Areas annexed by Nazi Germany
There were many areas annexed by Nazi Germany both immediately before and throughout the course of World War II. Territories that were part of Germany before the annexations were known as the "Altreich" (Old Reich).[1]
Overview
[edit]
The respective dates of annexation should be viewed with caution, as various sources offer differing statements.
Fully annexed territories also include those that were subordinate to a head of the civil administration (CdZ). These territories were de facto, but in some cases never formally, incorporated into the Reich. One example is Luxembourg, which was de facto incorporated in August 1940. However, this did not formally occur until August 1942.
The Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia and the General Government were considered Reich territory, but were administered separately and were therefore semi-autonomous territories.
The Operational zones on the other hand, were never considered Reich territory.
Fully annexed territories
[edit]According to the Treaty of Versailles, the Territory of the Saar Basin was split from Germany for at least 15 years. In 1935, the Saarland rejoined Germany in a lawful way after a plebiscite.
The territories listed below are those that were fully annexed into Germany proper.
Partially incorporated territories
[edit]The territories listed below are those that were partially incorporated into the Greater German Reich.
| Date of establishment | Preceded by | Succeeded by |
|---|---|---|
| 16 Mar 1939[22] |  Czechoslovak Republic |
 Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia
|
| Date of establishment | Preceded by | Succeeded by |
|---|---|---|
| 26 Oct 1939[23][24] |  Military Administration in Poland |
General Government for the Occupied Polish Territories
|
| 1 Aug 1941[25] | Military Administration in the Soviet Union |
District of Galicia, General Government
|
| Kraków District, General Government
|
| Date of establishment | Preceded by | Succeeded by |
|---|---|---|
| 10 Sep 1943[26] |  Province of Gorizia, Kingdom of Italy |
Operational Zone of the Adriatic Littoral
|
| Province of Ljubljana, Kingdom of Italy
| ||
| Province of Pola, Kingdom of Italy
| ||
| Province of Fiume, Kingdom of Italy
| ||
| Province of Trieste, Kingdom of Italy
| ||
| Province of Udine, Kingdom of Italy
| ||
| Province of Belluno, Kingdom of Italy |
Operational Zone of the Alpine Foothills
| |
| Province of Bolzano, Kingdom of Italy
| ||
| Province of Trento, Kingdom of Italy
|
Planned annexations
[edit]In the coming Nazi New Order, other lands were considered for annexation sooner or later. Territorially speaking, this encompassed the already-enlarged German Reich itself (consisting of pre-1938 Germany proper, Austria, Bohemia, Moravia, Czech Silesia, Alsace-Lorraine, Eupen-Malmedy, Memel, Lower Styria, Upper Carniola, Southern Carinthia, Danzig, and Poland), the Netherlands, the Flemish part of Belgium, Luxembourg, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Iceland, Liechtenstein, and at least the German-speaking parts of Switzerland.[27] The goal was to unite all or as many as possible ethnic Germans and Germanic peoples, including non-Germanic speaking ones considered "Aryans", in a Greater Germanic Reich.
In Norway, construction of the city of Nordstern began during the German occupation of Norway. It was intended to be adminstred directly from Germany.[28]
The eastern Reichskommissariats in the vast stretches of Ukraine and Russia were also intended for future integration into that Reich, with plans for them stretching to the Volga or even beyond the Urals, where the potential westernmost reaches of Imperial Japanese influence would have existed, following an Axis victory in World War II. They were deemed of vital interest for the survival of the German nation, as it was a core tenet of Nazism that Germany needed "living space" (Lebensraum), creating a "pull towards the East" (Drang nach Osten) where that could be found and colonized.
North-East Italy was also eventually to be annexed, including both the Operational Zone of the Adriatic Littoral and the Operational Zone of the Alpine Foothills, but also the Venice region.[29][30] Goebbels went as far as to suggest taking control of Lombardy as well:
Whatever was once an Austrian possession we must get back into our own hands. The Italians by their infidelity and treachery have lost any claim to a national state of the modern type. — Joseph Goebbels, September 1943 [31]
The annexation of the entire North Italy was also suggested in the long run.[32]
See also
[edit]- Administrative divisions of Nazi Germany
- Former eastern territories of Germany – Eastern territories lost by Germany after World War II in Europe
- Generalplan Ost – Nazi plan for genocide in Eastern Europe
- German-occupied Europe – Aspect of World War II
- German–Soviet Border and Commercial Agreement For the map of a small area Germany annexed in southern Lithuania under the German–Soviet Boundary and Friendship Treaty
- Greater Germanic Reich – State planned by Nazi Germany
- Heim ins Reich – Expansionist Nazi foreign policy slogan
- New Order – Proposed political order by Nazi Germany
- Ostsiedlung – Early and High Middle Age German migration movement to the East
- Pan-Germanism – Pan-nationalist political idea
- Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany – Territories of Poland annexed during WWII
- Territorial evolution of Germany
References
[edit]- ^ Kaplan, Marion A. (1999). Between Dignity and Despair: Jewish Life in Nazi Germany. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-983905-6.
