German-occupied Europe

German-occupied Europe
1938–1945
Flag Emblem
Anthem:  1938–1945 "Das Lied der Deutschen" "The song of the Germans"
Show globe Show map of Europe Europe at the height of German expansion in 1942:   Germany [a]    Civilian-administered occupied territories    Military-administered occupied territories
Capital	Berlin
Common languages	German
Demonym(s)	German
Reichskommissar
• 1938–1945	Fritz Katzmann
Reichsstatthalter
• 1938–1945	Adolf Eichmann
• 1940–1945	Heinrich Himmler
• 1941–1945	Hermann Göring
Historical era	Interwar period
Area
1942	3,300,000 [1]  km2 (1,300,000 sq mi)
Population
• 1942	238,000,000 [1]
Currency	Reichsmark (ℛℳ)
Succeeded by Allied-occupied Germany

German-occupied Europe, or Nazi-occupied Europe, refers to the sovereign countries of Europe which were wholly or partly militarily occupied and civil-occupied, including puppet states, by the Wehrmacht (armed forces) and the government of Nazi Germany at various times between 1939 and 1945, during World War II, administered by the Nazi regime under the dictatorship of Adolf Hitler. ^[2]

The Wehrmacht occupied European territory:

• as far east as the town of Mozdok in the North Caucasus in the Soviet Union (1942–1943)
• as far north as the settlement of Barentsburg in Svalbard in the Kingdom of Norway
• as far south as the island of Gavdos in the Kingdom of Greece
• as far west as the island of Ushant in the French Republic

In 1941, around 280 million people in Europe, more than half the population, were governed by Germany or their allies and puppet states.^{[ citation needed ]}

Outside of Europe, German forces controlled areas of North Africa, including Egypt, Libya, and Tunisia between 1940 and 1945. German military scientists established the Schatzgraber Weather Station as far north as Alexandra Land in Francis Joseph Land. Manned German weather stations also operated in North America included three in Greenland, Holzauge, Bassgeiger, and Edelweiss. German Kriegsmarine ships also operated in all oceans of the world throughout World War II.

History

Several German-occupied countries initially entered World War II as Allies of the United Kingdom ^[3] or the Soviet Union. ^[4] Some were forced to surrender before the outbreak of the war such as Czechoslovakia; ^[5] others like Poland (invaded on 1 September 1939) ^[2] were conquered in battle and then occupied. In some cases, the legitimate governments went into exile, in other cases the governments-in-exile were formed by their citizens in other Allied countries. ^[6] Some countries occupied by Nazi Germany were officially neutral. Others were former members of the Axis powers that were subsequently occupied by German forces, such as Italy and Hungary. ^{[7] [8]}

Concentration camps

Part of German-occupied Europe
Head of the SS, Heinrich Himmler, inspects captured prisoners in German occupied Minsk, August 1941.
Date	1941–1945
Attack type	Starvation, death marches, executions, forced labor

Germany operated thousands of concentration camps in German-occupied Europe. The first camps were established in March 1933 immediately after Adolf Hitler became Chancellor of Germany. Following the 1934 purge of the SA, the concentration camps were run exclusively by the SS via the Concentration Camps Inspectorate and later the SS Main Economic and Administrative Office. Initially, most prisoners were members of the Communist Party of Germany, but as time went on different groups were arrested, including "habitual criminals", "asocials", and Jews.

After the beginning of World War II, people from German-occupied Europe were imprisoned in the concentration camps. About 1.65 million people were registered prisoners in the camps, of whom about a million died during their imprisonment. Most of the fatalities occurred during the second half of World War II, including at least 4.7 million Soviet prisoners who were registered as of January 1945.

Following Allied military victories, the camps were gradually liberated in 1944 and 1945, although hundreds of thousands of prisoners died in the death marches.

After the expansion of Nazi Germany, people from countries occupied by the Wehrmacht were targeted and detained in concentration camps. In Western Europe, arrests focused on resistance fighters and saboteurs, but in Eastern Europe arrests included mass roundups aimed at the implementation of Nazi population policy and the forced recruitment of workers. This led to a predominance of Eastern Europeans, especially Poles, who made up the majority of the population of some camps. The ethnicities of captured people were various other groups from other different nationalities were transferred to Auschwitz or sent to local concentration camps.

