Reichskommissariat Turkestan
Encyclopedia
Reichskommissariat Turkestan (also spelled as Turkistan, abbreviated as RKT), literally "Reich
Commissariat
of Turkestan
(or Turkistan)" was the civilian occupation regime
which the leadership of Nazi Germany
proposed to create in the Central Asian Republics
of the Soviet Union
in its military conflict
with that country during World War II
.
, Nazi ideologist Alfred Rosenberg
included the ethnically mainly Turkic
and Muslim
areas of the USSR in Central Asia in his plans for the future establishment of German supremacy in the remnants of the Soviet Union due to their historical antagonism to the extension of Russian control over the area, in spite of his doubts that German conquests would reach that far east. His original proposal entailed the creation of a string of "de-Russified
" and German-friendly suzerainties
around the Russian "core area" of Muscovy, which was to be deprived of its access to the Baltic
and Black Sea
s. These entities were Greater Finland
, the Baltic region
, White Ruthenia (Belarus
), Greater Ukraine
, Greater Caucasia
, Turkestan, Idel-Ural
, and Siberia
, while a stretch of territory on the western frontier with Germany was to become either part of it or otherwise be under its direct control.
This suggestion was rejected by Adolf Hitler
due to not meeting his stated objective of acquiring sufficient Lebensraum
in the east for Germany. On Hitler's orders the proposal for a German civil administration in Central Asia was also shelved by Rosenberg at least for the immediate future, who was instead directed to focus his work on the European parts of the USSR for the time-being.
into the Reichskommissariat: Kazak SSR, Uzbek SSR, Turkmen SSR, Tajik SSR and Kyrgyz ASSR. The population of these republics was not homogeneously of Turkic ethnicity (particularely Tajikistan
which is in fact predominantly Iranian
origin, and whose inhabitants speak the Persian language
), but overall shared the Muslim religion. The German plans also included the territories of Altai
, Tatarstan
and Bashkortostan
to the Reichskommissariat on the basis of common religion and ethnicity. Some sources even mention the possible inclusion of the Mari El
and Udmurtia
, regardless of the Uralic origin of the indigenous peoples of these lands.
The eastern limit of the entire territory was never definitively settled during the Second World War. In the event that the Axis forces would have occupied the remainder of the unconquered Soviet Union, a delimitation
of the region along the 70º east longitude
line was proposed by the Empire of Japan
in late 1941, which would have marked the western limit of its own holdings in the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere
. An amended version of this suggestion moved the frontier to the eastern border of the Central Asian republics with China
, and along the Yenisei river
in Siberia
.
Reich
Reich is a German word cognate with the English rich, but also used to designate an empire, realm, or nation. The qualitative connotation from the German is " sovereign state." It is the word traditionally used for a variety of sovereign entities, including Germany in many periods of its history...
Commissariat
Commissariat
A commissariat is the department of an army charged with the provision of supplies, both food and forage, for the troops. The supply of military stores such as ammunition is not included in the duties of a commissariat. In almost every army the duties of transport and supply are performed by the...
of Turkestan
Turkestan
Turkestan, spelled also as Turkistan, literally means "Land of the Turks".The term Turkestan is of Persian origin and has never been in use to denote a single nation. It was first used by Persian geographers to describe the place of Turkish peoples...
(or Turkistan)" was the civilian occupation regime
Reichskommissariat
Reichskommissariat is the German designation for a type of administrative office headed by a government official known as a Reichskommissar...
which the leadership of Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
proposed to create in the Central Asian Republics
Soviet Central Asia
Soviet Central Asia refers to the section of Central Asia formerly controlled by the Soviet Union, as well as the time period of Soviet administration . In terms of area, it is nearly synonymous with Russian Turkestan, the name for the region during the Russian Empire...
of the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
in its military conflict
Eastern Front (World War II)
The Eastern Front of World War II was a theatre of World War II between the European Axis powers and co-belligerent Finland against the Soviet Union, Poland, and some other Allies which encompassed Northern, Southern and Eastern Europe from 22 June 1941 to 9 May 1945...
with that country during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.
Background
Prior to the start of Operation BarbarossaOperation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa was the code name for Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II that began on 22 June 1941. Over 4.5 million troops of the Axis powers invaded the USSR along a front., the largest invasion in the history of warfare...
