Weimar and Nazi Germany (1918-1939): Treatment of Slavs

Slavs or the Slavic people are the residents of Eastern European countries. They were spread out across many countries including Poland, Ukraine, Russia and Czechoslovakia. Before Hitler came to power in 1933, Slavs also lived in Germany.

However, Slavs did not fit into the Nazi ideas of a Master Race, so were subject to discrimination in Germany. The Nazis described the Slavic people as members of the Untermenschen, or sub-human. This, according to the Nazis, meant that they were unlike the German people and therefore could not be afforded the same rights that they had.

The land which was occupied by the Slavs was earmarked by the Nazis as living space or lebensraum for the Aryan Germans.

During the Holocaust there was an estimated 5 million Slavs killed across different countries.