It seems like the Reich truly only cared about German Aryans as opposed to their public goal of caring for the Aryan Race as a whole whether they be French or Belgian or Norwegian.In the Western Occupied zones things will be anywhere from tough to "the cow dies and we have sell one of the children so we don't starve" bad.
The quality of life was that bad in East Germany?Indeed, when members of the Eastern German and Soviet intelligentsia (diplomats, upper-rank bureaucrats, important Party members, etc.) visited West Germany, they were astonished to discover that life for the average lower-class German worker - with his Levi's jeans, washing machine, vacuum cleaner, full supermarkets selling all sorts of goods - was often equal if not better to their own as "upper-class" Soviet intelligentsia.
Well, they had jeans, but not Levi's which were a status symbol that had to be smuggled from the West. Their supermarkets had much less variety, home appliances like vacuum cleaners and washing machines were of lower quality and they had long waiting times to adquire them. The gap between living standards in Eastern and Western Europe grew larger after the 1970s, and the discomforts for the upper-echelons of Soviet leadership had piled up considerably so as to make the system intolerable even for them.The quality of life was that bad in East Germany?
I wonder what the Politburo's reaction (or Stalin's) would have been if they had taken the trip to the same grocery store as Yeltsin.Well, they had jeans, but not Levi's which were a status symbol that had to be smuggled from the West. Their supermarkets had much less variety, home appliances like vacuum cleaners and washing machines were of lower quality and they had long waiting times to adquire them. The gap between living standards in Eastern and Western Europe grew larger after the 1970s, and the discomforts for the upper-echelons of Soviet leadership had piled up considerably so as to make the system intolerable even for them.
You may find this short tidbit interesting:
http://blog.chron.com/thetexican/2014/04/when-boris-yeltsin-went-grocery-shopping-in-clear-lake/
They did and the didn't.
The reality was that the Reich was so damned inefficient and riddled with corruption from Goring on down that maintaining any sort of "middle class" lifestyle for the people of the "Inner Reich" required that the Occupied countries be bled dry to support the Reich's population. In theory the lands to the East, where the German "settlers" would go would provide the food and materials needed. That was doubtful, especially since the Nazis were bound and determined to kill six of ever seven Slavs in Poland, Belarus, and Ukraine leaving too few people to perform all the hard labor.
You could LITERALLY trade a used pair of Levi's for a car.The quality of life was that bad in East Germany?
How many did the East German government actually imprison/kill?snip
Imprison?How many did the East German government actually imprison/kill?
Question--how many Eastern Europeans did the Nazis want to keep alive but deport to territories east of the Ural Mountains?In the East, the plan was to kill anywhere between 50% and 85% of the population be working them to death (i.e. Extermination through labor) while leaving the rest as illiterate serfs whose lives are less valuable than a dog.
On Wiki in the table for the various nationalities and their percentages it states that 50 to 60% of Russians would be physically eliminated and another 15% deported past the Urals. Most likely the majority of those deported past the Urals (on foot or in unheated cattle cars) would die regardless due to starvation, exposure, or disease. The distance from Moscow to the Urals is 840 miles. The journey would not be pleasant, not factoring in the distance you have to travel once you get past the mountains.Question--how many Eastern Europeans did the Nazis want to keep alive but deport to territories east of the Ural Mountains?
Imprison?
The whole country was a prison. There was secret policeman/paid informer for every 166 residents of the Country (as a comparative the Gestapo had one for every 2,000 and the KGB one for every 5,800). When the Wall fell, a mob attacked Stasi HQ. The burned ONE BILLION documents from the files, that represented 5% of the total records. Think about that. The entire population of the DDR was ~16 million.
The official records indicate around 4,400 executions for political crimes. This doesn't begin to consider the number of suicides or early deaths caused by Stasi actions and from the knowledge that every word you uttered, every piece of paper you wrote on, had a good chance of being examined by the Stasi.
Imagine what the Gestapo would be like if the Reich won the war and had to watch over a continent's worth of people.Surviving STASI files continue to occupy 69 miles worth of shelf space. Even now, 29 years later, I'd bet only a fraction of this material has ever been examined.