National Socialist European plans

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The National Socialist plans for Europe aimed to reorganize the continent according to territorial and ethnic criteria. The incorporation of numerous territories into the German Reich , the evacuation and resettlement of parts of the population as well as the oppression and exploitation and, ultimately, the murder of a large number of people were planned, also with the participation of the German economy .

Early National Socialist plans for Europe

Just four days after the NSDAP came to power , Adolf Hitler let the top of the Reichswehr know that he would not hesitate to conquer and Germanize “ Lebensraum im Osten ” and pursue a large- scale German national politics to unite all Germans in one Reich. In Mein Kampf he had foreseen an alliance with Italy and Great Britain , France was to be robbed of its great power position. After that, he would turn to habitat expansion in the east. An empire of all Germans - well beyond the borders of 1914 - was to emerge in the center of Europe . In 1934 Hitler spoke of a steel core consisting of Austria , Czechoslovakia and western Poland . He also set up various alliances from formally allied - but not equal - blocs. He called these the East Confederation ( Baltic States , Balkan States , Ukraine , Wolgaland and Georgia ), the West Confederation ( Netherlands , Flanders and Northern France) and the Northern Confederation ( Denmark , Sweden and Norway ).

At first Hitler was reluctant to use the term Europe ; his stance only changed after he defined Europe for himself and National Socialism in terms of blood. For example, Franz Six defined Europe as

"[...] the living space of the European races and peoples created by the creative power of the Aryan race ."

Alfred Rosenberg emphasized, however, that National Socialism was a program for Germany, not for Europe:

“Our movement is [...] careful not to transform itself into an international 'National Socialist League', which would then have to decide something like a church in council , what is true and what is not true National Socialism. The judgment on such a question belongs only to us. "

Rosenberg saw the future structure of Europe in 1934 as the result of a four-party pact consisting of the nationalist movements of Italy, France, England and Germany. The states of the Baltic Sea ( Finland , Estonia , Latvia , Lithuania ) and the Danube region should also be included in order to form an “organic Central Europe”.

Plans 1939–1941

The Greater German Reich
at the end of 1942

The greatest ambitions were shown by the plans for a new Europe during the wave of victories of 1940/41. At this point in time the integration of Denmark , Norway , the Netherlands and Belgium into a "Greater Germanic Empire" was being debated - Hitler wanted to clear up the "junk from the small states". For Werner Daitz , the population of these regions was just as Germanic as the German and therefore “worthy” to be accepted into the Reich.

A study by the Naval War Command of June 3, 1940 about expansion of space after the war already advocated the retention of Belgium and part of northern and eastern France. Smaller states such as the Netherlands, Denmark and Norway were supposed to be formally independent, but strongly dependent on the Reich. Heinrich Himmler temporarily thought of creating a Burgundian state.

After the victory in the German-Soviet War , Sweden and Switzerland were also to be occupied and incorporated. For France, Hitler envisaged a territorial fragmentation, he wanted an "enlarged Switzerland"; the border with Germany was to be that of the Holy Roman Empire (i.e. French Switzerland belonged to France, “Aryan” -German-speaking Switzerland to the core empire). In order to nip any resistance in the bud, France should remain permanently occupied. Neighbor Switzerland played a special role in Hitler's concept until Russia was overthrown: up to June 1940 as neutral, relatively well-armed flank protection against an attack by France on the south-west flank, then primarily as an intact armaments supplier and as a foreign exchange hub for the benefit of the Reich.

The south-east European peoples should live semi-autonomously on the edge of the empire, controlled by the "Imperial Fortress Belgrade ". The Reich Commissioners appointed in Norway and the Netherlands were only intended as a transitional form; their task was to introduce this new order and to win the population over to it.

Probably the most comprehensive plan of his claims to power is that of the Society for European Economic Planning and Greater Economy . In their memorandum it was stated that the European metropolitan area

"[...] all the peoples of the mainland from Gibraltar to the Urals and from the North Cape to the island of Cyprus with their natural colonizing radiations in the Siberian area and across the Mediterranean to Africa [...]"

must include. Basically one should only speak of Europe

"[...] because the German leadership arises all by itself [...]"

