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The Deutsche Volksliste (German People's List), a
Nazi Party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported t ...
institution, aimed to classify inhabitants of Nazi-occupied territories (1939-1945) into categories of desirability according to
criteria Criterion, or its plural form criteria, may refer to: General * Criterion, Oregon, a historic unincorporated community in the United States * Criterion Place, a proposed skyscraper in West Yorkshire, England * Criterion Restaurant, in London, En ...
systematised by ''
Reichsführer-SS (, ) was a special title and rank that existed between the years of 1925 and 1945 for the commander of the (SS). ''Reichsführer-SS'' was a title from 1925 to 1933, and from 1934 to 1945 it was the highest rank of the SS. The longest-servi ...
''
Heinrich Himmler Heinrich Luitpold Himmler (; 7 October 1900 – 23 May 1945) was of the (Protection Squadron; SS), and a leading member of the Nazi Party of Germany. Himmler was one of the most powerful men in Nazi Germany and a main architect of th ...
. The institution originated in occupied western Poland (occupied 1939-1945). Similar schemes were subsequently developed in
Occupied France The Military Administration in France (german: Militärverwaltung in Frankreich; french: Occupation de la France par l'Allemagne) was an interim occupation authority established by Nazi Germany during World War II to administer the occupied z ...
(1940-1944) and in the
Reichskommissariat Ukraine During World War II, (abbreviated as RKU) was the civilian occupation regime () of much of Nazi German-occupied Ukraine (which included adjacent areas of modern-day Belarus and pre-war Second Polish Republic). It was governed by the Reic ...
(1941-1944). ''
Volksdeutsche In Nazi German terminology, ''Volksdeutsche'' () were "people whose language and culture had German origins but who did not hold German citizenship". The term is the nominalised plural of ''volksdeutsch'', with ''Volksdeutsche'' denoting a sing ...
'' (
ethnic German , native_name_lang = de , region1 = , pop1 = 72,650,269 , region2 = , pop2 = 534,000 , region3 = , pop3 = 157,000 3,322,405 , region4 = , pop4 = ...
s) topped the list as a category. They comprised people without German citizenship but of German ancestry living outside Germany (unlike German expatriates). Though ''Volksdeutsche'' did not hold German citizenship, the strengthening and development of ethnic German communities throughout east-central Europe formed an integral part of the Nazi vision for the creation of Greater Germany (''Großdeutschland''). In some areas, such as Romania, Croatia, and Yugoslavia/Serbia, ethnic Germans were legally recognised in legislation as privileged groups.


Pre-war Nazi contact with ethnic Germans

In 1931, prior to its rise to power, the Nazi Party established the Auslandsorganisation der NSDAP (Foreign Organisation of the German National Socialist Workers Party), whose task was to disseminate Nazi propaganda among the German minorities living outside Germany. In 1936, the
Volksdeutsche Mittelstelle The ''Volksdeutsche Mittelstelle'' or VoMi (Coordination Center for Ethnic Germans) was a Nazi Party agency in Nazi Germany founded to manage the interests of the ''Volksdeutsche'', the population of ethnic Germans living outside the country. U ...
(Ethnic German Welfare Office), commonly known as VoMi, was set up under the direction of
Himmler Heinrich Luitpold Himmler (; 7 October 1900 – 23 May 1945) was of the (Protection Squadron; SS), and a leading member of the Nazi Party of Germany. Himmler was one of the most powerful men in Nazi Germany and a main architect of th ...
as RKFDV of the German Schutzstaffel (SS) as the liaison bureau for ethnic Germans and was headed by SS-''
Obergruppenführer ' (, "senior group leader") was a paramilitary rank in Nazi Germany that was first created in 1932 as a rank of the ''Sturmabteilung'' (SA) and adopted by the ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) one year later. Until April 1942, it was the highest commissio ...
''
Werner Lorenz Werner Lorenz (October 2, 1891 – March 13, 1974) was an SS functionary during the Nazi era. He was head of the ''Volksdeutsche Mittelstelle'' (VOMI) (Main Office for Ethnic Germans), an organization charged with resettling ethnic Germans in ...
.


