This myth was designed to justify the actions of the Soviet leadership, army and especially the NKVD during the war. Communist propaganda managed to convince many residents of the former USSR, from young pioneers to pensioners, of Nazi plans to destroy all the Slavs and – in particular – all of the Ukrainians. That is why, they say, the Red Army led by Joseph Stalin saved them from destruction. And if in this, there were some ugly actions in regards to this “rescue” or even crimes, than that noble goal justifies those means.

For a long time, the original Ost Plan was lost. It consisted of several documents, elaborated on at different times from February 1940 to September 1942.

Its contents were mainly known through memoirs and references from other documents. So often in the minds of the Soviets, the Ost Plan functioned as a document, containing a specific plan to exterminate the Slavs and expand the available living space for the Germans. The Ost Plan became considered a baseline Nazi policy document, of which a significant portion was dedicated to the extermination of Slavs.

The most repressive methods were to be applied to the Poles and Russians. It was believed that the plan called for the deportation and/or physical destruction of 50–75 percent of Poles, Czechs and Russians and approximately 25–30 percent of Ukrainians and Belarusians and a further 30–40 percent of Ukrainians were to be deported eastward to Siberia.

However, the Ost Plan was known for some time, mainly through the memorandum of Erhard Wetzel, an expert at the Nazi Ministry for the Occupied Eastern Territories. This memorandum was not about the destruction but rather the eviction of 65 percent of western Ukrainians. The rest of the Ukrainian population was to be subject to gradual Germanization.

Moreover, Wetzel’s notes contain the following words: “We are now interested in increasing the number of Ukrainians as opposed to Russians. But this should not lead to the thought that the Ukrainians will, over time, take the Russians’ place.” According to Wetzel, in the long run, birth control would lead to the reduction of the Slavic population and the German hegemony in the eastern lands of the Third Reich.

Cleansing the occupied territories and organizing German settlements there, was proposed to be carried out by the resettlement of the local population to other collective and state farms, while granting them the right to use these lands.

The most stringent German plans regarded the Poles, but this was caused not by racial considerations but rather political and historical ones. The Nazis understood that most of the Poles were hostile towards the Germans.

True, Wetzel, the author of this note, critically assessed the feasibility of the Ost Plan and meant it within a defined and scheduled period of time.

One of the original documents of the Ost Plan was found in the German archives and published by the Humboldt University several decades ago. The colonization of the occupied territories included a wide range of economic and infrastructural changes – the construction of new highways, railroads and even new cities. There were also sources of funding identified for the projects. The plan was broken down into a five-year plan, to begin 30 years after the war finished.

Thus, the Ost Plan was a post-war development. However, it was never definitively adopted and in 1943, its development stopped. Therefore, it is incorrect to attribute this document as a baseline which guided the Nazi’s genocidal policies.

To carry out a mass destruction of Ukrainians, Poles and Russians, the Nazis did not need any additional “constitutional” documents. The totalitarian ideology of Nazism led to the arrogant attitude toward the other people East of the Reich. Hitler, Goebbels, Bormann and the other leaders of the Reich clearly articulated their vision for the fate of the Poles, Czechs, Ukrainians, Belarussians and Russians – those who were still alive would be used as slave laborers and their cultural and educational needs would only be minimally met.

As one can see, the Nazi plans for the Ukrainians was not promising. But the extermination of the Slavs, in general, and Ukrainians in particular, was not mentioned in the Ost Plan.

The Reich’s policy toward Ukrainians varied depending on the general military-political situation. In Germany itself, various departments had different approaches to the “Ukrainian question” at the same time. Himmler’s (SS) office traditionally took a tough stance. While the Abwehr and the Ministry of the Occupied Eastern Territories advocated that Ukrainians be involved in the fight against the USSR. Alfred Rosenberg, the Minister for the Occupied Eastern Territories, proposed to give Ukrainians self-governance and suggested that in the future, the German allies would grant Ukrainians their own state.