''Wehrbauer'' (, ''defensive peasant''), plural ''Wehrbauern'', is a German term for settlers living on the marches of a realm who were tasked with holding back foreign invaders until the arrival of proper military reinforcements. In turn, they were granted special liberties. ''Wehrbauern'' in their settlements, known as ''Wehrsiedlungen'' (-en being the plural suffix), were mainly used on the eastern fringes of the

Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire, also known as the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation after 1512, was a polity in Central and Western Europe, usually headed by the Holy Roman Emperor. It developed in the Early Middle Ages, and lasted for a millennium ...

and later

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe#Before World War I, Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military ...

to slow attacks by the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

. This historic term was resurrected and used by the

Nazis Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

Etymology

The Habsburg use of "''Wehrbauern''" was the Military Frontier, which was established by Ferdinand I in the 16th century and placed under the jurisdiction of the Croatian Sabor and Croatian Ban since it was carved out of Croatian territory. It acted as a ''cordon sanitaire'' against Ottoman incursions. By the 19th century, it was rendered all but obsolete by the establishment of standing armies and was subsequently dissolved. During the

Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War, fought primarily in Central Europe between 1618 and 1648, was one of the most destructive conflicts in History of Europe, European history. An estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died from battle, famine ...

, battles and raids were common throughout its land, and the

had to make greater use of ''Wehrbauern'' in other regions of the empire as well. In the 20th century, the term re-emerged and was used by the Nazi SS to refer to soldiers designated as settlers for the lands that were conquered during the German invasions of

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

and the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

SS ''Wehrbauern''

Ideology

The concept of ''Wehrbauern'' predated the Nazis, with the Artaman League (founded in 1923) sending urban German children to the countryside not only for the experience but also as a core of ''Wehrbauern''. The Nazis intended to colonise the conquered Eastern European lands in accordance with

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...

's ''

Lebensraum (, ) is a German concept of expansionism and Völkisch movement, ''Völkisch'' nationalism, the philosophy and policies of which were common to German politics from the 1890s to the 1940s. First popularized around 1901, '' lso in:' beca ...

'' ideology through such soldier peasants. Plans envisaged them acting both as colonists and as soldiers, defending the new German colonies from the surrounding Slavic population in the event of an insurgency. ''Wehrbauern'' would have the task not of extending civilization but of preventing it from arising outside ''Wehrbauer'' settlements. Any such civilisation, as a non-German phenomenon, would pose a challenge to Germany. Robert Cecil
''The Myth of the Master Race: Alfred Rosenberg and Nazi Ideology''
p190 , 1972. Beginning in 1938, the SS intensified the ideological indoctrination of the

Hitler Youth The Hitler Youth ( , often abbreviated as HJ, ) was the youth wing of the German Nazi Party. Its origins date back to 1922 and it received the name ("Hitler Youth, League of German Worker Youth") in July 1926. From 1936 until 1945, it was th ...

Land Service (''HJ-Landdienst'') and promulgated its ideal of the German ''Wehrbauer''. Special secondary schools were created under SS control to form a Nazi agrarian elite trained according to the principle of " blood and soil". The SS plan for

genocide Genocide is violence that targets individuals because of their membership of a group and aims at the destruction of a people. Raphael Lemkin, who first coined the term, defined genocide as "the destruction of a nation or of an ethnic group" by ...

and colonisation of the territories of eastern

and of the

was titled '' Generalplan Ost'' ( English: "General Plan East"). The plan projected the settlement of 10 million racially-valuable Germanics (

Germans Germans (, ) are the natives or inhabitants of Germany, or sometimes more broadly any people who are of German descent or native speakers of the German language. The Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany, constitution of Germany, imple ...

, Dutch, Flemish, Scandinavians, and English) in the territories over a span of 30 years and displacing about 30 million Slavs and

Balts The Balts or Baltic peoples (, ) are a group of peoples inhabiting the eastern coast of the Baltic Sea who speak Baltic languages. Among the Baltic peoples are modern-day Lithuanians (including Samogitians) and Latvians (including Latgalians ...

