This book examines Nazi Germany's expansion, population management and
establishment of a racially stratified society within the Reichsgaue
(Reich Districts) of Wartheland and Danzig-West Prussia in annexed
Poland (1939-1945) through a colonial lens. The topic of the Holocaust
has thus far dominated the scholarly debate on the relevance of
colonialism for our understanding of the Nazi regime. However, as
opposed to solely concentrating on violence to investigate whether the
Holocaust can be located within wider colonial frameworks, Rachel
O'Sullivan utilizes a broader approach by investigating other aspects,
such as discourses and fantasies related to expansion, settlement,
'civilising missions' and Germanisation, which were also intrinsic to
Nazi Germany's rule in Poland.
The resettlement of the ethnic Germans-individuals of German descent who
lived in Eastern Europe until the outbreak of the Second World War-forms
a main focal point for this study's analysis and investigation of
colonial comparisons. The ethnic German resettlement in the Reichsgaue
laid the foundations for the establishment and enforcement of German
society and culture, while simultaneously intensifying the efforts to
control Poles and remove Jews. Through this case study, O'Sullivan
explores Nazi Germany's dual usage of inclusionary policies, which
attempted to culturally and linguistically integrate ethnic Germans and
certain Poles into German society, and the contrasting exclusionary
policies, which sought to rid annexed Poland of 'undesirable' population
groups through segregation, deportation and murder. The book compares
these policies - and the tactics used to implement them - to colonial
and settler colonial methods of assimilation, subjugation and violence.
