Editing Volksdeutsche (section)

==During World War II==
{{multiple image
| direction         = vertical
| width             = 220
| image1            = Volksdeutsche decorated by Hitler.jpg
| caption1          = Poles of German ethnicity decorated with the [[Golden Party Badge]] by [[Adolf Hitler]] in [[Berlin]] after [[Invasion of Poland]] in 1939. From left: Ludwig Wolff head of [[Deutscher Volksverband]] from [[Łódź]], Otto Ulitz from Katowice, Gauleiter Josef Wagner, Mayor Rudolf Wiesner from [[Bielsko-Biała]], Obergruppenführer [[Werner Lorenz]], senator Erwin Hasbach from [[Ciechocinek]], Gero von Gersdorff from [[Wielkopolska]], Weiss from [[Jarocin]].
| image2            = Bundesarchiv Bild 183-J09397, Lodz, Millionster Umsiedler im Wartheland.jpg
| caption2          = [[Arthur Greiser]] welcoming the millionth resettler of German ethnicity during the "[[Heim ins Reich]]" action from Central and Eastern Europe to occupied Poland – March 1944
}}

Ethnic Germans throughout Europe benefited financially during World War II from the Nazi policies of genocide and [[ethnic cleansing]], and profited from the expulsion and murder of their non-German neighbors<ref>Mathias Schulze, ''German Diasporic Experiences: Identity, Migration, and Loss'', p. 126</ref> throughout Eastern Europe. For example, in Ukraine the {{Lang|de|Volksdeutsche}} directly participated in the [[Holocaust]] and were involved in deportation of local farmers and their families; {{Lang|de|Volksdeutsche}} figures like Arthur Boss from Odessa ([[Paul Blobel|Blobel]]'s right-hand man) or the Becker brothers became an integral part of the Nazi Holocaust machine.<ref>Jonathan Petropoulos, John K. Roth, ''Gray Zones: Ambiguity and Compromise in the Holocaust and Its Aftermath'', p. 199. {{ISBN|1845453026}}.</ref>

==='Volksdeutsche' in German-occupied western Poland===
In September 1939 in [[Occupation of Poland (1939–1945)|German occupied Poland]], an armed ethnic German militia called ''[[Selbstschutz]]'' (Self-Defence) was created. It organised the mass murder of Polish elites in [[Operation Tannenberg]]. At the beginning of 1940, the ''Selbstschutz'' organization was disbanded, and its members transferred to various units of the SS, Gestapo and the German police. Throughout the [[invasion of Poland]], some ethnic German minority groups assisted Nazi Germany in the war effort: they committed sabotage, diverted regular forces and committed numerous atrocities against civilian population.<ref>Maria Wardzyńska, ''Był rok 1939 Operacja niemieckiej policji bezpieczeństwa w Polsce. Intelligenzaktion'', IPN Instytut Pamięci Narodowej, 2009 {{ISBN|978-83-7629-063-8}}</ref><ref>Browning, Christopher R. ''The Origins of the Final Solution: The Evolution of Nazi Jewish Policy, September 1939–March 1942'', 2007 p. 33</ref>

After Germany occupied western Poland, it established a central registration bureau, called the German People's List (''[[Deutsche Volksliste]]'', DVL), whereby [[History of the Germans in Poland|Poles of German ethnicity]] were registered as {{Lang|de|Volksdeutsche}}. The German occupants encouraged such registration, in many cases forcing it or subjecting Poles of German ethnicity to terror assaults if they refused.<ref>''Historia Encyklopedia Szkolna'', Wydawnictwa Szkolne i, Warszawa" Pedagogiczne, 1993, pp. 357, 358</ref> Those who joined this group were given benefits including better food, as well as a better social status.

[[File:Nur fur deutsche.jpg|thumb|left|upright|''[[Nur für Deutsche|Nur für deutsche Fahrgäste]]'' (Eng. "Only for German passengers") on the tram number 8 in occupied [[Kraków]]]]

The [[Volksdeutsche Mittelstelle]] organised large-scale looting of property and redistributed goods to the Volksdeutsche. They were given apartments, workshops, farms, furniture, and clothing confiscated from Jews and Poles. In turn, hundreds of thousands of the Volksdeutsche joined the German forces, either willingly or under compulsion.

