ABSTRACT
At the peak of their expansion, Germany and Japan controlled large portions of the globe and many millions of people. People in occupied areas were, at best, exploited economically; at worst, they were victims of repressive policies as brutal and murderous as any in recorded history. The Germanic peoples of Denmark, Norway, and the Netherlands fared best. German rule was equally harsh in Soviet territory, even in areas such as the Ukraine where many inhabitants initially welcomed the Germans as liberators. An estimated 3 million perished in German captivity: Some were worked to death, some were subjected to hideous "scientific" experiments, and others died of starvation or of untreated diseases. Some Germans were killed-a drunken soldier knifed in a subway, a truck convoy ambushed-but these were exceptions due to the harsh reprisals. Resistance movements in the more rugged areas of Greece, Yugoslavia, Poland, and occupied Russia were able to mount guerrilla operations against the Germans.