, who would be either slaves under German masters or forcefully transferred to

Siberia Siberia ( ; , ) is an extensive geographical region comprising all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has formed a part of the sovereign territory of Russia and its predecessor states ...

to make room for the newcomers. '' Volksdeutsche'', such as the Volga Germans, would also be transplanted. The German Foreign Ministry, however, suggested the alternative of moving the racially-unwanted population to

Madagascar Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar, is an island country that includes the island of Madagascar and numerous smaller peripheral islands. Lying off the southeastern coast of Africa, it is the world's List of islands by area, f ...

and

Central Africa Central Africa (French language, French: ''Afrique centrale''; Spanish language, Spanish: ''África central''; Portuguese language, Portuguese: ''África Central'') is a subregion of the African continent comprising various countries accordin ...

as soon as Germany had recovered its colonies, which had been lost by the 1919

Treaty of Versailles The Treaty of Versailles was a peace treaty signed on 28 June 1919. As the most important treaty of World War I, it ended the state of war between Germany and most of the Allies of World War I, Allied Powers. It was signed in the Palace ...

.''Hitlerin Saksa ja sen vapaaehtoisliikkeet'', p. 35, Mauno Jokipii, 2002,

Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seura The Finnish Literature Society ( or ) was founded in 1831 to promote literature written in Finnish. Among its first publications was the '' Kalevala'', the Finnish national epic. The society is the oldest Finnish publisher still in operation ...

(in Finnish language, Finnish). From a historical perspective, the SS ''Wehrbauer'' concept deliberately referenced the model of the military frontier held by the

Habsburg monarchy The Habsburg monarchy, also known as Habsburg Empire, or Habsburg Realm (), was the collection of empires, kingdoms, duchies, counties and other polities (composite monarchy) that were ruled by the House of Habsburg. From the 18th century it is ...

against the incursions of the

. Himmler also believed that during the early

migration period The Migration Period ( 300 to 600 AD), also known as the Barbarian Invasions, was a period in European history marked by large-scale migrations that saw the fall of the Western Roman Empire and subsequent settlement of its former territories ...

and the German eastward expansion of the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

, the conquering Germanic peasant-farmer had, in addition to farming, defended his land with arms, and the ''Wehrbauer'' model aimed to revive that custom.

Settlement division

In the

General Government The General Government (, ; ; ), formally the General Governorate for the Occupied Polish Region (), was a German zone of occupation established after the invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany, Slovak Republic (1939–1945), Slovakia and the Soviet ...

, composed entirely of pre-war Polish territory, plans envisaged setting up a number of "settlement areas" ( German: ''Siedlungsgebiete''), centred on the six ''Teilräume'' ("spatial regions") of Cracow,

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

Lublin Lublin is List of cities and towns in Poland, the ninth-largest city in Poland and the second-largest city of historical Lesser Poland. It is the capital and the centre of Lublin Voivodeship with a population of 336,339 (December 2021). Lublin i ...

, Lviv/Lwów (German: ''Lemberg''), Bialystok, and Litzmannstadt (). The colonisation of former Soviet territories would take place through forming three major "settlement marches" (German: ''Siedlungsmarken''), alternatively also called ''Reichsmarken'' ("marches of the

Reich ( ; ) is a German word whose meaning is analogous to the English word " realm". The terms and are respectively used in German in reference to empires and kingdoms. In English usage, the term " Reich" often refers to Nazi Germany, also ca ...

"). Smaller "settlement points" (German: ''Siedlungsstützpunkte''), as well as a number of "settlement strings" (German: ''Siedlungsperlen'', literally meaning "settlement pearls") were also envisaged in the east.Heineman, Isabel (2003). ''"Rasse, Siedlung, deutsches Blut": Das Rasse- & Siedlungshauptamt der SS und die rassenpolitische Neuordnung Europas''. Wallstein, p. 418.

(in German)

''Siedlungsmarken''

The settlement marches were to be separated from the civil administration of the Reich Ministry for the Occupied Eastern Territories and ''Reichskommissariats'' and given to the custody of the ''

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 Uniforms and insignia of the Schut ...

'', who was to name an SS and Police Leader ( German: ''SS- und Polizeiführer'') for the region and also to distribute temporary and inheritable

fief A fief (; ) was a central element in medieval contracts based on feudal law. It consisted of a form of property holding or other rights granted by an overlord to a vassal, who held it in fealty or "in fee" in return for a form of feudal alle ...

s and even permanent land ownership for the settlers. In a time span of 25 years, the populations of

Ingria Ingria (; ; ; ) is a historical region including, and adjacent to, what is now the city of Saint Petersburg in northwestern Russia. The region lies along the southeastern shore of the Gulf of Finland, bordered by Lake Ladoga on the Karelian ...

