There were many areas annexed by Nazi Germany both immediately before and throughout the course of World War II. Territories that were part of Germany before the annexations were known as the "Altreich" (Old Reich). [1]
There were many areas annexed by Nazi Germany both immediately before and throughout the course of World War II. Territories that were part of Germany before the annexations were known as the "Altreich" (Old Reich). [1]
According to the Treaty of Versailles, the Territory of the Saar Basin was split from Germany for at least 15 years. In 1935, the Saarland rejoined Germany in a lawful way after a plebiscite.
The territories listed below are those that were fully annexed into Germany proper.
The territories listed below are those that were partially incorporated into the Greater German Reich.
| Date of establishment | Preceded by | Succeeded by |
|---|---|---|
| 25 Oct 1939 |  Military Administration in Poland | General Government for the Occupied Polish Territories |
| 1 Aug 1941 | Military Administration in the Soviet Union | District of Galicia, General Government |
| Kraków District, General Government | ||
| Date of establishment | Preceded by | Succeeded by |
|---|---|---|
| 10 Sep 1943 |  Province of Gorizia, Kingdom of Italy | Operational Zone of the Adriatic Littoral |
| Province of Ljubljana, Kingdom of Italy | ||
| Province of Pola, Kingdom of Italy | ||
| Province of Fiume, Kingdom of Italy | ||
| Province of Trieste, Kingdom of Italy | ||
| Province of Udine, Kingdom of Italy | ||
| Province of Belluno, Kingdom of Italy | Operational Zone of the Alpine Foothills | |
| Province of Bolzano, Kingdom of Italy | ||
| Province of Trento, Kingdom of Italy | ||
| Date of announcement of annexation | Area planned to be annexed | Planned succession |
|---|---|---|
| Never. The areas were to be established from the Reichskommissariat of Belgium and Northern France (established 12 July 1944), but this never happened. |  Kingdom of Belgium (occupied by the Reichskommissariat of Belgium and Northern France) | District of Brussels |
| Reichsgau Flanders | ||
| Reichsgau Wallonia |
In the coming Nazi New Order, other lands were considered for annexation sooner or later, for instance North Schleswig , German-speaking Switzerland , and the zone of intended German settlement in north-eastern France , where a Gau or a Reichskommissariat centred on Burgundy was intended for creation, and which Heinrich Himmler wanted to turn into the SS's very own fiefdom. The goal was to unite all or as many as possible ethnic Germans and Germanic peoples, including non-Germanic speaking ones considered "Aryans", in a Greater Germanic Reich.[ citation needed ]
The eastern Reichskommissariats in the vast stretches of Ukraine and Russia were also intended for future integration into that Reich, with plans for them stretching to the Volga or even beyond the Urals, where the potential westernmost reaches of Imperial Japanese influence would have existed, following an Axis victory in World War II. They were deemed of vital interest for the survival of the German nation, as it was a core tenet of Nazism that Germany needed "living space" ( Lebensraum ), creating a "pull towards the East" ( Drang nach Osten ) where that could be found and colonized.
North-East Italy was also eventually to be annexed, including both the Operational Zone of the Adriatic Littoral and the Operational Zone of the Alpine Foothills, but also the Venice region. [5] [6] Goebbels went as far as to suggest taking control of Lombardy as well:
Whatever was once an 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 [7]
The annexation of the entire North Italy was also suggested in the long run. [8]
Pan-Germanism, also occasionally known as Pan-Germanicism, is a pan-nationalist political idea. Pan-Germanists originally sought to unify all the German-speaking people – and possibly also non-German Germanic-speaking peoples – in a single nation-state known as the Greater Germanic Reich, fully styled the Greater Germanic Reich of the German Nation.
Lebensraum is a German concept of expansionism and Völkisch nationalism, the philosophy and policies of which were common to German politics from the 1890s to the 1940s. First popularized around 1901, Lebensraum became a geopolitical goal of Imperial Germany in World War I (1914–1918), as the core element of the Septemberprogramm of territorial expansion. The most extreme form of this ideology was supported by the Nazi Party and Nazi Germany. Lebensraum was a leading motivation of Nazi Germany to initiate World War II, and it would continue this policy until the end of the conflict.
