The presented document once again shows that the Germans during the war years were convinced of their racial exclusivity of the Germans and the inferiority of the peoples of the conquered and planned to conquer countries.
"Secret business of command
For you workers sent to the East, the main thing is that work is the decisive factor. Therefore, I demand from you hard and tireless work.
Do not be afraid of decisions that may be wrong. Only those who do nothing do not make mistakes. It's not the individual mistakes that matter, but the work. We do not need those who do nothing because of fear of responsibility.
Now you have been given a unique opportunity to master the business and show your will to work, your knowledge, your abilities. Thus, England for centuries placed young people in positions of responsibility in her empire and gave them the opportunity to develop in themselves the ability to lead. Germany's lack of living space has hitherto been an obstacle for her in this respect.
To solve the tasks set in the East, however, it is required that you do not approach things with a narrow Western European scale.
You, who work in the East, are invested with the highest confidence of your superiors. You must justify this trust. The inspectors appointed by me will only check individual measures if necessary, but mainly to see if you justify your ability to work. I demand genuine leadership from you. It does not appear either in administration or in professorial reasoning. And therefore:
- long-term activity at the front;
- the greatest readiness to make a decision;
- speed in making one or another decision (better an erroneous decision than none);
- a small staff of good employees;
- no paper stationery;
- the ability to act according to directives and material emanating from the center, but at the same time to show their own initiative;
- short and clear instructions to subordinates - in the form of an order;
- no explanations and justifications, let the Russians see our workers as leaders;
- partnership between Germans, responsibility to superiors, authority for subordinates; if you have reason to be dissatisfied with the behavior of any German, do not show it to the Russians;
- consciousness of one's responsibility, no oppression of subordinates, on the contrary, to give them complete freedom so that they can reveal their personality;
- always keep closed in relation to the Russians, even a mistake made by some German must have a justification in the eyes of the Russians;
- do not indiscriminately copy German orders and organizations.
It is important to always have an end goal in front of you. You must be especially persistent in achieving your goal. The more persistent you are, the more inventive your methods can be to achieve this goal. The choice of methods is left to the discretion of each of you, unless there are general pertinent indications in the form of directives. Perseverance in achieving the goal, maximum flexibility in the choice of methods. Therefore, you should not be especially strict with the mistakes of your subordinates, but should constantly guide them towards the achievement of the goal.
In view of the fact that the newly annexed territories must be permanently assigned to Germany and Europe, much will depend on how you place yourself there.
You must make it clear to yourself that for centuries you are the representatives of great Germany and the standard-bearers of the National Socialist revolution and new Europe. That is why you must carry out the toughest and most merciless measures, which the state will demand from you, with the consciousness of your dignity. The lack of character in individuals will certainly be a reason for their removal from work. Anyone who is recalled back on this basis will no longer be able to hold responsible positions within the empire itself.
Set high, seemingly unattainable goals for yourself, so that what you actually achieve always seems to be partial.
Never "get fed up" with what has been achieved, but always remain revolutionary. Do not be one-sided in focusing your thoughts exclusively on agriculture, otherwise you will not be surprised that others will also think one-sidedly, either only about industry or about city affairs. Focus your thoughts on everything.
Do not ask what benefit the peasantry will derive from this, but only ask how useful it is for Germany. Only what is useful to Germany is also useful to the peasantry. Be principled, but not dogmatic. Be idealistic and realistic. Be decisive and, if necessary, cruel towards subordinates, but be fair and correct, always be a model for them.
Don't talk, act. You will never speak Russian and convince with words. He knows how to speak better than you, for he is a born dialectician and has inherited a "tendency for philosophizing." Less words and debate. The main thing is to act.
The Russian is impressed only by the action, because he is by nature feminine and sentimental. "Our country is great and beautiful, but there is no order in it, come and rule over us."
This saying appeared already at the very beginning of the formation of the Russian state, when the Russians called the Normans to come and rule them. This attitude runs like a red thread through all periods of the history of the Russian state: the domination of the Mongols, the domination of the Poles and Lithuanians, the autocracy of the tsars and the domination of the Germans, right up to Lenin and Stalin.
Russians always want to be a mass that is controlled. This is how they will perceive the coming of the Germans, for this coming meets their desire:
"...come and own us."
Therefore, the Russians should not be given the impression that you are hesitating. You must be men of action who, without any debate, without long fruitless conversations and without philosophizing, establish and carry out the necessary measures. Then the Russian will gladly submit to you. Do not use any German scales here and do not introduce German customs, forget everything German except Germany itself.
Especially don't be soft and sentimental. If you cry together with the Russian, he will be happy, because after that he will be able to despise you. Being feminine by nature, Russians also want to find a vice in the masculine in order to be able to despise the masculine, so be always courageous, keep your Nordic steadfastness.
Only your will must be decisive, but this will must be directed towards the accomplishment of great tasks. Only then will it be moral in its cruelty. Stay away from Russians, they are not Germans but Slavs. Don't have any drinking parties with the Russians.
