Even on September 1, 1939, as Germany attacked Poland, the watchwords of self-determination and the right of self-determination had lost none of their appeal for those who believed they could profit from them. They still embodied the hope of minorities (but possibly also of majorities) to either form their own state as a people, or join the state or parts of the state of their own national group. Further, the talk of the right of self-determination inspired the colonial peoples in increasing measure. Germany, the main beneficiary of the right of self-determination up to that point, however, had made itself utterly and completely untrustworthy, since March 15, 1939, at the latest, through the occupation of the Czech-speaking regions of Bohemia and Moravia. Consequently, during World War II and in the peace accords that followed, the right of self-determination played only a small role. It survived above all in the colonial liberation movements. Before turning to these movements, the interests and policies of the different states involved in the Second World War shall be outlined.

THE AGGRESSORS AND THE DEFEATED

Hitler was not a proponent, but rather a cynical despiser of the right of self-determination. His policy had illustrated the dangers of invoking the right of self-determination – but had not compromised the ideal of self-determination itself.

In the war Hitler also showed himself to be flexible in some points, while he pursued his overarching aims with great determination. In particular, he was prepared to make compromises in the west if that would give him a free hand in the east. Already before the war he had signaled to France his flexibility in the question of Alsace-Lorraine, which he did not wish to regain for Germany at any cost. Alsace-Lorraine had a much greater and moreover an emotional significance for France, which reacted with skepticism. After the rapid German victory in the west in 1940, France expected the annexation of Alsace-Lorraine. Hitler occupied the territory and placed it under German civil administration, but did not formally annex it, as opposed to Eupen-Malmédy, which had been lost to Belgium in 1919 and was reintegrated formally already on May 18, 1940 – the official language was of “reunification.” Altogether this was a quite reserved policy in comparison with the measures in the east, where Hitler immediately reached out far beyond the German regions of settlement.