Editing Lebensraum (section)

===Implementation===
{{Further|Generalplan Ost|Expulsion of Poles by Nazi Germany (1939–1944)|Ural Mountains in Nazi planning|Wehrbauer}}
[[File:Bundesarchiv R 49 Bild-0128, Gelsendorf, Aussiedlung von Polen.jpg|thumb|300px|The Nazi establishment of German {{lang|de|Lebensraum}} required the expulsion of the Poles from Poland, such as their expulsion from the {{lang|de|[[Reichsgau Wartheland]]}} in 1939.]]
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-J09397, Lodz, Millionster Umsiedler im Wartheland.jpg|thumb|300px|Germanisation of Poland: {{lang|de|SS Obergruppenführer}} [[Arthur Greiser]] welcomes the millionth Eastern European {{lang|de|[[Volksdeutsche]]r}} to be resettled in annexed Polish territories, March 1944.]]

Nazi policies in German-occupied territories were marked by spontaneous adaptation, on-the-fly modifications, and bureaucratic competition, underscoring the impulsive nature of Hitlerism.<ref name="ReferenceA"/> Nazi Germany's pursuit of its bio-geo-political ambitions was carried out through fanatical perpetration of a racist [[war of annihilation]] (''Vernichtungskrieg'') which inflicted industrial-scale [[terrorism]] against entire populations. These policies resulted in the [[genocide]] of numerous ethnic groups in German-occupied territories, including the Jews, Poles, [[Russians]], [[Romani people]], etc. and also contributed to the failure of German war aims.<ref name="The University of Chicago Press"/>

The [[Invasion of Poland|Polish Campaign]] was Nazi Germany's first implementation of {{lang|de|Lebensraum}} policy, beginning with the [[Occupation of Poland (1939-1945)|Occupation of Poland (1939–1945)]]. In October 1939, Heinrich Himmler became the [[Reich Commissioner for the Consolidation of German Nationhood]], tasked with returning all ethnic Germans ({{lang|de|[[Volksdeutsche]]}}) to the {{lang|de|Reich}}, preventing harmful foreign influences upon the German people, and creating new settlement areas (especially for returning {{lang|de|Volksdeutsche}}).<ref>Peter Longerich, ''Heinrich Himmler: A Life'', p. 528.</ref>

From mid–1940, the [[ethnic cleansing]] (forcible removal) of Poles from the {{lang|de|[[Reichsgau Wartheland]]}} initially occurred across the border, to the [[General Government]] (a colonial political entity ostensibly autonomous of the Reich); then, after the invasion of the USSR, the displaced Polish populations were jailed in {{lang|de|[[Polenlager]]}} (Pole-storage camps) in [[Silesia]] and sent to villages designated as [[ghetto]]es. In four years of Germanisation (1940–44), the Nazis forcibly removed some 50,000 ethnic Poles from the Polish territories annexed to the Greater German {{lang|de|Reich}}, notably some 18,000–20,000 ethnic Poles from Żywiec County, in Polish Silesia, effected in [[Action Saybusch]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Anna Machcewicz |date=16 February 2010 |title=Mama wzięła ino chleb |url=http://tygodnik.onet.pl/1,41565,druk.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120318131952/http://tygodnik.onet.pl/1%2C41565%2Cdruk.html |archive-date=18 March 2012 |access-date=5 May 2012 |website=Historia |publisher=[[Tygodnik Powszechny]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Mirosław Sikora |date=20 September 2011 |title=Saybusch Aktion – jak Hitler budował raj dla swoich chłopów |url=http://www.fronda.pl/news/czytaj/tytul/saybusch_aktion_-_jak_hitler_budowal_raj_dla_swoich_chlopow_15558 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111106143810/http://www.fronda.pl/news/czytaj/tytul/saybusch_aktion_-_jak_hitler_budowal_raj_dla_swoich_chlopow_15558 |archive-date=6 November 2011 |access-date=May 5, 2012 |website=OBEP [[Institute of National Remembrance]], Katowice |publisher=Redakcja Fronda.pl |language=pl}}</ref>

The Nazi invasion of Poland consisted of atrocities committed against Polish men, women, and children. The German population's psychological acceptance of the atrocities was achieved with [[Nazi propaganda]] (print, radio, cinema), a key factor behind the manufactured consent that justified German brutality towards civilians; by continually manipulating the national psychology, the Nazis convinced the German people to believe that Slavs and Jews were ''Untermenschen''.<ref>Richard J. Evans, The Third Reich at War, p.&nbsp;102</ref> For example, leaders of the [[Hitler Youth]] were issued pamphlets (such as ''On the German People and its Territory'') meant to influence the rank-and-file Hitler Youth about the necessity of Nazi racist practices in obtaining {{lang|de|Lebensraum}} for the German people.<ref>{{Cite web |year=1937 |title=On the German People and its Territory |url=http://research.calvin.edu/german-propaganda-archive/hjhandbuch.htm |publisher=Vom deutschen Volk und seinem Lebensraum, Handbuch für die Schulung in der HJ |language=de}}</ref> Likewise, in the {{lang|de|Reich}} proper, schoolchildren were given propaganda pamphlets (such as ''You and Your People'') explaining the importance of {{lang|de|Lebensraum}} for the future of Germany and the German people.<ref>{{Cite web |year=1940 |editor-last=Fritz Bennecke |title=You and Your People (''Volk'') |url=http://research.calvin.edu/german-propaganda-archive/du.htm |website=Vom deutschen Volk und seinem Lebensraum, Handbuch für die Schulung in der HJ |publisher=Franz Eher, 1937 |language=de |location=Munich}}</ref>

On 21 June 1941, Himmler commissioned the drafting of ''[[Generalplan Ost]]'' (GPO), which was to be the blue-print of German expansionist and extermination policies in Eastern Europe. The draft, which was based on the proposals of Nazi agronomist [[Konrad Meyer]], were forwarded to Hitler for approval. On 16 July 1941, Hitler appointed [[Alfred Rosenberg]] as [[Reich Ministry for the Occupied Eastern Territories|Reich Minister for Occupied Eastern Territories]], giving him directives to monitor [[Schutzstaffel|SS]] activities. GPO was approved by Hitler's orders in May 1942 and became the official occupation program of [[Nazi Germany]] in July 1942. The program launched the [[genocide]] of millions of Slavs, Jews, [[Romani people]], etc. through various methods like mass-killings, forced starvations, [[Extermination through labour|extermination through slave labour]], etc. [[Ethnic cleansing]] was initiated to [[Forcibly displaced|forcibly displace]] remaining non-Germanic inhabitants eastwards. Under the objectives of ''Generalplan Ost'', the evacuated territories were to be colonized by over 10 million German settlers and establish the blueprint for a [[Greater Germanic Reich]]. [[Germanisation|Germanization]] campaigns were extolled in [[Nazi Propaganda|Nazi propaganda]] as the modern adaptation of what it portrayed as "[[civilizing mission]]s" of the [[Teutonic Order]].{{sfn|Evans|2008|p=173}}{{sfn|Longerich|2012|pp=527–530, 577–580}}