How Nazi Germany governed over half of Europe's population during the Second World War

Countries & Cities · Published 29 September 2026 Swipe more like this →

In short: Between 1938 and 1945, Nazi Germany exerted control over vast swathes of the continent. Through a complex web of direct administration, military occupation, and puppet states, the regime governed more than half of Europe's population at its peak, fundamentally reshaping the geopolitical landscape and human history through systemic terror and expansion.

The reach of Nazi Germany was staggering, extending from the North Sea to the Soviet Union's Franz Josef Land. This hegemony was maintained through varied methods: some nations were conquered in battle, such as Poland in September 1939, while others like Czechoslovakia were forced to surrender before the war officially began. Neutral countries were not spared, and even former Axis partners like Italy and Hungary eventually fell under direct German occupation as the conflict progressed.

Central to this occupation was a sprawling network of thousands of concentration camps. Established as early as March 1933, these facilities were initially used to imprison political opponents, such as members of the Communist Party of Germany. Over time, the scope of detention expanded to include Jews, habitual criminals, and asocials. By the war's end, approximately 1.65 million registered prisoners had passed through these camps, with about one million dying during their imprisonment. The human cost was catastrophic, particularly in the war's second half, which saw the deaths of at least 4.7 million Soviet prisoners by January 1945.

The experience of occupation differed sharply across the continent. In Western Europe, arrests often targeted resistance fighters and saboteurs. In contrast, Eastern Europe faced mass roundups driven by Nazi population policies and the forced recruitment of labor. This disparity resulted in a concentration camp population dominated by Eastern Europeans, especially Poles. As Allied forces advanced, the camps were gradually liberated in 1944 and 1945, though hundreds of thousands of prisoners perished during the final death marches, marking a grim conclusion to a period of unprecedented state-sponsored violence.

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