occupied Europe
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European countries occupied by the military forces of Nazi Germany

German-occupied Europe (or Nazi-occupied Europe) refers to the sovereign countries of Europe which were wholly or partly militarily occupied and civil-occupied, including puppet governments, by the military forces and the government of Nazi Germany at various times between 1939 and 1945, during World War II, administered by the Nazi regime under the dictatorship of Adolf Hitler.[2]

The German Wehrmacht occupied European territory:

as far east as the town of Mozdok in the North Caucasus in the Soviet Union (1942–1943)

as far north as the settlement of Barentsburg in Svalbard in the Kingdom of Norway

as far south as the island of Gavdos in the Kingdom of Greece

as far west as the island of Ushant in the French Republic

In 1941, around 280 million people in Europe, more than half the population, were governed by Germany or their allies and puppet states.[3] It comprised an area of 3,300,000 km2 (1,300,000 sq mi).[1]

Outside of Europe, German forces controlled areas of North Africa, including Egypt, Libya, and Tunisia between 1940 and 1945. German military scientists established the Schatzgraber Weather Station as far north as Alexandra Land in Francis Joseph Land. Manned German weather stations also operated in North America included three in Greenland, Holzauge, Bassgeiger, and Edelweiss. German Kriegsmarine ships also operated in all oceans of the world throughout World War II.

History

Several German-occupied countries initially entered World War II as Allies of the United Kingdom[4] or the Soviet Union.[5] Some were forced to surrender before the outbreak of the war such as Czechoslovakia;[6] others like Poland (invaded on 1 September 1939)[2] were conquered in battle and then occupied. In some cases, the legitimate governments went into exile, in other cases the governments-in-exile were formed by their citizens in other Allied countries.[7] Some countries occupied by Nazi Germany were officially neutral. Others were former members of the Axis powers that were subsequently occupied by German forces, such as Finland and Hungary.[8][9]

Concentration camps

Part of German-occupied EuropeDate1941–1945

Attack type

Starvation, death marches, executions, forced labor

Germany operated thousands of concentration camps in German-occupied Europe. The first camps were established in March 1933 immediately after Adolf Hitler became Chancellor of Germany. Following the 1934 purge of the SA, the concentration camps were run exclusively by the SS via the Concentration Camps Inspectorate and later the SS Main Economic and Administrative Office. Initially, most prisoners were members of the Communist Party of Germany, but as time went on different groups were arrested, including "habitual criminals", "asocials", and Jews.

After the beginning of World War II, people from German-occupied Europe were imprisoned in the concentration camps. About 1.65 million people were registered prisoners in the camps, of whom about a million died during their imprisonment. Most of the fatalities occurred during the second half of World War II, including at least 4.7 million Soviet prisoners who were registered as of January 1945.

Following Allied military victories, the camps were gradually liberated in 1944 and 1945, although hundreds of thousands of prisoners died in the death marches.

After the expansion of Nazi Germany, people from countries occupied by the Wehrmacht were targeted and detained in concentration camps. In Western Europe, arrests focused on resistance fighters and saboteurs, but in Eastern Europe arrests included mass roundups aimed at the implementation of Nazi population policy and the forced recruitment of workers. This led to a predominance of Eastern Europeans, especially Poles, who made up the majority of the population of some camps. The ethnicities of captured people were various other groups from other different nationalities were transferred to Auschwitz or sent to local concentration camps.

Occupied countries

The countries occupied included all, or most, of the following nations or territories:

Country or territory of occupation Puppet state(s) or military administration(s) Timeline of occupation(s) German annexed or occupied territory Resistance movement(s) Albanian Kingdom Albanian Kingdom 8 September 1943 – 29 November 1944 None Albanian resistance Bailiwick of Guernsey

Bailiwick of Jersey

German Occupied Channel Islands

(Part of the Military Administration in France) 30 June 1940 – 9 May 1945 (Guernsey)

1 July 1940 – 9 May 1945 (Jersey)

None Channel Islands resistance First Czechoslovak Republic

Second Czechoslovak Republic

Third Czechoslovak Republic

Slovak Republic

German Zone of Protection in Slovakia

1 October 1938 – 11 May 1945 Gau Bayreuth

Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia

Reichsgau Niederdonau

Reichsgau Oberdonau

Reichsgau Sudetenland Czechoslovakian resistance Federal State of Austria None[b] 12 March 1938 – 9 May 1945 Reichsgau Kärnten

Reichsgau Niederdonau

Reichsgau Oberdonau

Reichsgau Salzburg

Reichsgau Steiermark

Reichsgau Tirol-Vorarlberg

Reichsgau Wien Austrian resistance Free City of Danzig None[c] 1 September 1939 – 9 May 1945 Reichsgau Danzig-West Prussia Danzigian resistance French Republic