During [[World War II]], the Polish citizens of German ancestry that identified with the Polish nation faced the dilemma whether to register in the Deutsche Volksliste. Many families had lived in Poland for centuries and more-recent immigrants had arrived over 30 years before the war. They faced the choice of registering and being regarded as traitors by the Poles, or not signing and being treated by the Nazi occupation as traitors to the [[Germanic peoples|Germanic race]]. Polish Silesian Catholic Church authorities, led by bishop [[Stanisław Adamski]] and with agreement from the [[Polish Government in Exile]], advised Poles to sign up to the Volksliste in order to avoid atrocities and mass murder that happened in other parts of the country.<ref>Historia społeczno-polityczna Górnego Śląska i Śląska w latach 1918–1945 Maria Wanatowicz – 1994 Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Śląskiego, 1994, p. 180</ref>

In occupied Poland, ''Volksdeutscher'' enjoyed privileges and were subject to conscription, or draft, into the [[Wehrmacht|German army]]. In occupied [[Pomerania]], the [[Gauleiter]] of the [[Danzig-West Prussia]] region [[Albert Forster]] ordered a list of people considered of German ethnicity to be made in 1941. Due to insignificant voluntary registrations by February 1942, Forster made signing the ''Volksliste'' mandatory and empowered local authorities to use force and threats to implement the decree. Consequently, the number of signatories rose to almost a million, or about 55% of the 1944 population.<ref name=chrzan/>

[[File:Die 'großzügigste Umsiedlungsaktion' with Poland superimposed, 1939.jpg|300px|thumb|Origin of ethnic German colonisers, resettled into [[Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany|German-annexed and occupied Poland]] during "[[Heim ins Reich]]" action. Poster superimposed with the red outline of Poland missing from the original print.]]

The special case of [[Pomeranian Voivodeship (1919–1939)|Polish Pomerania]], where terror against civilians was particularly intense, and where, unlike in rest of occupied Poland, signing of the list was mandatory for many people, was recognised by the [[Polish Underground State]] and other anti-Nazi resistance movements, which tried to explain the situation to other Poles in underground publications.<ref name=chrzan>Chrzanowski, B., Gasiorowski, A., and Steyer, K. ''Polska Podziemna na Pomorzu w Latach 1939–1945'' (Underground Polish State in Pomerania in the years 1939–1945), Oskar, Gdansk, 2005, pp. 59–60</ref>

The Deutsche Volksliste categorised non-Jewish Poles of German ethnicity into one of four categories:<ref>Georg Hansen, ''Ethnische Schulpolitik im besetzten Polen: Der Mustergau Wartheland,'' Waxmann Verlag, 1995, pp. 30ff, {{ISBN|3-89325-300-9}} [https://books.google.com/books?id=tfd4Cl8uMI8C&dq=volksliste+kategorie&pg=PA27]</ref><ref>Bruno Wasser, ''Himmlers Raumplanung im Osten: Der Generalplan Ost in Polen, 1940–1944'', Birkhäuser, 1993, pp. 109ff, {{ISBN|3-7643-2852-5}} [https://books.google.com/books?id=NlP60sinKcoC&dq=volksliste+kategorie&pg=PA110]</ref>

* Category I: Persons of German descent committed to the Reich before 1939.
* Category II: Persons of German descent who had remained passive.
* Category III: Persons of German descent who had become partly "Polonised", e.g., through marrying a Polish partner or through working relationships (especially [[Silesia]]ns and [[Kashubians]]).
* Category IV: Persons of German ancestry who had become "Polonised" but were supportive of "Germanisation".

Volksdeutsche of statuses 1 and 2 in the Polish areas annexed by Germany numbered 1 million, and Nos. 3 and 4 numbered 1.7 million. In the [[General Government]] there were 120,000 Volksdeutsche. Volksdeutsche of Polish ethnic origins were treated by the Poles with special contempt.

{|class=wikitable
|- style="background:#E8E8E8;"
|rowspan="2"|'''[[Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany|Annexed area]]'''
| colspan="4" style="text-align:center;"|'''Deutsche Volksliste, early 1944'''
|- style="background:#F0F0F0;"
|'''Cat. I'''
|'''Cat. II'''
|'''Cat. III'''
|'''Cat. IV'''
|-
|[[Warthegau]]
|230,000
|190,000
|65,000
|25,000
|-
|[[Reichsgau Danzig-West Prussia]]<br /><small>Note: In Polish Pomerania, unlike in the rest of occupied Poland, signing<br /> of the list was mandatory for a good portion of the population</small>.<ref name=chrzan/>
|115,000
|95,000
|725,000
|2,000
|-
|East Upper Silesia
|130,000
|210,000
|875,000
|55,000
|-
|South East Prussia
|9,000
|22,000
|13,000
|1,000
|-
| rowspan="2" |'''Total'''
|484,000
|517,000
|1,678,000
|83,000
|-
| colspan="4" style="text-align:center;"|Total 2.75 million on Volkslisten plus non-German population (Polish) of 6.015 million – Grand Total 8.765 million in annexed territories.
|-
|colspan="5"|<small>'''Source:''' [[Wilhelm Deist]], Bernhard R Kroener, Germany (Federal Republic). Militärgeschichtliches Forschungsamt, ''Germany and the Second World War'', Oxford University Press, 2003, pp.&nbsp;132, 133, {{ISBN|0-19-820873-1}}, citing Broszat, ''Nationalsozialistische Polenpolitik'', p.&nbsp;134</small>
|}

