., before the US entered the war), a small number of Americans of German origin returned to Germany; generally they were immigrants or children of immigrants, rather than descendants of migrations more distant in time. Some of these enlisted and fought in the German army.

During World War II

Volksdeutsche in German-occupied western Poland

soldiers showing alleged German victims to journalists. One of many photos used by Nazi propaganda. The image bears editor's cropping marks, showing portion of the image that was intended to be used for publication.]] In September 1939 in German occupied Poland, an armed ethnic German militia called Selbstschutz (Self-Defence) was created. It organized the mass murder of Polish elites in Operation Tannenberg. At the beginning of 1940, the Selbstschutz was disbanded and its members transferred to various units of the SS and German police. Throughout the invasion of Poland, some ethnic German minority groups assisted Nazi Germany in the war effort. They committed sabotage, diverted regular forces and committed numerous atrocities against civilian population.

Following the September 1st German invasion of Poland, on September 3, between 100 and 400 Volksdeutsche were killed in the city of Bromberg, in what was is now known as "Bromberg Bloody Sunday". The circumstances are controversial. Nazi Germany used the deaths to justify reprisal atrocities against the ethnic Poles. Similar to that of Operation Tannenberg, many such actions had been organized and planned well before the war.

After the Germans occupied western Poland, they established a central registration bureau, called the German People's List (Deutsche Volksliste, DVL), whereby Polish citizens of German ethnicity were registered as Volksdeutsche. The Germans encouraged such registration, in many cases forcing it or subjecting Polish Germans to terror assaults if they refused. Those who joined this group were given benefits, including better food as well as a better social status.

The Volksdeutsche Mittelstelle organised large-scale looting of property and redistributed goods to the Volksdeutsche. They were given apartments, workshops, farms, furniture, and clothing confiscated from Jews and Poles. In turn, hundreds of thousands of the Volksdeutsche joined the German forces, either willingly or under compulsion.

During World War II, Polish citizens of German ancestry, who often identified with the Polish nation, were confronted with the dilemma of registering in the Deutsche Volksliste. Many ethnic Germans had families who had lived in Poland for centuries; even the more recent immigrants had arrived 30 years or more before the war. They faced the choice of registering and being regarded as traitors by other Poles, or not signing and being treated by the Nazi occupation as traitors to the Germanic "race".

In occupied Poland, the status of "Volksdeutscher" gave many privileges, but one big disadvantage: Volksdeutsche were subject to conscription into the German army. The Deutsche Volksliste categorised German Poles into one of four categories:

* Category I: Persons of German descent committed to the Reich before 1939.

Category II: Persons of German descent who had remained passive.

Category III: Persons of German descent who had become partly "polonized", e.g., through marrying a Polish partner or through working relationships (especially Silesians and Kashubians).

Category IV: Persons of German ancestry who had become "polonized" but were supportive of "Germanisation".

Volksdeutsche of statuses 1 and 2 in the Polish areas annexed by Germany numbered 1,000,000, and Nos. 3 and 4 numbered 1,700,000. In the General Government there were 120,000 Volksdeutsche. Volksdeutsche of Polish ethnic origins were treated by the Poles with special contempt, but were also committing high treason according to Polish law.

{|class=wikitable |- bgcolor="#C2E6FF" |rowspan="2"|Annexed area |colspan="4" align="center"|Deutsche Volksliste, early 1944 |- bgcolor="#C2E6FF" |Cat. I |Cat. II |Cat. III |Cat. IV |- |bgcolor="#C2E6FF"|Warthegau |230,000 |190,000 |65,000 |25,000 |- |bgcolor="#C2E6FF"|Reichsgau Danzig-West Prussia |115,000 |95,000 |725,000 |2,000 |- |bgcolor="#C2E6FF"|East Upper Silesia |130,000 |210,000 |875,000 |55,000 |- |bgcolor="#C2E6FF"|South East Prussia |9,000 |22,000 |13,000 |1,000 |- |bgcolor="#C2E6FF" rowspan="2"|Total |484,000 |517,000 |1,678,000 |83,000 |- |colspan="4" align="center"|Toal 2.75 million on Volkslisten plus non-German population(Polish) of 6.015 million- Grand Total 8.765 million in annexed territories. |- |colspan="5"|Source: Wilhelm Deist, Bernhard R Kroener, Germany (Federal Republic). Militärgeschichtliches Forschungsamt, Germany and the Second World War, Oxford University Press, 2003, pp. 132,133, ISBN 0-19-820873-1, citing Broszat, Nationalsozialistische Polenpolitik, p. 134 |}

Because of actions by some Volksdeutsche and particularly the atrocities committed by Nazi Germany, after the end of the war, the Polish authorities tried many Volksdeutsche for high treason. In the postwar period, many other ethnic Germans were expelled to the west and forced to leave everything. In 21st century Poland, the word Volksdeutsche is regarded as an insult, synonymous with "traitor".

