Editing Lebensraum (section)

=== Factor that played a role in Germany's defeat ===
Several historians have evaluated the Nazi pursuit of "''Lebensraum''" as a reckless endeavor that played a role in Germany's military defeat during the [[Second World War]]. As the ''[[Wehrmacht]]'' began capturing vast swathes of territories in Eastern Europe during the early phase of the war, the bio-geo-political program of ''Lebensraum'' led to the intensification of self-destructive policies by Nazi military forces, culminating in the genocide of [[Eastern European Jewry|Jews]], [[Romani people|Romanis]], [[Slavs]],  etc., and eventually, the collapse of [[Nazi Germany]] itself.<ref>{{harvnb|Giaccaria|Minca|2016|pages=34–37}}</ref> Elucidating the self-destructive characteristics of Nazi practices, historian Vejas Liulevicius wrote:
{{Blockquote|text="The regime used modern techniques for the goal of a terrible future utopia which classical modernity would not recognize, seeking space, rather than development. While the Soviets retreated, “trading space for time,” the Nazis gave up time to gain space—seeking an everlasting, timeless present of destructive expansion in their vision of the ''[[Ostland]]''. As the tide of events turned in the East, [[Hitler]] refused to give up the spaces conquered and forbade withdrawal again and again, producing military disasters. The ideological primacy of ''Raum'' was fatal in its consequences in the East. At long last, this was brought home to Germans as the Red Army invaded their territory by 1945, turning the utopia of ''Raum'' into a nightmare of the advancing East."|source=<ref>{{harvnb|Giaccaria|Minca|2016|pages=36, 37}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Gabriel Liulevicius |first=Vejas |title=War Land on the Eastern Front |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2000 |isbn=978-0-511-49718-6  |location=Cambridge, UK |page=272 |chapter=8: The triumph of ''Raum''}}</ref>|title="War Land on the Eastern Front" (2000)}}