View source for Ural Mountains in Nazi planning

[[File:UralMountains1.png|thumb|upright|Map of the Ural mountains.]]
The [[Ural Mountains]] played a prominent role in [[Nazi Germany|Nazi]] planning. [[Adolf Hitler]] and the rest of the Nazi German leadership made many references to them as a strategic objective of the Third Reich to follow a decisive victory on the [[Eastern Front (World War II)|Eastern Front]] against the [[Soviet Union]].

==As a geographic concept==
{{Further|Boundaries between continents#Europe and Asia}}
In 1725 [[Philip Johan von Strahlenberg]] first used the [[Ural Mountains]] as part of the eastern demarcation of Europe. Since c. 1850 most [[Cartography|cartographers]] have regarded the Urals and the [[Ural River]] to the south of them as the eastern boundary of [[Europe]], [[Geography|geographically]] recognized as a [[subcontinent]] of [[Eurasia]].

The [[Nazi Party|Nazis]] rejected the notion that these mountains demarcated the border of Europe, at least in a [[Culture|cultural]] if not in a geographic sense. [[Nazi propaganda]] and Nazi [[leader]]s repeatedly labelled the Soviet Union as an "Asiatic state" and equated the [[Russians]] both with the [[Huns]]<ref name="hitler3">Hitler, 5–6 January 1942</ref> and with the [[Mongol Empire|Mongols]],<ref>Kater, Michael H. (2004) ''Hitler Youth'', [https://books.google.com/books?id=v9xJPe0QchcC&pg=PA174 p. 174]. [[Harvard University Press]]</ref> describing them as ''[[Untermensch]]en'' ("sub-humans"). German media portrayed the German campaigns in the east as necessary to ensure the survival of European culture against this "Asian menace".<ref name="hitler3"/><ref name="himmler">[http://germanhistorydocs.ghi-dc.org/pdf/eng/English22.pdf Volume 7. Nazi Germany, 1933–1945 Excerpt from Himmler's Speech to the SS-Gruppenführer at Posen (October 4, 1943).] German History in Documents and Images. Retrieved 11 June 2011.</ref> In a major conference on 16 July 1941, where chief aspects of German rule in the [[German-occupied Europe|occupied territories]] of [[Eastern Europe]] were laid out, Hitler emphasized to the attendees ([[Martin Bormann]], [[Hermann Göring]], [[Alfred Rosenberg]], and [[Hans Lammers]]) that "the Europe of today was nothing but a geographical term; in reality [[Asia]] extended up to our frontiers".<ref name="bormann">[http://germanhistorydocs.ghi-dc.org/sub_document.cfm?document_id=1549 Martin Bormann's Minutes of a Meeting at Hitler's Headquarters (July 16, 1941).] German History in Documents and Images. Retrieved 11 June 2011.</ref>

Hitler also expressed his belief that in [[ancient times]] the concept of "Europe" was limited to the southern tip of the [[Greek peninsula]], and was then "brought into confusion" by the expanding borders of the [[Roman Empire]]. He stated that if Germany won the war, the boundary of Europe "would extend eastward to the furthest [[Lebensraum|German colony]]".<ref>[[Adolf Hitler|Hitler, Adolf]] (2000). [[Martin Bormann|Bormann, Martin]]. ed. ''Hitler's Table Talk 1941-1944'',  trans. Cameron, Norman; Stevens, R.H. (3rd ed.) Enigma Books. ISBN 1-929631-05-7.</ref>

In an attempt to influence Nazi policy, the Norwegian fascist politician [[Vidkun Quisling]] produced a memorandum for the Germans - "[[Aide-mémoire]] on the Russian Question" (''Denkschrift über die russische Frage'') - which expressed his own ideas on the "Russian question", which he described as "the main problem in world politics today".<ref name="dahl">Dahl, Hans Fredrik (1999). ''Quisling: A Study in Treachery'', p. 294. [[Cambridge University Press]].</ref> He advocated the [[Dnieper River]] as a general division-line between [[Western Europe]] ("Germania") and Russia. This would necessitate the division of [[Ukraine]], but he argued that this "could be defended from geographical and historical perspectives".<ref name="dahl"/>

