Hitler treated conquered russians,etc... benevolently.

For all their talk about slavs being untermenschen, Nazis were totes fine with puppet Croatia, Slovakia, and allied Bulgaria.
Even Czechs were treated way better than Poles and Russians, and "Protectorate" was in the middle of Reich, not peripherial colony.

Treat Russians, Ukrainians, Baltic Nations like they did Czechs: exploit but do not exterminate as long as they don't rebel.
Tricky, but doable.
Hitler: Dear Himmler, what do you think of Russians?
Himmler: Untermenschen, kill them all!
Hitler: Really? Because I just decided they are partially descendants of germanic Varangians. Because I, Hitler, said so, therefore its true.
Himmler: I absolutely agree! We must co-opt them to fight Jewish Bolsheviks.

Done.New Nazis not evil enough for you? They still kill Jews and Gypsies, and because they have less problems with partisans in the east, and have puppet Russian army to help them with dirty work, they manage to kill more. Eight million dead of holocaust instead of six.
 

Ryan

Donor
For all their talk about slavs being untermenschen, Nazis were totes fine with puppet Croatia, Slovakia, and allied Bulgaria.

I believe that was because they were in the Balkans and therefore not in the way of Lebensraum which demanded living space to the east (not south).
 
For all their talk about slavs being untermenschen, Nazis were totes fine with puppet Croatia, Slovakia, and allied Bulgaria.
Even Czechs were treated way better than Poles and Russians, and "Protectorate" was in the middle of Reich, not peripherial colony.

Treat Russians, Ukrainians, Baltic Nations like they did Czechs: exploit but do not exterminate as long as they don't rebel.
Tricky, but doable.
Hitler: Dear Himmler, what do you think of Russians?
Himmler: Untermenschen, kill them all!
Hitler: Really? Because I just decided they are partially descendants of germanic Varangians. Because I, Hitler, said so, therefore its true.
Himmler: I absolutely agree! We must co-opt them to fight Jewish Bolsheviks.

Heer in Russia: "No, I was eating that! Where's my lunch coming from now?"
Germans in Germany: "Why are we sending all this food east? We're hungry."
Heer logisticians: "Well General, the next train can carry food, ammunition and fuel or winter clothing. Which would you like?"
German General: "Ammunition and fuel, the attack must go in. We'll get the food and clothing from, ah, somewhere else."
Russians: "You bastards. I was eating that potato and wearing those gloves."
 
Heer in Russia: "No, I was eating that! Where's my lunch coming from now?"
Germans in Germany: "Why are we sending all this food east? We're hungry."
Heer logisticians: "Well General, the next train can carry food, ammunition and fuel or winter clothing. Which would you like?"
German General: "Ammunition and fuel, the attack must go in. We'll get the food and clothing from, ah, somewhere else."
Russians: "You bastards. I was eating that potato and wearing those gloves."
Pfff. What that has to do with anything I said?
They still exploit population, still place their own needs before theirs. Suggesting they'd actually put needs of conquered country before their own is straw-manning. They just don't go out on their way to kill people who are neither Jewish nor a threat. Stalin starved Ukraine, but Ukraine didn't rebel. People are drived to rebellion by having nothing to lose, partisans hiding in forests didn't really ate better than peasants who worked fields for Heer.
There will be some starvation, there always was one during war, but hunger will not be end goal, just side effect.
Even with hunger, they can still recruit puppet army, since collaborators get food after Germans, but before general conquered population. They got volunteers of varying degree of enthusiasm IOTL.
If they knock out Soviets before winter, seizing Moscow, Leningrad, Staliningrad, Baku, they'll manage without mass starvation. If they don't win quickly, "Mitteleuropa 2.0" plan might fall apart, but this is not reason to not try.
 
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