Motivation for creating the list


Germanisation

According to the testimony of Kuno Wirsich: When Germany invaded Poland in 1939, it annexed the western part of the country (taking
East Upper Silesia East Upper Silesia (german: Ostoberschlesien) is the easternmost extremity of Silesia, the eastern part of the Upper Silesian region around the city of Katowice (german: Kattowitz).Isabel Heinemann, ''"Rasse, Siedlung, deutsches Blut": das Rasse- u ...
, creating the new entities of the Reichsgaue of
Danzig-West Prussia Reichsgau Danzig-West Prussia (german: Reichsgau Danzig-Westpreußen) was an administrative division of Nazi Germany created on 8 October 1939 from annexed territory of the Free City of Danzig, the Greater Pomeranian Voivodship ( Polish Corrido ...
and
Wartheland The ''Reichsgau Wartheland'' (initially ''Reichsgau Posen'', also: ''Warthegau'') was a Nazi German ''Reichsgau'' formed from parts of Polish territory annexed in 1939 during World War II. It comprised the region of Greater Poland and adjacent ...
, the Zichenau Region (or South East Prussia), and the
General Government The General Government (german: Generalgouvernement, pl, Generalne Gubernatorstwo, uk, Генеральна губернія), also referred to as the General Governorate for the Occupied Polish Region (german: Generalgouvernement für die be ...
, the latter for the administration of the rest of its own occupied part of the country. The plan for Poland, as set forth in
Generalplan Ost The ''Generalplan Ost'' (; en, Master Plan for the East), abbreviated GPO, was the Nazi German government's plan for the genocide and ethnic cleansing on a vast scale, and colonization of Central and Eastern Europe by Germans. It was to be under ...
, was to "purify" the newly annexed regions in order to create a Germanised buffer against Polish and Slavic influence. This entailed deporting Poles from these westernmost areas to those under General Government control, and settling the region with ethnic Germans from other places including from the General Government area, from within the pre-war German borders and from various areas that came under the control of Soviet Russia (Baltic States, eastern Polish territories, Volhynia, Galicia, Bukovina, Bessarabia and Dobrudscha). To further its objective of Germanisation, Nazi Germany endeavoured to increase the number of '
Volksdeutsche In Nazi German terminology, ''Volksdeutsche'' () were "people whose language and culture had German origins but who did not hold German citizenship". The term is the nominalised plural of ''volksdeutsch'', with ''Volksdeutsche'' denoting a sing ...
' in the conquered territories by a policy of Germanising certain classes of the conquered people, mainly those among the Czechs, Poles, and Slovenes who had German ancestors. Thus, the Nazis encouraged the Polish offspring of Germans, or Poles who had family connections with Germans, to join the 'Volksliste', often applying pressure to compel registration. Those who joined enjoyed a privileged status and received special benefits. Registrants were given better food, apartments, farms, workshops, furniture, and clothing—much of it having been confiscated from Jews and Poles who were deported or sent to
Nazi concentration camps From 1933 to 1945, Nazi Germany operated more than a thousand concentration camps, (officially) or (more commonly). The Nazi concentration camps are distinguished from other types of Nazi camps such as forced-labor camps, as well as con ...
. Determining who was an ethnic German was not easy in regions that had Poles, ethnic Germans, and individuals of German ancestry who had been Polonised. There were many in western Poland who claimed German ancestry and resisted deportation to the General Government on the basis of it. Similar ambiguities occurred in all other eastern areas, such as Bohemia and Moravia, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Romania, and Serbia. Even Himmler was impressed by this and said that such resistance must be evidence of their Nordic qualities. Furthermore, Nazi officials in charge of the various annexed territories from Poland did not want to see too many economically valuable local nationals sent eastwards, so they, too, desired some form of criteria that would allow them to avoid deporting any skilled Poles with German ancestry. Poles who were considered to be suitable for Germanisation were sent to the Reich as labourers. A "racial assessment" was also performed with regard to the ethnic German returnee with often disappointing results. In 2006, German historian
Götz Aly Götz Haydar Aly (; born 3 May 1947) is a German journalist, historian and political scientist. Life and career Aly was born in Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg. He is a patrilineal descendant of a Mixed Turkish-Kurdish convert to Christianity nam ...
said the Nazi policy was based on French Republic selection criteria that were used after the First World War to expel ethnic Germans from Alsace.