The German wave of victories exerted a tremendous psychological influence on the population of the occupied territories; some collaborators - especially in France but also in the other occupied territories - used the term Europe to justify cooperation. However, the influence of the European propaganda lost all significance when the real goals of the new masters became clear after a year at the latest.

Habitat in the east

Russian campaign 1941–1942

In Eastern Europe, the SS was given a free hand. Himmler's settlement concept for the eastern region was based on the “ blood and soil ideology ” and “Germanic peasantry”. Industry and Soviet cities were to be destroyed; Instead, large-scale settlers from the empire would build and manage German model estates. For this purpose, the so-called General Plan East was developed, which resulted in the division of the Poles into various rating groups from I ("German-able") to IV ("not worth living in"). The old Austrian Galicia , the Baltic States, the Crimea (the future "Gotenland", where South Tyroleans wanted to settle) and the Volga colony were to become German Reich territory. The goal in the east was the establishment of a German master race and enslaved " subhumans ". One also wanted to “skim off” “racially valuable human material” from these areas; H. incorporate into the Reich and deport " parasites " and "loitering around" from the old Reich to the east . Ralph Giordano describes the National Socialists' goal of creating a "Slav-free Eastern Europe" through mass sterilization , extermination through labor , mass murder and the expulsion of the local population.

"European Central Clearing"

The "central clearing" was a mechanism for the central control of the international transactions of the allied or subject states. It was based on the Reichsmark and in practical economic life meant that all international transfers from the participating states were handled via Berlin. While many plans for the reorganization of Europe were never disseminated outside of academic journals and memoranda, the European central clearing functioned until the end of National Socialism. Since the clearing system brought enormous advantages for the German Reich, Röhr calls it "concealed robbery". At the end of the war Germany's trade debt amounted to 35 billion RM.

The global economic crisis in the early 1930s led to a shortage of gold and foreign exchange reserves in all of Central and Eastern Europe. The German Reich and Italy - both dictatorships - attempted to master this problem by means of numerous restrictions on foreign trade. In order to protect the strongly export-oriented industry and tourism, Switzerland signed a clearing agreement with the German Reich in 1934 and with Italy in 1935. This enabled foreign trade to take place in large quantities without exchanging foreign currency, thereby circumventing the restrictive foreign trade restrictions. From autumn 1940 the clearing procedure was also used for foreign trade between Switzerland and the countries occupied by Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Poland and Norway. This process, known as the European Central Clearing , allowed the German Reich to control almost all of Switzerland's foreign trade.

functionality

The contracting states, in this case Switzerland and the German Reich or Italy, each set up a so-called clearing house. If a Swiss company received an order from Germany, it delivered the ordered goods to the German customer, but the invoice was sent to the Swiss clearing house, which paid the Swiss contractor. The same procedure was also used in reverse: the German customer paid his invoice to the German clearing house, the Deutsche Verrechnungskasse zu Berlin. At the end of a period, for example a month, the credits and claims have now been offset against each other. Only if the balance was not balanced did you have to pay in real currency, i.e. valuable foreign exchange. This enabled Germany to restrict the outflow of only sparse foreign currency. In practice, Switzerland granted the German Reich and Italy 1.3 billion Swiss francs in clearing credits during the war years. This means that the negative balance charged to Germany was not paid by the German clearing house, but advanced interest-free by the Swiss state. Due to the chronic shortage of foreign currency in the German Reich, these loans could not be paid later. In 1952, against the opposition of the victorious powers, Switzerland achieved a partial repayment by the Federal Republic of Germany of 650 million Swiss francs and a partial repayment by Italy of 232 million Swiss francs.

criticism

This topic could not be discussed in public during the war years, as the clearing process was only allowed to be reported sparingly or not at all. Despite this, resistance to the clearing procedure came from various quarters: the Swiss Finance Department feared excessive government spending, the Swiss National Bank feared inflation as a result, and the parliamentary opposition saw it as a violation of Switzerland's neutrality . The Allies also accused Switzerland of supporting Nazi Germany and thus prolonging the war. Another point of criticism is the lack of democratic control: the clearing process created a large administrative apparatus that was largely shielded from the public and parliament (similar to today's TARGET2 system ).