- ^ "Bundesverfassungsgesetz". Archived from the original on 2026-01-14. Retrieved 2025-05-25.
- ^ "ÖNB-ALEX - Deutsches Reichsgesetzblatt Teil I 1867-1945". Archived from the original on 2026-01-07. Retrieved 2025-05-25.
- ^ "Gerade auf LeMO gesehen: LeMO das lebendige Museum Online". Archived from the original on 2025-11-14. Retrieved 2025-05-25.
- ^ "ÖNB-ALEX - Deutsches Reichsgesetzblatt Teil I 1867-1945". Archived from the original on 2026-01-08. Retrieved 2025-05-25.
- ^ "Der erste Schuss: Hitlers Überfall auf Polen". September 2025. Archived from the original on 2025-05-25. Retrieved 2025-05-25.
- ^ Moll, Martin; Hitler, Adolf (1997). "Führer-Erlasse" 1939-1945 : Edition sämtlicher überlieferter, nicht im Reichsgesetzblatt abgedruckter, von Hitler während des Zweiten Weltkrieges schriftlich erteilter Direktiven aus den Bereichen Staat, Partei, Wirtschaft, Besatzungspolitik und Militärverwaltung. Franz Steiner Verlag. ISBN 978-3-515-06873-4.
- ^ Crowe, David M. (2021). The Holocaust: Roots, History, and Aftermath
- ^ https://archive.today/20120714080051/http://geo.uni.lu/joomla/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1493&Itemid=322
- ^ Moll, Martin; Hitler, Adolf (1997). "Führer-Erlasse" 1939-1945 : Edition sämtlicher überlieferter, nicht im Reichsgesetzblatt abgedruckter, von Hitler während des Zweiten Weltkrieges schriftlich erteilter Direktiven aus den Bereichen Staat, Partei, Wirtschaft, Besatzungspolitik und Militärverwaltung. Franz Steiner Verlag. ISBN 978-3-515-06873-4.
- ^ Moll, Martin; Hitler, Adolf (1997). "Führer-Erlasse" 1939-1945 : Edition sämtlicher überlieferter, nicht im Reichsgesetzblatt abgedruckter, von Hitler während des Zweiten Weltkrieges schriftlich erteilter Direktiven aus den Bereichen Staat, Partei, Wirtschaft, Besatzungspolitik und Militärverwaltung. Franz Steiner Verlag. ISBN 978-3-515-06873-4.
- ^ "Gerade auf LeMO gesehen: LeMO das lebendige Museum Online". Archived from the original on 2025-12-31. Retrieved 2025-05-25.
- ^ https://www.lernwerkstatt-neuengamme.de/medien/pdf/ha1_6_1_thm_2340_Terror%20und%20Verfolgung%20im%20Zweiten%20Weltkrieg_221104_Mediathek.pdf [bare URL PDF]
- ^ Moll, Martin; Hitler, Adolf (1997). "Führer-Erlasse" 1939-1945 : Edition sämtlicher überlieferter, nicht im Reichsgesetzblatt abgedruckter, von Hitler während des Zweiten Weltkrieges schriftlich erteilter Direktiven aus den Bereichen Staat, Partei, Wirtschaft, Besatzungspolitik und Militärverwaltung. Franz Steiner Verlag. ISBN 978-3-515-06873-4.
- ^ Moll, Martin; Hitler, Adolf (1997). "Führer-Erlasse" 1939-1945 : Edition sämtlicher überlieferter, nicht im Reichsgesetzblatt abgedruckter, von Hitler während des Zweiten Weltkrieges schriftlich erteilter Direktiven aus den Bereichen Staat, Partei, Wirtschaft, Besatzungspolitik und Militärverwaltung. Franz Steiner Verlag. ISBN 978-3-515-06873-4.
