Editing Heinrich Himmler (section)

=== Germanization policies and ''Generalplan Ost'' ===
{{main|Germanization|Generalplan Ost}}
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-B01718, Ausstellung "Planung und Aufbau im Osten".jpg|thumb|[[Rudolf Hess]], Himmler, [[Philipp Bouhler]], [[Fritz Todt]], [[Reinhard Heydrich]], and others listening to [[Konrad Meyer]] at a {{lang|de|[[Generalplan Ost]]}} exhibition, 20 March 1941]]
As [[Reich Commissioner for the Consolidation of German Nationhood]] (RKFDV) with the incorporated [[Volksdeutsche Mittelstelle|VoMi]], Himmler was deeply involved in the [[Germanization]] program for the East, particularly Poland. As laid out in ''[[Generalplan Ost]]'', the aim was to enslave, expel or exterminate the native population and to make {{lang|de|Lebensraum}} ("living space") for {{lang|de|Volksdeutsche}} (ethnic Germans). He continued his plans to colonise the east, even when many Germans were reluctant to relocate there, and despite negative effects on the war effort.{{sfn|Cecil|1972|p=191}}{{sfn|Overy|2004|p=543}} Approximately 11 million Slavic and 3.4&nbsp;million Jewish inhabitants of Eastern Europe were killed in Nazi Germany's extermination campaigns during the implementation of ''Generalplan Ost''.{{sfn|Lens|2019}}{{sfn|Naimark|2023|pp=359, 377}}

Himmler's racial groupings began with the {{lang|de|[[Volksliste]]}}, the classification of people deemed of German blood. These included Germans who had collaborated with Germany before the war, but also those who considered themselves German but had been neutral; those who were partially "Polonized" but "Germanizable"; and Germans who were of Polish nationality.{{sfn|Overy|2004|p=544}} Himmler ordered that those who refused to be classified as ethnic Germans should be deported to concentration camps, have their children taken away, or be assigned to forced labour.{{sfn|Nicholas|2006|p=247}}{{sfn|Lukas|2001|p=113}} Himmler's belief that "it is in the nature of German blood to resist" led to his conclusion that Balts or Slavs who resisted Germanization were racially superior to more compliant ones.{{sfn|Cecil|1972|p=199}} He declared that no drop of German blood would be lost or left behind to mingle with an "alien race".{{sfn|Overy|2004|p=543}}

The plan also included the [[Kidnapping of children by Nazi Germany|kidnapping of Eastern European children by Nazi Germany]].{{sfn|Sereny|1999}} Himmler urged:
{{blockquote|
Obviously in such a mixture of peoples, there will always be some racially good types. Therefore, I think that it is our duty to take their children with us, to remove them from their environment, if necessary by robbing, or stealing them. Either we win over any good blood that we can use for ourselves and give it a place in our people,&nbsp;... or we destroy that blood.{{sfn|Kohn-Bramstedt|1998|p=244}}
}}

The "racially valuable" children were to be removed from all contact with Poles and raised as Germans, with German names.{{sfn|Sereny|1999}} Himmler declared: "We have faith above all in this our own blood, which has flowed into a foreign nationality through the vicissitudes of German history. We are convinced that our own philosophy and ideals will reverberate in the spirit of these children who racially belong to us."{{sfn|Sereny|1999}} The children were to be adopted by German families.{{sfn|Lukas|2001|p=113}} Children who passed muster at first but were later rejected were taken to {{lang|de|[[Kinder KZ]]}} in [[Łódź Ghetto]], where most of them eventually died.{{sfn|Sereny|1999}}

By January 1943, Himmler reported that 629,000 ethnic Germans had been resettled; however, most resettled Germans did not live in the envisioned small farms, but in temporary camps or quarters in towns. Half a million residents of the annexed Polish territories, as well as from Slovenia, Alsace, Lorraine, and Luxembourg were deported to the [[General Government]] or sent to Germany as slave labour.{{sfn|Longerich|2012|pp=578–580}} Himmler instructed that the German nation should view all foreign workers brought to Germany as a danger to their German blood.{{sfn|Rupp|1979|p=125}} In accordance with German racial laws, sexual relations between Germans and foreigners were forbidden as {{lang|de|[[Rassenschande]]}} (race defilement).{{sfn|Majer|2003|pp=180, 855}}