Generalplan

Generalplan refers to a series of Nazi German plans for the long-term reorganization and colonization of occupied Europe, with the best known element being Generalplan Ost (General Plan for the East). The term captures the regime’s aim to reshape population, territory, and governance in conquered areas as part of its broader Lebensraum policy.

Development and authorship

The Generalplan framework was developed in the early 1940s by the Reich Ministry for the Occupied Eastern Territories, led by Alfred Rosenberg, with significant input from the SS and other Nazi agencies under Adolf Hitler’s direction. It reflected the regime’s intent to expand German living space, exploit resources, and restructure demographic patterns through relocation, assimilation, or removal of populations deemed undesirable.

Aims and scope

Generalplan Ost sought to Germanize large parts of Eastern Europe and to clear land for German settlement. The policy anticipated the mass displacement and elimination or expulsion of many non-German populations, particularly Slavic peoples, to make room for ethnic Germans. It also encompassed long-term governance, economic extraction, and the institutionalization of discriminatory rules to enforce control over occupied territories. The plan was tied to the regime’s genocidal policies against Jews and other groups, though the Final Solution was pursued as a separate, parallel program.

Implementation and legacy

While the plan informed Nazi governance in occupied regions, it was never fully implemented due to the course of the war. Some deportations, population transfers, and coercive measures were carried out in Poland, the USSR, and other areas. After the war, the existence and content of Generalplan Ost were documented by Allied investigations and became central to historical scholarship on Nazi expansionism and genocide. The term Generalplan is often used to refer to the broader category of Nazi planned territorial reorganization beyond specific operations.

See also: Generalplan Ost, Lebensraum, Nazi Germany, Holocaust, Nuremberg Trials.