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I don't think it's actually true. Hitler had two major causes: eradication of Jews and eradication of Slavic people, and none of them were rooted in rational ec
by taway_1212 10y ago
I don't think it's actually true. Hitler had two major causes: eradication of Jews and eradication of Slavic people, and none of them were rooted in rational economics.
He of course wanted to eradicate the Jews because he believed they were the cause of much of evil in the world - hard to find much rationality there. For the Slavs, it's a bit more complicated. Hitler was hugely fond of and inspired by America's colonization of the West (which required extermination of Native Americans to make room for settlers) and wanted to repeat that in Eastern Europe - murder all the Poles, Ukrainians, Bellariusians and Russians in the territories that he manages to conquest, raze all cities to the ground (hard to find economic justification for that) and then move German settlers in their place. The goal was to make Germany large and powerful enough that it could later tackle America. The joke here was that his thinking was largely antiquated at this point - in the XX century a country's military power was determined by its industrial capabilities, and not population/territory. So again, the entire genocide was motivated by one man's delusional view of the world, and not rational thinking.
- thriftwy 10y agoWhat you're saying is hilariously true. What Hitler wanted is basically getting a huge slab of agricultural land. But as we all know, in second half of XX century both fertility and agriculture prices fell sharply, so even if he was ultimately successful Germany will have neither people to populate these territories nor economical reason to do so. The settlers will probably be leaving the area en masse towards "mainland Germany" creating "human deserts" of depopulation while being a drag economically. Even now it happens in these territories (Poland, Baltics, Ukraine) as people move west for better life.
- expertentipp 10y agoEastern lands were important for them for other reasons - they had they own "idyllic" vision of them. High officials and officers were promised as an compensation for being sent to dreaded Eastern Front a large plot of land and Poles/Ukrainians as slaves. Eastern Poland and Ukraine are among most fertile agricultural lands in Europe.
- thriftwy 10y ago> Eastern Poland and Ukraine are among most fertile agricultural lands in Europe. Yet people are leaving these lands as if there was a plague. Agriculture is a few % of a healthy country's economy anyway. It won't make undesirable and undeveloped land desirable.
- expertentipp 10y agoAt that times agriculture looked completely different and being feudal lord was considered prestigious. Nowadays one can grow (or rather produce) food in tiny greenhouses in overcrowded Netherlands.
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]