Mapping Modernity

17. Ost und West

25 October 2023

Back home in the Empire

Volksdeutsche are people who are considered Germans even though their families have lived in other countries for several generations, or even centuries. This 1941 map shows the forced relocation as agreed in the Hitler-Stalin Pakt. Approximately 426,700 Volksdeutsche, originating from the Romanian Dobroedja region to Estonia, were tasked with Germanising the annexed regions of Poland.

K. Meyer, Bodenständiges und zurückgeführtes Bauernvolkstum in Ost und West, Berlin 1942, in: Landvolk im Werden. Coll. S/T J.76, 24.5 x 43 cm.