Do not enter into any relations with women and girls of enterprises subordinate to you. If you stoop to their level, you will lose your credibility in the eyes of the Russians. Based on his centuries-old experience, the Russian sees in the German Supreme Being take care to preserve this German prestige. Raise it with your calm, businesslike orders, firm decisions, ridicule debating and ignoramuses.
Beware of the Russian intelligentsia, both émigré and new, Soviet. This intelligentsia deceives, it is not capable of anything, but it has a special charm and the art of influencing the character of a German. This property is possessed by a Russian man, and even more so by a woman.
Don't get infected by the communist spirit. Russian youth have been brought up in the communist spirit for two decades. She has no other upbringing. Therefore, it would be pointless to punish for the past. We do not want to convert the Russians to the path of National Socialism, we only want to make them a tool in our hands. You must win over the youth by showing them their tasks, tackle them vigorously, and punish them mercilessly if they sabotage or fail to fulfill these tasks.
Checking and investigating the past and analyzing petitions takes up the time you need to complete your German tasks. You are not forensic investigators and you are not a wailing wall.
Russia has always been a country of bribery, denunciations and Byzantism. This danger can penetrate you, especially through emigrants, translators, etc. Russians in leading positions, as well as heads of enterprises, senior workers and overseers, always show a tendency to bribe and extort bribes from their subordinates. Stop bribery, be yourself always incorruptible and correct.
We are not bringing Russians any new religion. By nature, the Russian is religious and superstitious, you must take this into account. However, the resolution of religious issues is not included in the scope of your tasks.
For centuries, Russian people have been experiencing poverty, hunger and deprivation. His stomach is distended, so no false sympathy for him. Don't try to make changes in the way of life of Russians, adapting it to the German standard of living.
You are completely on your own, so there should be no complaints and appeals for help to higher authorities. Do it yourself, then God will help you.
Bakke demands not to show compassion, throws mud at the Russians in every possible way, Bakke makes it clear that there is no difference between Russians and communists when he indicates that the Russian emigrant intelligentsia, as well as the Soviet, are "feared".
In 8 p. from, he makes a reference to the old Russophobic myth about the call of the Varangians to Rus', this myth that the Slavs called German superhumans to rule them is one of the pillars for the foundation of Nazism
This man Gottlieb Bayer, he was a member of the Academy of Sciences, it was he who was the author of the theory about calling the Varangians to Rus'
Bayer himself was a German who came to Russia, could not read and speak Russian, but considered himself an expert on Russian history
It is on his theory that Hitler will rely, who considered the claims of the Germans to rule the Slavs justified.
But the war showed that the Germans had no superiority over the Russians, the only thing that the German "supermen" succeeded in was in inhuman crimes, this wretched nation was not fit for more
Residents in the occupied territories USSR until thirty million people remain from the previous population, in order to obtain additional food for the German occupation forces and the population of Germany. According to historian Christian Gerlach, this plan was regarded as the official policy of the authorities and was consistently implemented after the attack on the Soviet Union.
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Hunger plan
Exporting agricultural products from Ukraine in order to provide the Reich with food, the German leadership also called for:
- the destruction of the excess population (Jews, the population in large Ukrainian cities);
- the extreme reduction in rations allocated to Ukrainians in other cities;
- reducing the cost of food for the rural population.
During the discussion of the plan, Bakke noted that the number of "surplus population" in Russia reaches 20-30 million. If this population is deprived of food, then the food saved can be used to feed german army and the German population. The plan assumed that increased during the years of industrialization urban population The USSR will be deprived of food supplies. Higher mortality expected Soviet Union, tens of millions of deaths were expected within the first year German occupation. The famine was to become an integral part of the occupation campaign.
Implementation and results of the plan
The famine plan led to mass death civilian population and Soviet prisoners of war, who received almost no food. For example, Jews were forbidden to purchase eggs, butter, milk, meat, and vegetables. The so-called "portion" for Jews in Minsk and other cities within the control of the central army group was no more than 420 kilocalories per day. Tens of thousands of Jews died from the famine and its consequences during the winter of 1941-1942. In total, as a result of the implementation of the plan, 4.2 million Soviet citizens died of starvation in the occupied territory.
In 1941, Soviet prisoners of war were given a diet of about 900 kcal per day, which is almost half the amount necessary for survival. Such a norm led to irreversible dystrophy and death of a person from starvation within a few months. Thus, the camps for Soviet prisoners of war in the first half of the war were the same extermination camps as the camps for Jews. Total in German camps died, primarily from starvation, more than three million Soviet prisoners of war, of which 2 million died before February 1942, during the first 8 months of the war.
As a result, the total losses of the USSR from the implementation of the famine plan amounted to at least 7.5 million people.
Although the famine plan was designed for the Soviet Union, it was also used in occupied Poland. Raoul Hilberg estimates that more than half a million Polish Jews died in the ghetto due to starvation.
By mid-1941, in Poland, the German population received 2,613 kilocalories per day, Poles 699 kilocalories, and Jews in the ghetto 184 kilocalories. The Jewish diet was 7.5% of the daily food requirement, the Polish diet - 26%. The Poles had some opportunities to get food on their own, for the Jews in the ghetto it was much more difficult. Only the ration allocated to the Germans contained sufficient calories.
