The beginning of the war and the Ost plan: monstrous experiments and mass sterilizations of people

The massacre of the German authorities with Soviet prisoners of war,1942

June 22, Minsk. The General Plan "Ost", the purpose of which was the enslavement and destruction of the peoples of the USSR, the Jewish and Slavic population of the conquered territories, is eloquent evidence of the true intentions of the Nazis. As archival documents testify, a comprehensive program was developed based on the main racist principle of Hitlerism - the destruction of Jews and Slavs. Racial "theory", elevated by Hitler to the rank of state religion, is one of the most vile weapons of fascism in its struggle for world domination.

As for the extent to which the master plan "Ost" was implemented or not, the example of Belarus, which lost more than 2.2 million people during the war, eloquently testifies. The invaders burned and destroyed 209 out of 270 cities and district centers, 9,200 villages and hamlets, and caused irreparable damage to the national economy of the republic. We are talking with the Dean of the Faculty of Philosophy and Social Sciences of the Belarusian State University, Candidate of Historical Sciences, Associate Professor Vadim Gigin about what future the Nazis of Belarus have prepared and what harmful myths that distort the truth about the Great Patriotic War are still in use.

"The Germans believed that Germany was very squeezed and the German spirit should be given space"

- What was the ideology of Nazism based on, which led to the most terrible catastrophe of the 20th century?

- At the heart of German planning and policy was the theory of racial superiority. Hitler had three main sources for the formation of a monstrous misanthropic ideology. The first is classical German imperialism, which meant DrangnachOsten ("Onslaught on the East"), that is, the destruction, squeezing out the Slavic population. The second is the theory of racial superiority, whose origins go back to the distant past and which was developed by the Frenchman Gobineau, the Englishman Chamberlain and many others. However, it was Hitler and Rosenberg who were the main authors of this concept. Being not very educated people, they primitiveized the theories of previous thinkers. And the third is the classic German geopolitics of Karl Haushofer, who advocated the transformation of his country into a great world power. The scientist lectured to Hitler while he was in prison. It was his theory of "living space" (Lebensraum) that Adolf Hitler used to justify his aggressive policy in Europe and the world. The Germans believed that Germany was very squeezed and the German spirit should be given room.

Their Nazi ideology was based on anti-Semitism, anti-communism and anti-Slavism. The final solution of several national issues was supposed, including Jewish, Gypsy, Slavic, the latter being divided into Polish, Czech and the so-called struggle against Russianism and Asianism.

The Nazis break into the apartment of civilians, 1942

"The Nazi leaders took care of the psyche of their subordinates, that the crimes were not committed by the hands of the Germans"

- How did the Nazis intend to put their ambitious and at the same time barbaric plans into practice?

- First of all, this is a military plan of aggression against the Soviet Union, known to us under the name Operation Barbarossa. According to him, in four to five months, the Nazis were to destroy the Red Army and reach the Arkhangelsk-Astrakhan line, which created a military potential for further actions. The plan "Oldenburg" ("Green folder" Goering) is the economic enslavement of the USSR. Hermann Goering, one of the most influential people in Nazi Germany, said that the German people were waiting for white rolls, lots of apples and milk. He stated without much hesitation that since there was not enough food for everyone, therefore, 30 million Russians, who also included Ukrainians and Belarusians, would be superfluous. That is, as a result of economic exploitation, they had to die of starvation. And finally the master plan "Ost" is already a direct genocide, an extensive program to consolidate the dominance of the Third Reich in Eastern Europe. It must be said that the top leaders of the Reich, including Himmler and Rosenberg, were well aware that they were committing war crimes, and it is no coincidence that many archives related to these terrible projects were burned later. Moreover, the Nazi leaders took care of the psyche of their subordinates, that the crimes were committed not by the hands of the Germans, but by the same Lithuanians, Latvians, our traitors. They believed that the Germans could not do the dirty work, and therefore chose the executioners from among the collaborators. they were perfectly aware of the fact that they were committing war crimes, and it is no coincidence that many archives related to these terrible projects were then burned. Moreover, the Nazi leaders took care of the psyche of their subordinates, that the crimes were committed not by the hands of the Germans, but by the same Lithuanians, Latvians, our traitors. They believed that the Germans could not do the dirty work, and therefore chose the executioners from among the collaborators. they were perfectly aware of the fact that they were committing war crimes, and it is no coincidence that many archives related to these terrible projects were then burned. Moreover, the Nazi leaders took care of the psyche of their subordinates, that the crimes were committed not by the hands of the Germans, but by the same Lithuanians, Latvians, our traitors. They believed that the Germans could not do the dirty work, and therefore chose the executioners from among the collaborators.

