Wehrbauer

Wehrbauer (ˈveːɐ̯ˌbaʊ.ɐ, defensive peasant), plural Wehrbauern, is a German term for settlers living on the marches of a realm who were tasked with holding back foreign invaders until the arrival of proper military reinforcements. In turn, they were granted special liberties. Wehrbauern were mainly used on the eastern fringes of the Holy Roman Empire and later Austria-Hungary to slow attacks by the Ottoman Empire. This historic term was resurrected and used by the Nazis during the Second World War. The deployment of "Wehrbauern" is first recorded by the Byzantine Empire which in the 7th century sought to defend itself with local settlers, then called Stratioti (soldiers) against eastern and southern attacks. The Habsburg use of "Wehrbauern" was the Military Frontier, which was established by Ferdinand I in the 16th century and placed under the jurisdiction of the Croatian Sabor and Croatian Ban since it was carved out of Croatian territory. It acted as a cordon sanitaire against Ottoman incursions. By the 19th century, it was rendered obsolete by with the establishment of standing armies and was subsequently dissolved. During the Thirty Years' War, battles and raids were common throughout its land, and the Holy Roman Empire had to make greater use of Wehrbauern in other regions of the empire as well. In the 20th century, the term re-emerged and was used by the Nazi SS to refer to soldiers designated as settlers for the lands that were conquered during the German invasions of Poland and the Soviet Union. The concept of Wehrbauern predated the Nazis, with the Artaman League (founded in 1923) sending urban German children to the countryside not only for the experience but also as a core of Wehrbauern. The Nazis intended to colonize the conquered Eastern European lands in accordance with Adolf Hitler's Lebensraum ideology through such soldier peasants. Plans envisaged them acting both as colonists and as soldiers, defending the new German colonies from the surrounding Slavic population in the event of insurgency.