WOH-4244 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Commissar Order, Hunger Plan, Russian Winter
Document Summary
September 1939 hitler and stalin signed mutual peace treaty - Followed by german and soviet invasion of poland. More a temporary marriage of convenience, suspicious truce. Hitler hates communism, bolshevism, and soviets hate fascism. Both sides heavily prepared for the inevitable clash between them. Idea of lebensraum, living space, more rich agricultural land for people of. Plan to invade and occupy all the way up to ural mts. Germans expect to take many resources from the occupied territory. Will have food for everyone, their population will multiply. Depopulation entire conquered area of its slavic pop. Take food away and let them starve to death, replaced with german farmers. Kill jews and communist political officials immediately behind the line of the german army, shoot on sight. Plans to starts invasion in may but happens in june 1941. German eventually invasion runs into russian winter. Failure of german intel, underestimate soviets" will to resist them.