Occupied countries

The countries occupied included all, or most, of the following nations or territories:

Country or territory of occupation	Puppet state(s) or military administration(s)	Timeline of occupation(s)	German annexed or occupied territory	Resistance movement(s)
Albanian Kingdom	Albanian Kingdom	8 September 1943 – 29 November 1944	None	Albanian resistance
Bailiwick of Guernsey Bailiwick of Jersey	German Occupied Channel Islands (Part of the Military Administration in France)	30 June 1940 – 9 May 1945 (Guernsey) 1 July 1940 – 9 May 1945 (Jersey)	None	Channel Islands resistance
First Czechoslovak Republic Second Czechoslovak Republic Third Czechoslovak Republic	Slovak Republic German Zone of Protection in Slovakia	1 October 1938 – 11 May 1945	Gau Bayreuth Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia Reichsgau Niederdonau Reichsgau Oberdonau Reichsgau Sudetenland	Czechoslovakian resistance
Federal State of Austria	Main article: Anschluss § End of an independent Austria None [b]	12 March 1938  – 9 May 1945	Reichsgau Kärnten Reichsgau Niederdonau Reichsgau Oberdonau Reichsgau Salzburg Reichsgau Steiermark Reichsgau Tirol-Vorarlberg Reichsgau Wien	Austrian resistance
Free City of Danzig	None [c]	1 September 1939 – 9 May 1945	Reichsgau Danzig-West Prussia	Danzigian resistance
French Republic Free France Provisional Government of the French Republic   French Tunisia	Military Administration in Belgium and Northern France Military Administration in France Reichskommissariat of Belgium and Northern France	10 May 1940 – 9 May 1945	Gau Baden Gau Westmark Reichsgau Wallonien	French resistance
Luxembourg	Military Administration of Luxembourg Civil Administration of Luxembourg	10 May 1940 – February 1945	Gau Moselland	Luxembourg resistance
Italian Islands of the Aegean	Italian Islands of the Aegean	8 September 1943 – 8 May 1945	None
Belgium	Military Administration in Belgium and Northern France Reichskommissariat of Belgium and Northern France	10 May 1940 – 4 February 1945	Gau Cologne-Aachen Reichsgau Wallonien	Belgian resistance
Denmark	Protectorate state	9 April 1940 – 5 May 1945	None	Danish resistance
Kingdom of Greece	Military Administration in Greece Hellenic State	6 April 1941 – 8 May 1945	None	Greek resistance
Kingdom of Hungary	Kingdom of Hungary Government of National Unity	19 March 1944  – May 1945	None	Hungarian resistance
Kingdom of Italy	Italian Social Republic Operational Zone of the Adriatic Littoral Operational Zone of the Alpine Foothills	8 September 1943 – 2 May 1945	None	Italian resistance
Norway	Reichskommissariat Norwegen National Government	9 April 1940 – 8 May 1945	None	Norwegian resistance
Netherlands	Reichskommissariat Niederlande	10 May 1940 – 20 May 1945	None	Dutch resistance
Kingdom of Yugoslavia	Albanian Kingdom German-occupied territory of Montenegro Independent State of Croatia German zone of influence Independent State of Macedonia Territory of the Military Commander in Serbia Commissioner Government Government of National Salvation	6 April 1941 – 15 May 1945	Reichsgau Kärnten Reichsgau Steiermark	Yugoslav resistance
Monaco	None	8 September 1943 – 3 September 1944	None
Finland	None	September 15, 1944 – April 25, 1945	None	Finnish resistance
Republic of Lithuania Provisional Government of Lithuania	Reichskommissariat Ostland	22 March 1939 – 21 July 1940 23 June 1941 – 5 August 1941	Gau East Prussia	Lithuanian resistance
Republic of Poland	Military Administration in Poland General Government administration Reichskommissariat Ostland Reichskommissariat Ukraine	1 September 1939 – 9 May 1945	Bezirk Bialystok Gau East Prussia Gau Schlesien Gau Oberschlesien General Government Reichsgau Danzig-West Prussia Reichsgau Wartheland	Polish resistance
San Marino	None (military trespassing)	17–20 September 1944	None
Territory of the Military Commander in Serbia	Commissioner Government Government of National Salvation	April 30, 1941 – January 1945	None	Serbian resistance
Slovak Republic	German Zone of Protection in Slovakia	23 March 1939 – May 1945	None	Slovakian resistance
Territory of the Saar Basin	None. [d]	1 March 1935 – April 1945	Gau Palatinate-Saar Gau Saar-Palatinate Gau Westmark	Saar Basinian resistance
Ukrainian National Government	Reichskommissariat Ukraine	30 June 1941 – September 1941	General Government	Ukrainian resistance
Parts of the Soviet Union	Lepel Republic Military Administration in the Soviet Union Lokot Autonomy Reichskommissariat Ostland Reichskommissariat Ukraine	22 June 1941 – 10 May 1945	Bezirk Bialystok General Government	Soviet resistance