Because of actions by some {{Lang|de|Volksdeutsche}} and particularly the atrocities committed by [[Nazi Germany]], after the end of the war, the Polish authorities tried many {{Lang|de|Volksdeutsche}} for high treason. In the postwar period, many other ethnic Germans were expelled to the west and forced to leave everything. In post-war Poland, the word {{Lang|de|Volksdeutsche}} is regarded as an insult, synonymous with "traitor".

In some cases, individuals consulted the Polish resistance first, before signing the Volksliste. There were {{Lang|de|Volksdeutsche}} who played important roles in intelligence activities of the Polish resistance, and were at times the primary source of information for the [[Allies of World War II|Allies]]. Particularly in Polish Pomerania and Polish Silesia, many of the people who were forced to sign the Volksliste played crucial roles in the anti-Nazi underground, which was noted in a memo to the [[Polish Government in Exile]] which stated ''"In [[Wielkopolska]] there's bitter hatred of the {{Lang|de|Volksdeutsche|italic=no}} while in Silesia and Polish Pomerania it's the opposite, the secret organization depends in large measure on the {{Lang|de|Volksdeutsche|italic=no}}"'' (the memo referred to those of Category III, not I and II).<ref name=chrzan/> In the turmoil of the postwar years, the [[Communist]] government did not consider this sufficient mitigation. It prosecuted many double-agent {{Lang|de|Volksdeutsche}} and sentenced some to death.

=== Volksdeutsche in the territories annexed by the Soviet Union in 1939–1940 ===

{{Further|Nazi-Soviet population transfers|Heim ins Reich|Expulsion of Poles by Nazi Germany}}

The secret protocols of [[Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact]] created domestic problems for Hitler.<ref name="philbin71">{{Harvnb|Philbin III|1994|p=71}}</ref> Supporting the Soviet invasion became one of the most ideologically difficult aspects of the countries' relationship.<ref name="philbin129">{{Harvnb|Philbin III|1994|p=129]}}</ref> The secret protocols caused Hitler to hurriedly evacuate ethnic German families, who had lived in the [[Baltic states|Baltic countries]] for centuries and now classified as Volksdeutsche, while officially condoning the invasions.<ref name="shirer665">{{Harvnb|Shirer|1990|p=665}}</ref><ref name="ericson134">{{Harvnb|Ericson|1999|p=134}}</ref> When the three Baltic countries, not knowing about the secret protocols, sent letters protesting the Soviet invasions to Berlin, Ribbentrop returned them.<ref name="shirer794">{{Harvnb|Shirer|1990|p=794}}</ref>

{{multiple image
| direction         = vertical
| width             = 220
| image1            = Bundesarchiv Bild 137-058147, Wartheland, Transport von Umsiedlern.jpg
| caption1          = Volksdeutsche resettling after the Soviet occupation of Eastern Poland
| image2            = Bundesarchiv Bild 121-0693, Graz, Bahnhof, Volksdeutsche Umsiedler.jpg
| caption2          = Volkdeutsche resettling after the Soviet occupation of [[Bukovina]] and [[Bessarabia]] in 1940<ref>Among the resettled people were the parents of Germany's former [[Christian Democratic Union of Germany|CDU]] president [[Horst Köhler]]</ref>
| image3            = Bundesarchiv Bild 183-E12315, Warthegau, Baltendeutsche Umsiedler.jpg
| caption3          = Resettled [[Baltic Germans]] take possession of empty homes in ''[[Warthegau]]'' after their forced abandonment by the [[Expulsion of Poles by Germany|legitimate Polish owners]].
| image4            = Bundesarchiv Bild 183-E12311, Ankunft baltendeutscher Umsiedler.jpg
| caption4          = Baltic German settlers are shown their new possession in [[General Government|occupied Poland]] in November 1939.
}}