(German: ''Ingermanland''), the Memel- Narew region (the district of Bialystok and Western Lithuania) and southern

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

and the Crimean Peninsula (to be renamed ''Gotengau'' after the former Germanic tribe) were to become at least 50% German.

''Siedlungsstützpunkte''

In addition to the settlement marches, the SS planned to establish 36 settlement points. The population of these points was to be around 20–30% German. Marking the centre of each point, a planned German city of 20,000 inhabitants would be surrounded by closely-located German villages in a 5–10 km radius. The villages would secure the German control of all major road and railroad nodes.

''Siedlungsperlen''

2011-03-05-eisenbahnmuseum-nuernberg-by-RalfR-30

The settlement strings would follow the routes Cracow-Lviv- Zhitomir-

Kiev Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

Leningrad Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

Mogilev Mogilev (; , ), also transliterated as Mahilyow (, ), is a city in eastern Belarus. It is located on the Dnieper, Dnieper River, about from the Belarus–Russia border, border with Russia's Smolensk Oblast and from Bryansk Oblast. As of 2024, ...

-Kiev, and Zhitomir- Vinnitsa-

Odessa ODESSA is an American codename (from the German language, German: ''Organisation der ehemaligen SS-Angehörigen'', meaning: Organization of Former SS Members) coined in 1946 to cover Ratlines (World War II aftermath), Nazi underground escape-pl ...

(though Odessa came under the administration of

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

during the course of Operation Barbarossa in 1941). A major ''autobahn'' system would connect the settlement strings, with new German cities planned for construction along the roadbeds of roughly every 100 km. Further extensions run in the direction of the Don and the

Volga The Volga (, ) is the longest river in Europe and the longest endorheic basin river in the world. Situated in Russia, it flows through Central Russia to Southern Russia and into the Caspian Sea. The Volga has a length of , and a catchment ...

, and eventually towards the Ural mountains. Plans for the extreme broad-gauge '' Breitspurbahn'' railway network proposed by the Nazis envisioned the railways having extensions running as far east as

Kazan Kazan; , IPA: Help:IPA/Tatar, ɑzanis the largest city and capital city, capital of Tatarstan, Russia. The city lies at the confluence of the Volga and the Kazanka (river), Kazanka Rivers, covering an area of , with a population of over 1. ...

, Stalingrad, and

Baku Baku (, ; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Azerbaijan, largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and in the Caucasus region. Baku is below sea level, which makes it the List of capital ci ...

as possible railheads. Railways could provide another conceivable set of "strings" along which to place settlements.

Planned peasant-soldier community

The soldier-peasants would mainly be frontline

veteran A veteran () is a person who has significant experience (and is usually adept and esteemed) and expertise in an job, occupation or Craft, field. A military veteran is a person who is no longer serving in the military, armed forces. A topic o ...

s of the SS and members of the '' Allgemeine SS'', who were to be supplied with weaponry for the armed defence of their respective communities. In October 1939, Himmler stated that the German settlements in Poland would be divided between different German cultural and linguistic subgroups such as Swabians,

Franconia Franconia ( ; ; ) is a geographical region of Germany, characterised by its culture and East Franconian dialect (). Franconia is made up of the three (governmental districts) of Lower Franconia, Lower, Middle Franconia, Middle and Upper Franco ...

ns, Westphalians, and Lower Saxons. The compulsory savings of the individual SS men would fund the foundation of the settlements.Longerich, P. (2008), Heinrich Himmler, p, 443–445, Each settlement was to be planned (Soviet villages emptied of their previous inhabitants were to be destroyed) and would comprise 30 to 40 farms, each of 121.5

hectare The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100-metre sides (1 hm2), that is, square metres (), and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. ...

s (300 acres); a Nazi Party headquarters; a

manor house A manor house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor. The house formed the administrative centre of a manor in the European feudal system; within its great hall were usually held the lord's manorial courts, communal mea ...

for the SS or party leader; an agricultural instruction centre; a house for a community nurse; and a cinema. The houses of the settlement were to be built "as in the old days" - two or three stone courses thick. Baths and showers were to be available in every house. The SS calculated the exact amount of weaponry for delivery to each individual soldier-peasant. An SS or NSDAP leader of merit, chosen for his qualities as a man and a soldier, would occupy the manor. That individual would become the leader (German: ''Leiter'') of the settlement and act on the administrative side as a Burgomeister and on the party side as the political leader of the local group, effectively combining the jurisdictions of the party and the state.Kersten (1957), p. 134-135. He would also act as the military commander of a

company A company, abbreviated as co., is a Legal personality, legal entity representing an association of legal people, whether Natural person, natural, Juridical person, juridical or a mixture of both, with a specific objective. Company members ...

