What if instead of the Nazis with their focus on lebensraum by conquest, another fascist movement comes to power that instead seeks to greatly increase ethnic German immigration while simultaneously expelling "undesirables" ( Jews, Gypsies, etc.). They still want the territories lost in WWI and are terrified of the Soviet menace, so expansion of the military is a must, if perhaps not on the same scale as the Nazis. What incentives can be offered to attract ethnic German immigration and where would most of these immigrants come from? Besides the armed forces and the munitions industry, how can these extra bodies be put to work in a country suffering a depression?
WI: Pro-immigration Fascist Germany in 1930s
- Thread starter cincpac overboard
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BlackDragon98
Banned
Volga Germans are a big group.
maybe after the MR treaty, they immigrate to Germany?
it would get pretty crowded in Germany real soon, though
maybe after the MR treaty, they immigrate to Germany?
it would get pretty crowded in Germany real soon, though
In my mind food production would be extremely important to these alt-Fascists, which would necessitate a major increase in agricultural mechanization. Just like with the Nazis, however, deficit spending in would be pursued to achieve any goal perceived to be of national importance. This assumes I am correct in my assessment that Germany was behind the curve when it came to farm mechanization.
Volga Germans would definitely be targeted, but other groups like Sudeten Germans would be amenable to immigration to Germany, particularly where they feel that local nationalism is turning them into second-class citizens. If the alt-Fascist can manage to achieve economic growth during the Great Depression, that in itself would be a draw to ethnic Germans from as far as the Western Hemisphere.
Civic improvements, including the building of "projects" to house all these immigrants, would also be a top priority. I could easily see a German version of Roosevelt's WPA be formed to meet the housing demand, as well as to create an analog to the Autobahn for joint military-civilian use.
BlackDragon98
Banned
Autobahn can be used as auxiliary airstrips in wartime.
The Germans did this in the late stages of WW2.
Honest question: how close to carrying capacity was the Reich? Is there no room for high-density urban sprawl as seen in other nations? Was the food situation so desperate that invading other nations was the only solution for low agricultural yield?
If Germany was run by non idiots? Nowhere close.
Germany's population in 1939, including Austria and Bohemia, was 86.8 million.
Germany's population today is 82.8 million.
Obviously they'd have to import food and not be self-sufficient. But this isn't an issue if you aren't trying to fight a war.
That was a driving force of the war. I believe influenced by the blockades the German Empire suffered during WW1. Autarky was top of the list in terms of Nazi war goals, and in order of importance, clean water and food are the most important natural resources.
Most ethnic German immigrants will probably be from the USSR and Poland as in OTL. Perhaps some kind of deal is worked out in the 1930s to continue military and economic cooperation with the USSR and a similar population exchange agreement as what happened with the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact happens.
en.wikipedia.org
German–Soviet population transfers - Wikipedia
| Ethnic Germans Resettled from | Resettled In | Resettled In | Resettled In | Resettled In | Resettled In | Resettled In | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany | General Government/Poland | Oder-Neisse region | Danzig | Austria | Czechoslovakia | Total | |
| Territories of Poland annexed by the Soviet Union | 56,000 | 17,000 | 46,000 | - | 5,000 | - | 124,000 |
| Chełm & Narew in Poland | 29,000 | 11,000 | 2,000 | - | - | - | 42,000 |
| Baltic States | 87,000 | - | 40,000 | - | - | - | 127,000 |
| Soviet Union | 265,000 | 35,000 | 70,000 | - | - | - | 370,000 |
| Romania | 128,000 | 12,000 | 52,000 | - | 20,000 | - | 212,000 |
| Yugoslavia | 10,000 | - | 10,000 | - | 15,000 | - | 35,000 |
| Reichsdeutsche west of the Oder–Neisse Line | - | 290,000 | 225,000 | 15,000 | - | 30,000 | 560,000 |
| Reichsdeutsche east of the Oder–Neisse Line | - | 380,000 | - | - | - | 30,000 | 410,000 |
| Total | 575,000 | 745,000 | 445,000 | 15,000 | 40,000 | 60,000 | 1,880,000 |
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manav95
Banned
Yeah I wonder if they would be confused for being Russian given where they come from. I also wonder what their accents are like, if that may lead to feelings of separateness from the other Germans.
BlackDragon98
Banned
I don't think so.
Come Lebensraum, Volga Germans will be supremely useful as Brandenburgers or overseers on farms and industries, because they can speak both German and Russian.
But that's if Lebensraum happens.
It's happened to a fair extent in OTL, post Cold War. A Fascist Germany may be more strident in making the Volga German into "Proper Germans".
Although the alt-Fascist would love autarky, in practice they would try to replace overseas food sources with continental European ones, particularly from central and southern Europe. Maintaining economic ties to the Soviet Union would also be extremely important for food security purposes. Whether all this would be enough to replace overseas supplies I can't say.
No doubt, which would lead to the alt-Fascists producing a whole lot of "One Volk no matter where you're from" propaganda, along with formal classes to teach Volga Germans how to fit in. As long as there are enough jobs for everyone though I don't see native-born Germans doing much more than grumbling about eastern bumpkins with funny accents, unless of course the government has to force employers to hire immigrants.