The master race ((German: die Herrenrasse, About this sound das Herrenvolk (help·info))) is a concept in Nazi ideology in which the Nordic race—a branch of what in late-nineteenth and early-twentieth century taxonomy was called the Aryan race—represented an ideal and pure race. In Nazi ideology the Nordic race was the purest example of the original racial stock of those who were then called the Proto-Aryans, whom the Nazis believed to have prehistorically dwelt on the North German Plain and to have ultimately originated from the lost continent of Atlantis.
The Nazis declared that the Nordics (nowadays referred to as the Germanic peoples), were the true Aryans because they were less racially mixed with "non-native" Indo-European peoples than other people of what were then called the Aryan peoples (now generally called the Indo-European peoples), such as the Slavic peoples who the Nazis didn't view as Aryan, the Romance peoples and the Indo-Iranian peoples.
Based on this claim that the Nordic peoples were superior to all other races, the Nazis believed they were entitled to expand territorially. This concept is known as Nordicism. The actual policy that was implemented by the Nazis resulted in the Aryan certificate.
The overwhelming majority of Slavic population according to the Nazi secret plan Generalplan Ost were to be removed through expulsion, enslavement and extermination from East-Central Europe. Nazis eventually decided to exterminate (largely by starvation) the Poles and most other Slavic people who, along with the Jews and Gypsies, were defined as untermenschen, and a danger to the "Aryan" or Germanic ubermenschen master race. A small percentage of people living in Eastern Europe who were deemed by Nazis to be descendants of Germanic settlers, were seen as sufficient subjects for Germanisation.
The Nazis declared that the Nordics (nowadays referred to as the Germanic peoples), were the true Aryans because they were less racially mixed with "non-native" Indo-European peoples than other people of what were then called the Aryan peoples (now generally called the Indo-European peoples), such as the Slavic peoples who the Nazis didn't view as Aryan, the Romance peoples and the Indo-Iranian peoples.
Based on this claim that the Nordic peoples were superior to all other races, the Nazis believed they were entitled to expand territorially. This concept is known as Nordicism. The actual policy that was implemented by the Nazis resulted in the Aryan certificate.
The overwhelming majority of Slavic population according to the Nazi secret plan Generalplan Ost were to be removed through expulsion, enslavement and extermination from East-Central Europe. Nazis eventually decided to exterminate (largely by starvation) the Poles and most other Slavic people who, along with the Jews and Gypsies, were defined as untermenschen, and a danger to the "Aryan" or Germanic ubermenschen master race. A small percentage of people living in Eastern Europe who were deemed by Nazis to be descendants of Germanic settlers, were seen as sufficient subjects for Germanisation.