Exporting agricultural products from Ukraine in order to provide the Reich with food, the German leadership also called for:
- the destruction of the excess population (Jews, the population in large Ukrainian cities);
- the extreme reduction in rations allocated to Ukrainians in other cities;
- reducing the cost of food for the rural population.
During the discussion of the plan, Bakke noted that the number of "surplus population" in Russia reaches 20-30 million. If this population is deprived of food, then the food saved can be used to feed the German army and the German population. The plan assumed that the urban population of the USSR, which had increased during the years of industrialization, would be deprived of food supplies. A large death rate was assumed among the population of the Soviet Union, tens of millions of deaths were expected during the first year of German occupation. The famine was to become an integral part of the occupation campaign.
Implementation and results of the plan
The famine plan led to the mass death of the civilian population and Soviet prisoners of war, who received almost no food. For example, Jews were forbidden to purchase eggs, butter, milk, meat, and vegetables. The so-called "portion" for Jews in Minsk and other cities within the control of the central army group was no more than 420 kilocalories per day. Tens of thousands of Jews died from the famine and its consequences during the winter of 1941-1942.
From one to two million Soviet prisoners of war died as a result of starvation and poor conditions of detention in the first year of the war alone.
Although the famine plan was designed for the Soviet Union, it was soon used in occupied Poland. Raoul Hilberg estimated that over half a million Polish Jews died in the ghetto due to starvation.
By the middle of 1941 in Poland, the German population received 2613 kilocalories per day, Poles - 699 kilocalories and Jews in the ghetto - 184 kilocalories. The Jewish diet was 7.5% of the daily food requirement, the Polish diet - 26%. Only the ration allocated to the Germans contained sufficient calories.
In early 1943, Hans Frank, the German governor of occupied Poland, estimated that about three million Poles faced starvation as a result of the plan being set in motion. In August, Warsaw was completely cut off from grain supplies. Only a large harvest in 1943 and the approach of the eastern front in 1944 saved the Poles from starvation.
Western Europe was third on the German food list, although it never suffered from a devastating famine like the East. Food came to Germany from France and other occupied countries in the West.
However, the famine plan was not fully implemented. The Germans lacked the manpower to fully enforce the "food blockade" of Soviet cities, and were unable to confiscate all food for their own purposes.
However, the Germans were able to significantly replenish their grain stocks, especially from the granaries of fertile Ukraine, and cut off the USSR from Ukraine's food sources, which led to widespread famine in Soviet territories (most severely in Leningrad, surrounded by German troops, where about one million people died during the siege of Leningrad).
At the end of 1943, the plan led to the stabilization of the food supply system for the German population. In the autumn of 1943, for the first time since the beginning of the war, food rations for German citizens, which had previously been reduced several times, were again increased.
In 1942-43, occupied Europe supplied Germany with more than one-fifth of its grain, a quarter of its fat production, and 30 percent of its meat.
Joseph Goebbels wrote in his diaries about the famine plan. He points out that the basic principle of the plan is that "before famine sets in in Germany, a number of other peoples will starve."
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An excerpt characterizing the Hunger Plan
- Where is Michelle? Are you not together?- Well, why not together? Together, of course! I just promised ... Yes, and she always loved children. So we decided to stay together until a new life takes them.
- So it's wonderful! Stella rejoiced. And then she jumped to another one. - You're very happy, aren't you? Well, tell me, are you happy? She is so beautiful!!!..
Arno looked into our eyes for a long time and attentively, as if wanting, but not daring to say something. Then I finally decided...
– I cannot accept this happiness from you... It is not mine... This is wrong... I am not yet worthy of it.
- How can you not?! .. - Stella literally soared. - How can you not - how can you! .. Just try to refuse !!! Just look how beautiful she is! And you say you can't...
Arno smiled sadly, looking at the raging Stella. Then he embraced her affectionately and quietly, softly said:
“You brought me unspeakable happiness, and I brought you such terrible pain ... Forgive me, dear, if you ever can.” Sorry...
Stella smiled at him lightly and kindly, as if wanting to show that she perfectly understands everything, and that she forgives him everything, and that it was not his fault at all. Arno just nodded sadly and, pointing to the quietly waiting children, asked:
– Can I take them “upstairs” with me, do you think?
“Unfortunately, no,” Stella answered sadly. They can't go there, they stay here.
“Then we’ll stay too…” a gentle voice sounded. We will stay with them.
We turned around in surprise - it was Michelle. “That’s all done,” I thought to myself. And again, someone voluntarily sacrificed something, and again simple human goodness won ... I looked at Stella - the little girl smiled. Everything was fine again.
“Well, will you walk with me a little more?” Stella asked hopefully.
I had to go home for a long time, but I knew that I would not leave her now for anything and nodded my head in the affirmative ...
