German Economic and Extermination Policies in Belorussia, 1941−1944

(Last modified 1997)

This research project deals with the politics of German occupation in Belorussia, in particular, with economic policy and programs for resettlement and extermination of the Belorussian population. The study demonstrates that economic interests and brutal occupation policies were interlinked. Results of this investigation show that Nazi policies regarding agriculture, food production and distribution, de-industrialization, and labor force deployment were closely connected with the extermination of Jews, Soviet prisoners of war, peasants (in the guise of "combating partisan warfare"), and other population groups. A decisive factor was the occupation authorities' role in the area of food production and distribution. Despite inter-departmental rivalry between different sectors of the occupation apparatus, there was a large measure of consensus with respect to the aims and methods of German rule.

The Hamburg Institute for Social Research provided funding for this project from April 1993 until September 1995. The completed study was submitted as a doctoral thesis in July 1997 to the Technical University Berlin (Fachbereich 1).