Multiple ad hoc categorisation schemes

From the beginning of the
German occupation of Poland German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...
, a number of categorisation schemes were developed at the local level, leading to confusion. For example, in October 1939, the governor of the
Warthegau The ''Reichsgau Wartheland'' (initially ''Reichsgau Posen'', also: ''Warthegau'') was a Nazi German ''Reichsgau'' formed from parts of Polish territory annexed in 1939 during World War II. It comprised the region of Greater Poland and adjacent ...
,
Gauleiter A ''Gauleiter'' () was a regional leader of the Nazi Party (NSDAP) who served as the head of a '' Gau'' or '' Reichsgau''. ''Gauleiter'' was the third-highest rank in the Nazi political leadership, subordinate only to '' Reichsleiter'' and to ...
Arthur Greiser Arthur Karl Greiser (22 January 1897 – 21 July 1946) was a Nazi German politician, SS-''Obergruppenführer'', ''Gauleiter'' and ''Reichsstatthalter'' (Reich Governor) of the German-occupied territory of ''Wartheland''. He was one of the perso ...
, established a central bureau for the registration of ''Volksdeutsche'', the ''Deutsche Volksliste'' (''DVL:'' German Peoples List), also known as the ''Volksliste''. At the beginning of 1940, distinctions were introduced to divide those registered in the DVL into four categories: ethnic Germans active on behalf of the Third Reich, "other" ethnic Germans, Poles of German extraction (Poles with some German ancestry), and Poles who were related to Germans by marriage.


Himmler's solution

Himmler's solution to the confusing and competing categorisation schemes was the Deutsche Volksliste (DVL), a uniform categorisation scheme that could be applied universally. The Racial Office of the Nazi Party had produced a registry called the ''Deutsche Volksliste'' in 1939, but this was only one of the precursors of Himmler's final version. The Deutsche Volksliste consisted of four categories:
Richard Overy Richard James Overy (born 23 December 1947) is a British historian who has published on the history of World War II and Nazi Germany. In 2007, as ''The Times'' editor of ''Complete History of the World'', he chose the 50 key dates of world his ...
, ''The Dictators: Hitler's Germany, Stalin's Russia'', p543-4
* Category I: ''Volksdeutsche'' (German > "Ethnically German") —Persons of German descent who had engaged themselves in favour of the Reich before 1939. * Category II: ''Deutschstämmige'' (German > "of German Descent") — Persons of German descent who had remained passive. * Category III: ''Eingedeutschte'' (German > "Voluntarily Germanised") — Indigenous persons considered by the Nazis as partly Polonised (mainly
Silesia Silesia (, also , ) is a historical region of Central Europe that lies mostly within Poland, with small parts in the Czech Silesia, Czech Republic and Germany. Its area is approximately , and the population is estimated at around 8,000,000. S ...
ns and Kashubs); refusal to join this list often led to deportation to a concentration camp. * Category IV: ''Rückgedeutschte'' (German > "Forcibly Germanised") — Persons of Polish nationality considered "racially valuable", but who resisted Germanisation. Those members of the population rated in the highest category were tapped for citizenship and concomitant compulsory military service in the German Armed Forces. At first, only Category I were considered for membership in the SS (Schutzstaffel). Similarly, women recruited for labour in Germany as nannies were required to be classified as Category I or II, because of their close contact with German children and the possibility of sexual exploitation, and so of children; Himmler praised it as a chance to win back blood and benefit the women as well. Himmler declared that no drop of "German blood" would be lost or left behind to mingle with an "alien race". "German blood" was regarded as so valuable that any "German" person would necessarily be of value to any country; therefore, all Germans not supporting the Reich were a danger to it. Persons who had been assigned to one of these categories but who denied their ties to Germany were dealt with very harshly and ordered to concentration camps. Men who had "a particularly bad political record"—had supported persecutions or boycotts of ethnic Germans—were to be sent to concentration camps immediately; their children were to be removed for Germanisation, and their wives either sent to the camps as well, if they had also supported the actions, or removed for Germanisation. Persons of categories III and IV were sent to Germany as labourers and subject to conscription into the
Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the ''Heer'' (army), the '' Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmacht''" replaced the previo ...
.