To be honest, I wasn’t in the mood to walk too much, because after everything that had happened, my condition was, let’s say, very, very “satisfactory ... But I also couldn’t leave Stella alone, therefore, for both to feel good, although If only we were “in the middle”, we decided not to go far, but simply to relax our almost boiling brains a little, and give rest to our pain-wracked hearts, enjoying the peace and quiet of the mental floor...
We slowly floated in a gentle silvery haze, completely relaxing our twitchy nervous system, and plunging into the stunning, incomparable local peace ... Suddenly, Stella enthusiastically shouted:
- Wow! Just look at what kind of beauty it is there! ..
I looked around and immediately understood what she was talking about...
It really was extraordinarily beautiful!.. As if someone, while playing, created a real sky-blue "crystal" kingdom!.. We were surprised to look at the incredibly huge, openwork ice flowers, powdered with light blue snowflakes; and bindings of sparkling ice trees, flashing with blue highlights at the slightest movement of “crystal” foliage and reaching the height of our three-story house... glittering with tints of unprecedented silvery-blue hues...
What was it?! Who liked this cold color so much? ..
So far, for some reason, no one has shown up anywhere, and no one has expressed great desire to meet us ... It was a little strange, because usually the owners of all these wondrous worlds were very hospitable and friendly, with the exception of only those who had just appeared on the "floor" (that is, they had just died) and were not yet ready to communicate with others, or simply preferred to experience something purely personal and difficult alone.
– Who do you think lives in this strange world? – Stella asked in a whisper for some reason.
- Do you want to see? – unexpectedly for myself, I suggested.
I didn’t understand where all my fatigue had gone, and why I suddenly completely forgot the promise I made to myself a minute ago not to interfere in any, even the most incredible incidents until tomorrow, or at least until I get at least a little rest. But, of course, it again worked my insatiable curiosity, which I have not yet learned to pacify, even when the real need arose ...
Therefore, trying, as far as my tormented heart would allow, to “turn off” and not think about our failed, sad and difficult day, I immediately plunged into the “new and unknown”, anticipating some unusual and exciting adventure ...
We smoothly “slowed down” right at the very entrance to the stunning “ice” world, when suddenly a man appeared from behind a blue tree sparkling with sparks ... It was a very unusual girl - tall and slender, and very beautiful, she would have seemed quite young , almost if it were not for the eyes ... They shone with calm, bright sadness, and were deep, like a well with the purest spring water ... And in these marvelous eyes there was such wisdom that Stella and I had not been able to comprehend for a long time ... Not at all surprised by our appearance, the stranger smiled warmly and quietly asked:
- What do you, little ones?
We were just passing by and wanted to see your beauty. I'm sorry if I disturbed you…” I muttered, slightly embarrassed.
- Well, what are you! Come inside, it will certainly be more interesting there ... - waving her hand into the depths, the stranger smiled again.
We instantly slipped past her into the “palace”, unable to contain the curiosity rushing out, and already anticipating something very, very “interesting” for sure.
Inside it turned out to be so stunning that Stella and I literally froze in a stupor, opening our mouths like starved one-day-old chicks, unable to utter a word ...
There was no, as they say, “floor” in the palace... Everything that was there hovered in the sparkling silvery air, creating the impression of sparkling infinity. Some fantastic "seats", similar to groups of sparkling dense clouds accumulated in heaps, swaying smoothly, hung in the air, then, condensing, then almost disappearing, as if attracting attention and inviting them to sit down ... Silvery "ice" flowers, glittering and shimmering, they decorated everything around, striking with a variety of shapes and patterns of the finest, almost jewelry-like petals. And somewhere very high in the “ceiling”, blinding with sky-blue light, huge ice “icicles” of incredible beauty hung, turning this fabulous “cave” into a fantastic “ice world”, which seemed to have no end ...
- Come on, my guests, grandfather will be incredibly glad to see you! - smoothly sliding past us, the girl said warmly.
And then I finally understood why she seemed unusual to us - as the stranger moved, a sparkling “tail” of some special blue matter stretched behind her all the time, which shone and twisted like tornadoes around her fragile figure, crumbling behind her. her silver dust...
We did not have time to be surprised at this, when we immediately saw a very tall, gray-haired old man, proudly sitting on a strange, very beautiful chair, as if emphasizing his importance for those who did not understand. He quite calmly watched our approach, not at all surprised and not yet expressing any emotions, except for a warm, friendly smile.
The white, iridescent silver, flowing clothes of the old man merged with the same, completely white, long hair, making him look like a good spirit. And only the eyes, as mysterious as those of our beautiful stranger, shocked us with boundless patience, wisdom and depth, making us shudder from the infinity through them...
- You will be healthy, guests! the old man greeted kindly. - What brought you to us?
- And hello to you, grandfather! Stella greeted happily.
And then, for the first time in the entire time of our already rather long acquaintance, I was surprised to hear that she finally addressed someone as “you” ...
Stella had a very funny way of addressing everyone as “you”, as if by this emphasizing that all the people she met, whether they were adults or completely still kids, were her good old friends, and that for each of them she had a “wide open” the soul is open ... Which, of course, instantly and completely disposed to it even the most closed and the most lonely people, and only very callous souls did not find a way to it.
