Nazi-occupied Europe

Nazi-occupied Europe
German government · Public domain · source
Name	Nazi-occupied Europe
Caption	Occupation and control in Europe, 1942
Period	1939–1945
Location	Europe
Major events	Invasion of Poland, Fall of France, Operation Barbarossa, Battle of Britain, Normandy landings

Nazi-occupied Europe was the region of continental Europe subjugated, administered, or influenced by the German Reich and its allies during World War II. Following the Invasion of Poland in 1939 and the Fall of France in 1940, German forces, together with partners such as Italy, the Hungary, the Croatia and the Slovakia, extended control across the continent, confronting the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and later the United States and the Red Army. Occupation policies combined military administration, civilian collaboration, economic extraction, and ideological persecution that culminated in mass atrocities and widespread resistance.

Background and Prelude to Occupation

The prelude included the Treaty of Versailles aftermath, the rise of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party, and aggressive diplomacy exemplified by the Munich Agreement and the Anschluss. German strategic planning invoked documents such as the Z Plan and concepts arising from the Lebensraum ideology, while diplomatic crises like the Sudeten Crisis and the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact shaped operations including the Invasion of Poland and the partition of the Poland. Rearmament programs tied to the Wehrmacht and doctrines used in the Blitzkrieg campaigns prepared the Reich for campaigns across Benelux, the Balkans Campaign, and the invasion of the Soviet Union.

Administration and Governance of Occupied Territories

Governance varied: occupied western areas saw military governors like those in the Military Administration in Belgium and Northern France and the German Military Administration in Belgium and Northern France, while annexed regions such as the Reichskommissariat Ostland and the Reichskommissariat Ukraine were run by civilian plenipotentiaries including Hinrich Lohse and Erich Koch. The Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia maintained a puppet structure under figures linked to the Reichsprotektor, intersecting with institutions such as the Gestapo, the SS, and the RSHA. Collaborationist administrations like the Vichy France regime, the Quisling regime in Norway, and the General Government illustrate variations in local control, involving actors such as Philippe Pétain, Vidkun Quisling, and Hans Frank.

Economic Exploitation and Resource Extraction

Economic policies tied to the Four Year Plan and directives from the Reich Ministry of Finance and the Reichswerke Hermann Göring sought raw materials, industrial output, and forced labor drawn from occupied populations and prisoners from systems including the labor camps and POW camps like Stalag. Industries in the Sudetenland, Silesia, and the Donbas were integrated into the Reich’s supply chain for the Luftwaffe and the Kriegsmarine, while policies such as the Hermann Göring decrees reallocated agricultural output across regions like Ukraine, Bessarabia, and Poland. Economic exploitation intersected with agencies like the Reich Security Main Office and firms including IG Farben, Krupp, and Siemens that employed coerced workers and profited from occupation.

Resistance Movements and Collaboration

Occupied societies produced resistance networks such as the French Resistance, the Polish Home Army, the Yugoslav Partisans under Josip Broz Tito, Soviet partisans linked to the Red Army, and underground movements in Greece and Norway. These groups coordinated sabotage, intelligence-sharing with the Special Operations Executive and the OSS, and uprisings like the Warsaw Uprising and the Slovenian uprising. Simultaneously, collaborationist forces included the Vichy militia, the Milice française, the Ustaše, the Russian Liberation Army and local auxiliary police such as the Schutzmannschaft, often cooperating with the Gestapo and the Einsatzgruppen in counter-insurgency and anti-partisan operations.

Persecution, Deportations, and the Holocaust

Persecution policies enacted by the SS, the RSHA, and the Einsatzgruppen produced massacres in sites across Babi Yar, Ponary, and the Kursk region and the establishment of extermination camps including Auschwitz concentration camp, Treblinka extermination camp, Sobibor extermination camp, and Belzec extermination camp. The Final Solution formalized genocidal policy by figures such as Heinrich Himmler and Reinhard Heydrich, implemented through deportations using the Reichsbahn and local collaborators, targeting Jewish communities in Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Romania, and Hungary. Persecution extended to Roma targeted by the Porajmos, political prisoners sent to camps like Buchenwald and Dachau, and civilians affected by measures under the Nuremberg Laws and occupation edicts.

Military Operations and Liberation

Military tides shifted with battles and operations including the Battle of Moscow, Stalingrad, El Alamein, and the Operation Overlord Normandy landings, which, together with offensives by the Red Army such as Operation Bagration, enabled liberation of occupied territories. Allied cooperation in campaigns involving the British Eighth Army, the United States Army, and the Free French Forces liberated regions from the Low Countries to the Balkans, culminating in final battles such as the Battle of Berlin and surrender of the Wehrmacht in 1945. Liberation exposed the scale of atrocities at liberated camps like Auschwitz and prompted immediate humanitarian responses from organizations including the International Committee of the Red Cross and the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration.

Aftermath, Trials, and Postwar Reorganization

After 1945, the Potsdam Conference and the Yalta Conference shaped territorial rearrangements involving the Allied Control Council, leading to occupation zones in Germany and the establishment of new state boundaries affecting Poland and the Baltic states. War crimes trials such as the Nuremberg trials and subsequent tribunals prosecuted leaders including Hermann Göring, Hans Frank, and industrialists tied to firms like IG Farben; others faced proceedings at national courts in Poland, France, and the Soviet Union. Postwar reconstruction involved programs like the Marshall Plan and institutions including the United Nations and the Council of Europe, while displaced populations and issues arising from expulsions and reparations remained contentious through the Cold War period and beyond.

Category:World War II