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The Ural Mountains played a prominent role in Nazi planning. Adolf Hitler and the rest of the Nazi German leadership made many references to them as a strategic objective of the Third Reich to follow a decisive victory on the Eastern Front against the Soviet Union. ==As a geographic concept== In 1725 Philip Johan von Strahlenberg first used the Ural Mountains as part of the eastern demarcation of Europe. Since c. 1850 most cartographers have regarded the Urals and the Ural River to the south of them as the eastern boundary of Europe, geographically recognized as a subcontinent of Eurasia. The Nazis rejected the notion that these mountains demarcated the border of Europe, at least in a cultural if not in a geographic sense. Nazi propaganda and Nazi leaders repeatedly labelled the Soviet Union as an "Asiatic state" and equated the Russians both with the Huns〔Hitler, 5–6 January 1942〕 and with the Mongols,〔Kater, Michael H. (2004) ''Hitler Youth'', (p. 174 ). Harvard University Press〕 describing them as ''Untermenschen'' ("sub-humans"). German media portrayed the German campaigns in the east as necessary to ensure the survival of European culture against this "Asian menace".〔〔(Volume 7. Nazi Germany, 1933–1945 Excerpt from Himmler's Speech to the SS-Gruppenführer at Posen (October 4, 1943). ) German History in Documents and Images. Retrieved 11 June 2011.〕 In a major conference on 16 July 1941, where chief aspects of German rule in the occupied territories of Eastern Europe were laid out, Hitler emphasized to the attendees (Martin Bormann, Hermann Göring, Alfred Rosenberg, and Hans Lammers) that "the Europe of today was nothing but a geographical term; in reality Asia extended up to our frontiers".〔(Martin Bormann's Minutes of a Meeting at Hitler's Headquarters (July 16, 1941). ) German History in Documents and Images. Retrieved 11 June 2011.〕 Hitler also expressed his belief that in ancient times the concept of "Europe" was limited to the southern tip of the Greek peninsula, and was then "brought into confusion" by the expanding borders of the Roman Empire. He stated that if Germany won the war, the boundary of Europe "would extend eastward to the furthest German colony".〔Hitler, Adolf (2000). Bormann, Martin. ed. ''Hitler's Table Talk 1941-1944'', trans. Cameron, Norman; Stevens, R.H. (3rd ed.) Enigma Books. ISBN 1-929631-05-7.〕 In an attempt to influence Nazi policy, the Norwegian fascist politician Vidkun Quisling produced a memorandum for the Germans - "Aide-mémoire on the Russian Question" (''Denkschrift über die russische Frage'') - which expressed his own ideas on the "Russian question", which he described as "the main problem in world politics today".〔Dahl, Hans Fredrik (1999). ''Quisling: A Study in Treachery'', p. 294. Cambridge University Press.〕 He advocated the Dnieper River as a general division-line between Western Europe ("Germania") and Russia. This would necessitate the division of Ukraine, but he argued that this "could be defended from geographical and historical perspectives".〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Ural Mountains in Nazi planning」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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