Heinrich program

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Program Heinrich was the name used by Reichsführer SS Heinrich Himmler on July 21, 1941 to Odilo Globocnik for all actions carried out by the SS within the " Operation Barbarossa " in Eastern Europe and for the colonization and settlement plans envisaged there after the war .

"General Plan East" as a template for "Program Heinrich"

Two days after the attack on the USSR on June 22, 1941, Himmler commissioned the agricultural scientist Konrad Meyer as head of the planning staff of the Reich Commissioner for the Consolidation of German Ethnicity to develop the General Plan East for the settlement in the East, after he had already been Attack on Poland in April / May 1940 for the so-called integrated eastern areas (cf. Reichsgaue Wartheland and Danzig-West Prussia ). The plan was intended to further concretize his policy of conquest, which was symbolically linked to Henry I as a Slav fighter and "noble peasant of his people" (Himmler). The first version was available on July 15, 1941. As a consequence, Himmler ordered on July 20, 1941, a visit to Lublin against Odilo Globocnik at what to Lublin and Zamosc , the future " Himmlerstadt should read" should be done. Appointed by Himmler shortly before his departure for Lublin as his representative in the newly conquered eastern territories, Globocnik, "Himmler's outpost in the east" (Peter Black), was to create SS and police bases in which military farmers or "milites agrarii", as they were from the first Heinrichschronisten Widukind von Corvey were called, would have to be settled in the form of SS men and their families.

Exhibition “Planning and Construction in the East” in 1941: Heinrich Himmler during a visit from Rudolf Heß

In the alleged footsteps of Heinrich I, the repopulation of the east was to take place first in the Wartheland , in East Prussia and then under Globocnik's leadership in the General Government (see border colonization ). In the resumption of medieval linguistic usage, reminiscent of feudalism and feudalism , the new settlement areas to be opened up were called "Siedlungsmarken" "at the forefront of the German people compared to Russian and Asiaticism", at the top of which a "march captain" would have been posted ; the future settlers would first have to be assessed as “feudal”, then via a “fiefdom” as “fief taker” with “time” - and finally “inherited” to be “enfeoffed”. A “feudal court” was provided for the settlement of disputes. As far as the Urals , Globocnik had to plan police bases, model yards with modern apartments and appropriate equipment. To this end, he recruited architects, interior decorators, building contractors, drainage experts, surveyors and historians in 1941. First of all, a “German People's Bridge” would have to be established between the areas to be Germanized and the parts of the USSR to be populated by Germans in the future . To this end, Globocnik had a trial resettlement carried out in November 1941, during which seven villages in the Zamosc district were completely evacuated by Polish farmers and " ethnic German " settlers were put in their place . What Himmler had in mind for the 20 years following the assumed victory, he presented in the greatest detail on November 22, 1942 in a speech in the SS Junk School in Bad Tölz: "Today a colony, tomorrow a settlement area, the day after tomorrow Reich!"

The “ General Plan East ” with the Germanizing settlement projects in Eastern Europe could only be implemented to a limited extent with the “ Aktion Zamosc ” (1942/43) led by Globocnik and the ethnic German settlement “ Hegewald ” near Zhytomyr in Ukraine because of the war. In contrast, the “Heinrich Program” also included the preceding genocide , namely “ Aktion Reinhardt ” in the Treblinka , Sobibor , Belzec and Majdanek extermination camps , also under Globocnik's orders . In Himmler's eyes Globocnik was "like no other made for the colonization of the East", as he wrote in a letter to his brother-in-law Richard Wendler on August 4, 1943. In August 1944, Himmler still considered “the program” to be “immovable”: “Besides, I think it's so wonderful when we are already clear about it today: We have our political, economic, human, military tasks in the splendid East.”

After his appointment as Reich Minister of the Interior, Himmler explicitly referred to Heinrich I in his secret Posen speech on October 6, 1943 in one of “the most remarkable meetings of party functionaries”, when he referred to the Urals and the outlines of the future “Germanic Reich” whose "clear imperial authority" referred to, with which the future kingdom was to be held together.

