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During the twelve years of Nazi rule, agrarian and food policy took high priority. The Nazi leaders knew that without enough food at home, support for the war would dwindle. The repeatedly cited stab-in-the-back legend maintained that economic hardships at home after 1916 had driven Jews and communists to turn against Germany from within. Following the rationale of the Nazis, this had ultimately caused the defeat of Germany and its allies in the war. The lesson taken from the First World War was that any means of avoiding hunger on the home front were acceptable. Even before food shortages threatened Germany, however, food policy and agricultural considerations had been at the heart of the Nazis' expansionist and annihilationist dream of a 'Greater German Reich'. For Nazi planners, the goal of becoming less dependent on food imports was contingent on expanding Germany's borders to create a larger 'domestic' pool of natural resources. War was the only way to implement this vision. Land would be acquired in eastern Europe and the Soviet Union that would provide Germany with bountiful raw materials and rich agricultural land. Lastly, food policy was connected to the Nazis' racial ideology. The idea of more Lebensraum (living space) for Germany in the east included the concentration, deportation and murder of Slavs and Jews, whom the Nazis deemed racially inferior. Following this logic, they considered these people 'useless eaters' who, once defeated, could be 'dealt with' by lowering their food rations. The Nazis calculated without regret that massive starvation was going to come to eastern Europe and Russia. 1
Nazi agricultural and food politics were dominated by two men, Richard Walther Darré and Herbert Backe. The Reich minister of food and agriculture, Darré is much better known than his colleague Backe, who took over Darré's positions in the agricultural administration in 1942 and officially replaced him as minister in April 1944. Darré had brought Backe into the administration in June 1933, but Backe's expertise and personality soon made him the most important player in food politics. Even before he became minister, Backe had de facto more power than his boss. As the head of the food...