People without space
The expression people without space was a catchphrase in the Weimar Republic and in the time of National Socialism . The term was coined by the völkisch writer Hans Grimm in his 1926 novel Volk ohne Raum .
The catchphrase suggested that hardship, misery, hunger and poverty were due to the overpopulation of Germany and that one would therefore have to conquer new land (often called habitat or habitat in the east ) in the “ struggle for existence ” . Closely related to this was the claim that the earth was divided and that it was unjust that a people as large as Germany owned so little land. This claim is also implied in the winged word place in the sun . In a debate in the Reichstag on December 6, 1897, Bernhard von Bülow said in connection with German colonial policy : "We don't want to overshadow anyone, but we also demand our place in the sun."
The National Socialists adopted the colonialist slogan “people without space”, but located the settlement area in Eastern Europe instead of overseas. This should justify or legitimize the German war of conquest in the east (it should be a campaign like the attack on Poland and the French campaign ; in fact, it was a war that lasted almost four years ). The party program of the NSDAP of February 24, 1920 already contained the demand under point 3: "We demand land and land (colonies) to feed our people and to settle our population surplus." At the beginning of 1936, Reichsbauernführer Walther Darré outlined in front of regional employees (specialist advisers) of the Reichsnährstand The German plans for conquest are quite specific:
"The natural settlement area of the German people is the area east of our imperial border to the Urals, bordered in the south by the Caucasus, Caspian Sea, Black Sea and the watershed that separates the Mediterranean basin from the Baltic Sea and the North Sea. In this area we will settle, according to the law that the more capable people always have the right to conquer and own the clod of an incompetent people. [...] Such a political goal must be passed on from mouth to mouth on German farms, must be one in our farm schools be a natural basis of teaching. Then one day the people will also follow that statesman who seizes the opportunities presented to him to open up space to the east for our people without space. "
The plan was to exterminate the intelligentsia in the conquered areas and enslave the remaining population. This goal was justified religious , social Darwinist and racist , so the head of the DAF , Robert Ley , expressed before the specialist office of the DAF "Der Deutsche Handel" on October 17th, 1939:
“We can only accept our mandate by saying that it is willed by God that a higher race should rule over a minor one, and if there is not enough space for both, then the minor race must be ousted and, if necessary, to the Advantage of the higher race to be eradicated. The same is true of the strong and the weak. Everywhere nature eradicates the weak and unhealthy in favor of the strong and healthy. The healthy deer kicks the sick, and the healthy elephant tramples the sick. However, for 2000 years we have received sick people out of pity, nursed and cared for the inferior, and in its favor the higher did not develop. Our mission comes from these thoughts, from this idea. That is why we demand soil. "
See also
literature
- Hans-Ulrich Wagner: People without space. To the history of a catchphrase . In: Linguistics . 17, 1992, ISSN 0344-8169 , pp. 68-109. (linguistic investigation)
- Arno Schoelzel: People without space . In: Kurt Pätzold , Manfred Weißbecker (Hrsg.): Keywords and battle calls. From two centuries of German history . Volume 1. Militzke, Leipzig 2002, ISBN 3-86189-248-0 , pp. 111-118.
Individual evidence
- ↑ 25-point program of the NSDAP. at the DHM , accessed on April 9, 2009 .
- ↑ Adam Tooze : Economy of Destruction . Munich 2008, p. 238.
- ↑ Helmut Krausnick , Harold Deutsch (Ed.): Diaries of an Abwehr Officer 1938-1940 . Stuttgart 1970, p. 576.