How deeply private and political matters permeated Himmler in his dealings with Heinrich I was shown by his lover Hedwig Potthast , mother of two Himmler's children, after the war and Himmler's death when she “only ever spoke of 'King Heinrich' in the family " have.

Race imperialism in the footsteps of national-historical models

Hitler believed that he would be able to realize his expansive goals in the footsteps of Otto I or Barbarossa and finally in the footsteps of Charlemagne in the footsteps of Charlemagne over Europe and Asia (" Enterprise Otto ", " Enterprise Barbarossa "). Himmler saw himself under the patronage of Heinrich I , father of Otto I, since 1935 . These two Ottonians - Heinrich I preferred to his son Otto I since the 19th century as a colonizer of Prussia in the east ; Otto I, as the victor on the Lechfeld over the Hungarians (955), regarded by the German-Austrians as the founder of the "Ostmark" of the empire and thus Austria - were in a sense the core figures of a German national policy that was solely considered to be correct and which would have been consistently expansive towards Eastern Europe should instead of unsuccessfully go to Italy and Rome (of the campaigns against the Slavs among the Ottonians, for example, it is said in today's historiography that the hostility in the military confrontation was “determined by the will to brutal retaliation and ruthless prostration and often in mass killings, Enslavement of women and children and total pillage of the settlements ended ”). In the great historians ' dispute of the 19th century - named " Sybel-Ficker-Streit " after its first participants - Heinrich I was described by Heinrich von Sybel in 1859 as "the star of the purest light in the vast firmament of our past", then folkish and finally in Nazism volkstumspolitisch been received. With this in mind, he should be commemorated on July 2, 1936 on the occasion of the thousandth anniversary of his death in Quedlinburg . Together with the SS, Himmler took over the organization of the festivities and gave what he believed was the most important speech of his career in the Quedlinburg collegiate church, which was declared a "national consecration place" with Heinrich's grave.

In 1935, Himmler had already founded the “ Ahnenerbe ” foundation to research the poor times of Henry I. The Wewelsburg , which he took possession of in 1934 , was now considered to be a foundation from the time of Henry I to defend against the Hungarians who then repeatedly invaded Eastern Franconia and was considered the starting point of the final battle between East and West, which is handed down in a legend. After his commemorative speech on the day of Heinrich's death broadcast throughout Germany, Himmler gave the death of Heinrich I in Quedlinburg a ritual character, declared bones excavated in 1937 to be among the remains of Heinrich I when he was reburied, founded a "King Heinrich I Memorial Foundation" and 1938 proclaimed a number of cities to be "King Heinrich cities" ( Braunschweig , Enger , Fritzlar , Wetzlar , Gandersheim , Erfurt , Goslar , Meißen , Nordhausen , Schleswig , Wallhausen and Quedlinburg), while the Wewelsburg project was prohibited from reporting was imposed. On July 2, 1939, the Lord Mayor of Quedlinburg presented him with the “King Heinrichs March” composed especially for him.

Himmler's canvassing for intellectual mentors for the SS

How much Himmler was concerned with justification and fame, especially with regard to his “program”, is evident in his efforts to have his deeds authenticated by historians and recorded by chroniclers at the beginning of the war against Poland.

So at the end of September 1939 he contacted Albert Brackmann (1871–1952), the then “highest-ranking German historian” (WJ Mommsen), the “gray eminence of Eastern research” (M. Beer). He was ready within three weeks to write a justifying propaganda pamphlet for the SS and their Berlin “ Ahnenerbe ” publishing house for the Eastern- imperialist campaign of conquest: Crisis and construction in Eastern Europe. A picture of world history . Brackmann introduces a picture of Heinrich I and Otto I as the first representatives of a German expansion to the east. Otto's plan to "subordinate the entire Slavic world" to the Archdiocese of Magdeburg is presented as "the most comprehensive plan that a German statesman has ever drawn up with regard to the East". The Wehrmacht acquired 1940 7000 copies of the book for the instruction of their corporate offices.

