After being appointed Commissioner for the Strengthening of the German Race, Himmler set to work with
Konrad Meyer on developing a plan for three large German colonies in the eastern occupied territories.
Leningrad, northern Poland and the
Crimea would be the focal points of these colonies intended to spread the Aryan race. The Crimean colony was called Gotengau, or “Goth district”, in honor of the
Crimean Goths who had settled there and were believed to be Aryan ancestors of the
Germans.
[32]
Himmler estimated that Aryanization of the region would take twenty years, first expelling all the undesirable populations, then re-distributing the territory to appropriate Aryan populations. In addition to changing the demographics of the region, Himmler also intended to plant
oak and
beech trees to replicate traditional German forests, as well as plant new crops brought back from
Tibet. To achieve the latter end, Himmler ordered a new institution set up by the Ahnenerbe and headed by Schäfer. A station was then set up near the Austrian town of
Graz where Schäfer set to work with seven other scientists to develop new crops for the Reich.
The final piece of the puzzle fell into place after Hitler read a work by
Alfred Frauenfeld which suggested resettling inhabitants of
South Tyrol, believed by some to be descendants of the Goths, to Crimea. In 1939 the South Tyroleans were ordered by Hitler and
Benito Mussolini to vote on whether they wanted to remain in Italy and accept assimilation or emigrate to Germany. Over 80% chose the latter (for details see
South Tyrol Option Agreement). Himmler presented Master Plan East (
Generalplan Ost) to Hitler and received approval in July 1942.
Full implementation of the plan was not feasible because of the war, but a small colony was founded around Himmler's field headquarters at
Hegewald,
[54] near
Kiev. Starting on October 10, 1942, Himmler's troops deported 10,623 Ukrainians from the area in cattle cars before bringing in trains of ethnic Germans (
Volksdeutsche) from northern Ukraine.
[32] The SS authorities gave families supplies as well as land, but also informed them of
quotas of food they would be required to produce for the SS.