“Why is it so cold here?” - Immediately, out of habit, questions rained down. – I mean, why do you have such an “icy” color everywhere?
GOAL: 30 MILLION PEOPLE
- Thousands of books are devoted to the Great Patriotic War. Egor, why did you decide to write about this?
This topic is of interest to me personally. As a child, I had no doubt that the Nazis were going to conquer the USSR. It was obvious. But during the period of my growing up (it coincided with the collapse of the country), new opinions appeared in society and the media - the villainous intentions of the Third Reich began to be denied: the concept of a preemptive strike appeared, according to which Hitler simply preempted the insidious Stalin.
The existence of a plan for the mass extermination of Soviet citizens was also questioned. The events familiar from school - the destruction of Khatyn and Krasukha, the tragedy of prisoners of war, the blockade of Leningrad - were called "accidental excesses" ...
All this was at odds with the memories preserved in my family. My grandmother was a Pskov partisan. She told about something else: the Nazis were fierce, burning down entire villages along with the inhabitants during the retreat! .. There were all signs of genocide, not only in relation to citizens of Jewish and Gypsy nationalities, but also to the Slavs. In the book I have tried to establish the true plans of Germany.
- How did you decide on the name?
- "War of annihilation" - the term of Hitler himself. The Nazis wanted to destroy not only the communist ideology, but the Russian statehood as such, to inflict irreparable damage to our culture, and, most importantly, as an employee of the ministry wrote eastern territories Erhard Wetzel, weaken the Russian people to such an extent that they can never again interfere with German domination in Europe. According to Nazi analysts, in the winter of 1941-42 alone, Germany had to doom 30 million of our fellow citizens to death (we will return to this figure). This is actually what the book is about.
HITLER AND THE LEADER VINNETU
You claim that Hitler's worldview was formed in his youth. How can such a thing be in the mind of a young man?!
It turns out that it can. Hitler with young years was a conqueror of Eastern Europe"a German sword for a German plow." This meant a gradual cleansing of the "living space" from the local population, its release for hardworking German farmers. Apparently, the books of Karl May prompted him to these ideas. Children's books. May - famous writer, a sort of Fenimore Cooper. Only German. He wrote a whole series of fascinating adventure novels Indian chief Winnet and his friend Old Shetterhand, the Razorhand.
Was there anything extremist in his books?
Absolutely nothing! They were read by all German-speaking youth at the beginning of the 20th century. Both Albert Einstein and Hermann Hesse. But, as the Russian writer Yuri Trifonov said, someone, looking at the Venus de Milo, sees a work of art, and someone sees a woman without arms. Hitler read in these books not what Einstein did. This was the first source that presented him in an entertaining way with a model of the liberation of living space for a superior race. The story of how the Europeans ousted the Indians from their ancestral lands made a strong impression on the future Fuhrer. "Treat them like Indians" was how Hitler later spoke of the indigenous population of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus.
- It turns out that the roots of fascism grew out of children's books?
It would be more correct to say that they drew Hitler's attention to fascinating colonial examples. The most impressive, of course, was the British Empire. According to the Fuhrer, she accomplished the unheard of in the matter of colonization - she destroyed the peoples who occupied vast territories, and took her place under the sun. Hitler believed that this scenario should lead to historic success in Germany. The Anglo-Saxons settled North America and Australia. For the Germans, such a territory was to be "Russia and the outlying states that are subordinate to it."
"THE BLOCKADE WAS PLANNED BEFORE THE BEGINNING OF THE WAR"
- So. What did the Third Reich want anyway? On a global scale.
Annex the entire European part of Russia, up to the Urals, and gradually, over the course of perhaps hundreds of years, Germanize it. But already in the course conquest war against the USSR, the population of the "colony" was to be reduced by thirty million people. The situation in the economy led the Nazi elites to this idea. The Oldenburg military-economic headquarters, created for the development of the occupied territories, concluded that Germany could only continue the war against England if the Wehrmacht was supplied with food entirely at the expense of Russia. food crisis threatened the Reich itself, as british navy significantly blocked German imports. Again, it was planned to cover the shortage by exporting resources from the occupied Soviet territories. The Nazi leadership clearly understood that this robbery would lead to the starvation of millions and, nevertheless, without a doubt set in motion the so-called famine plan.
- Who was the main ideologist of the famine plan?
State Secretary of the Imperial Ministry of Food and Agriculture Herbert Bucke. He divided the USSR into zones of abundance and consumption. The first included the black earth territories of Ukraine and southern Russia, the second - wooded areas with infertile soil in the North-West and Central Russia. The plan was to block the flow of food to consumption zones and starve the urban population of these regions in the first place. Its execution would objectively lead to the death of thirty million people. Hermann Göring, telling the Italian Foreign Minister Galeazzo Ciano about this, said: "Some peoples have to be reduced."
How should this be implemented in practice?