==Planning for a border==
[[Albert Speer]] recounted a 1941 episode in his [[Inside the Third Reich|post-war memoirs]] wherein he observed Hitler's early ruminations about the Urals.<ref name="speer">Speer, Albert (1970). ''Inside the Third Reich'', p. 257. Macmillan Company, New York.</ref> The [[Soviet Foreign Minister]], [[Vyacheslav Molotov]], [[German–Soviet Axis talks#Molotov travels to Berlin|traveled to Berlin in mid-November 1940]] to discuss [[Germany–Soviet Union relations before 1941|German–Soviet relations]] with Hitler and [[Joachim von Ribbentrop]]. Already before this meeting Hitler  determined that he would attack the Soviet Union the following spring, ordering the [[Wehrmacht]] to draw up a military plan which would later become [[Operation Barbarossa]].<ref>[[Horst Boog|Boog, Horst]] (1996). ''Germany and the Second World War: The attack on the Soviet Union'', p. 45. [[Oxford University Press]]/Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt GmbH, Stuttgart.</ref> A few months later an army adjutant pointed out to Speer an ordinary [[pencil]] line which Hitler had drawn on [[Hitler's Globe|his globe]] at the [[Berghof (residence)|Berghof]], running north-south along the Ural mountains, signifying the future boundary of Germany's [[sphere of influence]] with that of [[Empire of Japan|Japan]].<ref name="speer"/>

Hitler also mentioned the Urals in his recorded [[Hitler's Table Talk|table talks]] several times; on one occasion he recounts how others questioned him if they were a sufficiently eastward boundary for the Germans to advance to.<ref name="hitler1">Hitler (2000), 5–6 July 1941.</ref> He confirmed this objective, but emphasized that the primary goal was to "eradicate [[Bolshevism]]", and that further military campaigns to ensure this would be carried out if necessary.<ref name="hitler1"/> He later stated that [[Joseph Stalin]] would be prepared to lose [[European Russia]] if he did not succeed at "solving its problems" and thereby "risked losing everything".<ref name="hitler2">Hitler (2000), 12–13 July 1941.</ref> He expressed his belief that it would be impossible for Stalin to retake Europe from [[Siberia]], comparing it to himself hypothetically retaking Germany if he were driven back to [[Slovakia]], and that the [[Operation Barbarossa|German invasion of the Soviet Union]] which was then under way would "bring about the [[Societal collapse|downfall]] of the [[Soviet Union|Soviet Empire]]".<ref name="hitler2"/> In a discussion with the Danish Foreign Minister [[Erik Scavenius|Scavenius]] on 2 November 1942, German Foreign Minister [[Ribbentrop]] stated that the Germans expected [[Asian Russia]] to eventually split up into several harmless "peasant republics" after Germany had occupied the country's European parts.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Kroener|first1=Bernhard R.|last2=Müller|first2=Rolf-Dieter|last3=Umbreit|first3=Hans|title=Germany and the Second World War:Organization and mobilization of the German sphere of power. Wartime administration, economy, and manpower resources 1939-1941|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |year=2000|page=100|isbn=0-19-822887-2}}</ref>

On 16 September 1941 Hitler mentioned to [[Otto Abetz]], the German ambassador in Paris, that "the new Russia as far as the Urals" would become Germany's [[British Raj|India]], but that due to its geographic proximity to Germany was far more favorably located for the Germans than India was for Britain.<ref>Kay, Alex J. (2006). ''Exploitation, Resettlement, Mass Murder: Political and Economic Planning for German Occupation Policy in the Soviet Union, 1940-1941", p. 80. Berghahn Books.</ref>

In the above-mentioned conference of 16 July 1941, it was codified as policy that in order to "secure the safety of the [[Reich]]" no non-German [[Great power|military power]] would ever again be allowed west of the Urals (including non-Russian native [[militia]]s), even if it meant war for the next hundred years.<ref name="bormann"/> Hitler's future successors were to be instructed of this, if necessary.<ref name="bormann"/> This was to be done to prevent any western powers hostile to Germany from conspiring against it with its eastern neighbors in the future, like [[Franco-Ottoman alliance|the French had supposedly done with the Turks]], and which [[Anglo-Soviet Agreement|the British were alleged to be doing with the Soviets]].<ref name="hitler4">Hitler, 27 July 1941.</ref> No organized Russian state would also be allowed to exist west of this line, which Hitler clarified as actually meaning a line 200–300&nbsp;km east of the mountains,<ref name="hitler4"/> approaching the [[70th meridian east|70° east longitude]] line the Japanese had proposed as the westernmost limit [[Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere|of their own influence]].