, Nazi ideologist Alfred Rosenberg
Alfred Rosenberg
' was an early and intellectually influential member of the Nazi Party. Rosenberg was first introduced to Adolf Hitler by Dietrich Eckart; he later held several important posts in the Nazi government...
included the ethnically mainly Turkic
Turkic peoples
The Turkic peoples are peoples residing in northern, central and western Asia, southern Siberia and northwestern China and parts of eastern Europe. They speak languages belonging to the Turkic language family. They share, to varying degrees, certain cultural traits and historical backgrounds...
and Muslim
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
areas of the USSR in Central Asia in his plans for the future establishment of German supremacy in the remnants of the Soviet Union due to their historical antagonism to the extension of Russian control over the area, in spite of his doubts that German conquests would reach that far east. His original proposal entailed the creation of a string of "de-Russified
Russification
Russification is an adoption of the Russian language or some other Russian attributes by non-Russian communities...
" and German-friendly suzerainties
Suzerainty
Suzerainty occurs where a region or people is a tributary to a more powerful entity which controls its foreign affairs while allowing the tributary vassal state some limited domestic autonomy. The dominant entity in the suzerainty relationship, or the more powerful entity itself, is called a...
around the Russian "core area" of Muscovy, which was to be deprived of its access to the Baltic
Baltic Sea
The Baltic Sea is a brackish mediterranean sea located in Northern Europe, from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from 20°E to 26°E longitude. It is bounded by the Scandinavian Peninsula, the mainland of Europe, and the Danish islands. It drains into the Kattegat by way of the Øresund, the Great Belt and...
and Black Sea
Black Sea
The Black Sea is bounded by Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus and is ultimately connected to the Atlantic Ocean via the Mediterranean and the Aegean seas and various straits. The Bosphorus strait connects it to the Sea of Marmara, and the strait of the Dardanelles connects that sea to the Aegean...
s. These entities were Greater Finland
Greater Finland
Greater Finland was an idea which was born in some irredentist movements emphasizing pan-Finnicism and expressed a Finnish version of pre-World War II European nationalism. It was imagined to include Finland as well as territories inhabited by ethnically-related Finnic peoples: Finns, Karelians,...
, the Baltic region
Baltic region
The terms Baltic region, Baltic Rim countries, and Baltic Rim refer to slightly different combinations of countries in the general area surrounding the Baltic Sea.- Etymology :...
, White Ruthenia (Belarus
Belarus
Belarus , officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered clockwise by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Grodno , Gomel ,...
), Greater Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
, Greater Caucasia
Caucasus
The Caucasus, also Caucas or Caucasia , is a geopolitical region at the border of Europe and Asia, and situated between the Black and the Caspian sea...
, Turkestan, Idel-Ural
Idel-Ural
Idel-Ural is a historical region in Eastern Europe, in what is today Russia. The name literally means Volga-Urals in the Tatar language. The frequently used Russian variant is Volgo-Uralye...
, and Siberia
Siberia
Siberia is an extensive region constituting almost all of Northern Asia. Comprising the central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, it was part of the Soviet Union from its beginning, as its predecessor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire, conquered it during the 16th...
, while a stretch of territory on the western frontier with Germany was to become either part of it or otherwise be under its direct control.
This suggestion was rejected by Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
due to not meeting his stated objective of acquiring sufficient Lebensraum
Lebensraum
was one of the major political ideas of Adolf Hitler, and an important component of Nazi ideology. It served as the motivation for the expansionist policies of Nazi Germany, aiming to provide extra space for the growth of the German population, for a Greater Germany...
in the east for Germany. On Hitler's orders the proposal for a German civil administration in Central Asia was also shelved by Rosenberg at least for the immediate future, who was instead directed to focus his work on the European parts of the USSR for the time-being.