On the other hand, Switzerland found itself almost completely surrounded by the overpowering Axis powers between 1940 and 1944, which led to a high level of dependence, especially on supplies of raw materials such as coal. In addition, exports to Germany had a positive effect on employment in Switzerland.

economy

As already indicated, various groups were significantly involved in the reorganization of Europe. The IG Farben developed as ambitious plans to reorganize the European chemical industry under its hegemony . The German Bank and the Dresdner Bank bought banks in the occupied territories. The takeover of companies was often handled by trustees or asset managers such as B. with Krupp or through unscrupulous Aryanization and the appropriation of "hostility". A planned customs union was not carried out because a possible adjustment of living standards as a result was not desired. Reich Economics Minister Walther Funk stated that the goal of an " economic reorganization of Europe " included:

"The coming peace economy must guarantee the Greater German Reich a maximum of economic security and the German people a maximum of goods consumption to increase the welfare of the people."

Greater Europe

In the early days of National Socialism , efforts were made to make Germany self-sufficient . But this changed over time; Herbert Backe wrote in 1942:

"The task of the future is not the self-sufficiency of every single European state, but the self-sufficiency of the greater continental Europe ."

The aim was not the world market, but the wholesale market of continental Europe . Backe is considered to be the originator of the so-called Hunger Plan 1941 and did not shy away from the unscrupulous use of hunger to reduce "overpopulation" to secure German food. Hermann Göring summarized this policy cynically:

"When there is starvation, it is not the German who starves, but others."

The ideology of the large-scale concept is summarized by Bernhard R. Kroener :

"Behind the officially propagated term of 'European large-scale economy' concealed long-term efforts and plans for the implementation of Germany's economic hegemony on the continent, the complete restructuring of national economies in the sense of a division of labor according to German interests and access to colonial 'supplementary areas' in Eastern Europe as well as overseas. "

Volkish theorists such as Werner Daitz established a connection between the economic and political concept of a large area and the racial biological habitat theory. Based on these aspects, Werner Best developed a four-stage management model:

  1. Alliance administration: Formal independence , but the people must follow the guidelines of the “leadership people” (meaning Germany).
  2. Supervision administration: Own government organs , but governor of the “leadership people”.
  3. Government administration: All central administration is carried out by representatives of the "leadership people".
  4. Colonial administration: No participation of the subject people in the administration.

It is interesting that the greater area concept saw Russia as part of the European area, i. H. the struggle between the USSR and Greater Germany was not a struggle for the demarcation between two greater areas, but for supremacy between two powers in the same area. This changed with the defeats of 1942; from now on one spoke of a "fortress Europe" which one had to defend against the "Russian hordes from Asia".

At that time, Rosenberg defined Europe more metaphysically: its essence lies in the “great people and personalities”, it is not an “empty term [...] as it was used by speculators from all over the world in the so-called League of Nations in Geneva”. For him, Europe is the "most bloody fact," a "joining together of all those on the battlefield and in the intellectual struggle who fight against the destructive powers of Yankee gangsters and the GPU ."

By improperly quoting Adolf Hitler is sometimes ascribed a speech about the war against the Soviet Union as "the birth of the new Europe". However, Hitler took up the slogan of the “new Europe” in his speech to the Greater German Reichstag on December 11, 1941; he relates it here to the present, namely the participation of many aid peoples in the war on the German side.

Heinrich Himmler - Speech to SS leaders in the university building of Charkow on March 24, 1943

On March 24, 1943, Himmler spoke to the SS about the “great fortress Europe”, not just about “Germany”, as the ultimate goal of the Nazi war. The speech in the university building in Kharkov is so far only tangible as an audio document.