[[Heinrich Himmler]] went into some effect about how he envisaged the mountains during the 1943 [[Posen speeches]].<ref name="himmler"/> He stated that the "Germanic race" would have to gradually expand to this border so that in several generations time this "[[master race]]", as the leader of Europe, would again be ready to "resume the battles of destiny against Asia", which were "sure to break out again".<ref name="himmler"/> He stated that Europe's defeat would mean "the destruction of the creative power of the earth".<ref name="himmler"/>

The Urals were noted as a distant objective of ''[[Generalplan Ost]]'', the overall Nazi colonization scheme of [[Eastern Europe]].<ref>Madajczyk, Czeslaw (1962). [http://www.worldfuturefund.org/wffmaster/Reading/GPO/gpoarticle.HTM ''General Plan East: Hitler's Master Plan For Expansion'']. Polish Western Affairs, Vol. III No 2.</ref>

==="Living wall"===
{{Further|Wehrbauer}}
Hitler later rejected the mountains as an adequate border, calling it absurd that "these middle-sized mountains" represented the boundary between the "European and Asiatic worlds", stating that one might as well accord that title to one of the large [[Rivers of Russia|Russian rivers]].<ref>Hitler (2000), 23 September 1941.</ref> He explained that only a "living [racial] wall" of Aryan fighters would do as a frontier, and to keep a [[Perpetual war|permanent state of war]] present in the east in order to "preserve the vitality of the race".

{{blockquote|"The real frontier is the one that separates the [[Germanic peoples|Germanic world]] from the [[Slavic peoples|Slav world]]. It is our duty to place it where we want it to be. If anyone asks where we obtain the right to extend the Germanic space to the east, we reply that, for a nation, its awareness of what it represents carries this right with. It is success that justifies everything. The reply to such questions can only be of an [[empirical]] nature.

It is inconceivable that a higher people [[Volk ohne Raum|should painfully exist on a soil too narrow for it]], while [[Untermensch|amorphous masses]], which contribute nothing to civilization, occupy infinite tracts of [[Chernozem|a soil that is one of the richest in the world]]... We must create conditions for our people that favour [[Population growth|its multiplication]], and we must at the same time build a dike against the Russian flood [...] Since there is no natural protection against such a flood, we must meet it with a living wall. A [[permanent war]] on the [[Eastern Front (WWII)|eastern front]] will help form a [[Master race|sound race of men]], and will prevent us from relapsing into the softness of a Europe thrown back upon itself. It should be possible for us to control this region to the east with two hundred and fifty thousand men plus a cadre of good administrators... This [[Lebensraum|space]] in Russia must always be dominated by [[Germans]]."|Adolf Hitler|<ref name="rich">Rich, Norman (1974). ''Hitler's War Aims: the Establishment of the New Order'', pp. 327–329.</ref>}}

The theme of a "living wall" was used by Hitler as early as ''[[Mein Kampf]]'' (published 1925-1926).<ref name="rash">Rash, Felicity J. (2006). ''The Language of Violence: Adolf Hitler's Mein Kampf'', [https://books.google.com/books?id=r-AgnPTl2i4C&pg=PA97&dq=hitler+living+wall&hl=nl&ei=nmLzTYS3MYHrOcP_0aUH&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CDYQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=hitler%20living%20wall&f=false p. 97].
Peter Lang Publishing Inc., New York.</ref> In it he presented the future German state under [[Nazism|National Socialist]] rule as a "father's house" (''Vaterhaus''), a safe place which would keep in the [[Nazism and race|"right human elements"]], and keep out those which were undesirable.<ref name="rash"/> This metaphorical building was to have solid and supportive foundations (''Fundamente'') and walls (''Mauern''), and could only be protected by a living wall (''lebendige Mauer'') of [[patriotic]] and [[Führerprinzip|fanatically devoted]] German people.<ref name="rash"/>

