The Reichskommissariat Moskowien: Hitler's Blueprint for a Colonial Master Race in Slavic Land
The Reichskommissariat Moskowien represents one of the most chilling artifacts of Nazi ambition, a meticulously drafted plan for the colonization of European Russia. Far removed from the immediate brutality of the front lines, this administrative concept outlined a future where German settlers would rule over a vast landscape of subjugated Slavs. While the idea remained a paper fantasy, it reveals the genocidal logic at the heart of the Nazi war machine.
In the months following the invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941, the Nazi hierarchy envisioned a new order that would stretch beyond the Utopia of the West. This vision was not one of integration or coexistence, but of racial hierarchy and territorial conquest. The Reichskommissariat Moskowien was to be the cornerstone of this new colonial empire, a territory to be reshaped through the systematic removal and extermination of the native population. The following is a detailed examination of the plans, architects, and grim realities of this proposed German colony.
### The Genesis of a Colonial Dream
The concept of *Lebensraum*, or "living space," was the central ideological pillar driving Nazi policy in the East. Conceived by Adolf Hitler in *Mein Kampf* and expanded upon in *Hitler's Second Book*, the doctrine demanded the acquisition of territory in Eastern Europe to sustain the growth of the Aryan race. The Slavic peoples, particularly the Russians, were viewed as *Untermenschen* (sub-humans), fit only to serve the German master race.
The plan for Moskowien was not a spontaneous idea but the culmination of years of ideological conditioning and administrative planning. As the German army pushed deeper into the Soviet Union in 1941, reaching the outskirts of Moscow in the autumn of that year, the theoretical frameworks of the Nazi Party began to be translated into concrete administrative structures. The *Einsatzgruppen* followed the Wehrmacht, preparing the ground through mass shootings of Jews, communists, and intellectuals. Simultaneously, the Nazi civil administration began to plot the future governance of the conquered lands.
### The Architect: Alfred Rosenberg
The primary intellectual force behind the Reichskommissariat Moskowien was Alfred Rosenberg, the Estonian-born ideologue who served as the Reich Minister for the Occupied Eastern Territories. Rosenberg was a true believer in Nazi racial theory and a key figure in the development of *Generalplan Ost*, the master plan for the ethnic cleansing and Germanization of Eastern Europe.
Rosenberg saw the vastness of Russia not as a homeland for its people, but as a resource to be exploited for the benefit of Germany. In his writings, he described the region as a territory to be populated by German settlers, creating a "new Berlin" in the East. His approach was one of systematic dehumanization; he viewed the Slavic population as a virus to be cleared away. In a speech outlining his vision, Rosenberg stated that the goal was to create a "Germanic colonization area" that would secure the "blood and soil" destiny of the Aryan race for centuries to come. He was instrumental in drafting the administrative policies that would have governed the Reichskommissariat, ensuring that German rule would be absolute and total.
### The Blueprint for Conquest
Reichskommissariat Moskowien was not intended to be a single province but a massive colonial empire. The planned territory encompassed the heart of European Russia, stretching from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Caucasus in the south, and from the Volga River in the east to the borders of Poland in the west. Its capital was to be the city of Moskau (Moscow), stripped of its historical Russian character and rebuilt as a German administrative center.
The administration was designed with a clear racial hierarchy in mind:
* **German Masters:** The Nazi elite and settlers would form the ruling class, living in segregated communities and enjoying absolute authority.
* **Collaborators:** A thin layer of non-Germanic, "racially acceptable" peoples, such as some Baltic Germans or Ukrainians who were deemed sufficiently Aryan, would be installed in minor administrative roles as a facade of local governance.
* **The Mass of Untermenschen:** The Slavic population—Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusians, and others—were to be reduced to the status of serfs or slave laborers. Their intellectual and cultural elites were to be exterminated, while the bulk of the population would be kept in a state of brutal subjugation to work the land and extract resources for the German war machine.
### The Method: Hunger and Extermination
The envisioned rule over Moskowien was underpinned by a policy of calculated starvation and genocide. *Generalplan Ost* called for the death of tens of millions of Slavs through a variety of means. The Nazi regime understood that feeding the indigenous population would divert resources from the German war effort and the new German settlers.
As part of the Hunger Plan (*Backe-Plan*), millions of Soviet citizens were to be deliberately starved to death to ensure food supplies for German troops and civilians. This policy was already being implemented in the occupied territories of Ukraine, leading to the deaths of millions in the Holodomor-like man-made famines of 1941-1942. For the Reichskommissariat Moskowien, this policy would have been scaled to an unprecedented level, with entire populations rounded up and left to die in the conquered territories.
Furthermore, the plan included the forced sterilization of those deemed "racially valuable" to prevent the growth of a pure German population, and the immediate deportation of all Jews, Roma, and political dissidents to extermination camps. The very landscape was to be transformed, with Germanic villages replacing the existing urban centers and collective farms.
### The Reality of the Plan
Despite the detailed planning, the Reichskommissariat Moskowien never materialized beyond the drawing board. The turning point on the Eastern Front, marked by the Soviet victory at the Battle of Moscow in December 1941 and the catastrophic German defeat at Stalingrad in early 1943, ensured that the dream of a German colonial empire in Russia would remain a fantasy.
As the Red Army pushed the Wehrmacht back, the focus shifted from planning a future utopia to managing a desperate retreat. The meticulous documents outlining the racial policies, economic exploitation, and administrative structures of Moskowien were largely abandoned, lost in the chaos of a collapsing regime. The plan serves as a stark reminder of the ultimate goals of the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union: not just military victory, but the complete annihilation of a people and the replacement of their civilization with a colonial project built on racial supremacy.
Today, the Reichskommissariat Moskowien stands as a historical artifact of pure malevolence. It is a chilling example of how abstract ideology, when combined with state power, can conceive of such profound cruelty. While the maps of this proposed territory exist only in archives, the legacy of the Nazi war in the East is written in the scars left across the Russian heartland and the memory of the tens of millions who perished under the shadow of this genocidal vision.
