The German Question, Part One Hundred Fifty-Five

"Hitler & The German Question" Part One

Hitler was trying to answer the "German Question;" that is, "who is a German?" Interestingly, he "may" have answered it for all time, although not in the way he wanted it answered. Certainly part of the reason why the answer turned out differently than Hitler would have liked, was that his racist ideology went far beyond the bounds about Germans living within a unified nation. His claims for Austria, the Sudetenland, Memel and Danzig met with general acceptance by much of the world, including the European powers; however, by taking in non Germans, such as the Czechs in 1939, and by waging war in Poland and, later Soviet Russia,* with the resultant subjugation of millions of non Germans, much of the rest of the world gradually decided to resist Hitler. At first millions of Soviet subjects welcomed German troops as liberators from Stalinist oppression, but it wasn't long before many of these same people saw themselves becoming part of an enslavement and extermination policy by Hitler, who then planned to resettle Germans in their homelands. Faced with such polices, even Stalin looked good, and most chose to resist Hitler.**

So, we've come a long way in this series of articles on the Germans. We've seen how some ancient Germanic tribes began to slowly develop a common identity as "Germans," but never quite enough to bring about a truly unified nation, as politics and regional interests interfered. The old German Empire, "The Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation," was usually too fragmented and loose to be considered a true national state, in spite of its name.*** Then there were the Dutch, for example, who were called by the all inclusive name "Germans" for awhile, only to establish a separate national identity. Then there were the extensive German areas of Switzerland, where to this day people identify as being part of the "German linguistic and cultural community," but don't see themselves as "national Germans." So how did Hitler help to answer the "German Question?"

While Hitler started out trying to unite many German areas in Europe under one national government, the fact is, many of these Germans ended up in far worse condition than before the war, at least in the short term. The end of the terrible Second World War saw millions of Germans living in eastern Europe fleeing the advancing Red Army as it approached their regions. Some Germans who, in recent years, had been resettled from places like Latvia, western Poland or northern Italy barely had time to get accustomed to their new homes before they had to flee for their very lives. Other Germans, whose families had lived in places like East Prussia for centuries, also migrated westwards, away from the Soviets. No one really knows for sure how many Germans were caught up in this massive movement of people in eastern Europe, but by all accounts, it was a very large number, undoubtedly exceeding 10 million, and perhaps closer to 15 million!

The long time German province of East Prussia was divided between the Soviet Union and Poland, then fast becoming a communist-dominated country. There was no need for a new "Polish Corridor," as that entire area, including Danzig, and then even into (German) Pomerania, became a part of Poland. Silesia went to Poland too, as the Polish state literally moved westwards to accommodate the Soviet Union's annexation of eastern Poland. Germans who had remained behind during the war, were physically expelled from Poland in the first few years after the war ended, and they were the lucky ones, as many died in communist prisons or labor camps, adding an ironic twist to their fate.

* Remember, Germany and the Soviet Union had been allies. The Soviets invaded and occupied eastern Poland. The Soviets attacked Finland, eventually taking some territory from that little nation. The Soviets took over Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, and large parts of Rumania. The British, and later the Americans, however, had no problem in siding with the Soviets against Hitler. Stalin may have been another murderous loony, but at that moment, Hitler was the greater threat. I'm not sure Hitler ever completely understood that hatred of him is what held together the almost "unnatural alliance" against him, and his talk about that alliance coming apart, while certainly based upon real disagreements and distrust among the Allied powers, never really came close to taking place; that is, until AFTER Hitler's defeat.

** One of the "what ifs" of the Second World War has been, would Hitler have defeated Stalin "if" he had used the discontented elements of the Soviet population against Stalin, instead of treating large segments of the population so ruthlessly?

*** The word "nation" does not always mean "a single, unified political state with clearly defined borders," but also the much broader "people of the same or similar ethnic, and often linguistic, background;" thus we speak in English of the "Iroquois nation," or of the "Sioux nation."

WORD HISTORY:
Wane-Like its relative "want" (see previous "Word History"), this word goes back to Indo European "wen(o)" or "weun," with the general notion of "to leave, to abandon," and by extension, "be lacking, be empty." This gave Old Germanic "wanojan(an)," also with the notion of "be lacking," but more so in the sense "to become lacking, to become smaller, to become less, to shrink." This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "wanian," with that same meaning. This later became "wanen," before the modern spelling. More common in modern expressions like "in the waning days of....," or "wax and wane" (for "wax," see next article). Its other close Germanic relatives have all died out; I guess you could say, "usage by these relatives 'waned' until... those forms became totally lacking." Old High German had "wanon," which meant "to grow less, decrease." "Wane" is likely related to "wan," "lacking color, pale," originally meaning "dark, gray;" that is, "without specific color." When I was a kid, it was not uncommon to hear "wan" used for the complexion of someone who was sick.