The idea became more prominent in Hitler's mind as the war went on.<ref name="mineau">Mineau, André (2004). ''Operation Barbarossa: Ideology and Ethic against Human Dignity'', p. 36. Editions Rodopi B.V., Amsterdam&nbsp;– New York. ISBN 90-420-1633-7.</ref> On 10 December 1942 (as the [[Battle of Stalingrad]] was turning unfavourably against the Germans) he told [[Anton Mussert]], a [[National Socialist Movement in the Netherlands|Dutch Nazi]] [[Collaboration with the Axis Powers during World War II|collaborator]], that the "Asiatic waves were threatening to overrun Europe and exterminate the higher races", and that this threat could only be countered by wall-building and long-term fighting.<ref name="mineau"/> On 20 April 1943 (Hitler's birthday) he had a discussion with [[Albert Speer]] and [[Karl-Otto Saur]] on a design he had personally drawn for a six-person [[Bunker#Pillbox|bunker]] that was to be used in the [[Atlantic Wall]], featuring [[machine gun]]s, an [[anti-tank gun]], and [[flame thrower]]s.<ref name="speerq">Speer, Albert (1976). ''[[Spandau: The Secret Diaries]]'' Macmillan Company, p. 58</ref> He indicated that this design was also to be used for defence purposes at Germany's "ultimate eastern border deep within Russia"<ref name="speerq"/> — if the Axis had completely defeated the Soviets, there might have existed the possibility of either only any remnant Soviet forces, or the northwesterly mainland Siberian-located extremities of Imperial Japan's [[Co-Prosperity Sphere]] territories, going eastwards beyond such a frontier.

==Related plans==
Various German agencies assumed a number of different boundaries in the east.

The administrative planning carried out by [[Alfred Rosenberg]] from April to June 1941 in his capacity as Plenipotentiary for the Central Treatment of Questions of the Eastern European Space (basis of the future [[Reich Ministry for the Occupied Eastern Territories]]) for the territories that were to be conquered in the Soviet Union based the envisaged civil districts of the
''[[Reichskommissariat]]e'' to a large extent on the borders of the pre-existing Soviet [[Oblasts of the Soviet Union|oblasts]] and [[Autonomous republics of the Soviet Union|autonomous republics]], particularly in [[Reichskommissariat Moskowien]].<ref name="dallin">(German) Dallin, Alexander (1958). ''Deutsche Herrschaft in Russland 1941–1945: Eine Studie über Besatzungspolitik'', p. 67. Droste Verlag GmbH, Düsseldorf.</ref> This included even territory to the east of the mountains, such as the [[Sverdlovsk Oblast|Sverdlovsk]] (Yekaterinburg) region.<ref name="dallin"/>

The German [[Wehrmacht]] assumed an eastern boundary at the [[A-A line]] (a limit along the [[Volga river]] between the cities of [[Archangelsk]] and [[Astrakhan]]), which was the military objective of Operation Barbarossa.

In the [[Axis power negotiations on the division of Asia during World War II|later treaty with Japan]], the Japanese proposed allocating all of [[Afro-Eurasia]] west of the [[70th meridian east]] to the Germans and [[Kingdom of Italy (1861–1946)|Italians]] in the case of a total Soviet collapse, but after negotiations the boundary was changed to the [[Yenisei river]].

==See also==
* [[A-A line]]
* [[Axis power negotiations on the division of Asia during World War II]]
* [[East Wall (defensive line)]]
* [[Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere]]
* ''[[Lebensraum]]''
* [[Ural bomber]], a mid-to-late 1930s design competition for a ''Luftwaffe'' strategic bomber with the Urals as its maximum range.

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ural mountains in Nazi planning, The}}
[[Category:Military of Nazi Germany]]
[[Category:Ural Mountains]]
[[Category:Soviet Union in World War II]]
[[Category:History of the Soviet Union and Soviet Russia]]