Free France

Provisional Government of the French Republic

French Tunisia

Military Administration in Belgium and Northern France

Military Administration in France

Reichskommissariat of Belgium and Northern France

10 May 1940 – 9 May 1945 Gau Baden

Gau Westmark

Reichsgau Wallonien French resistance Luxembourg Military Administration of Luxembourg

Civil Administration of Luxembourg

10 May 1940 – February 1945 Gau Moselland Luxembourg resistance Italian Islands of the Aegean Italian Islands of the Aegean 8 September 1943 – 8 May 1945 None Belgium Military Administration in Belgium and Northern France

Reichskommissariat of Belgium and Northern France

10 May 1940 – 4 February 1945 Gau Cologne-Aachen

Reichsgau Wallonien Belgian resistance Denmark Protectorate state 9 April 1940 – 5 May 1945 None Danish resistance Kingdom of Greece Military Administration in Greece

Hellenic State

6 April 1941 – 8 May 1945 None Greek resistance Kingdom of Hungary Kingdom of Hungary

Government of National Unity

19 March 1944 – May 1945 None Hungarian resistance Kingdom of Italy Italian Social Republic 8 September 1943 – 2 May 1945 None Italian resistance Norway Reichskommissariat Norwegen

National Government

9 April 1940 – 8 May 1945 None Norwegian resistance Netherlands Reichskommissariat Niederlande 10 May 1940 – 20 May 1945 None Dutch resistance Kingdom of Yugoslavia Albanian Kingdom

German-occupied territory of Montenegro

Independent State of Croatia

German zone of influence

Independent State of Macedonia

Territory of the Military Commander in Serbia

6 April 1941 – 15 May 1945 Reichsgau Kärnten

Reichsgau Steiermark Yugoslav resistance Monaco None 8 September 1943 – 3 September 1944 None Finland None September 15, 1944 – April 25, 1945 None Finnish resistance Republic of Lithuania

Provisional Government of Lithuania

Reichskommissariat Ostland 22 March 1939 – 21 July 1940

23 June 1941 – 5 August 1941

Gau East Prussia Lithuanian resistance Republic of Poland Military Administration in Poland

General Government administration

Reichskommissariat Ostland

Reichskommissariat Ukraine

1 September 1939 – 9 May 1945 Bezirk Bialystok

Gau East Prussia

Gau Schlesien

Gau Oberschlesien

General Government

Reichsgau Danzig-West Prussia

Reichsgau Wartheland Polish resistance San Marino None (military trespassing) 17–20 September 1944 None Territory of the Military Commander in Serbia Commissioner Government

Government of National Salvation

April 30, 1941 – January 1945 None Serbian resistance Slovak Republic German Zone of Protection in Slovakia 23 March 1939 – May 1945 None Slovakian resistance Territory of the Saar Basin None.[d] 1 March 1935 – April 1945 Gau Palatinate-Saar

Gau Saar-Palatinate

Gau Westmark Saar Basinian resistance Ukrainian National Government Reichskommissariat Ukraine 30 June 1941 – September 1941 General Government Ukrainian resistance Parts of the Soviet Union Lepel Republic

Military Administration in the Soviet Union

Lokot Autonomy

Reichskommissariat Ostland

Reichskommissariat Ukraine

22 June 1941 – 10 May 1945 Bezirk Bialystok

General Government Soviet resistance

Governments in exile

Allied governments in exile

Government in exile Capital in exile Timeline of exile Occupier(s) Austrian Democratic Union London 1941–1945 German Reich/Greater German Reich Free France London

(1940–1941)

Algiers, French Algeria

(1942 – August 31, 1944) 1940 – August 31, 1944 French State

German Reich/Greater German Reich

Military Administration in Belgium and Northern France

Reichskommissariat of Belgium and Northern France Government of the Republic of Poland in exile Paris

(September 29/30, 1939 – 1940)

Angers, French Republic

(1940 – June 12, 1940)

London

(June 12, 1940 – 1990) September 29/30, 1939 – December 22, 1990 German Reich/Greater German Reich

Reich Commissariat East

Reich Commissariat Ukraine

Slovak Republic

Soviet Union

People's Republic of Poland Belgium London

(October 22, 1940 – September 8, 1944) October 22, 1940 – September 8, 1944 German Reich/Greater German Reich

Military Administration in Belgium and Northern France

Reichskommissariat of Belgium and Northern France Denmark None 1943–1945 German Reich/Greater German Reich Luxembourg London 1940–1944 German Reich/Greater German Reich Kingdom of Greece Cairo, Egypt April 29, 1941 – October 12, 1944 German Reich/Greater German Reich

