On the Road to the “New Eastern Lands” | Copernico. Geschichte und kulturelles Erbe im östlichen Europa

During the First World War, the German Empire had far-reaching plans for expansion in Eastern Europe. The Baltic states in particular were destined to become a German settlement colony known as the “Neues Ostland” (new eastern lands). With hindsight, some of these plans appear as forerunners of National Socialist conquest policy.

Calculations “for a new farm to be established in Courland”

The Latvian National Library (Latvijas Nacionālā bibliotēka) in

OpenStreetMap / Open Database License (ODbL)

Rīga

deu. Riga, lat. Riga, lit. Ryga, dan. Riga, swe. Riga, yid. rygʿ, yid. ryga, yid. ריגע, pol. Ryga, rus. Riga, rus. Рига

Riga is the capital of Latvia (population 2023: 605,273) and by far the largest city in the country. It is located in the southwest of the historical landscape of Livonia near the mouth of the Daugava River in the Gulf of Riga. Riga was an important trading and Hanseatic city with a multi-ethnic, but largely German-speaking population for centuries, whose political supremacy changed repeatedly. Until the end of the Middle Ages, it was mainly spiritual rulers (Archbishopric of Riga, Teutonic Order) who claimed the city and surrounding area for themselves, but after a brief period of Polish-Lithuanian rule, the city came under Swedish control in 1621. A century later, Riga became part of the Russian Empire and the capital of the Baltic governorate of Livonia.

In 1918, Riga became the capital of an independent Latvian state. After the German occupation during the Second World War in 1941, the Jewish population of Riga (8% of the total population) was mainly imprisoned in the ghetto, where numerous Jewish people from the territory of the German Reich at the time were also deported. In the same year, the Wehrmacht organized mass shootings of the Jewish population in the area of today's city. After the Second World War, the ethnic structure of Riga changed - the Jewish, German and Polish populations disappeared and were replaced by Russian, Belarusian and Ukrainian populations. The Latvian population lost its majority in the city and fell to almost a third by the time the Soviet Union collapsed. They now make up 47% of the total population.

Rīga in the Online Encyclopedia of the Culture and History of the Germans in Eastern Europe (German)

Rīga at Google Maps

has in its collection a small brochure featuring drawings and statistics with the cumbersome title "Capital requirements, economic equipment and yield estimate for a new farm to be established in

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Courland

deu. Kurland, lav. Kurzeme, rus. Kurljandja, rus. Курляндия, lat. Curonia, lat. Couronia, swe. Kurland, dan. Kurland, lat. Curlandia, pol. Kurlandia, rus. Kuronija, rus. Kuroniâ, rus. Курония, rus. Kurzeme, rus. Курземе, rus. Kurlândiâ, rus. Kurliandii︠a︡

Kurland is a historical landscape in present-day Latvia. It extends between the Baltic Sea and the Gulf of Riga, the Daugava River in the northeast and Lithuania in the south. Its name is derived from the Baltic Curonians, who lived here alongside the Ugro-Finnish Livonians. The largest cities in Kurland include Liepāja, Jelgava and Ventspils.

Today's understanding of the region is partly shaped by the Russian Baltic Sea Governorate of Courland, which existed from 1795 and formally until 1918. This actually included the smaller regions of Semigallia and Upper Latvia, which formed the central and eastern parts of the governorate. Today, they are often included when Courland is mentioned in a historical context. In the High Middle Ages, the influences of the Ugro-Finnish and Baltic peoples on the one hand and the Vikings on the other intersected here. In the Late Middle Ages and Early Modern Period, the region was also under the rule of Sweden, Denmark and, in particular, the Teutonic Order. Due to pressure from Russia and Sweden, the Order eventually withdrew from the area. Smaller parts of Courland were subsequently incorporated into Poland-Lithuania. The largest part remained a fiefdom of Poland-Lithuania until 1795 as the Duchy of Courland and Semigallia. Although Russian influence gradually increased, Courland did not become part of the Russian Empire until the Third Partition of Poland-Lithuania in 1795 – significantly later than the other two Baltic Sea provinces of Estonia and Livonia, which had already come under Russian rule during the Great Northern War (1700–1721).

