Generalplan Ost
In 1939, Adolf Hitler declared that the German people needed living space to survive. This concept of Lebensraum became the core justification for Generalplan Ost. The Nazi regime viewed Slavic peoples as Untermenschen or subhumans who lacked the capacity for self-governance. Scientific racism provided a pseudo-scientific framework for these beliefs. German expansionism toward the East was not merely about territory but about racial purification. The Drang nach Osten ideology had existed in Germany long before the Nazis came to power. It called for the permanent domination of Eastern Europe by Germanic settlers. The plan intended to eliminate entire populations to make room for new German communities. Ideological fanaticism played a larger role than economic calculations in shaping this policy. The goal was to create a New Order in Europe where only Germans and Aryans would remain.
Heinrich Himmler personally supervised the drafting of at least five versions of the document between 1940 and 1943. The Reich Security Main Office under his command commissioned the work. Konrad Meyer served as Chief of the Planning Office within Himmler's RFKDV. SS-Standartenführer Hans Ehlich testified that he drafted the original version alongside Meyer. Four drafts were produced by the office of Reich Commissioner for the Consolidation of German Nationhood. One draft came directly from the RSHA. The SS Race and Settlement Main Office also contributed to formulating the plans. A confidential proposal circulated among top Nazi officials in early 1942. Himmler stated openly that 20 to 30 million Slavs and Jews would perish through military actions and food crises. This racial struggle was described as a question of existence requiring pitiless severity. The document remained known only to those at the highest levels of the Nazi hierarchy.
The plan called for the death of more than 60 million Slavic, Romanis, and Jewish people. Approximately 80 million Russians were targeted for deportation beyond the Ural Mountains. Nazi planners estimated that around 30 million would die during forced displacement due to lack of resources. The Hunger Plan aimed to cause the deaths of over 30 million Slavic inhabitants through deliberate starvation. Out of 3.2 million Soviet prisoners captured by December 1941, approximately 2 million had been killed by February 1942. These deaths occurred mostly through forced starvation, death marches, and mass shootings. Around 11 million Slavs were killed in systematic violence and state terrorism carried out as part of the GPO. Millions more were forced into slave labor to serve the German war economy. The final version of the proposal envisaged deporting 31 million Slavs to Siberia by June 1941. Had the plan been fully implemented, it is estimated that more than 60 million people would have perished.
In Belarus, RSHA's program categorized 75% of Belarussians as ineligible for Germanization. This group was targeted for ethnic cleansing or violent eradication. An estimated 5 to 6 million native inhabitants were forcibly expelled or exterminated from these lands. Child indoctrination institutions opened in Bobruysk prepared racially suitable children for transfer to Germany. In Poland, the leadership decided to destroy the Polish nation completely within 15 to 20 years. Approximately two million ethnic Poles underwent a forced Germanization campaign. By 1952, only about 3 to 4 million non-Germanized peasants were expected to remain in former Poland. In Ukraine, original plans advocated the extermination of 65 percent of 23.2 million Ukrainians. Survivors were treated as chattel slaves. Over 2.3 million Ukrainians were deported to Germany and forced into Nazi slave labor. Between 1941 and 1945, approximately three million Ukrainians and other non-Jews were mass-murdered. The Baltic states faced different policies where Latvia and Lithuania were covered by deportation plans in milder forms than Slavic expulsion.
Implementation cost estimates ranged from 40 to 67 billion Reichsmarks. The latter figure represented close to Germany's entire GDP for 1941. A specific estimate of 45.7 billion Reichsmarks appeared in the spring 1942 version of the plan. More than half the expenditure was allocated to land remediation, agricultural development, and transport infrastructure. Funding came directly from state sources for some aspects while commercial terms covered urban and industrial projects. The Hunger Plan involved capturing food stocks and redirecting them to German forces. Soldiers were ordered to steel their hearts against starving women and children because every bit of food stolen endangered German nourishment. Nazi seizure of food supplies in Ukraine brought about starvation intended to depopulate the region for German settlement. These economic calculations supported a colonialist campaign of plunder and slaughter involving unhinged looting of resources. Wholesale terrorism against native populations characterized German occupation policies throughout Eastern Europe.
Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany launched forced starvations across the Eastern Front. Wehrmacht implemented scorched-earth tactics and forcibly expelled natives en masse to the east. Out of 3.2 million Soviet prisoners captured by December 1941, approximately 2 million had been killed by February 1942. These deaths occurred mostly through forced starvation, death marches, and mass shootings. In Belarus, divisions of Wehrmacht and SS committed numerous massacres during anti-partisan undertakings. Between 1941 and 1945, approximately three million Ukrainians and other non-Jews were mass-murdered as part of Nazi extermination policies. From spring 1943, the SS adopted Extermination through labour policy focusing on exploiting natives as forced labor. By late 1943, millions of captives were employed in slave labor camps across German-occupied territories. After the Battle of Stalingrad, Nazi planners abandoned extermination campaigns of the GPO by mid-1943. Resources allocated to colonization policies were diverted to Axis war efforts following this defeat.
Nearly all wartime documentation on Generalplan Ost was deliberately destroyed shortly before Germany's defeat in May 1945. The full proposal has never been found though several documents refer to it or supplement it. Two out of three primary records associated with the plan were lost after the war. One missing document was drafted by Konrad Meyer while another was an investigative report from RSHA's third office. A major enabling document emerged as a memorandum released on the 27th of April 1943 by Erhard Wetzel. This memorandum entitled Opinion and thoughts on the master plan for the East came to light only in 1957. Yale historian Timothy Snyder quoted an extermination document for Slavic people in 2010. Swiss historian Hans Christian Gerlach published Kalkulierte Morde in 1999 containing notes from Waldemar von Poletika. These sources enabled historians to reconstruct essential elements of the original plan despite systematic destruction of evidence.
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Common questions
What was the primary goal of Generalplan Ost?
Generalplan Ost aimed to eliminate entire populations in Eastern Europe to make room for new German communities. The plan intended to create a New Order where only Germans and Aryans would remain through racial purification.
Who drafted the original version of Generalplan Ost?
SS-Standartenführer Hans Ehlich testified that he drafted the original version alongside Konrad Meyer. Heinrich Himmler personally supervised the drafting of at least five versions between 1940 and 1943 under the Reich Security Main Office.
How many people were targeted for death by Generalplan Ost?
The plan called for the death of more than 60 million Slavic, Romanis, and Jewish people. Approximately 80 million Russians were targeted for deportation beyond the Ural Mountains with an estimated 30 million deaths during forced displacement.
When did Nazi planners abandon extermination campaigns of Generalplan Ost?
Nazi planners abandoned extermination campaigns of the GPO by mid-1943 after the Battle of Stalingrad. Resources allocated to colonization policies were diverted to Axis war efforts following this defeat from spring 1943 onward.
What happened to most documentation on Generalplan Ost?
Nearly all wartime documentation on Generalplan Ost was deliberately destroyed shortly before Germany's defeat in May 1945. Two out of three primary records associated with the plan were lost after the war though some documents emerged later like a memorandum released on the 27th of April 1943.