Organization of reception and accommodation of German refugees from the occupied regions of the USSR in Germany in 1944

Based on a wide range of sources, the article considers the process of organizing the reception and placement of German refugees from the occupied regions of Ukraine on the territory of Germany in 1944.According to archival sources, during the fall of 1943 – spring of 1944, about 350,000 ethnic Germans were evacuated from the occupied Ukrainian territories by the authorities of Nazi Germany. From February 1944, at the direction of Reichsführer SS H. Himmler, German refugees from the USSR were to be sent to the territory of the imperial district of Warthegau. Due to the lack of free land resources, most new settlers planned to be used as agricultural workers until the end of the war. The Nazi Party authorities were tasked with convincing the refugees that at this stage, they needed to think not about their interests, but about working for the good of Germany since their future fate depended on their victory.At the beginning of 1944, a network of special assembly camps was deployed to receive refugees in Warthegau. Many corporate events took place in an accelerated manner. Despite past years’ experience, the Nazi authorities were still not well prepared for the sudden influx of such a large contingent. Therefore, at the initial stage, they sought to meet refugees’ basic needs (for housing, food, medical care, clothing, etc.).Officials of local economic authorities were quite skeptical about the Soviet Germans. They considered them insufficiently adapted to the peculiarities of farming in the region. Some German officials occasionally openly demonstrated their contempt to the settlers. As a result, by the end of 1944, dissatisfaction with their situation began to grow among many evacuated Germans. The Nazi authorities tried to fight this tendency with the help of propaganda.