The RSHA also got involved, through Franz Alfred Six:

“With the defensive struggle against the Bolshevik power state, the era of European internal wars has been overcome and the phase of European wars of unification is nearing its end. The formerly hostile peoples of Europe find themselves in the struggle against the common threat to the East. The proclamation [s] of the leaders of the nations to pass their voluntary legions are proclamations of the new Europe . "The Legion is striving," says the call of the commander of the French Legion, "a cooperation which, like a field, is to form the basis for future peace and a new healthy Europe."

- Six, 1944 :

Six, a pupil of Arnold Bergstrasse , goes on to say that the unity of Europe will soon become a new political myth , and that “a new type” will arise from the graves and battles of the East , the figure of the freedom fighter of Europe .

To Stalingrad

Since the war prospects deteriorated significantly after 1942, the Nazi propaganda looked for new buzzwords . The armed forces defeated in Stalingrad were declared the "European army". The concept of “Fortress Europe” replaced the previous large-scale plans. One no longer saw oneself as the master of Europe, but as the protector of the West from Bolshevism . A memorandum from the Federal Foreign Office demanded:

“Why don't we also set up future programs that calm, seduce or at least neutralize? [...] As if, after winning, it was not easy to find a formula that satisfies our claim to leadership and that would then give us the opportunity to secure our decisive influence without the visible use of force. "

A European committee set up in the Foreign Office in April 1943 developed plans for a European confederation of 13 states under the leadership of the Axis powers . This memorandum was drafted by Homeyer , the Reich Commissioner of " Taurien " (German-occupied Crimea and its hinterland) and was entitled The War Decision - The Thought Europe . The aim of this memorandum was not the complete equality of the different peoples and countries of Europe, but still a dominant position of the German Reich. This “confederation”, however, explicitly excluded the Soviet Union and was primarily intended to serve as a defense against Bolshevism . Ideally, this union could have been presented on the occasion of the celebrations for the renewal of the Anti-Comintern Pact - but it did not come about for two reasons: First, the plan contained “belated, insincere and unattractive approaches” , and second, Hitler's attitude remained an obstacle; he had already banned such plans in 1942.

Fictitious post-war ideas about a National Socialist Europe

  • SS-GB (1978) by Len Deighton is set in National Socialist Great Britain in 1941 (with a printed declaration of surrender ). The main character is the detective Douglas Archer , who is supposed to solve the murder of a physicist. As it turns out, this physicist was involved in the construction of the atomic bomb and Archer is increasingly drawn into intrigues between the SS , Wehrmacht , the British resistance movement and the Abwehr . Giordano mentions this book with praise and explains that the special staff England of the Economic and Armaments Office in the OKW already had detailed plans for the administration of Great Britain. SS and SD units were provided, and IG Farben had already produced a “wish list” for taking over companies.
Europe 1964 in the world of fatherland
  • Vaterland (1992) by Robert Harris is set in 1964. The Cold War between the USA and the Greater German Reich is about to end when Inspector Xaver March finds the body of a high-ranking Nazi official. Like SS-GB, Vaterland isa detective novel , and like Archer, März becomes entangled in intrigues when he tries to solve the murder and finallystumbles upon the Holocaust , which was(almost) perfectly covered up by the National Socialists.
  • The Oracle vom Berge (1962) by Philip K. Dick is a slightly philosophical work that takes place in a world in which America is divided between Nazi Germany and Japan. Unlike the first two works, it is not (only) a crime thriller. The threads of action are loosely linked. First of all it is about the plan of the National Socialists toattackthe Japanese and about the attempt of the defense to communicate this to the Japanese. In addition, the author of a forbidden book is sought, which describes the victory of the Allies (so to speak, an alternative world history in the alternative world history). In the storyline, the characters' moral choices play a bigger role than the action . From 2015 to 2019, this work wasfilmed as a seriesby Amazon under the title The Man in the High Castle (English original title).