Kurland in the Online Encyclopedia of the Culture and History of the Germans in Eastern Europe (German)

with a total area of 20 hectares". Behind this seemingly dry title lies the hitherto barely researched history of a gigantic imperial project developed during the First World War, in which the entire

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Baltics

lat. Balticum, deu. Baltikum, deu. Baltische Staaten, deu. Baltische Provinzen

The Baltic States is a region in the north-east of Europe and is composed of the three states Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. The Baltic States are inhabited by almost 6 million people.

Baltikum in the Online Encyclopedia of the Culture and History of the Germans in Eastern Europe (German)

was to be transformed into a German settlement colony under the name "Neuland" (new lands), "Ostland" (eastern lands) or "neues Ostland" (new eastern lands). But why did so many Germans at that time regard the Baltic states in particular as a utopian space that seemed to offer far-reaching prospects for a future land grab by German settlers?

Page 9 of the brochure showing side elevations and the floor plan for a farmhouse to be built in Kurland. Latvijas Nacionālā bibliotēka, CC0 1.0

“Baltic propaganda in Germany”

When German troops succeeded in occupying large parts of Russian Poland, present-day

OpenStreetMap / Open Database License (ODbL)

Lithuania

deu. Litauen, lit. Lietuva

Lithuania is a Baltic state in northeastern Europe and is home to approximately 2.8 million people. Vilnius is the capital and most populous city of Lithuania. The country borders the Baltic Sea, Poland, Belarus, Russia and Latvia. Lithuania only gained independence in 1918, which the country reclaimed in 1990 after several decades of incorporation into the Soviet Union.

Litauen in the Online Encyclopedia of the Culture and History of the Germans in Eastern Europe (German)

Litauen at Google Maps

and Courland in the first half of 1915, extensive reporting on these regions began in

German Reich

deu. Deutsches Reich

The German Empire was a state in Central Europe that existed from 1871 to 1945. The period from its founding until 1918 is called the German Empire, then followed the period of the Weimar Republic (1918/1919-1933) and the National Socialism (so-called Third Reich) from 1933 to 1945. 01.01.1871 is considered the day of the foundation of the German Reich.

Deutsches Reich in the Online Encyclopedia of the Culture and History of the Germans in Eastern Europe (German)

. There was great public interest in the occupied territories, as a result of which countless brochures, books and press articles were published from the summer of 1915 onwards, strongly advocating the annexation of Courland,

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Livonia

deu. Livland, est. Liivimaa, lav. Livonija, dan. Lyffland, swe. Livland, eng. Livland, deu. Vidzeme, lat. Livonia, rus. Lifliandiia, rus. Lifljandija, rus. Liflândiâ, rus. Лифляндия, rus. Livonija, rus. Livoniâ, rus. Ливония, rus. Vidzeme, rus. Видземе, pol. Liwlandia, lat. Terra Mariana, rus. Livoniia, rus. Livonya, rus. Liwonija, deu. Eifland, deu. Liefland, dan. Livland

Livonia (Livonija in Latvian, Liivimaa in Estonian) is a historical landscape in the Baltic States. It comprises the southern part of present-day Estonia and the part of present-day Latvia north of the Daugava River. The landscape was named after the Livonians, a population group that hardly exists today.

Historically, the name Livonia can refer to other, different contexts. The governorate of the same name, which was one of the three Baltic Sea governorates of the Russian Empire, is particularly influential for today's understanding of the historical region. It existed from the beginning of the 18th century until 1918 and its capital was Riga, located at the mouth of the Duna.

Livonia had previously given its name to other states and confederations, most notably the Livonian Confederation, which had existed since the High Middle Ages. The Livonian part of the Teutonic Order as well as regional ecclesiastical states belonged to the confederation. The confederation also included large parts of the present-day states of Latvia and Estonia. After the dissolution of the confederation and the Teutonic Order state in the 16th century, sovereignty changed several times. Without the southern and northern areas, Livonia initially came under Polish-Lithuanian rule, later also under Swedish suzerainty, before coming under Russian rule in the course of the Great Northern War (1700-1721). Until the beginning of the 20th century, the central role of the landowning German-speaking nobility was particularly influential in the internal social organization of the rural area.

