Professor: Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Belarus were to become part of Germany

Hitler's strategists viewed the fate of Belarus and the Baltic States in transformation of these territories into a part of the Great German Reich – as noted by Professor Igor Marzalyuk, the Chairman of the Standing Commission on Education, Culture and Science of the House of Representatives of the National Assembly of Belarus, the Doctor of Historical Sciences and a corresponding member of the National Academy of Sciences

Speaking of the inconsistency of an official historical paradigm of the Baltic States condemning the Soviet past, but praising their own occupation by the Nazis during the Great Patriotic War and honouring their SS veterans, Mr. Marzalyuk recalled a directive of the Reich Minister of the Eastern occupied territories, Alfred Rosenberg, stored in the National Archive of Belarus, “Rosenberg directly and unambiguously told the Reichskommissar of Ostland [that commissariat included the general district of Belorutenia headed by notorious Wilhelm Kube], “The Reichskommissar’s goal for Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Belarus should be rooted in a desire to create a Reichsprotektorate, and then – by extracting racially-featured elements and applying the measures of settlement policy – to turn this territory into a part of the Great German Reich. The Baltic Sea should become the northern inland sea under the supervision of Greater Germany. The Commissioner General in Belorutenia should encourage this country, which cannot be considered an economic surplus zone, to work productively through the maximum possible labour contribution.”

“The Nazis generally proposed to abolish the use of national names in the Baltic States. Estonia was to be renamed into Peipusland, Latvia – into Dunaland. Such measures were planned to accelerate the ‘Germanization’ and eradication of national identity among those living in the Baltic States. In the future, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, as well as Belarus, were to become an integral part of Germany, with ‘Germanized’ population. The directive gave unambiguous instructions in that regard,” Mr. Marzalyuk added.