Governments in exile

Allied governments in exile

Government in exile	Capital in exile	Timeline of exile	Occupier(s)
Austrian Democratic Union	London	1941–1945	German Reich/Greater German Reich
Free France	London (1940–1941) Algiers, French Algeria (1942 – August 31, 1944)	1940 – August 31, 1944	French State German Reich/Greater German Reich Military Administration in Belgium and Northern France Reichskommissariat of Belgium and Northern France
Government of the Republic of Poland in exile	Paris (September 29/30, 1939 – 1940) Angers, French Republic (1940 – June 12, 1940) London (June 12, 1940 – 1990)	September 29/30, 1939 – December 22, 1990	German Reich/Greater German Reich Reich Commissariat East Reich Commissariat Ukraine Slovak Republic Soviet Union People's Republic of Poland
Belgium	London (October 22, 1940 – September 8, 1944)	October 22, 1940 – September 8, 1944	German Reich/Greater German Reich Military Administration in Belgium and Northern France Reichskommissariat of Belgium and Northern France
Denmark	None	1943–1945	German Reich/Greater German Reich
Luxembourg	London	1940–1944	German Reich/Greater German Reich
Kingdom of Greece	Cairo, Egypt	April 29, 1941 – October 12, 1944	German Reich/Greater German Reich Kingdom of Italy Kingdom of Bulgaria
Norway	London	June 7, 1940 – May 31, 1945	Reichskommissariat Norwegen
Kingdom of Yugoslavia	London	June 7, 1941 – March 7, 1945	Albanian Kingdom Commissioner Government German-occupied territory of Montenegro German Reich/Greater German Reich Government of National Salvation Independent State of Croatia Independent Macedonia Kingdom of Bulgaria Kingdom of Hungary Territory of the Military Commander in Serbia
Netherlands	London	1940–1945	Reichskommissariat Niederlande
Provisional Government of Czechoslovakia	Paris (October 2, 1939 – 1940) London (1940–1941) Aston Abbotts, United Kingdom (1941–1945)	October 2, 1939 – April 2, 1945	German Reich/Greater German Reich Kingdom of Hungary Slovak Republic

Axis governments in exile

Government in exile	Capital in exile	Timeline of exile	Occupier(s)
Kingdom of Bulgaria	Vienna, Greater German Reich	September 16, 1944 – May 10, 1945	Kingdom of Bulgaria Kingdom of Greece Kingdom of Yugoslavia
French State	Sigmaringen, Greater German Reich	1944 – April 22, 1945	Provisional Government of the French Republic
Kingdom of Hungary	Vienna, Greater German Reich Munich, Greater German Reich	March 28/29, 1945 – May 7, 1945	Czechoslovak Republic Kingdom of Hungary Kingdom of Romania Kingdom of Yugoslavia
Kingdom of Romania	Vienna, Greater German Reich	1944–1945	Kingdom of Romania
Montenegrin State Council	Zagreb, Independent State of Croatia	Summer of 1944 – May 8, 1945	Kingdom of Yugoslavia
Slovak Republic	Kremsmünster, Great-German Reich	April 4, 1945 – 8 May 1945	Czechoslovak Republic
Government of National Salvation	Kitzbühel, Great-German Reich	October 7, 1944 – 8 May 1945	Soviet Union

Neutral governments in exile

Government in exile	Capital in exile	Timeline of exile	Occupier(s)
Belarusian Democratic Republic	Prague, Czechoslovak Republic (1923–1938) Prague, Czecho-Slovak Republic (1938–1939) Prague, German Reich/Greater German Reich (1939–1945)	1919 – present	German Reich/Greater German Reich Realm Commissariat East Realm Commissariat Ukraine Republic of Poland Soviet Union
Republic of Estonia	Stockholm, Kingdom of Sweden (1944 – August 20, 1991) New York City, United States	June 17, 1940 – August 20, 1991	Reichskommissariat Ostland Soviet Union
Ukrainian People's Republic	Warsaw, Republic of Poland (1920–1939) Prague, German Reich/Greater German Reich (1939–1944)	1920 – August 22, 1992	German Reich/Greater German Reich Kingdom of Hungary Kingdom of Romania Reichskommissariat Ukraine Soviet Union