Cities are surrounded, life support systems are destroyed by artillery and aircraft, access to food is blocked, the population is partially dying out, partially squeezed out to the east, up to the Urals. That is, two tasks are solved at once. Firstly, resources are distributed in favor of Germany, and, secondly, the land is cleared, on which German colonists can subsequently be settled. This is how Bakke and his co-author General Georg Thomas of the Wehrmacht imagined it in 1941.
- Are you hinting at the blockade of Leningrad?
Including. The blockade of Leningrad was part of this plan - this is a well-planned action. About to deprive the inhabitants of the city on the Neva of food, openly stated in the memorandum of "Oldenburg" dated May 23, 1941. Leningrad was the first in Bakke's plan. It was to be followed by Moscow and other cities. Here is one of the German directives: "... For all other cities, the rule is that before being taken they must be destroyed by artillery fire and air attacks, and the population must be forced to flee ...". The Bakke plan was not fully implemented in practice due to the failure of the blitzkrieg, but it operated in the occupied territories Leningrad region, for example, in Pushkin. In the winter of 1941-42, almost half of the population died there from an organized famine, including the famous science fiction writer, author of "Amphibian Man" Alexander Belyaev. A planned famine, when the population was "locked" in the city without the delivery of food, was also in the cities of the south of the country, in Kyiv and Kharkov, where starvation, in particular, the uncle of Alexander Blok, the famous architect Beketov, died.
The largest category of victims of the famine plan was Soviet prisoners of war - in accordance with Bakke's developments, directives were issued in the army on sharply underestimated food rations for them. In the winter of 1941-42, captivity was tantamount to a death sentence. According to realistic data, during the years of the war in German captivity from 3.3 to 3.8 million soldiers of the Red Army died.
- Thirty million - how objective is this figure?
her in different time Bakke was called, and the head of the SS Heinrich Himmler, and the head of the military-economic headquarters "Oldenburg" Hermann Goering. On June 10, 1941, Bakke, who was the first to voice this figure of "people superfluous for Germany", met with Himmler, who immediately after the meeting went to a meeting with the highest ranks of the SS in Wewelsburg Castle. According to the testimony of high-ranking Nazi Erich von dem Bach-Zelewski, Himmler publicly stated at this meeting that the aim of the war would be the extermination of thirty million Slavs. Apparently, this statement is a consequence of their conversation with Bakke. Himmler called on subordinates to carry out "special tasks" that were supposed to hasten the destruction of consumption competitors. We are talking about merciless punitive operations for the slightest disobedience, the extermination of Jews, Gypsies, the mentally and seriously ill.
GENOCIDE OF SLAVES
One part of your book is entirely devoted to the racial background during the Great Patriotic War. Why did you decide to devote an entire chapter to this issue?
I wanted to understand, finally, what place the Slavs occupied in the racial hierarchy of Nazism. The main hater of the Slavs in the Reich was, perhaps, Heinrich Himmler: the German historian Heinz Höhne even called him an anti-Slavic mystic. He called the Russians a people based on an inferior race, incapable of maintaining order and self-government. Himmler was sure that harmful Slavic blood could spoil the Nordic blood of the Germans.
Under his influence, the marriages of Germans with residents of the occupied territories were strictly prohibited. It was the Reichsfuehrer who introduced amendments to German legislation that officially ranked the Slavs among the peoples alien to the Germans. In the perverse logic of the Nazis, the idea that the Slavs were biologically worse than the Germans made their extermination out of the category of crimes.
I fully agree with my colleague, the British historian Alex Kay, who wrote that while the famine plan was based on economic motivation, it was racial motivation that removed all doubt about the admissibility of such a move. A similar consensus between the military and political elite of the Reich about the French or Norwegians is impossible to imagine.
At the same time, the Nazis recognized that due to the constant proximity to the German peoples, particles of Nordic blood got into the veins of the Slavs, and Aryans can still sometimes come across in the amorphous eastern mass. This clause allowed the formation of SS formations from the local population to destroy their compatriots. In addition, the old Russian aristocracy and, in general, emigrants loyal to the Nazis were proclaimed Aryan. Hitler flirted with them when it was advantageous, but to share political power, of course, was not going to.
- In addition to the gypsies, Jews and Slavs, was anyone else subject to destruction?
The mentally ill and the terminally ill. In Germany itself, the T-4 Program worked, under which the Nazis killed about 70 thousand of their compatriots.
- But they say that Stalin destroyed his own, and Hitler - only strangers ...
It is not true. I studied the materials for the T-4 program. I confess that it is impossible to read them without a shudder. The performers report that they saved 880 million Reichsmarks for the Third Reich - on the basis that these unfortunate patients would live another ten years, "sitting on the neck of the Reich." Separately, with pride, it is indicated how much was saved on bread, how much - on butter, how much - on jam. It's terrible to read.
- When did the Germans realize that the famine plan was failing?
When the blitzkrieg stalled, after the successful counteroffensive of the Red Army near Moscow. The Germans had to suspend the program of extermination of prisoners of war - since the spring of 1942, the Nazis began to treat them better, because there was a need for labor.