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The New Order of Europe was the political and social system that Nazi Germany wanted to impose on the areas of Europe that it conquered and occupied.
The Reichskommissariat Ukraine was established by Nazi Germany in 1941 during World War II. It was the civilian occupation regime of much of Nazi German-occupied Ukraine. It was governed by the Reich Ministry for the Occupied Eastern Territories headed by Alfred Rosenberg. Between September 1941 and August 1944, the Reichskommissariat was administered by Erich Koch as the Reichskommissar. The administration's tasks included the pacification of the region and the exploitation, for German benefit, of its resources and people. Adolf Hitler issued a Führer decree defining the administration of the newly-occupied Eastern territories on 17 July 1941.
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The Gaue were the main administrative divisions of Nazi Germany from 1934 to 1945.
Reichskommissariat is a German word for a type of administrative entity headed by a government official known as a Reichskommissar. However, many offices existed, primarily throughout the Imperial German and Nazi periods, in a number of fields it is most commonly used to refer to the quasi-colonial administrative territorial entity established by Nazi Germany in several occupied countries during World War II. While officially located outside the German Reich in a legal sense, these entities were directly controlled by their supreme civil authorities, who ruled their territories as German governors on behalf of and as representatives of Adolf Hitler.
The Operational Zone of the Adriatic Littoral was a Nazi German district on the northern Adriatic coast created during World War II in 1943. It was formed out of territories that were previously under Fascist Italian control until its takeover by Germany. It included parts of present-day Italian, Slovenian, and Croatian territories. The area was administered as territory attached, but not incorporated, to the Reichsgau of Carinthia. The capital of the zone was the city of Trieste.
The territorial evolution of Germany in this article include all changes in the modern territory of Germany from its unification making it a country on 1 January 1871 to the present although the history of "Germany" as a territorial polity concept and the history of the ethnic Germans are much longer and much more complex. Modern Germany was formed when the Kingdom of Prussia unified most of the German states, with the exception of multi-ethnic Austria, into the German Empire. After the First World War, on 10 January 1920, Germany lost about 13% of its territory to its neighbours, and the Weimar Republic was formed two days before this war was over. This republic included territories to the east of today's German borders.
The "German question" was a debate in the 19th century, especially during the Revolutions of 1848, over the best way to achieve a unification of all or most lands inhabited by Germans. From 1815 to 1866, about 37 independent German-speaking states existed within the German Confederation. The Großdeutsche Lösung favored unifying all German-speaking peoples under one state, and was promoted by the Austrian Empire and its supporters. The Kleindeutsche Lösung sought to unify only the northern German states and did not include any part of Austria ; this proposal was favored by the Kingdom of Prussia.
The Greater Germanic Reich, fully styled the Greater Germanic Reich of the German Nation, was the official state name of the political entity that Nazi Germany tried to establish in Europe during World War II. 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 Poland and Austria to Germany and the formation of satellite or puppet states without independent economies or policies of their own.
Westland is the name with which the government of Nazi Germany intended to replace that of the Netherlands during its 1940–45 occupation of the country. The name refers to the fact that the Netherlands lies directly to the west of Germany, hence "the land of the West". Compare Ostmark, the name adopted for Austria after the Anschluss by the Nazi movement.
Reichskommissariat Turkestan was a projected Reichskommissariat that Germany proposed to create in Russia and the Central Asian republics of the Soviet Union in its military conflict with that country during World War II. Soviet historian Lev Bezymenski claimed that names Panturkestan, Großturkestan and Mohammed-Reich were also considered for the territory.
Wehrbauer, plural Wehrbauern, is a German term for settlers living on the marches of a realm who were tasked with holding back foreign invaders until the arrival of proper military reinforcements. In turn, they were granted special liberties. Wehrbauern in their settlements, known as Wehrsiedlungen, were mainly used on the eastern fringes of the Holy Roman Empire and later Austria-Hungary to slow attacks by the Ottoman Empire. This historic term was resurrected and used by the Nazis during the Second World War.
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