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Mitteleuropa

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Mitteleuropa is the German term equal to Central Europe. The word has political, geographic and cultural meaning. While it describes a geographical location, it also is the word denoting a political concept of a German-dominated Central European federation that was put into motion during First World War. The historian Jörg Brechtefeld describes 'Mitteleuropa' as the following:

The term 'Mitteleuropa' never has been merely a geographical term; it is also a political one, much as Europe, East and West, are terms that political scientists employ as synonyms for political ideas or concepts. Traditionally, Mitteleuropa has been that part of Europa between East and West. As profane as this may sound, this is probably the most precise definition of Mitteleuropa available.

Mitteleuropa, as the territory that in the 19th century belonged to the German Empire, Congress Poland, Switzerland and Austria-Hungary

The German academic Ständiger Ausschuss für geographische Namen (Permanent Committee on Geographical Names) refers to the territory covered by the modern states of:

•  Austria
•  Croatia
•  Czech Republic
•  Germany
•  Hungary
•  Liechtenstein
•  Poland
•  Slovakia
•  Slovenia
•  Switzerland

Baltic states (Baltikum):

•  Lithuania
•  Latvia
•  Estonia

Mitteleuropa construed as a cultural area would further include:

• Alsace and the Moselle département of northern Lorraine in  France
•  Luxembourg, though usually referred to as a West European country
• the Kaliningrad Oblast exclave of  Russia
• the eastern Vilnius Region in  Belarus
• territories of former Austria-Hungary in
  •  Italy – Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol and the area of the former Austrian Littoral in eastern Friuli and Trieste
  •  Serbia – Vojvodina
  •  Romania – Transylvania (Siebenbürgen)
  •  Ukraine – eastern Galicia and Bukovina

Mitteleuropa Plan

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Map of German plans for a new political order in Central and Eastern Europe after the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk of February 9, 1918, Treaty of Brest-Litovsk of March 3, 1918 and Treaty of Bucharest of May 7, 1918.      Germany and its allies      Part of Poland and Armenia to be annexed by Germany/Turkey      Semi-autonomous states under full German control – planned annexation      New countries – economically and administratively dependent of Germany      Ukraine – under German economic control      Planned Tatar Republic – area of German colonization      Countries politically and economically tied with Germany      Planned Transcaucasian Republic – politically tied with Germany      Semi-autonomous Cossack states inside Russia – German sphere of influence

The Mitteleuropa plan was to achieve a hegemony over Central Europe by the German Empire and subsequent economic exploitation of this region combined with territorial annexations, settlement of German colonists, expulsion of non-Germans from annexed areas and eventual Germanization of puppet states created as a buffer between Germany and Russia.

The issue of Central Europe was taken by German thinker Friedrich Naumann in 1915 in his work Mitteleuropa. According to his thought, this part of Europe was to become a politically and economically integrated block subjected to German rule. In his program, Naumann also supported programs of Germanization and Hungarization as well. Some parts of the planning included designs on creating a German colony in Crimea and colonization of the Baltic states.

The ruling political elites of Germany accepted the Mitteleuropa plan during World War I while drawing out German war aims and plans for the new order of Europe. Mitteleuropa was to be created by establishing a series of puppet states whose political, economic and military aspects would be under the control of the German Reich. The entire region was to serve as an economic backyard of Germany whose exploitation would enable it to compete with the British Empire and any other competitors for the position of the world's dominant power. Economic organization was to be based on German domination, with unfair commercial treaties imposed on countries like Poland and Ukraine. It was believed that the German working classes could be appeased by German politicians through the economic benefits of territorial annexation, settlement of Germans in Central and Eastern Europe and exploitation of conquered countries for the material benefit of Germany.

The local population was to be subject to expulsions to make room for German settlers, in other places it would be reduced to second class citizens as Germans would become the ruling elite of German run-puppet states. Additionally, the German Mitteleuropa plan had foreseen expulsion of over 2 million Poles and Jews from 30,000 square kilometers annexed from Congress Poland replaced by German colonists. The puppet state of the Kingdom of Poland was to have its population gradually reduced by the use of artificially created famine.

Partial realization of these plans was reflected in the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, where guarantees of economic and military domination over Ukraine by Germany were laid out.

The Mitteleuropa plan served as blueprint for the much more expanded, racially-motivated and harsher plans of Nazi Germany during the Second World War such as Generalplan Ost.

(Edit)The text above is the version spread by people trying to incite hate of Germany. Most of it is ripped out of context of the original plans or based on propaganda works, see e.g. the referred to work "Devastated Poland" which was made during World War I, hardly an unbiased book. It´s denotive that the reference books are all written by war enemies of Germany and nothing of the full original plan is referenced. But the editors above can not do this, because if they would show the original german sources, everybody could see their wordbending and outright lies. The imperial "Mitteleuropa-Plan" never wanted expulsion or famine. On the contrary, it was made to stabilize the whole Central Europe region.(See www.cpw-online.de/lemmata/europaplaene.htm)

"An der Schwelle zum 20. Jahrhundert gewann neben dem wirtschaftlichen auch der politische Einigungsgedanke wieder zunehmend an Strahlkraft. In diese Zeit datiert der Mitteleuropa-Plan Friedrich Naumanns" Translation: "At the beginning of the 20th. century economic and even political Unification ideas began to get more charisma. In this time dates Friedrich Naumanns Mitteleuropa-Plan." If the Central Powers had been victorious, the nations created after the Brest-Litovsk treaty would have been economically integrated with the Central Powers nations, forming an economic Union. The main difference to todays economic pacts would have been the sole leadership role of Imperial Germany and Austria-Hungary. (See in addition the german wiki section of Mitteleuropa about the Mitteleuropa-Plan)

See also

• Central Europe
• Geographical centre of Europe
• Międzymorze
• League of East European States
• People's Republic
• Lebensraum

References