The German Question, Part One Hundred Fifty-Six

"Hitler & The German Question" Part Two

Hitler's increasingly violent racism certainly excluded German Jews as being "Germans," first with legal measures and later by mass murder.

As in Poland, Germans were forcibly expelled from Czechoslovakia immediately after the end of the war, and those expulsions continued for more than a year, but some Germans remained, in some cases being "retained;" that is, not permitted to leave by the Czech government, because of special work skills. The numbers were relatively small compared to the prewar German population. There were deaths among the German population during the expulsions, and the number of casualties is very much in dispute, but 15,000 to 20,000 is a likely minimum.

The Soviet military began arresting Germans in Hungary, even before the war was over. Thousands were sent to the Soviet Union, never to return. After the war, the communist government of Hungary expelled tens of thousands of Germans to occupied Germany and Austria, but even then some Germans remained as part of the national Hungarian population. In the case of Rumania too, thousands of Germans had fled the advancing Red Army, but at least a quarter of a million Germans remained, although as communism "waned" (there's that word, see previous "Word History") in the late 1980s, many left for Germany. Similar happened in the Soviet Union, although untold thousands of ethnic Germans died in Soviet prisons or labor camps, or when they were forcibly moved from their home areas to Siberia or to other remote regions.

As the war wound down in Yugoslavia, many Germans fled, but many were killed by communist resistance or military units, or sent to Soviet labor camps. Quite a number of the Germans from northern Yugoslavia eventually emigrated to the United States in the 1950s, with many coming to Cleveland, where their presence, more so now their descendants, is still evident.

Austria was reestablished as an independent nation, although a pro-German unification party remained on election ballots, with an ever decreasing share of the vote as the years ticked by. I must admit, I regret the separation of Austria from Germany, and I often wonder if things would have been different, if Austria had become part of Germany after World War One, as was likely before the Versailles Treaty forbade it. Would the Germans still have gone berserk under Hitler or some other right wing leader? Maybe, as let's not forget where the chief nutcase came from... Austria!

It is my "intention" to finish this series in three more articles: the next one about the western boundaries, one about the positive German contributions to the world (especially after all of this nasty period of Hitler and the Nazis), and one with a basic bibliography. I'm not guaranteeing it will be just three articles, but let's see if I can do it.

WORD HISTORY:
Wax-This is the now archaic verb, not the substance made by bees or used for candles, and it is most commonly used in modern times in the expression "wax and wane" (see previous article for "wane"), and it is related to English "eke," as in "eke out a living." It goes back to Indo European "wegs, weks," and the related Indo European "aug," which had the meaning "to increase." This gave Old Germanic "wahksijan," with the general sense of "to increase, to grow." This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "weaxan," with the same "increase, grow" meaning. This later became "waxen," before the modern version. Common in the other Germanic languages: German has "wachsen," Low German Saxon and Dutch have "wassen," West Frisian has "waakse," Danish and Norwegian have "vokse," Swedish has "växa," and Icelandic has "vaxa;" all with the same general meaning of "to grow."

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.

The German Question, Part One Hundred Fifty-Three

"Hitler Rules Germany" Part Two/C
"Germany In World War Two" Part Five/B
"The End of Hitler's Reich" Part Two

The Soviet offensive of the summer of 1944 took the Red Army to the gates of Warsaw and to the northeastern German border in East Prussia. It also cut off about a quarter of a million German troops in Latvia. Hitler, ever the nutcase, refused to evacuate these troops by air or sea, insisting they were holding a springboard for his next offensive into the northern Soviet Union. Given the state of the German military, it just shows how detached from reality this man was. This large body of German troops continued to hold out in Latvia until the end of the war; thus removing them from the defense of Germany.*

In January 1945, as the "Battle of the Bulge" was winding down, the Red Army launched a massive offensive against German forces in Poland and in the German province of East Prussia. Soviet troops advanced into German East Prussia, besieging the provincial capital of Königsberg. A major breakthrough in Poland sent Red Army troops racing across Poland toward the former Polish Corridor territories, Silesia, Danzig, Posen, and the pre-war German-Polish border. German refugees streamed westward in an attempt to escape the clutches of the Soviets, who were in the mood for vengeance.** Given the weather conditions, the clogged roads, and the speed of the Soviet advance, many of the refugees never made it. Others managed to get to ports along the Baltic where they were transported by ships to territory still under German control.***

When the Soviet offensive halted, the Red Army had reached the Oder River, at one point only about 45 miles from Berlin. The Red Army also entered Auschwitz (in Silesia), seeing first hand the atrocious criminal behavior of the Hitler regime. After the failure of his offensives in the West, Hitler returned to Berlin, where he lived in his extensive underground bunker, rarely going above ground.**** While the Nazi authorities still preached victory and "wonder weapons" ("Wunderwaffen") that would be unleashed to save Germany, Germans awaited the end, although even at this point they had to be careful not to fall victim to Nazi execution squads, which sought out Germans making "defeatist" remarks, or old men who did not take up arms to defend the Fatherland. Incredible! The criminality continued to the end. Extermination camps and execution squads, that's what such fanaticism can bring. It was sheer lunacy! The end of this lunacy was near, but it would not be painless.

* Before the war ended Hitler consented to a few units being transported out of Latvia to help with the defense of Germany.

** A number of Germans, including from the Baltic states and the Soviet Union, had been resettled in former parts of conquered Poland. They now had to pick up and run for their lives.

*** A prewar Nazi Party vacation ship, the "Wilhelm Gustloff," was used to transport refugees and troops out of the former Polish Corridor area via the Baltic Sea. In January 1945, it was loaded (actually overloaded), primarily with refugees, but also with military personnel. A Soviet submarine torpedoed the ship, sinking it. No one knows the actual number of dead, as not all passengers were properly recorded. This was January, and the water was extremely cold, so many of those who survived the explosions died in the frigid water, but nearby German vessels did manage to save some people. Estimates of the dead, however, run to over 9000 (it was a huge ship somewhat on the order of some of today's cruise ships).

**** Hitler's famous bunker was built beneath the Reich Chancellery (Reichskanzlei) complex. There were still functions held within the actual Chancellery, but Allied air raids limited activities there.

WORD HISTORY:
Police-This noun traces back to the Indo European root "pol/pel," with a general meaning of "fortified place on high ground." This gave its Greek^ offspring "polis," which meant "city" (cities were often fortified back then, and 'high ground' offered even more protection). Latin borrowed the notion of "polis" as "politia," but with the meaning "city administration." French had the word from its Latin roots as "police," but it retained the "administration" meaning until the early 1700s, when it came to be used in reference to "law enforcement." English borrowed the word in the 1500s, with the "administration" meaning, and it wasn't until the late 1700s that it began to take on the "law enforcement" meaning, which wasn't complete until the mid 1800s. The other Germanic languages, except Icelandic, borrowed a form of "police," as their word for this law enforcement branch, and German and Low German Saxon have "Polizei," for example.

^ Greek is an Indo European language related to English, but further down the family tree. English has acquired a number of words either directly from Greek, or by way of Latin, which borrowed extensively from Greek, as in the word "polis," above.