See also

literature

Secondary literature

  • Karl Richard Ganzer : The Reich as a European regulatory power . In Hagen Schulze and Ina Ulrike Paul (eds.): European history. Sources and materials . Bayerischer Schulbuchverlag , Munich 1994, pp. 383–385.
  • Birgit Kletzin: Europe from race and space. The National Socialist Idea of ​​the New Order. Series: Region, Nation, Europa , Vol. 2. Lit Verlag, Münster 2000, 2nd edition 2002, ibid., ISBN 3-825-84993-7 .
  • Reinhard Opitz : European strategies of German capital 1900-1945. Pahl-Rugenstein (Nachf.), Bonn am Rhein 1977, 1990 ISBN 3-760-90225-1 ; 2nd edition ibid. 1994 ISBN 3891441983 .
  • Paul Kluke : National Socialist European Ideology. In: VfZ 3, 1955, pp. 240–275 ( PDF ; 1.7 MB).
  • Michael Salewski : Europe. Idea and Reality in the National Socialist Worldview and Practice. In: Otmar Franz (ed.): Europes Mitte. Musterschmidt, Göttingen 1987, 1991
    • ders .: Ideas of the National Socialist Government and Party. In: Documents on the History of the European Integration. Vol. 1, Berlin 1985.
  • Peter Krüger : Hitler's European Policy. in Wolfgang Benz u. a. (Ed.): National Socialism. Studies of ideology and domination. Frankfurt 1993; Fischer TB, ibid. 1999, ISBN 3-596-11984-7 .
    • ders .: Economic Central Europe Plans in Germany between the World Wars. In: Central Europe Concepts in the First Half of the 20th Century. Series: Central European Studies, 1st publishing house of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna 1994, ISBN 3-700-12138-5 .
  • Lothar Gruchmann : National Socialist Greater Area Regulations. The construction of a "German Monroe Doctrine". Stuttgart 1962.
  • Richard Overy et al. a. (Ed.): The "new order" of Europe. Nazi economic policy in the occupied territories. Metropol, Berlin 1997.
  • Hans-Werner Neulen: Europe and the Third Reich. Unification efforts in the German sphere of influence 1939–1945. Munich 1987.
  • John Laughland: The tainted source. The undemocratic origins of the European idea. London 1997.
  • Walter Lipgens (ed.): European Federation Plans of Resistance Movements 1940-1945. A documentation. Munich 1968.
  • Wilfried Loth : The way to Europe. History of European integration 1939 - 1957. Göttingen 1996.
  • Frank Niess: The European idea from the spirit of resistance. Frankfurt 2001.
  • Götz Aly , Hg .: Models for a German Europe. Economy and rule in the greater economic area. Berlin 1992.
  • Götz Aly and Susanne Heim : thought leaders of annihilation. Auschwitz and the German plans for a new European order. 2004 (first 1991), ISBN 3-596-11268-0 .
  • Mark Mazower : Hitler's Empire. Europe under the rule of National Socialism . Translated from Martin Richter. CH Beck, Munich 2009. ISBN 3-406-59271-6 .
  • Robert Grunert: The European Idea of ​​Western European Fascist Movements 1940-1945. Ferdinand Schöningh, Paderborn 2012

Primary literature

  • Eugen von Mickwitz: Greater Germany and the world economy with special consideration of the fundamental political reorganization of Central Europe. Based on material from the HWWA. Hamburgisches Welt-Wirtschafts-Archiv , publisher of the publication "Foreign trade under compulsion", Hamburg 1939
  • Karlrobert Ringel: France's economy in upheaval Wilhelm Goldmann Verlag Leipzig 1942.
  • Heinrich Hunke (Ministerialdirigent Lower Saxony ) Ed., Walther Funk , article: European Economic Community Haude & Spenersche Verlagbuchhandlung Max Paschke, Berlin 1942 & 1943 (sic).
  • Carl Schmitt : Large-scale spatial order under international law with a prohibition of intervention for powers outside the area Deutscher Rechtsverlag, Berlin / Vienna 1939, 4th edition 1941.
    • again, with additional subtitle: … A contribution to the concept of the Reich in international law. (to include a chapter on the "concept of space in law"). New edition Duncker and Humblot, Berlin 1991, ISBN 3-428-07110-7 .
  • Friedrich Bülow : Large-scale economy, world economy and spatial planning. In: spatial research and spatial planning. Popular and spatial policy series. Ed. Paul Ritterbusch , volume 1. Koehler, Leipzig 1943.
  • Roger Diener : The Empire and Europe. In: Reich, Volksordnung, Lebensraum , Vol. 2, 1942.
  • Joseph Goebbels : To Europe. in: Zs. Young Europe , 1943.
    • dsb .: Diary entry from May 8, 1943
  • Bernhard Payr : The New Order of Europe as Reflected in French Literature. In: National Socialist monthly books . Central political and cultural magazine of the NSDAP. Issue 138, 12th year, published by Alfred Rosenberg . Franz-Eher-Verlag , Munich September 1941.
  • Further literature
  • Max Walter Clauss : fact Europe. Prague 1943

