Comments and suggestions on the general plan "Ost" of the Reichsführer of the SS troops
In November 1941 it became known that the Reich Main Security Office is working on a general plan "Ost". The officer in charge of the Reich General Directorate of Security, Standartenfuehrer Elich, already told me at that time the expected figure of 31 million people of non-German origin to be resettled. This case is in charge of the general directorate of imperial security, which now occupies a prominent place among the bodies subordinate to the Reichsführer of the SS troops. At the same time, the general directorate of imperial security, in the opinion of all the leaderships subordinate to the Reichsführer of the SS troops, will also perform the functions of imperial commissariat for the strengthening of the German race.
General comments on the "Ost" master plan
For its ultimate goal, namely the planned Germanization of the territories in question in the East, the plan must be approved. However, the enormous difficulties that will undoubtedly arise in the implementation of this plan, and which may even raise doubts about its feasibility, seem relatively small in terms of the plan. First of all, it is striking that Ingermanland [1] Dnieper, Tavria and Crimea [2] as colonization territories were left out of the plan. Obviously, this is due to the fact that in the future, the plan will also include new colonization projects, which will be discussed at the end.
At present, it is already possible, more or less definitively, to establish as an eastern boundary of colonization (in its northern and middle parts) a line that runs from Lake Ladoga to Valdai Upland and beyond to Bryansk. Whether these changes will be made to the plan by the command of the SS troops, I do not presume to judge.
In any case, it should be foreseen that the number of people who will be resettled under the plan should be further increased.
It follows from the plan that this is not a program that is subject to immediate implementation, but, on the contrary, the settlement of this space by the Germans should take place within about 30 years after the end of the war. Under the plan, 14 million local residents should remain in this area. However, it is more than doubtful whether they will lose their national characteristics and whether they will suffer Germanization in the planned 30 years, since, again, according to the plan in question, the number of German immigrants is very small. Obviously, the plan does not take into account the desire of the state commissioner to strengthen the German race (Greifelt department) to settle people fit for Germanization within the German empire proper...
The fundamental question of the whole plan of colonization of the East is the question of whether we will succeed in awakening in the German people the desire for resettlement in the East. As far as I can judge from my own experience, there is undoubtedly such a desire in most cases. However, one should also not lose sight of the fact that, on the other hand, a significant part of the population, especially from the western part of the empire, strongly rejects resettlement in the east, including in the Wart region of Danzig region and West Prussia [3] ..., in my opinion, that the competent authorities, especially the Eastern Ministry, should constantly monitor the tendencies expressed in the reluctance to move eastward, and combat them with the help of propaganda.
In addition to encouraging aspirations to relocate to the east, the decisive moments also include the need to awaken in the German people, especially among the German settlers of the eastern territories, the desire to increase motherhood. We must not deceive ourselves: the increase in the birth rate observed since 1933 was in itself a gratifying phenomenon, but it can by no means be considered sufficient for the existence of the German people, especially given their enormous task of colonizing the eastern territories and the incredible biological capacity to reproduce the neighboring eastern peoples.