European lands annexed by Germany before and during WWII
Adolf Hitler greeted by cheering crowds in Vienna , following the annexation of Austria into the III Reich , 15 March 1938Execution of local Polish people in the town of Kórnik , after the German invasion of Poland , 20 October 1939 Clockwise from the north: Memel , Danzig , Polish territories , General Government , Sudetenland , Bohemia-Moravia , Ostmark (Anschluss ), Northern Slovenia , Adriatic littoral , Alpine foothills , Alsace-Lorraine , Luxembourg , Eupen-Malmédy , Wallonia , Flanders , Nord-Pas-de-Calais and Brussels . The areas in light green were the fully annexed territories, while those in dark green were the partially incorporated territories. The territory of Germany before 1938 is shown in blue. There were many areas annexed by Nazi Germany both immediately before and throughout the course of World War II . Territories that were part of Germany before the annexations were known as the "Altreich" (Old Reich).[1]
Fully annexed territories
German-occupied Europe at the height of the Axis conquests in 1942Gaue , Reichsgaue and other administrative divisions of Germany proper in January 1944According to the Treaty of Versailles , the Territory of the Saar Basin was split from Germany for at least 15 years. In 1935, the Saarland rejoined Germany in a lawful way after a plebiscite.
The territories listed below are those that were fully annexed into Germany proper.
Areas annexed by Germany
Date of annexation
Annexed area
Succeeded by
13 Mar 1938
Federal State of Austria
Reichsgau Carinthia
Reichsgau Lower Danube
Reichsgau Salzburg
Reichsgau Styria
Reichsgau Tirol-Vorarlberg
Reichsgau Upper Danube
Reichsgau Vienna
1 Oct 1938
Sudetenland , Bohemia , Czechoslovak Republic
Gau Bavarian Eastern March
Reichsgau Upper Danube
Reichsgau Lower Danube
Territory of the Chief of Civil Administration of the Sudetenland
Sudetenland , Moravia-Silesia , Czechoslovak Republic
Reichsgau Lower Danube
Territory of the Chief of Civil Administration of the Sudetenland
16 Mar 1939
Czechoslovak Republic
Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia [2]
Bohemia , Czechoslovak Republic
Gau Bavarian Eastern March
Reichsgau Lower Danube
Bohemia , Czechoslovak Republic
Reichsgau Sudetenland
Moravia-Silesia , Czechoslovak Republic
Bohemia , Czechoslovak Republic
Reichsgau Upper Danube
22 Mar 1939
Klaipėda Region , Republic of Lithuania
Gau East Prussia
1 Sep 1939
Free City of Danzig
Territory of the Chief of Civil Administration of Danzig
25 Oct 1939
Military Administration in Poland
Gau East Prussia
Gau Silesia
Reichsgau Posen
Reichsgau West Prussia
19 May 1940
Eupen-Malmedy , Liège , Wallonia , Military Administration in Belgium and Northern France
Gau Cologne-Aachen
2 Aug 1940
Military Administration of Luxembourg
Territory of the Chief of Civil Administration of Luxembourg
2 Aug 1940
Moselle , French State
Territory of the Chief of Civil Administration of Lorraine
Bas-Rhin , French State
Territory of the Chief of Civil Administration of Alsace
Haut-Rhin , French State
13 May 1941
Military Administration in Yugoslavia
Territory of the Chief of Civil Administration of Carinthia and Carniola
Territory of the Chief of Civil Administration of Lower Styria
1 Aug 1941
Military Administration in the Soviet Union
Territory of the Chief of Civil Administration of Bialystok
1 Nov 1941
Grodno , Reichskommissariat Ostland
Territory of the Chief of Civil Administration of Bialystok
15 Dec 1944
Dunkirk , Nord , Provisional Government of the French Republic
Reichsgau Flanders
Wallonia , Kingdom of Belgium
Reichsgau Wallonia
Partially incorporated territories
The territories listed below are those that were partially incorporated into the Greater German Reich .
Planned annexations
In the coming Nazi New Order , other lands were considered for annexation sooner or later, for instance North Schleswig , German-speaking Switzerland , and the zone of intended German settlement in north-eastern France , where a Gau or a Reichskommissariat centred on Burgundy was intended for creation, and which Heinrich Himmler wanted to turn into the SS 's very own fiefdom . The goal was to unite all or as many as possible ethnic Germans and Germanic peoples , including non-Germanic speaking ones considered "Aryans" , in a Greater Germanic Reich .[citation needed ]
The eastern Reichskommissariats in the vast stretches of Ukraine and Russia were also intended for future integration into that Reich, with plans for them stretching to the Volga or even beyond the Urals , where the potential westernmost reaches of Imperial Japanese influence would have existed, following an Axis victory in World War II . They were deemed of vital interest for the survival of the German nation, as it was a core tenet of Nazism that Germany needed "living space" (Lebensraum ), creating a "pull towards the East" (Drang nach Osten ) where that could be found and colonized .
North-East Italy was also eventually to be annexed, including both the Operational Zone of the Adriatic Littoral and the Operational Zone of the Alpine Foothills , but also the Venice region .[3] [4] Goebbels went as far as to suggest taking control of Lombardy as well:
Whatever was once an Austrian possession we must get back into our own hands. The Italians by their infidelity and treachery have lost any claim to a national state of the modern type. — Joseph Goebbels , September 1943 [5]
The annexation of the entire North Italy was also suggested in the long run.[6]