Territorial extent
Rosenberg's plan projected the inclusion of the five Central Asian Soviet RepublicsRepublics of the Soviet Union
The Republics of the Soviet Union or the Union Republics of the Soviet Union were ethnically-based administrative units that were subordinated directly to the Government of the Soviet Union...
into the Reichskommissariat: Kazak SSR, Uzbek SSR, Turkmen SSR, Tajik SSR and Kyrgyz ASSR. The population of these republics was not homogeneously of Turkic ethnicity (particularely Tajikistan
Tajikistan
Tajikistan , officially the Republic of Tajikistan , is a mountainous landlocked country in Central Asia. Afghanistan borders it to the south, Uzbekistan to the west, Kyrgyzstan to the north, and China to the east....
which is in fact predominantly Iranian
Iranian peoples
The Iranian peoples are an Indo-European ethnic-linguistic group, consisting of the speakers of Iranian languages, a major branch of the Indo-European language family, as such forming a branch of Indo-European-speaking peoples...
origin, and whose inhabitants speak the Persian language
Persian language
Persian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is primarily spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and countries which historically came under Persian influence...
), but overall shared the Muslim religion. The German plans also included the territories of Altai
Gorno-Altai Autonomous Oblast
The Gorno-Altai Autonomous Oblast It was upgraded into an ASSR in 1991, shortly before the dissolution of the Soviet Union. It corresponds to the current Altai Republic....
, Tatarstan
Tatar Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic
Tatar Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was part of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic. It was created on May 27, 1920...
and Bashkortostan
Bashkir Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic
The Bashkir Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was an Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic in the former Soviet Union. Currently it is known as Bashkortostan....
to the Reichskommissariat on the basis of common religion and ethnicity. Some sources even mention the possible inclusion of the Mari El
Mari Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic
Mari Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was the successor of Mari Autonomous Oblast. When the Soviet Union disintegrated, the Mari ASSR became known as the Mari El Republic, a federal subject of the Russian Federation....
and Udmurtia
Udmurt Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic
The Udmurt Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was an autonomous republic of the Soviet Union, named after the Udmurt people. It was formed on 4 November 1920 as the Votskaya Autonomous Oblast , and renamed to the Udmurt Autonomous Oblast in 1932...
, regardless of the Uralic origin of the indigenous peoples of these lands.
The eastern limit of the entire territory was never definitively settled during the Second World War. In the event that the Axis forces would have occupied the remainder of the unconquered Soviet Union, a delimitation
Partition (politics)
In politics, a partition is a change of political borders cutting through at least one territory considered a homeland by some community. That change is done primarily by diplomatic means, and use of military force is negligible....
of the region along the 70º east longitude
70th meridian east
The meridian 70° east of Greenwich is a line of longitude that extends from the North Pole across the Arctic Ocean, Asia, the Indian Ocean, the Southern Ocean, and Antarctica to the South Pole....
line was proposed by the Empire of Japan
Empire of Japan
The Empire of Japan is the name of the state of Japan that existed from the Meiji Restoration on 3 January 1868 to the enactment of the post-World War II Constitution of...
in late 1941, which would have marked the western limit of its own holdings in the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere
Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere
The Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere was a concept created and promulgated during the Shōwa era by the government and military of the Empire of Japan. It represented the desire to create a self-sufficient "bloc of Asian nations led by the Japanese and free of Western powers"...
. An amended version of this suggestion moved the frontier to the eastern border of the Central Asian republics with China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
, and along the Yenisei river
Yenisei River
Yenisei , also written as Yenisey, is the largest river system flowing to the Arctic Ocean. It is the central of the three great Siberian rivers that flow into the Arctic Ocean...
in Siberia
Siberia
Siberia is an extensive region constituting almost all of Northern Asia. Comprising the central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, it was part of the Soviet Union from its beginning, as its predecessor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire, conquered it during the 16th...
.
See also
- Reichskommissariat Moskowien
- Reichskommissariat KaukasusReichskommissariat KaukasusReichskommissariat Kaukasus , literally "Reich Commissariat of the Caucasus ", was the theoretical political division and planned civilian occupation regime of Nazi Germany in the conquered territories of the Caucasus during World War II...
- Reichskommissariat Don-WolgaReichskommissariat Don-WolgaReichskommissariat Don-Wolga, literally "Reich Commissariat Don-Volga", was a theoretical civilian occupation regime of Nazi Germany discussed during the early stages of German planning for its occupation of territories in the Soviet Union, one of several other Reichskommissariats...
- Turkic, Caucasian, Cossack, and Crimean collaborationism with the Axis powers