Volksdeutsche
Volksdeutsche (literally "members of the German people"; no English translation, adj. volksdeutsch) is a historical term which arose in the early 20th century to apply for Germans living outside of the German Empire. This is in contrast to Imperial Germans (Reichsdeutsche), German citizens living within Germany. In that sense, it is the equivalent of today's legal definition of the term Auslandsdeutsche.
This is the most loose meaning of the term, which was used mainly during the Weimar Republic. In a stricter sense, volksdeutsch became to mean (ethnic) Germans living abroad but without German citizenship, i.e., the juxtaposition with reichsdeutsch was sharpened to denote difference in citizenship as well as residence.
During Nazi Times
During Nazi times, the term "Volksdeutsche" referred to foreign-born Germans living in countries occupied by Germany who applied for German citizenship. Prior to World War II, well above ten million ethnic Germans lived in Central and Eastern Europe. They constituted an important minority far into Russia. During WW2, Volksdeutsche were used by Nazi regime for espionage, sabotage and other services against their countries of origin. Most Volksdeutsche left their countries in the course of the German exodus from Eastern Europe. Tiny remnants of the ethnic German community remain in the former Soviet republics in Central Asia. There is also a small surviving German community in Siebenbürgen (Transylvania) in Romania.
The Nazis popularized the terms Volksdeutsche, and also exploited this group for their own purposes. As a result, the term is not much used today - often one uses either Auslandsdeutsche, or names that more closely associate them with their earlier place of abode (such as Wolgadeutsche, the ethnic Germans living in the Volga basin in Russia; and Baltic Germans, those ethnic Germans who generally called themselves Balts and were removed to German-occupied Poland during WW2 by an agreement between Hitler and Stalin).
Poland
In Poland during World War II, Polish citizens of German ancestry, who often identified themselves with the Polish nation, were confronted with the dilemma of whether to sign the Volksliste, the list of Germans living in Poland. This included ethnic Germans whose families had lived in Poland proper for centuries, and Germans (who after 1920 became citizens of Poland) from the part of Germany that had been given to Poland after World War I.
Often the choice was either to sign and be regarded as a traitor by the Polish, or not to sign and be treated by the Nazi occupation as a traitor of the Germanic race. After the collapse of Nazi Germany, these people were tried by the Polish authorities for high treason. Even now, in Poland the word Volksdeutsch is regarded as an insult, synonymous with the word "traitor".
In some cases, individuals consulted the Polish resistance first, before signing the Volksliste. Volksdeutsche played an important role in intelligence activities of the Polish resistance, and were at times the primary source of information for the Allies. Having helped the Polish non-communist resistance didn't help in the eyes of new Communist government installed by the Soviet Union after 1945; therefore, ssome of these double agent Volksdeutsche were also persecuted.
In occupied Poland, the status of "Volksdeutscher" gave many privileges, but one big disadvantage: Volksdeutsche were conscripted to the German army. The Volksliste had 4 categories. No. 1 and No. 2 were considered ethnic Germans, while No. 3 and No. 4 were ethnic Poles who had signed the Volksliste for different reasons. Volksdeutsche of statuses 1 and 2 in the Polish areas annexed by Germany numbered 1,000,000, and Nos. 3 and 4 numbered 1,700,000. In the General Government there were 120,000 Volksdeutsche. Volksdeutsche of Polish ethnic origins were treated by the Poles with especial contempt, but were also committing high treason according to Polish law.
Both groups, Volksdeutsche by signing the list, and Reichsdeutsche, retained German citizenship during the years of allied military occupation, after the establishment of East Germany and West Germany in 1949, and later in the reunified Germany.
See also