-sized force consisting of the community's peasants, their sons, and labourers. The plans for the ''Wehrbauer'' communities did not include provision for any churches, unlike medieval farming villages.Kersten (1957), p. 136 Himmler stated that if the clergy were to acquire money to construct churches on their own in the settlements, the SS would later take the buildings over and transform them into "Germanic holy places". During one of his many private-dinner monologues, Hitler presented his vision of the soldier-peasant.Hitler (2000), p. 16 After twelve years of military service, soldiers from peasant families would receive completely-equipped farms located in the conquered East. The last two years of their military service would focus on agricultural education. The soldier was not to be allowed to marry a townswoman but only a peasant woman who, if possible, had not begun to live in a town with him. That would enable the settlers to live out the blood-and-soil principles of Nazi Germany. It would also encourage large families. Thus, Hitler stated, "we shall again find in the countryside the blessing of numerous families. Whereas the present law of rural inheritance dispossesses the younger sons, in future every peasant's son will be sure of having his patch of ground". Hitler also believed that former

non-commissioned officer A non-commissioned officer (NCO) is an enlisted rank, enlisted leader, petty officer, or in some cases warrant officer, who does not hold a Commission (document), commission. Non-commissioned officers usually earn their position of authority b ...

s would make ideal teachers for the

primary school A primary school (in Ireland, India, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, South Africa, and Singapore), elementary school, or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ...

s of the utopian communities. Although Himmler wanted the settlements to be totally agrarian, Hitler planned to introduce certain types of small-scale industry to them. At the time of his 54th birthday in April 1943, the '' Führer'' had a discussion with

Albert Speer Berthold Konrad Hermann Albert Speer (; ; 19 March 1905 – 1 September 1981) was a German architect who served as Reich Ministry of Armaments and War Production, Minister of Armaments and War Production in Nazi Germany during most of W ...

and Karl-Otto Saur on a design he had personally drawn up for a six-person

bunker A bunker is a defensive military fortification designed to protect people and valued materials from falling bombs, artillery, or other attacks. Bunkers are almost always underground, in contrast to blockhouses which are mostly above ground. T ...

that was to be used in the

Atlantic Wall The Atlantic Wall () was an extensive system of coastal defence and fortification, coastal defences and fortifications built by Nazi Germany between 1942 and 1944 along the coast of continental Europe and Scandinavia as a defense (military), d ...

, featuring machine guns, an

anti-tank gun An anti-tank gun is a form of artillery designed to destroy tanks and other armoured fighting vehicles, normally from a static defensive position. The development of specialized anti-tank munitions and anti-tank guns was prompted by the appearance ...

, and flamethrowers. The design was also to be used for defence purposes on Germany's "ultimate eastern border deep within Russia", where the easternmost ''Wehrbauer'' "settlement-pearl" villages would likely have grown up if the

Axis powers The Axis powers, originally called the Rome–Berlin Axis and also Rome–Berlin–Tokyo Axis, was the military coalition which initiated World War II and fought against the Allies of World War II, Allies. Its principal members were Nazi Ge ...

had completely defeated the Soviets. There might have been the possibility either of remnant Soviet forces or of troops of the northwestern Siberian extremities of

Imperial Japan The Empire of Japan, also known as the Japanese Empire or Imperial Japan, was the Japanese nation state that existed from the Meiji Restoration on January 3, 1868, until the Constitution of Japan took effect on May 3, 1947. From Japan–Kor ...

's Co-Prosperity Sphere territories on the eastern side of such a frontier.

References

{{reflist, 2 Nazi terminology Society of Nazi Germany German words and phrases Nazi SS German colonial empire Germany–Soviet Union relations Axis powers Veterans' settlement schemes