Kingdom of Italy

Kingdom of Bulgaria Norway London June 7, 1940 – May 31, 1945 Reichskommissariat Norwegen Kingdom of Yugoslavia London June 7, 1941 – March 7, 1945 Albanian Kingdom

Commissioner Government

German-occupied territory of Montenegro

German Reich/Greater German Reich

Government of National Salvation

Independent State of Croatia

Independent Macedonia

Kingdom of Bulgaria

Kingdom of Hungary

Territory of the Military Commander in Serbia

Netherlands London 1940–1945 Reichskommissariat Niederlande Provisional Government of Czechoslovakia Paris

(October 2, 1939 – 1940)

London

(1940–1941)

Aston Abbotts, United Kingdom

(1941–1945) October 2, 1939 – April 2, 1945 German Reich/Greater German Reich

Kingdom of Hungary

Slovak Republic

Axis governments in exile

Government in exile Capital in exile Timeline of exile Occupier(s) Kingdom of Bulgaria Vienna, Greater German Reich September 16, 1944 – May 10, 1945 Kingdom of Bulgaria

Kingdom of Greece

Kingdom of Yugoslavia French State Sigmaringen, Greater German Reich 1944 – April 22, 1945 Provisional Government of the French Republic Kingdom of Hungary Vienna, Greater German Reich

Munich, Greater German Reich

March 28/29, 1945 – May 7, 1945 Czechoslovak Republic

Kingdom of Hungary

Kingdom of Romania

Kingdom of Yugoslavia Kingdom of Romania Vienna, Greater German Reich 1944–1945 Kingdom of Romania Montenegrin State Council Zagreb, Independent State of Croatia Summer of 1944 – May 8, 1945 Kingdom of Yugoslavia Slovak Republic Kremsmünster, Great-German Reich April 4, 1945 – 8 May 1945 Czechoslovak Republic Government of National Salvation Kitzbühel, Great-German Reich October 7, 1944 – 8 May 1945 Soviet Union

Neutral governments in exile

Government in exile Capital in exile Timeline of exile Occupier(s) Belarusian Democratic Republic Prague, Czechoslovak Republic

(1923–1938)

Prague, Czecho-Slovak Republic

(1938–1939)

Prague, German Reich/Greater German Reich

(1939–1945)

1919 – present German Reich/Greater German Reich

Realm Commissariat East

Realm Commissariat Ukraine

Republic of Poland

Soviet Union Republic of Estonia Stockholm, Kingdom of Sweden

(1944 – August 20, 1991)

New York City, United States

June 17, 1940 – August 20, 1991 Reichskommissariat Ostland

Soviet Union Ukrainian People's Republic Warsaw, Republic of Poland

(1920–1939)

Prague, German Reich/Greater German Reich

(1939–1944)

1920 – August 22, 1992 German Reich/Greater German Reich

Kingdom of Hungary

Kingdom of Romania

Reichskommissariat Ukraine

Soviet Union

See also

Areas annexed by Germany

Underground media in German-occupied Europe

Drang nach Osten ("The Drive Eastward")

Greater Germanic Reich

Lebensraum ("Living Space")

Neuordnung ("New Order")

Pan-Germanism

Notes

References

Bibliography

Bank, Jan. Churches and Religion in the Second World War (Occupation in Europe) (2016).

Gildea, Robert and Olivier Wieviorka. Surviving Hitler and Mussolini: Daily Life in Occupied Europe (2007).

Klemann, Hein A.M. and Sergei Kudryashov, eds. Occupied Economies: An Economic History of Nazi-Occupied Europe, 1939–1945 (2011).

Lagrou, Pieter. The Legacy of Nazi Occupation: Patriotic Memory and National Recovery in Western Europe, 1945–1965 (1999).

Mazower, Mark (2008). Hitler's Empire: Nazi Rule in Occupied Europe. London: Allen Lane. ISBN 9780713996814.

Scheck, Raffael; Fabien Théofilakis; and Julia S. Torrie, eds. German-occupied Europe in the Second World War (Routledge, 2019), 276 pp. online review.

Snyder, Timothy. Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin (2010), on Eastern Europe.

Toynbee, Arnold, ed. Survey of International Affairs, 1939–1946: Hitler's Europe (Oxford University Press, 1954), 730 pp. online review; full text online free.

Primary sources

Carlyle Margaret, ed. Documents on International Affairs, 1939–1946. Volume II, Hitler's Europe (Oxford University Press, 1954), 362 pp.