See also

• Areas annexed by Germany
• Underground media in German-occupied Europe
• Drang nach Osten ("The Drive Eastward")
• Greater Germanic Reich
• Lebensraum ("Living Space")
• Neuordnung ("New Order")
• Pan-Germanism

Notes

1. Including the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia and the General Government
2. Although there was substantial popular support in Austria for some type of (re)unification with Germany, Chancellors Engelbert Dollfuss and his successor Kurt Schuschnigg wanted to maintain at least some type of independence. Dollfuss had implemented an authoritarian regime now termed Austrofascism, continued by Schussnigg, which imprisoned many members of the Austrian Nazi Party and the Social Democratic Party which both favored unification. Violence by Austrian Nazi Party members including the assassination of Dollfuss, along with German propaganda and ultimately threats of invasion by Adolf Hitler, eventually led Schuschnigg to capitulate and resign. Hitler, however, did not wait for his hand-picked successor, Austrian Nazi Arthur Seyss-Inquart, to be sworn in and ordered German troops to invade Austria at dawn on 12 March 1938, where they were met with cheering crowds and an Austrian army previously ordered not to resist.
3. Upon request of its Nazi-dominated senate, the city was directly annexed to Germany along with the surrounding Polish Pomeranian Voivodeship.
4. In a referendum in 1935, over 90% of residents supported reunification with Germany over remaining a League of Nations protectorate of France and the United Kingdom or joining France.

References

1. Berend, Iván T. (2016). An Economic History of Twentieth-Century Europe: Economic Regimes from Laissez-Faire to Globalization. Cambridge University Press. p. 72. ISBN   9781107136427.
2. Encyclopædia Britannica, German occupied Europe. World War II. Retrieved 1 September 2015 from the Internet Archive.
3. Prazmowska, Anita (1995-03-23). Britain and Poland 1939–1943: The Betrayed Ally. Cambridge University Press. ISBN   9780521483858.
4. Moorhouse, Roger (2014-10-14). The Devils' Alliance: Hitler's Pact with Stalin, 1939–1941. Basic Books. ISBN   9780465054923.
5. Goldstein, Erik; Lukes, Igor (2012-10-12). The Munich Crisis, 1938: Prelude to World War II. Routledge. ISBN   9781136328329.
6. Conway, Martin; Gotovitch, José (2001-08-30). Europe in Exile: European Exile Communities in Britain 1940–45. Berghahn Books. ISBN   9781782389910.
7. Hanson, Victor Davis (2017-10-17). The Second World Wars: How the First Global Conflict Was Fought and Won. Basic Books. ISBN   9780465093199.
8. Cornelius, Deborah S. (2011). Hungary in World War II: Caught in the Cauldron. Fordham Univ Press. ISBN   9780823233434.

Bibliography

• Bank, Jan. Churches and Religion in the Second World War (Occupation in Europe) (2016).
• Gildea, Robert and Olivier Wieviorka. Surviving Hitler and Mussolini: Daily Life in Occupied Europe (2007).
• Klemann, Hein A.M. and Sergei Kudryashov, eds. Occupied Economies: An Economic History of Nazi-Occupied Europe, 1939–1945 (2011).
• Lagrou, Pieter. The Legacy of Nazi Occupation: Patriotic Memory and National Recovery in Western Europe, 1945–1965 (1999).
• Mazower, Mark (2008). Hitler's Empire: Nazi Rule in Occupied Europe. London: Allen Lane. ISBN   9780713996814.
• Scheck, Raffael; Fabien Théofilakis; and Julia S. Torrie, eds. German-occupied Europe in the Second World War (Routledge, 2019), 276 pp. online review.
• Snyder, Timothy. Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin (2010), on Eastern Europe.
• Toynbee, Arnold, ed. Survey of International Affairs, 1939–1946: Hitler's Europe (Oxford University Press, 1954), 730 pp. online review; full text online free.

Primary sources

• Carlyle Margaret, ed. Documents on International Affairs, 1939–1946. Volume II, Hitler's Europe (Oxford University Press, 1954), 362 pp.

External links

• Map of Europe in 1942
• Allies
• BBC – History – Germany advances through Europe (pictures, video, facts & news)