Fiction

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b c Jörg K. Hoensch : National Socialist European Plans in the Second World War . In: Plaschka, Richard Georg et al. (Ed.): Central Europe Conceptions in the First Half of the 20th Century . Publishing house of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna 1995, pp. 307-325.
  2. ^ Walter Lipgens (Ed.): Europe Federation Plans of Resistance Movements 1940-1945 . R. Oldenbourg, Munich 1968, p. 9.
  3. ↑ a b c Herbert Backe: To the freedom of food in Europe. Global economy or metropolitan area . Wilhelm Goldmann, Leipzig 1942.
  4. ^ Alfred Rosenberg: New birth of Europe as history in the making . Max Niemeyer, Halle / Saale 1939.
  5. ^ Alfred Rosenberg: Crisis and New Building of Europe . Berlin 1934.
  6. ^ A b c Lothar Gruchmann: National Socialist Greater Area Order. The construction of a "German Monroe Doctrine " . In: Series of the quarterly books for contemporary history 4 . German publishing house, Stuttgart 1962.
  7. ↑ Werner Daitz: Vikingism - a basic element of the Nordic race soul . In: The way to the national economy, large-scale economy and large-scale politics . Central Research Institute for National Economic Order and Greater Economy, Dresden 1943, pp. 89–91.
  8. ↑ a b c d e Werner Röhr: Research problems on German occupation policy in the mirror of the series "Europe under the swastika" . In: Werner Röhr (Ed.): Europe under the swastika. The occupation policy of German fascism . Volume 8, Hüthig, Heidelberg 1996.
  9. ↑ Edgar Bonjour : History of Swiss Neutrality , 1970ff.
  10. ↑ Jürg Fink: Switzerland from the perspective of the Third Reich , 1985
  11. ↑ a b c d e f Ralph Giordano : If Hitler had won the war. The plans of the Nazis after the final victory . Rasch and Röhring, Hamburg 1989.
  12. ^ Jacques Benoist-Méchin : France in the new Europe . In: German Institute for Foreign Policy Research (Ed.): Europe. Handbook of the political, economic and cultural development of the new Europe . Helingsche Verlagsanstalt, Leipzig 1943, pp. 51–55.
  13. ↑ a b Götz Aly and Susanne Heim: Vordenker der Vernichtung. Auschwitz and the German plans for a new European order . Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 1993.
  14. ↑ Hans-Erich Volkmann : Nazi foreign trade in the "closed" war economy dream 1939-1941 . In: Bernhard Chiari (Ed.): Economy and Expansion. Broad Nazi economic policy (=  contributions to military history . No. 58 ). Munich 2003, p. 177 ff ., doi : 10.1524 / 9783486594553.145 .
  15. ^ Karl Heinz Roth : The economic and political post-war planning of German fascism. Research report and open questions . (1996) In: Werner Röhr and Brigitte Berlekamp (eds.): Reorganization of Europe. Lectures at the Berlin Society for Fascism and World War Research 1992–1996 . Edition Organon, Berlin 1996, pp. 179-198.
  16. ^ Clearing. Payment transactions between Switzerland and the Axis powers (PDF; 13 kB)
  17. ^ Richard J. Overy: The Economy of the German "New Order" . In: Overy et al. (Ed.): The "new order" of Europe. Nazi economic policy in the occupied territories . Metropol, Berlin 1997, pp. 11-24.
  18. ^ Walther Funk: The economic reorganization of Europe. Reprint from the Südost Echo, Vienna 1940
  19. ↑ a b Kroener et al .: The German Reich and the Second World War. Volume 5/2. Organization and mobilization of the German sphere of influence. War administration, economy and human resources 1942–1944 / 45 . Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, Stuttgart 1999.