The fracture occurred after Battle of Stalingrad. Then it became clear that Germany could lose. Then the Germans tried to find a common language with the population of the occupied territories, but it was too late. Soon the successes of our troops forced the Germans into a scorched earth policy. Within its framework, Soviet citizens were massively deported to Germany or destroyed. This was especially true for men: it was important to exclude their mobilization in the Red Army, to weaken the biological strength of the enemy. The flywheel of violence was spinning with new energy.
- You mentioned that the Germans committed genocide.
Undoubtedly! The classical definition of genocide, formulated by lawyer Raphael Lemkin, is that it is an act committed with intention m destroy, in whole or in part, any national, ethnic, racial, religious or other historically established cultural and ethnic group. The famine plan expressed in the Oldenburg documents reliably establishes the intention of the Nazis to partially destroy the people of the Soviet Union already in the winter of 1941-42. This is a clear genocide.
"There WOULD NOT BE LEFT OF US..."
What would happen if Germany won the war?
The vector adopted by the Nazi elite prepared for us the fate of the North American Indians: a radical reduction in the number of people and displacement to the sidelines of history. After the victory of the Germans, the "General Plan OST" was to come into effect. There are many myths around this document. They say it has not been found. In fact, it just wasn't written: victory Soviet troops V Battle of Kursk made senseless Nazi planning for the organization of the conquered territories. But a few drafts have survived. The best known is the review of the version of the OST plan prepared by the 3rd Directorate of the RSHA. It was written by an official of the Ministry of Eastern Territories, Erhard Wetzel. Here is a short excerpt from his program: “... In these areas, we must consciously pursue a policy of population reduction. Voluntary sterilization should be promoted. Along with this, propaganda of contraceptives should be deployed. It is necessary to promote the expansion of the network of abortion clinics and prevent the struggle to reduce infant mortality...”.
- Really, it's terrible.
But that's not all. In parallel with this, the Nazis were looking for tools for the mass sterilization of large masses of the people. One of the projects belonged to Dr. Adolf Pokorny. He suggested mixing the Slavs with the South American plant Dieffenbachia seguine, which reduces human reproductive abilities. True, this idea was rejected - it was impossible to extract such raw materials on an industrial scale. But the Nazis still found a way to sterilize a lot of people. It was moderate exposure. x-rays, which was tested in Auschwitz by SS professor Karl Klausberg. This method would inevitably have been applied to the inhabitants of the USSR in the event of a German victory in World War II.
"OUR VICTORY HAS A HUGE SPIRITUAL MEANING"
- How to make sure that young people do not forget about the exploits of their ancestors?
The current generation is absolutely normal. The main thing is not to prevent him from receiving reliable, not distorted data. Don't fool his brain. The truth and only the truth. Because there is nothing shameful, reprehensible and shameful in the events of the Great Patriotic War for us.
The ideas for which the Soviet people fought are completely opposite to those for which the Nazis fought. The Germans fought for a world where there are Aryan masters and their slaves, and the USSR defended the principle of human equality. This principle - both communist and deeply Christian - prevailed over the ideas of extermination and enslavement. In this I see the great spiritual meaning of our victory.
- A lot of talk about the crimes of Soviet soldiers against the German civilian population.
There were crimes, and no one justifies them. But there is a fundamental difference with the practice of Nazism. The Wehrmacht entered Soviet territory with an order of military jurisdiction in the area of operations "Barbarossa", which actually freed the Germans from responsibility for crimes against civilians. The Nazi anti-gang order permitted the killing of women and children "if it leads to success." The order "On the behavior of troops in the East" categorically forbade feeding the starving population, calling it unnecessary humanity. With the help of these documents, the Nazi leadership deliberately corrupted its army, instilled in it the psychology of masters.
The Soviet command never issued such orders. In general, it was forced to solve a directly opposite task. On the way to the west, liberating their territories, our soldiers saw and heard things that not every psyche can withstand. For example, I am citing a story by veteran Mikhail Lukinov about a woman whose child woke up the Germans who had stopped to wait in her house by crying. They pierced the child with a bayonet, and pushed the distraught mother out into the cold at night, closed the door and went on to sleep.
It is not surprising that our army entered the territory of Germany, filled with hatred. To kindle it, no Ilya Ehrenburg was needed! The commanders and political workers made tremendous efforts to appease this bubbling hatred in their fighters. This was not always possible, but I think the difference in the intentions and actions of the Wehrmacht and the Red Army is obvious. By the way, this was not always possible for the command Western allies. Going to Dachau and seeing what was going on there, american soldiers spontaneously killed part of the unarmed SS men.
- What role did Dmitry "Goblin" Puchkov play in the publication of the book?
A few years ago, Dmitry Yuryevich invited me to read several lectures on his Internet television (on the oper.ru website and YouTube channel, - Red.). We have recorded a series of videos about Nazi policy on the territory of the USSR. They aroused great interest, and this prompted me to complete the book, which I had planned for a long time. Dmitry wrote a preface to it.
How will you present the book?
The presentation has already taken place in St. Petersburg, Moscow is next in line. The event will take place March 25 at the Moscow House of Books on the Arbat.