"In Germany itself, the opinion officially prevailed that all this was invented, that no plan" Ost " actually existed"

- For a long time, the Ost plan was called a fake invented at the Nuremberg trials. It turns out that the Germans managed to "clean up" the documents quite well?

- In Germany itself, the opinion officially prevailed that all this was invented, that no plan "Ost" actually existed. Although memos, some fragmentary information about him still survived. It was also mentioned at the Nuremberg trials, but the Americans discovered it only in 1947. It is significant that it was they who took him across the ocean, without letting anyone see it. It was not beneficial for them, since the publication of such a document would further strengthen the position of the Soviet Union as the victorious country of Nazism, defending itself from destruction.

The population driven into a camp for theft in Germany, 1942

It should be noted that immediately after the war, when the master plan "Ost" was discovered, the West launched a version that is known to us in the presentation of the traitor Rezun-Suvorov. In fact, its authorship belongs to Ribbentrop and its essence is that the USSR was going to attack Germany, and she, having unleashed a war, simply got ahead of him. But the thesis of a preemptive German attack is absurd, unsupported by facts, and not shared by most historians. The Americans did not really "pedal" this plan and only in 2009 they transferred it to the Federal Archives of Germany, where it is kept to this day. By the way, it was published.

"If the sexual relationship was between a German woman and a Slav, they were both sent to a concentration camp"

- Is it true that the "Ost" plan had several versions?

- Initially, it was developed even before the attack on Poland, but its final version is May 1942, the volume is one hundred pages. Plus financial applications. According to the "Ost" plan, the entire occupied territory was to be divided into 4 Reichskommissariats: Ostland (Baltic, Belarus), Muscovy, Caucasus. Crimea stood out in a separate colony - Gotenland. 9 million Germans, Übermensch, were to be resettled here. There is information on how to deliver them there in high-class double-decker cars, with hairdressers, restaurants and toilets.

Racial propaganda in Germany was the worst. They published a brochure in which they wrote that subhumans - Untermenschen - are worse than a beast. German cinema under the leadership of Goebbels was not inferior to Hollywood in terms of level. Films like "The Wandering Jew" forced all SS men and guards to watch. They tested blood before 1800! For example, if a German married a German woman, then according to the Nuremberg racial laws of 1935, they had to submit a certificate that they were full-fledged. If the sexual relationship was between a German woman and a Slav, they were both sent to a concentration camp.

The population driven into a camp for theft in Germany, 1942

"The plan provided for the eviction of 75 percent of the population of Belarus, 10 percent, and this is mainly the intelligentsia, - to destroy"

- What future did the Nazis have in store for Belarus?

- They wanted to build cities on our land - 100-150 thousand people each, in which German masters and Slavic slaves would be accommodated. Surrounded by vast German estates. It was assumed that the German settler would be allocated an average of 40 to 100 hectares of land, which would have to be served by slaves. The plan provided for the expulsion of 75 percent of the population of Belarus, 10 percent, and this is mainly the intelligentsia, the most active, who can resist, to destroy, the remaining 15 percent to be Germanized.

Sending the population of Mogilev to Germany. July, 1943

Where were our peoples going to be resettled?

- Haushofer divided the world into large regions that Germany had to control. It was assumed that approximately along the meridian of Omsk they would share the territory with Japan, there would be German colonies to the Urals, and then, three hundred kilometers to the east, they would place concentration camps of death for us Slavs. Estonians, for example, were going to be sent to the shores of the White Sea, and Latvians and Lithuanians were to be turned into slaves...

"In the occupied territories, where more than 70 million people lived in total, monstrous experiments were carried out. Mass sterilizations of people were carried out"

- So the assertion that Germany brings freedom and statehood to the peoples is also another myth?

- Undoubtedly. Any attempts in 1941 by collaborators to declare independence or create any attributes of power were severely suppressed. And Bandera was sent to a concentration camp for the same reason. Already from the first days of the war it was obvious that "Ost" was a plan of deliberate genocide. In the occupied territories, where more than 70 million people lived in total, monstrous experiments were carried out. Conducted mass sterilization of people - chemical, radioactive and surgical, meticulously checking how everything works. In this case, the Nazis already had their own experience: in 1940, in Germany, they approved the T-4 eugenics program, which included the destruction of inferior representatives of the superior race, the Übermensch. These included the disabled, the elderly, mentally and terminally ill, in relation to which the so-called euthanasia was applied. Supporters of the theory of racial hyena destroyed 275,000 of their own compatriots in barbaric ways, considering them to be bio-garbage and inferior material.