- ^ https://www.historischerverein-stmk.at/wp-content/uploads/B_Jg70_Franz-Josef-SCHOBER-Fik%C5%A1inci-F%C3%BCchselsdorf-Kramarovci-Sinnersdorf-und-Ocinje-Guizenhof.pdf Archived 2024-07-01 at the Wayback Machine [bare URL PDF]
- ^ "Białostocczyzna między totalitaryzmami - TEKSTY Przystanek Historia". Archived from the original on 2025-12-22. Retrieved 2025-05-25.
- ^ Moll, Martin; Hitler, Adolf (1997). "Führer-Erlasse" 1939-1945 : Edition sämtlicher überlieferter, nicht im Reichsgesetzblatt abgedruckter, von Hitler während des Zweiten Weltkrieges schriftlich erteilter Direktiven aus den Bereichen Staat, Partei, Wirtschaft, Besatzungspolitik und Militärverwaltung. Franz Steiner Verlag. ISBN 978-3-515-06873-4.
- ^ Moll, Martin; Hitler, Adolf (1997). "Führer-Erlasse" 1939-1945 : Edition sämtlicher überlieferter, nicht im Reichsgesetzblatt abgedruckter, von Hitler während des Zweiten Weltkrieges schriftlich erteilter Direktiven aus den Bereichen Staat, Partei, Wirtschaft, Besatzungspolitik und Militärverwaltung. Franz Steiner Verlag. ISBN 978-3-515-06873-4.
- ^ Lipgens, Walter: Documents on the History of European integration: Volume 1 - Continental Plans for European Integration 1939-1945, page 45. Walter de Gruyter & Co., 1974.
- ^ "Gaue der NSDAP waren im Deutschen Reich "Hoheitsgebiete" und die Gauleiter einflussreich, weil sie Adolf Hitler persönlich oft nahestanden | www.rothenburg-unterm-hakenkreuz.de". Archived from the original on 2026-01-14. Retrieved 2025-05-27.
- ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2025-11-04. Retrieved 2025-05-25.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ Diemut Majer (2003). "Non-Germans" Under the Third Reich: The Nazi Judicial and Administrative System in Germany and Occupied Eastern Europe with Special Regard to Occupied Poland, 1939–1945. JHU Press. pp. 236–246.
- ^ Moll, Martin; Hitler, Adolf (1997). "Führer-Erlasse" 1939-1945 : Edition sämtlicher überlieferter, nicht im Reichsgesetzblatt abgedruckter, von Hitler während des Zweiten Weltkrieges schriftlich erteilter Direktiven aus den Bereichen Staat, Partei, Wirtschaft, Besatzungspolitik und Militärverwaltung. Franz Steiner Verlag. ISBN 978-3-515-06873-4.
- ^ "Herder-Institut: Themenmodule".
- ^ "Lexikon der Wehrmacht". Archived from the original on 2026-01-16. Retrieved 2025-05-25.
- ^ Rich 1974, pp. 401–402.
- ^ "Norway got back on its feet quickly after the war". Norwegian Scitech News. 15 March 2023. Archived from the original on 20 December 2025. Retrieved 15 January 2026.
- ^ Petacco 2005, p. 50.
- ^ Santi Corvaja, Hitler & Mussolini: The Secret Meetings, p. 269
- ^ Rich, Norman (1973). Hitler's war aims. Norton. pp. 320, 325. ISBN 0393054543. [verification needed]
- ^ Kersten 1947, p. 186.
Notes
[edit]- ^ The four predominantly German-speaking communities were de facto annexed on June 13.[16]
- ^ The decree on the demarcation of the Bialystok district of 18 September 1941 separated the area around Grodno from the Reichskommissariat Ostland and incorporated it into the Bialystok district on 1 November 1941.[19]
- ^ The Reichskommissariat for Belgium and Northern France was almost completely conquered by the Allies in September 1944 as part of Operation Overlord. Nevertheless, this territory was formally annexed by Nazi Germany. On December 8, the Reichsgau Wallonien was established, and on December 15, the Reichsgau Flandern. Brussels was administered externally as the Distrikt Brüssel. At this time, the Germans occupied only isolated areas in Belgium and northern France, particularly during the Battle of the Bulge. Dunkirk remained occupied by the Germans until May 1945.[20][21]