Different German policy in WWII: using native minorities

I'm reading a book on Stalingrad, and it's mentioned that there was a rift in the high command about the treatment of minorities found in Soviet states. One faction argued arming them so to create rifts in the Soviet structure. The policy that won out, I believe, was Goebbel's- use the natives as slaves and resources.

What if the alternate policy had won out? I believe this has probably been discussed before, so I'll just ask for the consensus opinion.
 
I'm not sure there is a consensus opinion, because the subject is so damned badly documentable. Some German historians worked on this and generally came to the conclusion that the Soviet Empire would have fallen apart along ethnic lines if the strategy had been adopted, but a lot of them were influenced directly or indirectly by the Soviet nationalities discourse that was fuelled (and to a degree funded) by US government agencies in order to boost morale and create support for its own strategy, which in turn was largely informed by emigre groups connected to those same minority collaborators. On the other hand, Soviet and many left-wing historians never cease to claim that it would have been unthinkable for the USSR to be vulnerable to this approach, usually denying in the process that they had to deal with nationalist anticommunist insurgencies into the fifties.

At the end of the day it is likely Hitler would have done better had he followed a strategy of national empowerment, but how much better is extremely hard to quantify. Winning the war is still unlikely, particularly because he had no way of using that strategy against the Russians, who were his main problem.
 
How Feasible is this plan?

Germany's poor treatment of Jews and Poles would already imperil their relationships with minorities in the Soviet Union.

This is very far from a knockout punch against the Soviet Union. The Balts and the Ukrainians might support Germany, as might a few of the less numerous peoples of the Caucasus.

I have little doubt that the Germans could have done much better if they had acted against the Soviets in this fashion. But actually taking down the Soviet Union itself is still going to be a formidable task--not helped by the fact that the Russians would have withdrawn their industry into the Urals and are going to be fighting against an attempt to destroy their people.

The Soviets probably still carry the day, but its a harder, longer war, with the Germans making heavy usage of OstTruppen against the Soviets. The Problem is that even if Germany builds a strong defensive line in the Soviet Union, the Western Allies are eventually going to Nuke Germany. D Day III is going to sink Germany, even if the Allies have to drop 30 atomic weapons to do it. In the end, a German stalemate heavily favors the Allies. And its hard to see much more than that happening. The Soviets are going to stop the German advance, be it at the Gates of Moscow, at the Volga, or even at the Urals themselves.
 
Goebbels and Rosenborg both supported being nicer to natives, using minorities as allies etc

Speer also mentions that it was Bormann and Himmler who dissuaded Hitler when he was wavering on this issue

Best Regards
Grey Wolf
 
How Feasible is this plan?

Germany's poor treatment of Jews and Poles would already imperil their relationships with minorities in the Soviet Union.

This is very far from a knockout punch against the Soviet Union. The Balts and the Ukrainians might support Germany, as might a few of the less numerous peoples of the Caucasus.

I have little doubt that the Germans could have done much better if they had acted against the Soviets in this fashion. But actually taking down the Soviet Union itself is still going to be a formidable task--not helped by the fact that the Russians would have withdrawn their industry into the Urals and are going to be fighting against an attempt to destroy their people.

The Soviets probably still carry the day, but its a harder, longer war, with the Germans making heavy usage of OstTruppen against the Soviets. The Problem is that even if Germany builds a strong defensive line in the Soviet Union, the Western Allies are eventually going to Nuke Germany. D Day III is going to sink Germany, even if the Allies have to drop 30 atomic weapons to do it. In the end, a German stalemate heavily favors the Allies. And its hard to see much more than that happening. The Soviets are going to stop the German advance, be it at the Gates of Moscow, at the Volga, or even at the Urals themselves.

The Ukrainians hated both Jews and Poles with a passion after the Polish-Soviet War and decades of Soviet rule (associated with Jews); if anything, the Germans' harsh treatment of those groups would make them more enthusiastic collaborators. Even with them being as abysmally treated as they were IOTL, there were many who supported the Germans against the Soviets, and with decent treatment this number would reasonably swell greatly, especially in the countryside. How much exactly this would help the Germans can be debated, however; their main bottleneck was never manpower, but industrial production, which wouldn't be directly helped. The number of insurgents would also drop, but again the degree of this or its aid to the German war effort is difficult to manage.

There's also the issue whether the Germans had enough grain and agricultural produce to properly feed their conquered peoples; Michele, the resident expert on WW2, typically argues that this wasn't the case. So policy options may be more constrained than the OP supposes.
 
How much exactly this would help the Germans can be debated, however; their main bottleneck was never manpower, but industrial production, which wouldn't be directly helped. The number of insurgents would also drop, but again the degree of this or its aid to the German war effort is difficult to manage.
Methink main advantage Germans would get from more humane treatment of people on the occupied territories is damage to Soviet fighting spirit. Red Army turned from disintegrating jello of ppl who were thinking of their own survival and settling scores with commie regime into fighting force only when ppl understood that invaders were as bad or worse than commie regime. Several areas treated reasonably by Germans (Baltic countries) were loyal to them to the very end.
 
Well, Goebbels writes about food production and how killing everyone doesn't gain Germany any food at all! Basically, I think its a...that kind of equation where it starts small and gets big, can't think tonight ! Yes you have to feed the farmers and peasants, though in a way they are feeding themselves, but by their being around to work the land they can harvest excess amounts above what they need themselves, and help the German food situation that way

Best Regards
Grey Wolf
 
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