  20. ^ Rosenberg The world struggle and the world revolution of our time. Eher-Verlag, Munich 1943, p. 14. His assertion that the NS would open a third path between capitalism (for Rosenberg: “speculators”, Jews, Wall Street, Yankee) and Bolshevism (“GPU”) is typical here.
  21. ↑ as alleged literal quote z. B. Frankfurter Rundschau , December 20, 2014, Thomas Kröter: Pegida . God wants it. The term, a ritual underlining of the Occident ideology, comes from the Propaganda Ministry : "Confidential information for magazines, R. Spr. (= Rund-Spruch) No. 317 Inf. No. 49 of June 30, 1941", an instruction to all journalists on language regulation. The complete quote online, VfZ No. 3, 2nd year 1955, p. 259, note 90
  22. ↑ Online, p. 4. "If Italy, Spain, Croatia had not sent their divisions, then the defense of a European front would not have arisen, which, as a proclamation of the concept of the new Europe, let its advertising power radiate to all other peoples."
  23. ^ Six, Europe. Tradition and future. Hamburg 1944, p. 115f. and in French: Les guerres intestines en Europe et la guerre d'union du présent. Paris 1944
  24. ↑ ibid. P. 117.
  25. ^ Antony Beevor: Stalingrad. Goldmann Verlag, Munich 2001, ISBN 3-442-15101-5 , p. 454.
  26. ^ Adolf Hitler: Decree . In: Walter Lipgens (Ed.): Documents on the history of European integration. Vol. 1, Continental plans for European Union 1939-1945 . De Gruyter, Berlin 1985, pp. 108-109.
  27. ↑ Basic work on the ideology of plans. Readable online under google book search; a detailed, source-oriented presentation of all relevant scriptures. Only ideological products are considered, not actual acts (murders, expulsions, etc.). When using the extensive list of references, it should be noted that it listed “self-employed…” (i.e. books) and “non-self-employed publications” (articles in zs and compilations) of the National Socialists separately, as did the literature after 1945.
  28. ↑ Contributors: Otmar Franz, Michael Stürmer , Lothar Gall , Eberhard Kolb , Carl-Ludwig Holtfrerich , Hagen Schulze , Michael Salewski , Klaus-Jürgen Müller , Andreas Hillgruber , Detlef Junker , Klaus Schwabe , Klaus Hildebrand .
  29. ↑ about the Netherlands, Belgium and France.
  30. ↑ Mickwitz stayed on the ball even after the liberation of Europe from NS: Article Benelux: On the problem of a customs union. Die Zeit , No. 40, October 2, 1947, p. 1 (sic!) Reprint in issue 44, October 26, 1997 [1]
  31. ↑ Very detailed presentation of his NS-Europe ideas in his name article. Hunke should be noted because he played a state role after 1945. Engl. Short version ( RTF ; 219 kB) contains in English: Author and table of contents; execute Introduction of the Hunke and text of the Funk.
  32. ↑ Bülow was an economist at the Humboldt University in Berlin , also the Eberswalde Forestry University , as well as the "main scientific clerk" in a Reich working group for spatial research . A commendation of his followers from 1960 gives an insight into his unconditional readiness to adapt: Festgabe ... for his 70th birthday. Ed. Otto Stammer , Karl Christian Thalheim . Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1960. Available at google books . The liberation of Europe from NS is described here by one of his adepts, Erich Dittrich , Godesberg, as the “catastrophe of 1945”, p. 95.
  33. ↑ From all this, however, the Fiihrer drew the conclusion that the junk from small states that still exists in Europe today must be liquidated as quickly as possible. The aim of our struggle must remain to create a united Europe. But Europe can only experience a clear organization through the Germans. There is practically no other leading power. According to Reinhard Opitz , op. Cit., P. 943 (after the diary edition by Lochner, Zurich 1948, p. 325).