In August 1940, Soviet Foreign minister Molotov told the Germans that, with the government change, they could close down their Baltic consulates by September 1.<ref name="shirer794" /> The Soviet annexations in Romania caused further strain.<ref name="shirer794" /> While Germany had given the Soviets [[Bessarabia]] in the secret protocols, it had not given them [[North Bukovina]].<ref name="shirer794" /> Germany wanted guarantees of the safety of property of ethnic Germans, security for the 125,000 Volksdeutsche in Bessarabia and North Bukovina, and reassurance that the train tracks carrying Romanian oil would be left alone.<ref name="ericson134" />

In October 1940, Germany and the Soviet Union negotiated about the Volksdeutsche in Soviet-occupied territories and their property.<ref name="ericson144">{{Harvnb|Ericson|1999|p=144}}</ref> Instead of permitting full indemnification, the Soviets put restrictions on the wealth that the Volksdeutsche could take with them and limited the totals that the Soviets would apply to the Reich's clearing accounts.<ref name="ericson138">{{Harvnb|Ericson|1999|p=138}}</ref> The parties discussed total compensation of between {{Reichsmark|200 million|link=yes}} and {{Reichsmark|350 million}} for the Volksdeutsche, while the Soviets requested {{Reichsmark|50 million}} for their property claims in German-occupied territories.<ref name="ericson149">{{Harvnb|Ericson|1999|p=149}}</ref> The two nations reached general agreement on German shipments of 10.5-cm flak cannons, gold, machinery and other items.<ref name="ericson149" />

On 10 January 1941, Germany and the Soviet Union signed the [[German–Soviet Border and Commercial Agreement]] to settle all of the open disputes which the Soviets had argued.<ref name="ericson150">{{Harvnb|Ericson|1999|p=150}}</ref> The agreement covered protected migration to Germany within two and a half months of Volksdeutsche, and similar migration to the Soviet Union of ethnic Russians, Baltic and "White Russian" "nationals" from German-held territories.<ref name="johari" />  In many cases, the resulting [[Nazi–Soviet population transfers|population transfers]] resulted in resettlement of Volksdeutsche on land previously held by ethnic Poles or Jews in now German-occupied territories. The agreement formally defined the border between Germany and the Soviet Union areas between the [[Igorka River]] and the [[Baltic Sea]].<ref name="johari">Johari, J.C., ''Soviet Diplomacy 1925–41: 1925–27'', Anmol Publications PVT. LTD., 2000, {{ISBN|81-7488-491-2}} pp. 134–137</ref>

{| class="wikitable sortable" style="width:600px;"
|+ '''[[Heim ins Reich]] 1939–1944'''<ref>''Enzyklopädie Migration in Europa. Vom 17. Jahrhundert bis zur Gegenwart'', Munich: K.J.Bade, 2007, ss. 1082–1083.</ref>
!Territory of origin
!Year
!Number of resettled Volksdeutsche
|-
|[[South Tyrol]] (see [[South Tyrol Option Agreement]])
|1939–1940
|83,000
|-
|[[Latvia]] and [[Estonia]]
|1939–1941
|69,000
|-
|[[Lithuania]]
|1941
|54,000
|-
|[[Volhynia]], [[Galicia (Central Europe)|Galicia]], ''Nerewdeutschland''
|1939–1940
|128,000
|-
|[[General Government]]
|1940
|33,000
|-
|North Bukovina and [[Bessarabia]]
|1940
|137,000
|-
|[[Kingdom of Romania|Romania]] (South Bukovina and North Dobruja)
|1940
|77,000
|-
|[[Yugoslavia]]
|1941–1942
|36,000
|-
|[[USSR]] (pre-1939 borders)
|1939–1944
|250,000
|-
|'''Summary'''
|1939–1944
|867,000
|}

===After the German invasion of the USSR===
{{Further|Operation Barbarossa}}
After the [[Russian Revolution of 1917]], the government granted the [[Volga German]]s an autonomous republic.  [[Joseph Stalin]] abolished the [[Volga German Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic|Volga German ASSR]] after [[Operation Barbarossa]], the German invasion of the USSR. Most of Soviet Germans in the USSR were [[:ru:Депортация немцев в СССР|deported]] to [[Siberia]], [[Kazakhstan]], and [[Central Asia]] by Decree of the [[Supreme Soviet of the USSR]] of August 28, 1941, and from the beginning of 1942 those Soviet Germans who were deemed suitable for hard work (men aged from 15 to 55 and women from 16 to 45) were mobilised for forced labour into ''Working columns'' where they lived in a prison-like environment, and sometimes, together with regular inmates, were put in prison camps.  Hundreds of thousands died or became incapacitated due to the harsh conditions.