In addition, Dmitry Yuryevich and I are launching a project called "Digital History". We plan to travel all over the country and record videos with academic historians. In parallel, we will present the book.
- I know that netizens ask if you are going to write more.
The book "War of Annihilation" turned out to be very cruel. The editor told me that the book was good, but there were moments in it that she wished she could forget. For balance, I would like to write a book about mutual assistance and mutual support of people during the Great Patriotic War. My postgraduate teacher at St. Petersburg State University, Professor Daniil Natanovich Alshchits, a veteran of the Leningrad Front, said: “The Great Patriotic war a good man won." That's about it" good man' must be written.
AND AT THIS TIME
“Russians have never treated strangers like animals!”
According to Yegor Yakovlev, the colonial programs of the Nazis were designed for a hundred, two hundred, three hundred years ahead. Hitler thought in very long periods ... It is interesting to compare this with the approach to colonization in our country.
The Russian model of colonization was based on the desire to incorporate foreign peoples into their culture, and not to reject them, as was the case in the Anglo-Saxon model. Our people have never treated strangers like animals or an inferior race, says the researcher. - Remember Pushkin: “The rumor about me will spread throughout the whole of Great Rus', / And every language that exists in it will call me, / And the proud grandson of the Slavs, and the Finn, and now wild / Tungus, and the Kalmyk friend of the steppes.” Pushkin claims that his work is for all the peoples of the empire, and not just for Russians. It is impossible to imagine that at the same time Byron addressed similar words to the Indians or the Aborigines of Australia.
DIRECT SPEECH
Famous film translator and blogger Dmitry "Goblin" Puchkov (from the preface to the book):
Quite recently (in a historical perspective, of course) I met the historian Yegor Yakovlev. Egor is a real historian: well-prepared, deeply knowledgeable and well-educated in St. Petersburg. In long conversations with him, a complete picture was finally formed - where did Nazism come from and what did it represent. Moreover, the mass of the most important aspects was revealed completely from an unexpected side for me. It is understandable - time passes, archives are opened, new circumstances are being clarified. But still, for me personally, a lot of what Egor told is a real discovery.
Anyone who shares such views, I strongly recommend reading the book by Yegor Yakovlev. I don’t have hopes that the brain will suddenly work as it should, but at least there will be interest in the actual state of things.
To all those who do not share the love for the Nazis, I even more strongly recommend reading the book, because a lot of things will appear in a completely different light. And when you read it yourself, give it to older children to read. They should know all this first.
HELP "KP"
Yegor Yakovlev is a popular St. Petersburg historian, writer and journalist. Together with Dmitry Puchkov, they are broadcasting "Intelligence Questions", talking on historical themes. The videos get millions of views on the Internet.
On February 14, 1940, the State Secretary of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture of the Third Reich, Herbert Bakke, made a statement: the ongoing war threatens the provision of Germany with food, and a terrible situation may arise, as in 1918. In order to prevent such things, Bakke proposed the "Plan" Hunger "in order to replenish food supplies due to the death of the population of the USSR.
According to this plan, it was supposed to "reduce" the population of the Soviet Union by 30 million people, and send the released surplus food to Germany to "nourish the German people." All 30 million were expected to die within a year of the start of the German occupation. As Bakke noted, this would save the Reich a lot of cartridges that would have had to be used up for executions, and also free up soldiers for the front. Such a sweet person. Sea of charm.
In the first winter of 1941-1942. 4 million 200 thousand people died from starvation in the occupied territory of the USSR. For example, Jews were forbidden under threat of execution to buy butter, meat, milk and vegetables - they were given a ration of 420 calories a day. It takes 1,800 calories to survive, which is why hundreds of thousands of Jews starved to death. Soviet prisoners of war received rations of 900 calories, and they also died - 2 million people died in the first winter of the war. The population of Germany, meanwhile, received a ration of 2,613 calories: not a big deal, but quite enough to live on.
The occupying army raked out all the granaries in Ukraine and Belarus. Cattle were driven to Germany, canned food was also brought there from the captured warehouses, food was requisitioned in the villages. That is, everything was swept clean. This led to the fact that at the end of 1943, a year and a half before the end of the war, food rations in the Reich were INCREASED: the Nazis simply overfulfilled the plan. Meanwhile, in Western Europe, food was also requisitioned, but carefully: 20 percent of grain, 30 percent of meat, and 25 percent of all fats produced. Famine in some parts of Europe broke out only in the winter of 1944/1945, when, in the sphere of the fact that the Reich was breathing its last, Germany spat on conventions and began to row everything.
Herbert Bakke (by the way, a native Russian Empire, who spoke excellent Russian) issued "12 commandments for the treatment of Germans with Russians." In particular, it was said there - “Russian people have got used to poverty, hunger and unpretentiousness for hundreds of years. His stomach is stretchable, so no fake pity." On May 15, 1945, Bakke was arrested by the Americans, and on April 6, 1947, he hanged himself in a prison cell after threatening to extradite him to the Soviet Union.
