Moscow
Moskowien (also Muskowien ) was in Western Europe the unofficial name for the Grand Duchy of Moscow , which formed the heartland of the united Russian state, as well as for the Tsarist Russia . The word Moscow was used for Russia from the 14th century up to Peter the Great in Europe , the Russians were called Muscovites.
In Russia itself, “Moscow” ( Московия ) was never used historically and has only recently appeared as a rarely used translation of the English Muscovy . At that time, the common people talked about the Moscow country ( Московская земля ) or simply Rus ( Русь ). In official parlance, the country was called Grand Duchy of Moscow until 1547 ( Великое Княжество Московское ). After the addition of the tsar title by Ivan IV ( the terrible ) one spoke of Russkoye Zarstvo (Tsarism Russia) and from Peter the Great of Rossiyskaya Imperia ( Russian Empire ).
In the era of National Socialism was during the Second World War a Reichskommissariat "Muscovy" planned by leading officials. Given the course of the war, this plan was not carried out. Use finds the term after the war in nationalist circles of Ukraine and Belarus .
National Socialism
Between 1941 and 1945, “Moscow” was also the propagandistic name of a Reichskommissariat planned by the National Socialists for the period after the so-called “ Final Victory ” . On April 7, 1941, Alfred Rosenberg wrote a “memorandum” on his proposals for staffing the future Reich Commissariats in the East as part of his Ostpolitik and the constitutional process of the Reich Ministry for the Occupied Eastern Territories , which he led . In this one can read:
“In addition, there may be a need to occupy not only Petersburg but also Moscow militarily. This occupation will probably have a completely different character than in the Baltic provinces, in the Ukraine and in the Caucasus . It will be aimed at suppressing all Russian and Bolshevik resistance and will require a thoroughly ruthless personality, both on the part of the military representation and the possible political leadership. The tasks that result from this do not now need to be recorded. If permanent military administration is not planned, the undersigned recommends the Gauleiter of East Prussia, Erich Koch, as Reich Commissioner in Moscow . "
On June 20, 1941, two days before the attack on the Soviet Union , Rosenberg explained his political objectives in the context of his struggle against “ Bolshevism ” (by which he always understood “ Judaism ”) “in front of those most closely involved in the Eastern problem” accentuated the special role of Moscow. Among other things, he said:
“The task of our politics therefore seems to me to be in the direction of taking up the strivings for freedom of all these peoples again in a clever and purposeful form and to bring them into a very specific state form, i. H. to organically cut out state structures from the huge territory of the Soviet Union and to build them up against Moscow in order to free the German Empire from the eastern nightmare for centuries to come. "
As in his memorandum of April 7th, he also stated here that the Ukraine and a Caucasian federation centered in Georgia must be built as a bulwark against "Greater Russia" and the restoration of Moscow to an "original" state . On July 16, 1941, the vacancies for the Reich Commissariats von Rosenberg, Adolf Hitler and Hermann Göring were discussed together. Goering spoke out against Erich Koch as Reich Commissioner in Moscow, Rosenberg stuck to his suggestion from Koch, and Hitler committed himself to Siegfried Kasche . When Hitler appointed the Reich Commissioners for the Eastern Territories to be occupied on July 17, 1941, Reich Commissioners were only appointed for the Reich Commission for Ostland and for the Reich Commission for Ukraine .
Moscow should roughly include Moscow and the wider area. Moscow itself, however, like Warsaw and Leningrad , should be "razed to the ground" according to Hitler. The name Russia should be erased and replaced by the designation Reichskommissariat Moskowien and Reichskommissariat Caucasien and Reichskommissariat Ostland . According to Hitler and Himmler's will, the Slavic population was intended to be a slave under German rule , with little education . The Russians should "be held down," it said in an instruction. That is why they wanted to close the schools and universities . The Jews and Roma were to be exterminated according to the will of the Nazi leadership.
Impact history
The terms "Muscovy" or "Muscovites" are now often in nationalist circles of Ukraine and Belarus as a replacement for Russia used to any reference of modern Russia to Kievan Rus undeniable. This is to reject Russia's claim to the role of the “reunifier of the Russian earth” with which Russia ruled these countries. In Poland , too , people liked to talk about Moscow in historical contexts until well into modern times , for similar reasons or for the relativization of their own foreign rule over the western territories of the former Rus. Moscow also has an archaic coloring and is supposed to suggest an alleged backwardness of Russia .
See also
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Klaus Hildebrand: The Third Reich . Göttingen 2003, p. 95 ( digitized version )
- ^ The trial of the main war criminals before the International Military Court of Nuremberg November 14, 1945 - October 1, 1946 , Vol. XI, Munich / Zurich 1984, p. 603.
- ^ Ernst Piper: Alfred Rosenberg . Hitler's chief ideologist, Munich 2005, pp. 49 and 427, ISBN 3-89667-148-0 .
- ^ A b Andreas Zellhuber: "Our administration is heading for a catastrophe ..." The Reich Ministry for the Occupied Eastern Territories and the German occupation in the Soviet Union. Munich 2006, p. 82 f. (Source: IMT, Vol. 26, 1058-PS; Job Zimmermann: Experiences and Shapes in the East Ministry . Typewritten manuscript, undated, IfZ , ZS 426, Bl. 20.)
- ↑ Andreas Zellhuber: "Our administration is heading for a catastrophe ..." The Reich Ministry for the Occupied Eastern Territories and the German occupation in the Soviet Union. Munich 2006, p. 87.