===Volksdeutsche in Hungary===
A significant portion of {{Lang|de|Volksdeutsche}} in Hungary joined the [[SS]], which was a pattern repeated also in Romania (with 54,000 locals serving in the SS by the end of 1943).<ref name="Pogany"/> The majority of 200,000 {{Lang|de|Volksdeutsche}} from the area of Danube who served with the SS were from Hungary. As early as 1942, some 18,000 Hungarian Germans joined the SS.<ref name="Pogany">{{cite book |title=Righting Wrongs in Eastern Europe  |author1=Istvan S. Pogany |publisher=Manchester University Press |year=1997 |page=53 |isbn=9780719030420 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KdBRAQAAIAAJ&q=Hungary+1942}}</ref> they have been called [[Danube Swabians]]. After World War II, approximately 185,000 {{Lang|de|Volksdeutsche}} in the Volksbund fled from the region. They were called 'Svabo' by their Serbian, Hungarian, Croatian, and Romanian neighbors. Most of the Danube Swabians who were not members in the so-called ''Volksbund'' were expelled to [[Allied-occupied Germany]] and [[Allied-occupied Austria]] in 1946–1948, following the [[Potsdam Agreement]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://ldu-online.de/die-vertreibung|title = Die Vertreibung – Landsmannschaft der Deutschen aus Ungarn}}</ref>

===Volksdeutsche in Romania===
After Romania acquired parts of Soviet Ukraine, the Germans there came under the authority of the [[Volksdeutsche Mittelstelle]], which deployed SS personnel to several settlements. They eventually contained German mayors, farms, schools and ethnic German paramilitary groups functioning as police called ''[[Selbstschutz]]'' ("Self-protection"). German colonists and ''Selbstschutz'' forces engaged in extensive acts of [[ethnic cleansing]], massacring [[Jewish people|Jewish]] and [[Romani people|Roma]] populations.

In the German colony of Shonfeld, Romas were burned in farms. During the winter of 1941/1942, German ''Selbstschutz'' units participated in the shooting, together with [[Ukrainian People's Militia]] and Romanian [[gendarme]]s, of some 18,000 [[Jews]]. In the camp of [[Bogdanovka concentration camp|Bogdanovka]], tens of thousands of Jews were subject to mass shootings, barn burnings and killing by hand grenades.

[[Heinrich Himmler]] was sufficiently impressed by the Volksdeutsche communities and the work of the Selbstschutz to order that these methods be copied in Ukraine.<ref>Moses, Dirk A. (editor) ''Empire, Colony, Genocide: Conquest, Occupation and Subaltern Resistance in World History'', Berghahn Books, 2009, {{ISBN|978-1845457198}}, p. 389</ref>

==='Volksdeutsche' in Serbia and Croatia ===

In the former Yugoslavia, the [[7th SS Volunteer Mountain Division Prinz Eugen]] was formed with about 50,000 ethnic Germans from the  [[Banat]] region of [[Serbia]]. It was conspicuous in its operations against the [[Yugoslav Partisans]]  and civilian population. About 100,000 ethnic Germans from the Nazi-conquered former Yugoslavia joined the German [[Wehrmacht]] and  Waffen-SS, the majority conscripted involuntarily as judged by the [[Nuremberg Trials]]. Yet <blockquote>"[a]fter the initial rush of Volksdeutsche to join, voluntary enlistments tapered off, and the new unit did not reach division size. Therefore, in August 1941, the SS discarded the voluntary approach, and after a favourable judgement from the SS court in Belgrade, imposed a mandatory military obligation on all Volksdeutsche in Serbia-Banat, the first of its kind for non-Reich Germans."<ref>Valdis O. Lumans, ''Himmler's Auxiliaries: The Volksdeutsche Mittelstelle and the German National minorities of Europe, 1939–1945'' (University of North Carolina Press, 1993), p. 235.</ref></blockquote>In the former Yugoslavia a majority of ethnic Germans became members of the ''[[Kulturbund (Yugoslavia)|Schwäbisch-Deutscher Kulturbund]]'' (Swabian German Cultural Association), and reprisals on this group by Tito's partisans resulted in many immediate revenge killings in 1944 and incarceration of approximately 150,000 ethnic Germans in 1945.<ref>Wittmann, Anna M., [https://www.questia.com/library/journal/1G1-93085759/mutiny-in-the-balkans-croat-volksdeutsche-the-waffen-ss "Mutiny in the Balkans: Croat Volksdeutsche, the Waffen-SS and Motherhood."] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170404130606/https://www.questia.com/library/journal/1G1-93085759/mutiny-in-the-balkans-croat-volksdeutsche-the-waffen-ss |date=2017-04-04 }} ''East European Quarterly'' XXXVI No. 3 (2002), pp. 256–257.</ref>