Livland in the Online Encyclopedia of the Culture and History of the Germans in Eastern Europe (German)

Livland at Google Maps

and

OpenStreetMap / Open Database License (ODbL)

Estland

deu. Estland, eng. Eestimaa, est. Eestimaa, lat. Hestonia, swe. Aistland, deu. Iste, lat. Aisti, lat. Aesti, dan. Estland, eng. Esthonia, lat. Estia, lat. Hestia, swe. Eistland, swe. Estlatum, swe. Estland, deu. Esthland, rus. Estljandija, rus. Ėstljandija, rus. Èstlândiâ, rus. Эстляндия, deu. Aestii

Estonia is a historical landscape in north-eastern Europe which comprises the northern part of the present-day Estonian state. The region is largely congruent with the same-named Baltic governorate in the Russian Empire which existed until 1918 and was one of three Baltic governorates alongside Livonia and Courland. In the High and Late Middle Ages and in the early modern period, parts of the region were also under the rule of Finnish princes, the Rus, Sweden, Denmark and the Teutonic Order. It was not until the Great Northern War (1700-1721) that Estonia came under Russian rule. Its urban population was in particular German-speaking, while the vast majority of people lived in the countryside, where Russian and Swedish minorities existed alongside the Estonian majority.

to the German Reich. As a body of literature, these publications have been aptly termed "Baltic propaganda" by researchers. The authors were mostly of Baltic German origin and were well connected within the circles of political and academic elites of the German Empire. Some were prominent figures, including the historian Theodor Schiemann and the art historian Georg Dehio.1 Few of the war aims discussed in Germany during the First World War were publicly propagated with such vehemence as the annexation of the Baltic provinces of the

Russian Empire

rus. Росси́йская импе́рия, rus. Rossijskaja imperija, deu. Russisches Kaiserreich, deu. Russländisches Reich, deu. Russländisches Kaiserreich

The Russian Empire (also Russian Empire or Empire of Russia) was a state that existed from 1721 to 1917 in Eastern Europe, Central Asia and North America. The country was the largest contiguous empire in modern history in the mid-19th century. It was dissolved after the February Revolution in 1917. The state was regarded as autocratically ruled and was inhabited by about 181 million people.

Russländisches Kaiserreich in the Online Encyclopedia of the Culture and History of the Germans in Eastern Europe (German)

demanded by Baltic German emigrants. With a level of commitment that was rare in its determination and singlemindedness, this group was able to mobilize a constantly growing propaganda apparatus in order to achieve their aim.

The brochure "Das neue Ostland" (the new eastern lands) by Silvio Broedrich, first published in August 1915. Thüringer Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek Jena (ThULB)., Free access - no reuse

The utopian vision of the “new eastern lands” gains popularity

The most important argument with which the Baltic German emigrants campaigned for support for their demands was the idea that the Baltic provinces, together with Lithuania, were predestined for the establishment of a German settlement colony. The notion that demographic, economic, social and political problems could be solved through large-scale settlement programs, whether as so-called "internal colonization" on the European mainland or through the colonization of overseas territories, had been a recurring topic of colonial policy debates in Germany since the first half of the 19th century. Under the influence of the “Lebensraum” (living space) theory introduced into the political discourse by the geographer Friedrich Ratzel, the term "Neuland" (new land) had gained currency around the turn of the century as a term for the "new settlement land" demanded for the expansion of the "Lebensraum” of the German people (“das deutsche Volk”). At the beginning of the war, demands had already been made, particularly from the ranks of the Pan-German League, that Germany should annex extensive "new territory" in Eastern and Western Europe after its expected victory and at the expense of its opponents in order to settle these areas with Germans. Demands were already being made in this context for the annexation of the entire Baltic region as "new settlement land" for German farmers. The "Baltic propaganda" significantly contributed to this by spreading such demands to large sections of the population and popularizing them. According to the propaganda literature on the Baltic states, Germany could only maintain its position as a world power in the long term if it undertook "settlement work in the new eastern lands". Of all the agitators, the Courland landowner Silvio Broedrich achieved the greatest influence. He spoke at large assemblies and published countless essays, all of which had only one aim: to convince the Germans that it was absolutely necessary to incorporate the entire region between the East Prussian border and the northern coast of Estonia into the German Reich. Broedrich made the alleged settlement opportunities in the Baltic region his main topic.2 In his brochure "Das neue Ostland" (the new eastern lands), published in 1915, he even compared the Baltic states to Canada, as here, as in North America, vast plains of fertile, unsettled land were supposedly still waiting to be taken over by German colonists.3 Broedrich and other authors cleverly spread the wishful thinking that all this could be achieved in peaceful agreement with the local population.