"In order not to get dirty ourselves, camps were organized on the territory of Poland and in our Trostenets, where Jews from all over Europe were taken"

- The Nazis hatched special plans for the Jews, for whom they harbored genetic hatred ...

- The implementation and logistics of the genocide of the Jewish people were discussed at the secret Wannsee Conference in January 1942. Himmler argued that the war would provide a basis for the faster implementation of long-planned plans, and under this noise they decided to eliminate all Jews. In order not to get dirty themselves, camps were organized on the territory of Poland and in our Trostenets, where Jews from all over Europe were taken.

During the resettlement of the Jews of Minsk in the ghetto, 1941

- What is your attitude to another mythologeme: the version that if it were not for the partisans, then there would be no punitive operations?

- According to international law and all military conventions that were already in force in 1941, it is not partisan detachments that are responsible for such punitive operations against civilians, but those who carry them out. But it is beneficial for someone to openly falsify legal documents. The Germans took advantage of the presence of the insurgent movement in order to destroy the local population. In Belarus, 140 punitive operations were carried out, and Latvian nationalists also actively participated in the development of many of them. The population was destroyed to the root, without exception, and the children were taken to concentration camps, one of the most famous was Salaspils. By the way, the population of many Belarusian regions - Verkhnedvinsky, Rossony - never recovered to the pre-war level.

The reports of the Nazis on the results of the operation called "Cottbus", which they carried out in the Minsk region, have been preserved. They say that 735 bandits were killed during the operation, of which 168 were men, 350 women and 248 children. And the Germans have "losses" - 1 sick and one thousand one hundred spent cartridges. Obviously, this was not a battle - people were simply shot. "Winter Magic", "Swamp Fever", "Dirlewanger", "Harvest Festival" - the documents show that the Nazis deliberately, stubbornly and systematically carried out mass operations to destroy the local population.

"The same Arsenyeva, who wrote "Mighty God", walked around Minsk and did not notice the ghetto of 100,000?"

- In the light of the foregoing, what is the moral and ethical assessment of collaborators, whom some consider almost victims of circumstances?

- The collaborators knew and saw everything, and therefore there can be no excuses for them. Didn't they see what they were doing to the Jews? The same Arsenyeva, who wrote "Magnificent God", walked around Minsk and did not notice the 100,000-strong ghetto? How could I not see that by 1942 it "disappeared" somewhere? Some collaborators posed the question to the Germans: "Why do you kill so many, because by doing this you undermine our authority?" They did not feel sorry for the people - they were worried about their "reputation". Wilhelm Kube, appointed General Commissar of the General District of Belarus, wrote notes with a request to send fewer Jews for work, because they have to be killed. And if you listen to some devil's advocates, it turns out that the occupiers were great "humanists". In the occupied territories, there was a grandiose propaganda to dehumanize Jews and Slavs. Wehrmacht officers and collaborators took part in it, who wrote in their newspapers that one should not feel sorry for the Bolsheviks (and they included all those who support the partisans), published anti-Semitic jokes.

The Great Patriotic War. occupied territory. The massacre of the German authorities with Soviet prisoners of war, 1942

"Every day, every minute people were killed in Belarus. Murders were continuous. Absolutely brutal"

We must remember: every day, every minute people were killed in Belarus. The killings were continuous. Absolutely brutal. Some were burned alive in sheds, others were sent to gas chambers, others were shot on the edge of a dug ditch ...

In their pragmatism, the Nazis reached the point of complete absurdity, believing that even the destruction of people should be self-sustaining. In the Gdansk region, for example, there was an institute that studied the issues of obtaining precious metals from humans.

Unfortunately, a large number of war criminals, including fascist accomplices, who participated in these bloody massacres, escaped punishment, hiding from court in different countries at one time. Now the world community faces the most important task - to give a legal assessment of their deeds. And above all, to ensure that such a terrible tragedy does not happen again.

All of the above - like well-known facts, but, unfortunately, many people forget about them. Therefore, the scale of the misfortune that the Belarusians experienced then should be constantly reminded, especially on the eve of the 80th anniversary of the start of the Great Patriotic War. Why is this war special? Why Great and Patriotic? Because never before have we had such an enemy - no Mongol-Tatars, crusaders set such monstrous goals against our people.

Elena ELOVIK,

newspaper .