Implementation in Poland

Himmler had the plan prepared and then ordered it to be administered by
Wilhelm Frick Wilhelm Frick (12 March 1877 – 16 October 1946) was a prominent German politician of the Nazi Party (NSDAP), who served as Reich Minister of the Interior in Adolf Hitler's cabinet from 1933 to 1943 and as the last governor of the Protectorate ...
's Interior Ministry. The ''Deutsche Volksliste'' was mandated in March 1941 by decrees of the Minister of the Interior of the Reich (Frick) and of
Heinrich Himmler Heinrich Luitpold Himmler (; 7 October 1900 – 23 May 1945) was of the (Protection Squadron; SS), and a leading member of the Nazi Party of Germany. Himmler was one of the most powerful men in Nazi Germany and a main architect of th ...
in his function as Kommissar für die Festigung des deutschen Volkstums (Commissioner for the strengthening of Germanhood). Thus, Himmler's plan was finally implemented a year and a half after the ad hoc categorisation processes had begun in Poland. On 3 April 1941 it was expanded to all western Polish areas (
Reichsgau Danzig-West Prussia Reichsgau Danzig-West Prussia (german: Reichsgau Danzig-Westpreußen) was an administrative division of Nazi Germany created on 8 October 1939 from annexed territory of the Free City of Danzig, the Greater Pomeranian Voivodship ( Polish Corridor ...
,
East Upper Silesia East Upper Silesia (german: Ostoberschlesien) is the easternmost extremity of Silesia, the eastern part of the Upper Silesian region around the city of Katowice (german: Kattowitz).Isabel Heinemann, ''"Rasse, Siedlung, deutsches Blut": das Rasse- u ...
, and the Zichenau Region.


East Upper Silesia

The nationality policy in
East Upper Silesia East Upper Silesia (german: Ostoberschlesien) is the easternmost extremity of Silesia, the eastern part of the Upper Silesian region around the city of Katowice (german: Kattowitz).Isabel Heinemann, ''"Rasse, Siedlung, deutsches Blut": das Rasse- u ...
was different from the one applied in other Polish areas included in the Reich. The motivation for the difference was the different local economic conditions and the necessity to keep qualified manpower essential to Silesian heavy industry. In some historical analyses, it has also been noticed, although less explicitly, that nationality policy of local German elites was also deliberately different. Apparently, Gauleiter Josef Wagner, as well as his successor,
Fritz Bracht Fritz Bracht (18 January 1899 – 9 May 1945) was the Nazi ''Gauleiter'' of Gau Upper Silesia. Career After training as a gardener, Bracht entered military service in 1917, and was deployed at the front until the end of World War I. Thereafte ...
, saw the necessity to exclude Silesian people from qualification made only on the basis of race criteria which were emphasised by Heinrich Himmler when he was a Reich commissar for strengthening the Germanhood. Fritz and Bracht used also political criteria, which made the situation similar to Pomerelia (former
West Prussia The Province of West Prussia (german: Provinz Westpreußen; csb, Zôpadné Prësë; pl, Prusy Zachodnie) was a Provinces of Prussia, province of Prussia from 1773 to 1829 and 1878 to 1920. West Prussia was established as a province of the Kin ...
, annexed to
Danzig-West Prussia Reichsgau Danzig-West Prussia (german: Reichsgau Danzig-Westpreußen) was an administrative division of Nazi Germany created on 8 October 1939 from annexed territory of the Free City of Danzig, the Greater Pomeranian Voivodship ( Polish Corrido ...
) and
areas annexed by Germany There were many areas annexed by Germany both immediately before and throughout the course of World War II. Territories that were part of Germany before the annexations were known as the "Altreich" (Old Reich). Fully annexed territories Ac ...
in Western Europe (such as Alsace-Lorraine). This resulted in a comparatively low number of deportations and in the majority of East Upper Silesians (both Silesian West-Slavs as well as ethnic
Poles Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, who share a common history, culture, the Polish language and are identified with the country of Poland in ...
) being eligible for German citizenship, although their rights are alleged to have been limited compared to those of other German citizens.


Benefits of registration

The German occupation authorities encouraged Poles to register with the Volksliste, and in many instances even compelled them to do so. In occupied Poland, the status of ''Volksdeutscher'' conferred many privileges but also made one subject to conscription into the German military.


