Hay action

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"Heuaktion" was a National Socialist code name for the planned systematic deportation of children and young people from Belarus and Eastern Poland ( Kresy ) as forced laborers in the German Reich in 1944 . The term "heuaktion" originated as an abbreviation of the living conditions of young people who h , eimatlos e lternlos and u were nterkunftslos.

background

During the German occupation of Belarus in World War II , children and young people were seen as a particular security risk from a German point of view: "In many cases, it is precisely the young people, and among them again the girls, who are the active bearers of the communist idea and the struggle against the German order" , such a report by the Secret Field Police from August 1942. On June 20, 1943, the establishment of the “ White Ruthenian Youth Work” (WJW) was officially announced, based on the model of the Hitler Youth (HJ). The WJW was subordinate to the Hitler Youth functionary Nickel and acted in close connection with the Reich Ministry for the Occupied Eastern Territories and the Reich Youth Leadership . According to various sources, the WJW had between 12,000 and 40,000 members; the goal for 1943 was to recruit 20,000 boys and 10,000 girls as apprentices or unskilled workers for work in the German Reich. Up to 6,000 young people were brought to Germany before the “hay campaign” began, mostly to the Junkers factories in Dessau and Crimmitschau . Officially “volunteers”, some of the young people came to the German Reich in transports put together by the employment offices.

Course of the hay action

In March 1944, the German authorities began to use violence to recruit young people. From this the "hay action" developed, which was planned jointly by the Reich Ministry for the occupied eastern territories under Alfred Rosenberg and the Central Army Group operating in Belarus . From the point of view of the German military administration, homeless children and young people wandering around were potential spies. School lessons were often canceled because the German troops had moved into the school buildings.

The aim of the “hay campaign” was the deportation of 30,000 to 50,000 young people between the ages of ten and fourteen. Most of the young people's parents had previously been subjected to forced labor. In the propaganda the “hay action” should be presented as “welfare measures of the empire for the Belarusian children” as well as “protection from the gangs” ; Political goals were the “avoidance of the direct strengthening of the enemy’s military power” and “the reduction of his biological strength in the long term.” East Minister Rosenberg agreed to the “hay campaign” after initial hesitation in June 1944. The young people should be trained for two years with the involvement of the Todt organization . Around 5,500 boys and 1,200 girls, including those under the age of 15, were forced to work mainly in the German armaments industry, the majority of which were still in the Junkers factories. About 4,000 of the children and young people were employed by the Junkers factories.

Due to the military successes of the Red Army in the 1944 summer offensive , the “hay campaign” came to a standstill in October 1944. At the same time as the “hay campaign”, 15 to 20 year old youths were recruited as air force helpers. The HJ functionary Nickel and the "Dienststelle Hauptbannführer Nickel", subordinate to him, were in charge of this and expanded their activities to other occupied countries. According to various reports, between 4,000 and 21,000 young people in Belarus were recruited, some of them forcibly, mostly as flak helpers .

After the end of the war, the “hay campaign” was the subject of negotiations in the Nuremberg trials . In the trial against the main war criminals , Alfred Rosenberg was sentenced to death for his role in the "hay campaign". In the Wilhelmstrasse trial , Gottlob Berger was sentenced to 25 years in prison as a war criminal. Berger, Himmler's liaison in the East Ministry, had been instrumental in planning the “hay campaign”.

source

Document 031-PS: Re. Evacuation of young people from the area of ​​Army Group Center (hay campaign) . In: IMT: The Nuremberg Trial of the Major War Criminals ... , fotomech. Reprint Munich 1989, Vol. 25 (Evidence), ISBN 3-7735-2521-4 , pp. 88-92.

Remarks

  1. ↑ For the “hay action” see: Christian Gerlach : Calculated Morde. The German economic and annihilation policy in Belarus 1941 to 1944. Hamburger Edition, Hamburg 1999, ISBN 3-930908-54-9 , pp. 1077-1092, Ulrich Herbert : Fremdarbeiter. Politics and practice of the "deployment of foreigners" in the war economy of the Third Reich. Verlag JHW Dietz Successor, Bonn 1986, ISBN 3-8012-0108-2 , p. 256f; Entry in Encyclopedia of National Socialism (CD-ROM version)
  2. ↑ Gerlach, Morde , p. 1083. Ibid. Further quotations through to proposals to murder part of the Belarusian youth.
  3. ↑ all figures in Gerlach, Morde , p. 1084f.
  4. ↑ Gerlach, Morde , pp. 1085f.
  5. ^ Numbers in Gerlach, Morde , p. 1087.
  6. ^ Note from the Chief of the Political Staff in the East Ministry of June 12, 1944 (Nuremberg Document PS-031), quoted from Herbert, Fremdarbeiter , p. 257 (cf. Nuremberg Document PS-031 in English translation in the “Avalon Project” of Yale Law School ( Memento from May 19, 2008 in the Internet Archive )).
  7. ↑ a b Figures in a report by Nickels to the East Ministry of October 19, 1944 (Nuremberg Document PS-1137), quoted in Herbert, Fremdarbeiter , p. 258.
  8. ↑ Gerlach, Morde , p. 1089.
  9. ↑ Reported as a total number, referring to a report by Nickels from August 1944: Gerlach, Morde , p. 1090.
  10. ^ IMT: The Nuremberg Trial against the Major War Criminals ... , photomechanical reprint, Munich 1989, vol. 22, ISBN 3-7735-2511-7 , p. 616.