Between 1938 and 1945, Nazi Germany occupied or controlled vast territories of Europe. Peaking in 1941–1942, Germany and the other Axis powers (namely Italy) were governing more than half of the entire continent's population through direct administration, civil occupation, and military occupation, as well as by establishing puppet states. Germany's expansionist campaigns under the Nazi Party of Adolf Hitler ultimately led to the beginning of World War II in 1939.Encyclopædia Britannica, German occupied Europe. World War II. Retrieved 1 September 2015 from the Internet Archive. Also inside some of these occupied states, particularly Poland, was a large network of Nazi camps that facilitated what would later become known as the Holocaust.
The occupied European territory: as far north and east as Franz Josef Land in the Soviet Union as far south as Gavdos in Greece as far west as Ushant in France
German weather stations within Europe existed as far north as Schatzgräber in Franz Josef Land's Alexandra Land. Although the operated globally during World War II, it was chiefly focused on establishing and maintaining hegemony in the North Atlantic, especially the North Sea.
History
Several German-occupied countries initially entered World War II as Allies of the United Kingdom or the Soviet Union. Some were forced to surrender before the outbreak of the war such as Czechoslovakia; others like Poland (invaded on 1 September 1939) 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. 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 Italy and Hungary.
Concentration camps
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 – 29 Nov 1944 None Albanian resistance Bailiwick of Guernsey
Bailiwick of Jersey German Occupied Channel Islands(Part of the Military Administration in France) – 9 May 1945 (Guernsey)
1 Jul 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 – 11 May 1945 Gau Bayreuth Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia Reichsgau Niederdonau Reichsgau Oberdonau Reichsgau Sudetenland Czechoslovak resistance Federal State of Austria None – 9 May 1945 Reichsgau Kärnten Reichsgau Niederdonau Reichsgau Oberdonau Reichsgau Salzburg Reichsgau Steiermark Reichsgau Tirol-Vorarlberg Reichsgau WienAustrian resistance Free City of DanzigNone – 9 May 1945 Reichsgau Danzig-West Prussia Danzigian resistance French Republic
Free France
Provisional Government of the French Republic Military Administration in Belgium and Northern France
Military Administration in France
Reichskommissariat of Belgium and Northern France – 9 May 1945 Gau Baden Gau Westmark Reichsgau Wallonien French resistance Luxembourg Military Administration of Luxembourg
Civil Administration Area of Luxembourg – Feb 1945 Gau Moselland Luxembourg resistance Italian Islands of the Aegean Italian Islands of the Aegean – 8 May 1945None Belgium Military Administration in Belgium and Northern France
Reichskommissariat of Belgium and Northern France – 4 Feb 1945 Gau Cologne-Aachen Reichsgau Wallonien Reichsgau Flandern Belgian resistance DenmarkProtectorate state – 5 May 1945None Danish resistance Kingdom of Greece Military Administration in Greece Hellenic State – 8 May 1945None Greek resistance Kingdom of Hungary Kingdom of Hungary Government of National Unity – May 1945None Hungarian resistance Kingdom of Italy Italian Social Republic – 2 May 1945 None Italian resistance Norway Reichskommissariat Norwegen National Government – 8 May 1945NoneNorwegian resistance Netherlands Reichskommissariat Niederlande – 20 May 1945None 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 – 15 May 1945 Reichsgau Kärnten Reichsgau Steiermark Yugoslav resistance Monaco None – 3 Sep 1944None FinlandNone – 25 Apr 1945NoneFinnish resistance Republic of Lithuania
Provisional Government of Lithuania Reichskommissariat Ostland – 21 Jul 1940
23 Jun 1941 – 5 Aug 1941 Gau East Prussia Lithuanian resistance Republic of Poland Military Administration in Poland
General Government administration
Reichskommissariat Ostland
Reichskommissariat Ukraine – 9 May 1945 Bezirk Bialystok Gau East Prussia Gau Schlesien Gau Oberschlesien General Government Reichsgau Danzig-West Prussia Reichsgau WarthelandPolish resistance San Marino None (military trespassing) – 20 Sep 1944None Territory of the Military Commander in Serbia Commissioner Government
Government of National Salvation – Jan 1945NoneSerbian resistance Slovak Republic German Zone of Protection in Slovakia – May 1945 None Slovak resistance Territory of the Saar BasinNone. – Apr 1945 Gau Palatinate-Saar Gau Saar-Palatinate Gau Westmark Saar Basinian resistance Ukrainian National Government Reichskommissariat Ukraine – Sep 1941 General Government Ukrainian resistance Parts of the Soviet Union Lepel Republic
Military Administration in the Soviet Union Lokot Autonomy
Reichskommissariat Ostland
Reichskommissariat Ukraine – 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 – Aug 31, 1944) 1940 – Aug 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(Sep 29/30, 1939 – 1940) Angers, French Republic(1940 – Jun 12, 1940) London(Jun 12, 1940 – 1990) Sep 29/30, 1939 – Dec 22, 1990 German Reich/Greater German Reich Reich Commissariat East Reich Commissariat Ukraine Slovak Republic Soviet Union People's Republic of Poland Belgium London(Oct 22, 1940 – Sep 8, 1944) Oct 22, 1940 – Sep 8, 1944 German Reich/Greater German Reich Military Administration in Belgium and Northern France Reichskommissariat of Belgium and Northern France DenmarkNone 1943–1945 German Reich/Greater German Reich Luxembourg London 1940–1944 German Reich/Greater German Reich Kingdom of Greece Cairo, Egypt Apr 29, 1941 – Oct 12, 1944 German Reich/Greater German Reich Kingdom of Italy Kingdom of Bulgaria Norway London Jun 7, 1940 – May 31, 1945 Reichskommissariat Norwegen Kingdom of Yugoslavia London Jun 7, 1941 – Mar 7, 1945 Albanian KingdomCommissioner 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(Oct 2, 1939 – 1940) London(1940–1941) Aston Abbotts, United Kingdom(1941–1945) Oct 2, 1939 – Apr 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 Sep 16, 1944 – May 10, 1945 Kingdom of Bulgaria Kingdom of Greece Kingdom of Yugoslavia French State Sigmaringen, Greater German Reich 1944 – Apr 22, 1945 Provisional Government of the French Republic Kingdom of Hungary Vienna, Greater German Reich
Munich, Greater German Reich Mar 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 Apr 4, 1945 – 8 May 1945 Czechoslovak Republic Government of National Salvation Kitzbühel, Great-German Reich Oct 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 – Aug 20, 1991)
New York City, United States Jun 17, 1940 – Aug 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 – Aug 22, 1992 German Reich/Greater German Reich Kingdom of Hungary Kingdom of Romania Reichskommissariat Ukraine Soviet Union
See also Areas annexed by Nazi 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).