Even before the war began, Werner Jansen , who had been a member of the SS since 1935, had reported to Himmler at a chair in “natural” medicine that he had set up especially for him in 1934 . He had made a name for himself as a successful writer since the First World War and inspired the young Himmler with his Germanic novels written from a national perspective, so that he became his favorite writer. In 1936 and 1937 he worked as an author with articles on SS training in the SS Leithefte . In 1939 he offered Himmler "to let me take part in the big events as your historian". In 1940 he was assigned to a "Totenkopf" division, but died in December 1943 after a long illness after Himmler had appointed him SS-Standartenführer.

At the Wewelsburg as the ideological headquarters of the SS, Himmler announced the goal of the Russian campaign in June 1941 before the start of "Operation Barbarossa" at the only SS group leader conference ever held there: "The decimation of the population of the Slavic neighboring countries by 30 million" . His friend and chronicler Hanns Johst , President of the Reichsschrifttumskammer , also took part in the conference. He would have had to write the "Heinrich Saga" when he won and after completing "Program Heinrich". This should have come to the lecture in the "Heinrichsburg" Wewelsburg, which was built in the shape of a spear as the center of the SS until 1964 . In the shape of a spear, because the Holy Lance was in the hands of Heinrich and Otto as their most important ruling relic . Otto Höfler , Himmler and the Ahnenerbe , had already freed them of all Christian accessories on the Historians' Day in Erfurt in 1937 and declared them the "Holy Spear of Wotan".

In June 1941, Himmler sought another author, namely Edwin Erich Dwinger (1898–1981), who was supposed to accompany and represent the planned SS ventures in the East. About him as a successful writer, he hoped, albeit in vain, that the descriptions of his war acts would be widely disseminated in the form of historical novels. Because Dwinger had a few books about his war experiences in World War I and as a prisoner of war in Russia, and another bestseller in 1940 was Death in Poland. The Volksdeutsche Passion was published and, unlike Johst, had already gained experience in Eastern European war affairs.

Scientifically, too, Himmler was concerned about security. In October 1943 Hermann Schneider (Germanist) in Tübingen accepted an elaboration from Josef Otto Plassmann , member of Himmler's “ Personal Staff ”, as a habilitation. Plassman, who had published repeatedly on Heinrich I since 1928 and was the secretary of the “ Ahnenerbe ” magazine “Germanien”, wanted, according to Walther Wüst, “ to build up the historical image of the Saxon emperors on an old Germanic basis, and thus finally wrest this historical image away from the clutter of Roman history so that the intentions of the Reichsführer SS help to realize in a way and strength that could not be imagined more impressively ”.

Everything that Himmler did against Poland since the beginning of the war he placed under the patronage of Heinrich I: trips to the east from September 3, 1939 in the special train "Heinrich" (23 times mentioned in Himmler's service calendar from 1941/1942 alone); His "Feldkdo. -stelle", which was opened near the eastern Führer headquarters, he called "Heinrich"; the establishment of the " SS special unit Dirlewanger " followed the example, as Heinrich's chronicler Widukind von Corvey describes in the "Merseburger Schar", in which those who had committed criminal offenses had to prove themselves. It was used in the Lublin area from 1940.

