New Order (Nazism)
The New Order (German: Neuordnung) of Europe was the political and social system that Nazi Germany wanted to impose on the areas of Europe that it conquered and occupied.
"New Order (political system)" redirects here. For other political organizations which are called the "New Order", see New Order § Politics.
Planning for the Neuordnung had already begun long before the start of World War II, but Adolf Hitler proclaimed a "European New Order" publicly on 30 January 1941: "The year 1941 will be, I am convinced, the historical year of a great European New Order!"[1]
Among other things, the New Order envisaged the formation of a pan-German racial state, structured according to Nazi ideology, to ensure the existence of a perceived Aryan-Nordic master race, to consolidate a massive territorial expansion into Central and Eastern Europe through colonization by German settlers, to achieve the physical annihilation of Jews, Slavs (especially Poles and Russians), Roma ("gypsies"), and other people who were considered "unworthy of life", as well as to implement the extermination, expulsion or enslavement of most of the Slavic peoples and other people whom Nazi ideology considered "racially inferior".[2] Nazi Germany's aggressive desire for territorial expansion (Lebensraum) ranks as a major cause of World War II.[3]
Historians remain divided as to the ultimate New Order goals – some believe that the New Order was to be limited to Nazi German domination of Europe, while others see it as a springboard for eventual world conquest and the establishment of a world government under German control.[4]