The basis for this was the idea that medieval Livonia, ruled by German knights, clergy and merchants, was the "oldest and only colony of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation", a notion that was repeatedly emphasized in the relevant publications. According to these authors, it was only through German immigration that higher culture had been brought to this region. Despite their small German-speaking population, the Baltic provinces had, since that time, remained "German land", as the "natives"4, i.e. the local Livonians, Latvians and Estonians, owed their culture to their "German teachers"5 from time immemorial. This pattern of interpretation, which had already established itself in German-language literature in the mid-19th century as part of a "colonial view of the East", was now interpreted as a guide for political action in the present. In this sense, the authors of the propaganda writings claimed that the majority of Latvians and Estonians would willingly submit to German rule due to their cultural background, in order to ultimately become Germans themselves in the foreseeable future through "peaceful assimilation".6 Although they were not part of the Baltic provinces, the Lithuanians were often included in this argument without hesitation. As unrealistic as these proposals may seem today, the resonance of Baltic propaganda writings in Germany was huge at the time. One of the main reasons for this was certainly that, in the perception of many contemporaries, the colonization of Baltic territories by Germany appeared to be a much more realistic and morally justifiable war aim than the demands that radical nationalists had been making since the beginning of the war, namely, for the annexation of Polish, Belgian and northern French territories, which were to be "cleared" for German settlers through the forced resettlement of the native populations – euphemistically referred to as "evacuation". If the claims of "Baltic propaganda" were to be believed, there was no question of such upheaval in the already sparsely populated Baltic states, where the local population would allegedly even welcome coming under German rule.7 Even those who otherwise tried to distance themselves from the Pan-German League

Pan-German League

The “Alldeutscher Verband” was an influential, radically German nationalist, racist and militaristic-imperialist agitation association in the German Reich and during the National Socialist era. It was founded in 1891 (name until 1894: "Allgemeiner Deutscher Verband") and was initially primarily committed to the expansion of the German colonies and the strengthening of the German Reich's role in world politics. After 1900, it became increasingly radicalized. The focus was now primarily on the creation of a German-dominated Central Europe and a culturally homogeneous Greater Germany. This was associated with racist and anti-Semitic positions as well as plans for Germanization, resettlement and expulsion. As an influential political association at times, it provided considerable support for National Socialist ideology and anticipated later concepts and objectives, particularly in the context of plans to forcibly create new "living space" in Central and Eastern Europe. After 1933, the close ideological ties initially led to the association being tolerated by the National Socialists, who finally banned it in 1939. ’s resettlement plans could therefore be won over to the demand for the annexation of settlement land in the Baltic states, where a "new Germany of farms"8 was to be created, supposedly without any violence or coercion of the native, non-German population. With this in mind, well-known representatives of both the Protestant and Catholic churches took part in the agitation for German colonization of the Baltic states.

In 1916, with the support of the Evangelical League, the “Ostdeutsche Ansiedlerhülfe. Eingetragene Genossenschaft m.b.H.” (East German Settlers' Aid. Registered Cooperative) was founded in 1916, which collected money for farming families who wanted to participate in the settlement of the "new land" in the Baltic states.9 Clemens August von Galen, who would later become Bishop of Münster and a known opponent of the Nazi regime, developed a much-discussed settlement project in Catholic circles, in which farmers led by Westphalian noblemen were to colonize and Germanize Lithuania.10 The vision of "new settlement areas" on the soil of the "oldest German colony" became increasingly popular.