literature

  • Richard Breitman: Heinrich Himmler. The architect of the “final solution” ; Munich, Zurich: Pendo, 2000; ISBN 3-85842-378-5 ; d. First edition udT The architect of the “Final Solution”: Himmler and the annihilation of the European Jews ; Paderborn u. a .: Schöningh, 1996; ISBN 3-506-77497-2 .
  • Rolf Düsterberg: Genocide and saga poetry under the sign of the "Greater Germanic Empire". Hanns Johst's friendship with Heinrich Himmler ; in: International Archive for the Social History of German Literature (IASL), 24 (1999), Issue 2, pp. 88–133; Tübingen: Niemeyer, 1999; ISSN  0340-4528 .
  • Frank Helzel: A King, a Reichsführer and the Wild East. Heinrich I (919–936) in the self-perception of the Germans ; Bielefeld: transcript, 2004; ISBN 3-89942-178-7 .
  • Heinz Höhne: The order under the skull. The history of the SS ; Munich: Bassermann, 2008; ISBN 978-3-8094-2255-6 (= Gütersloh: S. Mohn, 1967).
  • Karl-Heinz Janßen: Himmler's Heinrich. How a king of the early Middle Ages became the patron of German extermination policy in the East ; in: Dieter Buhl & Andreas Sentker [eds.]: World and cultural history: Epochs, facts, backgrounds , vol. 6; Hamburg: Zeitverlag, 2006; Pp. 596-604.
  • Michael H. Kater: The “Ahnenerbe” of the SS 1935–1945. A contribution to the cultural policy of the Third Reich ; Studies in Contemporary History 6; Munich: R. Oldenbourg, 2005 4 ; ISBN 3-486-57950-9 (1st edition: Stuttgart: Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, 1974; ISBN 3-421-01623-2 ); udT: The “Ahnenerbe”: The research and teaching community in the SS. Organizational history from 1935–1945 ; University dissertation Heidelberg, 1966.
  • Bradley Smith, Agnes Peterson (eds.): Heinrich Himmler. Secret speeches from 1933 to 1945 and other speeches. With an introduction by Joachim C. Fest ; Berlin 1974.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Breitman, 2000, p. 265 f.
  2. ↑ Götz Aly, Susanne Heim: Vordenker der Vernichtung. Auschwitz and the German plans for a new European order ; Frankfurt a. M. 1995; P. 126.
  3. ^ Werner Röhr: Reorganization of Europe - 60 years ago. The "Action Zamosc" and the "General Plan East" , in: Junge Welt , November 28, 2002
  4. ^ Reprint and analysis of the speech in: Frank Helzel: Himmler's and Hitler's symbolic politics with medieval rulers. King Heinrich I (919–936) and Emperor Otto I (936–973) in their national historical roles in the final part of the Second Thirty Years War 1914–1945 , p. 48 ff. ( Text as PDF )
  5. ^ Smith, Peterson, 1974, p. 246.
  6. ^ Smith, Peterson, 1974, p. 162.
  7. ↑ Katrin Himmler: The Himmler Brothers. A German family story ; Frankfurt a. M. 2007 (first 2005); P. 265.
  8. ↑ Gebhardt. Handbook of German History, Vol. 3: The time of the late Carolingians and Ottonians , Klett-Cotta: Stuttgart 2008, p. 432; ISBN 978-3-608-60003-2 .
  9. ↑ Höhne, 1995, p. 144.
  10. ↑ Kater, 1974, pp. 94, 385 (identical to the page numbers in the new edition at Oldenbourg).
  11. ^ Michael Burleigh: Germany turns Eastwards. A Study of Ostforschung in the Third Reich ; London 2002, pp. 132-134, 168.
  12. ↑ Volker Hess, “Of course everything only makes sense if you are sure of the response from the ministry.” The medical faculty under the banner of the “Führer University” , p. 48, in: The Berlin University in the Nazi era. Vol. 1: Structures and People , ed. by Christoph Jahr, Franz Steiner: Stuttgart 2005, pp. 37–48; ISBN 978-3-515-08657-8 .
  13. ↑ See Peter Longerich , Heinrich Himmler. Biography , Munich: Siedler, 2008, p. 437. ISBN 978-3-88680-859-5 .
  14. ↑ Breitman, 2000, p. 393, note 12.
  15. ↑ Düsterberg , 1999, pp. 110, 123 f., 127. - In 1942, the Franz-Eher-Verlag published the novel “ Herr Heinrich. The saga of the First German Reich ”by Fritz Vater. In the afterword (p. 455) F. Vater cites the speech that Himmler gave on July 2, 1936 in Quedlinburg with a quote.
  16. ^ Otto Höfler: The Germanic continuity problem ; Hamburg: Hanseatische Verlags Anstalt, 1937; Pp. 12-23.
  17. ↑ Breitman, 2000, p. 237 f.
  18. ↑ Kater, 1974, p. 135.
  19. ↑ Helzel, 2004, pp. 192-196.