In some cases, individuals consulted the Polish resistance first, before signing the Volksliste. There were Volksdeutsche who played important roles in intelligence activities of the Polish resistance, and were at times the primary source of information for the Allies. In the turmoil of the postwar years, the Communist government did not consider this sufficient mitigation. It prosecuted many of the double-agent Volksdeutsche and sentenced some to death.

Volksdeutsche in the territories annexed by the Soviet Union in 1939-40

and Bessarabia in 1940]] The Soviet invasion of Finland, which had been covertly ceded under the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact secret protocols, created domestic problems for Hitler. Supporting the Soviet invasion became one of the most ideologically difficult aspects of the countries' relationship. The secret protocols caused Hitler to hurriedly evacuate ethnic German families, the Volksdeutsche, who had lived in Finland and the Baltic countries for centuries, while officially condoning the invasions. When the three Baltic countries, not knowing about the secret protocols, sent letters protesting the Soviet invasions to Berlin, Ribbentrop returned them.

In August 1940, Soviet Foreign minister Molotov told the Germans that, with the government change, they could close down their Baltic consulates by September 1. Instead of permitting full indemnification, the Soviets put restrictions on the wealth that the Volksdeutsche could take with them and limited the totals that the Soviets would apply to the Reich's clearing accounts. The parties discussed total compensation of between 200 million and 350 million Reichsmarks for the Volksdeutsche, while the Soviets requested 50 million Reichsmarks for their property claims in German-occupied territories. The two nations reached general agreement on German shipments of 10.5-cm flak cannons, gold, machinery and other items. The agreement covered protected migration to Germany within two and a half months of Volksdeutsche, and similar migration to the Soviet Union of ethnic Russians, Baltic and "White Russian" "nationals" from German-held territories.

After the German invasion of the USSR

after the Russian Revolution of 1917, the government granted the Volga Germans an autonomous republic. Joseph Stalin abolished the Volga German ASSR after Operation Barbarossa, the German invasion of the USSR. He had many of the inhabitants deported to prison camps in Siberia.

Expulsion and exodus from Eastern Europe at the end of the war

in Nemmersdorf, East Prussia.]] Most Volksdeutsche left or were expelled from eastern European countries from 1946-1948 after the war. Both those who became Volksdeutsche by registering and Reichsdeutsche retained German citizenship during the years of Allied military occupation, after the establishment of East Germany and West Germany in 1949, and later in the reunified Germany.

An estimated 12 million ethnic Germans fled or were expelled from the Soviet Union and eastern Europe. Most left the Soviet-occupied territories of the Eastern Bloc; they comprised the largest migration of any European people in modern history. The Allies had agreed to the expulsions during negotiations in the midst of war. The western powers hoped to avoid ethnic Germans being an issue again in eastern Europe.

Local authorities forced most of the ethnic Germans to leave between 1945 and 1950. Remnants of the ethnic German community survive in the former Soviet republics of Central Asia. A small ethnic German community has continued in Siebenbürgen (Transylvania) in Romania.

Legacy

The Nazis popularized the term Volksdeutsche, and exploited such peoples for their own purposes. As a result, the term is not much used today.

Instead, ethnic Germans living outside of Germany are called "Auslandsdeutsche", or names more closely associated with their earlier places of residence, such as Wolgadeutsche or Volga Germans, the ethnic Germans living in the Volga basin in Russia; and Baltic Germans, who generally called themselves Balts. They were relocated to German-occupied Poland during World War II by an agreement between Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin), and most were expelled to the West after the war.

Ethnic Germans were among the millions of displaced peoples on the roads of Europe in the years after the war.

See also

Goralenvolk

Selbstschutz

Imperial Germans, for a discussion of the different concepts and the shift of meaning between them.

Fifth column

Heimatvertriebene

Umvolkung

German exodus from Eastern Europe

World War II evacuation and expulsion

Pursuit of Nazi collaborators

Nur für Deutsche

Bibliography

Nazi Fifth Column Activities: A List of References, Library of Congress, 1943

The German fifth column in the Second World War, by L. de Jong

The German Fifth Column in Poland, Hutchinson & Co Ltd, London

Luther, Tammo (2004): Volkstumspolitik des Deutschen Reiches 1933-1938. Die Auslanddeutschen im Spannungsfeld zwischen Traditionalisten und Nationalsozialisten. Franz Steiner, Stuttgart

Notes

References

External links

Hitler's Fifth column in Czechoslovakia

Hitler's Fifth column in Croatia

Hitler's Fifth column in Yugoslavia

Hitler's Fifth column in Poland

Category:Ethnonyms Category:German words and phrases