Generalplan Ost
The Generalplan Ost (German pronunciation: [ɡenəˈʁaːlˌplaːn ˈɔst], Master Plan East), abbreviated GPO, was a secret Nazi German plan for the colonization of Central and Eastern Europe. Implementation would have necessitated genocide and ethnic cleansing on a vast scale to be undertaken in territories occupied by Germany during World War II.
The plan entailed the enslavement, expulsion, and/or extermination of most Slavic peoples in Europe, whom the Nazis viewed as racially inferior and non-Aryan. The programme operational guidelines, prepared in the years 1939–1942, were based on the policy of Lebensraum designed by Adolf Hitler and the Nazi movement, as well as being a fulfillment of the Drang nach Osten (English: Drive towards the East) ideology of German expansion to the east. As such, it was intended to be a part of the New Order in Europe.
Development and reconstruction of the plan
The body responsible for the drafting of this plan was the Reich Main Security Office (Reichssicherheitshauptamt - RSHA), the security organization of the SS responsible for fighting all enemies of Nazism. It was a strictly confidential document, and its contents were known only to those at the topmost level of the Nazi hierarchy.
