Hermann Goering had in his desk a green folder.

In it, he kept a copy of the plan Adolf Hitler charged him to devise

for the economic exploitation of the Soviet Union following its capitulation.

Welcome to the history of the 20th century.

The 20 Folder.

Today, I want to pause the narrative of the German military campaign against the Soviet Union in 1941

to consider German plans for their post-war administration of the Soviet Union.

The German government and military initially believed that the war against the USSR would be over by October,

and planning was already underway for what would happen afterward.

The Germans envisioned occupying the USSR as far east as the Ural Mountains,

and south to the Black Sea and the Caucasus region with its all-important oil wells.

By mid-August, with the German offensive slowing down rather than accelerating, the Germans began

to plan for the possibility of a longer war and how the German-occupied portion of the Soviet

Union could be used to help support a longer war effort.

First, though, let's talk a little about the German administration of occupied

Bohemia, Moravia, and Poland, which have been under German control for two years now. These lands were

populated by Czechs and Poles, both Slavic peoples, and a substantial number of Jewish people.

To summarize German plans, Hitler and his government intended to clear out today's

inhabitants of these lands and resettle them with ethnic Germans.

Where would these displaced people go?

The Germans intended to occupy the Soviet Union only as far as the Urales.

Beyond the Urales lay Siberia, in which Hitler had no interest, so they could be relocated

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