Polish response

Polish response to the institution of the Deutsche Volksliste was mixed. Being accepted into Class III could mean keeping one's property, but it might also mean being sent to the Reich as a labourer or being conscripted into the Wehrmacht. Polish citizens of German ancestry, who often identified themselves with the Polish nation, were confronted with the dilemma of whether to sign the ''Volksliste''. This group included ethnic Germans whose families had lived in Poland proper for centuries, and Germans (who became citizens of Poland after 1920) from the part of Germany that had been transferred to Poland after
World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...
. Many such ethnic Germans had married Poles and remained defiant.Lynn H. Nicholas, ''Cruel World: The Children of Europe in the Nazi Web'' p 247 Often the choice was either to sign and be regarded as a traitor by the Polish, or not to sign and be treated by the German occupation as a traitor to the Germanic 'race'. Poles who registered as Germans were treated by other Poles with special contempt, and the fact of them having signed the Volksliste constituted high treason according to the Polish underground law. Poles who preferred to stay with their friends and relatives sometimes resisted Nazi pressures to apply for the DVL, opting for deportation to the General Government over Germanisation. Their children were often taken for
Germanisation Germanisation, or Germanization, is the spread of the German language, people and culture. It was a central idea of German conservative thought in the 19th and the 20th centuries, when conservatism and ethnic nationalism went hand in hand. In lin ...
while they were deported. In some parts of German-occupied Polish Silesia, the Volksliste was compulsory, and both the Polish government in-Exile and Bishop of Katowice, Stanisław Adamski, condoned signing it "to mask and save the Polish element in upper Silesia."M. Fidelis. (2010). ''Women, Communism, and Industrialization in Postwar Poland''. Cambridge University Press. pp. 135-136. Ethnic Poles from German-occupied Polish Silesia were also subject to pressure from Nazi authorities to sign category III or IV. In many cases people were imprisoned, tortured and their close ones threatened if they refused to sign; deportation to concentration camps was also common. In some cases, individuals consulted with the Polish resistance first, before registering with the Volksliste. These Volksdeutsche played an important role in the intelligence activities of the Polish resistance and were at times the primary source of information for the Allies. However, in the eyes of the postwar
Communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, ...
government, having aided the non-Communist Polish resistance was not considered a mitigating factor; therefore, many of these double-agent Volksdeutsche were prosecuted after the war.


Results

According to Robert Koehl, "By the introduction of the registration procedure known as the German National List (DVL) some 900,000 more 'Germans' were discovered, most of them semi-Polish minorities such as the Kassubians, the Masurians, and the local Upper Silesians whom the Germans called 'Wasserpolen'. A few thousand 're-Germanizeables' ...had also been shipped back to the Reich." By October 1943, around 90 percent (1,290,000) of Silesians signed the DVL. The total number of registrants for the DVL is estimated to be approximately 2.7 million, with 1 million in classes I and II and the remaining 1.7 million in classes III and IV. In the
General Government The General Government (german: Generalgouvernement, pl, Generalne Gubernatorstwo, uk, Генеральна губернія), also referred to as the General Governorate for the Occupied Polish Region (german: Generalgouvernement für die be ...
there were 120,000 Volksdeutsche. Deutsche Volksliste, late 1942 :


Implementation in other countries

After Germany occupied
Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label= Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavij ...
, they partitioned it into various parts including Croatia and Serbia, where ethnic Germans became legalised members of the ruling nationality groups, and so they introduced the 'Volksliste' there. Registered ethnic Germans in Category 1 and 2 living in the
Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...
were re-settled through Yugoslavia back to Germany.


Postwar

At the end of the war, the files of the Deutsche Volksliste were generally found extant in the service registration departments of the respective local authorities. The bulk of these documents are today in Polish archives. In Poland members of the Volksliste were subject to a "rehabilitation" process, as of 1950 1,104,100 former German nationals and Volksliste members lived in Poland. After the collapse of Nazi Germany, some Volksdeutsche were tried by the Polish authorities for high treason. Even now, in Poland, the word ''Volksdeutsch'' is regarded as an insult, synonymous with a traitor.


See also

*
Expulsion of Germans from Poland after World War II Expulsion or expelled may refer to: General * Deportation * Ejection (sports) * Eviction * Exile * Expeller pressing * Expulsion (education) * Expulsion from the United States Congress * Extradition * Forced migration * Ostracism * Perso ...
*
Flight and expulsion of Germans (1944–1950) During later stages of World War II and post-war period from 1944 to 1950, Germans fled and were expelled to present-day Germany from Eastern Europe, which led to de-Germanization there. The idea to expel the Germans from the annexed territo ...
*
History of Poland (1939-1945) The history of Poland spans over a thousand years, from medieval tribes, Christianization and monarchy; through Poland's Golden Age, expansionism and becoming one of the largest European powers; to its collapse and partitions, two world wars, ...
*
Volksdeutsche In Nazi German terminology, ''Volksdeutsche'' () were "people whose language and culture had German origins but who did not hold German citizenship". The term is the nominalised plural of ''volksdeutsch'', with ''Volksdeutsche'' denoting a sing ...


References

{{Authority control Germany–Poland relations Poland in World War II History of Silesia The Holocaust in Poland The Holocaust in Ukraine The Holocaust in Yugoslavia Heinrich Himmler