The “Upper Eastern Lands” as future colony

The idea of annexing the Baltic provinces and Lithuania in order to establish a German settlement colony there was also seen as a realistic and justifiable undertaking by leading government authorities in the German Empire. However, the driving force behind the establishment of German settlement in the Baltic states was the Militärverwaltung Ober Ost (Military Administration of the Upper East) and the Supreme Army Command. Although the military occupation of large areas in north-eastern Europe in the spring and summer of 1915 may have been more of a coincidence and despite the fact that there was no preconceived plan for the establishment of the Military Administration of the Upper East, the German occupation policy in the "Land Ober Ost” (lands of the Upper East) nevertheless coincided in a striking way with the proposals for a German colonization of the Baltic region, which were disseminated at the time in the form of memoranda and propaganda brochures. Under the rule of the German military, the colonial utopia that had previously been outlined in theory in the numerous memoranda and brochures was gradually to become reality. Courland became the heartland of the settlement colony in the making. The supposedly "German-cultivated" Latvian population was subjected to ruthless Germanization measures. This meant that school lessons were now almost exclusively taught in German. In the expectation that the Latvian rural population would quickly adopt the German language in this way, preparations were made to settle German farming families with large numbers of children among the scattered Latvian rural population. Plans were also drawn up to establish complete villages for German settlers.

It was in this context that the designs for new farmsteads for the future settlers, which can be seen above, were created. According to calculations, a farm of 20-hectares could be run by one family alone, if possible without additional labor. However, the actual implementation of the Baltic settlement plans did not reflect the "moderate character" ascribed to them in the public discussion of war aims. Instead, the German military relied on brutally suppressing resistance from the local population. They were also prepared to change the ethnic composition of the occupied territory by forcing Slavic population groups declared "un-Germanizable", as well as sections of the Jewish population, to emigrate. A decree issued by the Commander-in-Chief of the East on April 19, 1918, ordered local German authorities to encourage the voluntary emigration of Jewish and Russian inhabitants of the Upper East region to Russia and Ukraine, as this would help to "dispense with undesirable inhabitants [...], get rid of unnecessary mouths to feed, and make room for the return of welcome elements"11.

There was undoubtedly an intellectual continuity between the publicly propagated utopia of the "new eastern lands" and the ideas according to which occupation policy was pursued in the "Upper Eastern Lands". In order to secure Germany's rule over the Baltic states, the occupying forces set about establishing Baltic states from the end of 1917. However, these were to be brought under German control through state treaties in such a way that they would have been de facto countries with quasi-colonial status. In view of the revolutions in Russia and the slogan proclaimed by US President Wilson attesting to the "right of peoples to self-determination", which gave a significant boost to the nation-state aspirations of Lithuanians, Latvians and Estonians, the establishment of the Duchies of Lithuania, Courland and "Baltenland"12 by the Germans was doomed to failure from the outset. Even among those members of the Baltic German elite who actively supported the incorporation of the Baltic provinces into the German Reich, there were reservations about the military's comprehensive claim to power. However, the Baltic Germans raised virtually no objections to the Germanization plans. Despite all the resistance that the annexation policy encountered in Courland as well as in Lithuania, Livonia and Estonia, the German occupation authorities worked together with the Reich leadership and renowned settlement experts until shortly before the end of the war to turn the plans for a German colonization of the Baltic States into reality. It was only with the defeat of the Central Powers on the other fronts of the World War and the November Revolution in Germany in 1918 that all plans to turn the Baltic States into a German settlement colony finally collapsed.

Nevertheless, despite the collapse of Imperial Germany, plans for a German colonization of the Baltic were by no means off the table. The extent to which the vision of a "new" settlement area on the soil of the "oldest German colony" endured in the minds of the German public is evidenced, among other things, by the fact that the advertising campaigns for the Freikorps sent to Latvia in 1919 were able to draw extremely successfully on exactly the same colonial stereotypes that the "Baltic propaganda" had used during the World War.13 Even after the failure of the Freikorps venture, these ideas lived on. To what degree this influenced the National Socialists' conceptions of Eastern Europe still needs to be clarified in more detail. It would certainly be wrong to assume that there was a purely linear development from the utopia of the "new eastern lands" to the National Socialists’ "Generalplan Ost" (Master Plan for the East), which envisaged the conquest of large parts of Eastern Europe extending to the Ural Mountains as a future "living space" for the Germanic "master race". However, there is also no question that experiences and precedents from the time of the First World War had an impact here, and that these were far more than just colonial rhetoric, but constituted very real plans, as the brochure on the establishment of a farm in Courland and other documents make strikingly clear.

English translation: William Connor

Footnotes

Lenz, Wilhelm: Baltische Propaganda im Ersten Weltkrieg. Die Broschürenliteratur über die Ostseeprovinzen Rußlands. In: Ezergailis, Andrew/Pistohlkors, Gert von (Hrsg.): Die Baltischen Provinzen Russlands zwischen den Revolutionen von 1905 und 1917/The Russian Baltic provinces between the 1905/1917 revolutions, Köln 1982, pp. 187–204.

Broedrich-Kurmahlen, Silvio: Das neue Ostland. Charlottenburg, 1. Aufl. 1915

ibid., pp. 11–12.

Dehio, Georg: Livland und Elsaß (April 1918). In: Dehio, Georg: Kleine Aufsätze und Ansprachen. Dem Verfasser zum 22. November 1930 in Freundschaft und Verehrung dargebracht. Als Manuskript gedruckt, Mannheim 1930, pp. 43–53, here p. 52.

Tornius, Valerian: Die Baltischen Provinzen. Berlin / Leipzig 1915, p. 60.

See also: Kassebaum, Hermann: Kurland, Livland, Estland. Bilder aus Stätten alter, deutscher Kultur, Berlin / Neurode 1918, p. 22; Anonym: Die baltischen Lande und ein wiedererstarktes Rußland. In: Libausche Zeitung, Nr. 164 / 875 (17.07.1918), p. 1.

Bräunlich: Kurländischer Frühling, p. 109.

Heydeck, Johann: Zehn Wochen Werbearbeit für die Ostdeutsche Ansiedlerhülfe. In: Evangelischer Bund zur Wahrung deutsch-protestantischer Interessen. Monatsblatt für die Mitglieder, Jg. 30, Nr. 9 / 10 (Sept. / Oct. 1916), pp. 69–71.

10.

Hellfritzsch, Ron: Die Wiedergewinnung der alten „Terra Mariana“. Clemens August von Galens baltischer Siedlungsplan 1916–1919 (= Kirche & Weltkrieg. Digiatlbibliothek 13), Düsseldorf 2022, pp. 73–118.

11.

Order of the Commander-in-Chief East concerning emigration from the old Ob.Ost area to Greater Russia and the Ukraine, 19.04.1918, in: LVVA, 6406. f., 1. apr., 26. l., Bl. 34. See also the identical order of the district captain of Friedrichstadt to all district heads and mayors of 15.05.1918, in: ibid, Several orders from the high command of the 8th Army from August 1918 also ordered the "deportation" of all "gypsies" to Russia for the territory it occupied, which also included Courland and Riga, see: the correspondence in: ibid., p. 132. Quotes ibid.

12.

Treaty between the German Reich and the Duchy of Baltenland concerning customs duties and taxes, in: GStA PK I. HA Rep. 90 A, No. 2698, pp. 196-198: _K

13.

Siehe u.a.: Bericht des Hauptmanns a. D. Ernst Brunk an die Gelsenkirchener Bergwerks AG, 28.10.1919. In: montan.dok/BBA 55/366 Beteiligungen der GBAG (ohne Paginierung); Sammartino, Annemarie: The impossible border. Germany and the East. 1914–1922, Ithaca 2010, S. 54.

Literature

Hellfritzsch, Ron: Die Wiedergewinnung der alten „Terra Mariana“. Clemens August von Galens baltischer Siedlungsplan 1916–1919. In: Kirche & Weltkrieg. Digitalbibliothek , 13. p. 73-118.
Kienemann, Christoph: Der koloniale Blick gen Osten. Osteuropa im Diskurs des Deutschen Kaiserreiches von 1871. Paderborn 2018.
Lenz, Wilhelm: Baltische Propaganda im Ersten Weltkrieg. Die Broschürenliteratur über die Ostseeprovinzen Rußlands. In: Ezergailis, Andrew/Pistohlkors, Gert von (eds.): Die Baltischen Provinzen Russlands zwischen den Revolutionen von 1905 und 1917. Köln 1982. p. 187-204.

Citation

Citation recommendation

Ron Hellfritzsch (2024-09-18): On the Road to the “New Eastern Lands”. Plans for the German colonization of the Baltic states during the First World War. In: Copernico. History and Cultural Heritage in Eastern Europe. URL: https://www.copernico.eu/en/link/669a4cbe0afcb0.54320157 (2025-01-18)

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