To the utter shock and surprise of his friends and foes alike, Hitler launched the invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941. It was code-named “Operation Barbarossa”. It would turn out to be the biggest invasion in human history as three million German soldiers intruded into Russian soil with the sole mission to conquer and subdue the massive populace and exploit its inhabitants and resources for the sole benefit of the German Reich. Within less than 6 months, the Germans were at the gate of Moscow and the fall of Moscow seemed almost imminent. But what followed would be one of the greatest turnarounds in military history as the Russian winter came to the rescue of the Soviets and the Germans were left dangerously exposed in a foreign land as they had not made any preparations for the severe Russian winter.
The logic behind this invasion of Russia was the quest for “Lebensraum” for the superior German race. Lebensraum, in the German context, simply meant ‘Living Space’. Hitler had asserted that the Germans were a superior race and as such they had the right to subdue and rule over the other so called inferior races. And Hitler’s Germany was in the process of manufacturing or producing more breeds of their superior race. This is why pure German couples were urged to have large families. And to accommodate the superior breeds of the pure German race, more living space (lebensraum) was required and the only way to acquire more living space for the Germans was by expanding into the east mainly the far stretches of the Russian lands. Another motive was also to use these lands for agricultural and farming purposes to feed the ever growing population of the German race.
This idea of the quest for Lebensraum was based on a bastardized version of Charles Darwin’s theory of ‘survival of the fittest’. Nazi Germany had propagated that the Germans were of pure Aryan race and as such superior to the other races like the Slavs, the Russians, the Jews etc. Therefore, they asserted they had the right to eliminate the people of other races and use their lands for their own purpose and benefit. This was the argument and justification behind the quest for Lebensraum.
This idea of the quest for Lebensraum may seem absurd and illogical to us today because forcefully snatching lands belonging to other people and thereafter subduing or even eliminating its inhabitants for one’s own interest would be considered too radical, irrational and cruel by any standard in today’s society. But during Hitler’s reign, it was an idea which captured the imagination of the German population mainly because of the oratory of Adolf Hitler. And every German was made to believe that it was okay to conquer other people’s lands and use it for one’s own benefits.
However, it would be wrong to assume that the idea of the quest for Lebensraum (Living Space) is irrelevant or outdated today. The truth is that this quest for Lebensraum has permeated though out the whole of human history and in every nook and corner of the world much before Hitler even appeared on the scene. Therefore it would be wrong to assume that this idea of the quest for Lebensraum originated and ended with Adolf Hitler. The truth is that every empire in the past had been driven by the quest for Lebensraum (Living Space). Man is selfish by nature and as such when a king, emperor or leader is in a position to conquer and acquire other lands, the temptation becomes too irresistible for the man. This was exactly what happened to Hitler. After his massive success in Western Europe during 1939-1941, he simply could not resist the temptation of venturing into the vast stretches of lands they lay wide open in the east i.e. Russia. Even today, this quest for Lebensraum is at the root cause of many international tensions and unrest.
From Kashmir to the Middle East, from the 38th parallel line the separates North and South Korea to the McMahon Line that separates India and China and in many other places elsewhere, this quest for Lebensraum has reared its ugly head every now and then and will continue to do so.
I very often came across the word “Lebensraum” whenever I watched documentaries on Hitler and WW 2. But for a long time, I didn’t know that this word is an English word and that it can be found in the English dictionary. I thought that this word must be either a German or French term. The Oxford Dictionary defines the term as “territory which a state or nation believes is needed for its natural development”. In the case of the Germans during Hitler’s time, “Lebensraum” meant “Living Space”. And the term has been used in that context for this article.
What about the Nagas? Have we ever had a tryst with the quest for Lebensraum (Living Space)? We certainly have and in fact we are even now being confronted with this idea of the quest for Lebensraum. But the case of the Nagas’ quest for Lebensraum (Living Space) is totally different and aloof from the idea of the quest for Lebensraum which was propagated by Hitler in the 1930s and 1940s.
Hitler wanted to illegally swallow up other people’s lands for his own glory and the benefit of his people. But the Nagas’ case of the quest for Lebensraum is to protect their own ancestral lands from being dissected and erased from the map of South East Asia.
The geographical area of the present state of Nagaland is only around 16,579 sq.km. This area was demarcated arbitrarily when Nagaland was created as the 16th state of the Indian union in 1963. But it is a known fact that the lands inhabited by Nagas since time immemorial stretches far beyond this 16,579 sq. km into neighboring states like Assam, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh and even Myanmar.
It was for administrative convenience that the colonial Britishers dissected our lands without the consent and permission of the Nagas. And the irony was that these unilateral bifurcations could not be rectified even after India became free as we Nagas were hopelessly outnumbered and overwhelmed by the attitudes and tactics of the new Indian government and also our own naivety and misdemeanors. The result of all these is that the Nagas’ quest for Lebensraum remains as confusing, dissected, fragile, delicate and unpredictable as never before. And this has put our lands, our future and our very posterity on very shallow grounds which may be easily uprooted in due course of time if we fail to recognize and confront the sinister elements that permeate our society today.
So the Nagas’ quest for Lebensraum (Living Space) is not a case or demand for territorial expansion but rather it is a case or demand for territorial recognition. Unlike the Germans during Hitler’s time, we have no intention to intrude into other people’s territories and use their lands to accommodate Nagas or cultivate other people’s lands to feed ourselves. Rather, our quest for Lebensraum is simply an appeal to the world, India and our neighbors to recognize our rights over our ancestral lands and give back to us what belong to us.
So, in the case of the Nagas, the quest for Lebensraum continues to this day because of the misdeeds and errors of history. And today the present Naga generation lives in the remnants of these errors and misdeeds which have made our society a fertile ground for confusions, misinterpretations and unsavory elements. But our quest for Lebensraum is not based of unfounded, illogical or absurd ideas like the ones propagated by Hitler. But rather, our quest for Lebensraum is grounded on our inherent rights and undeniable history. And as such, the Nagas’ quest for Lebensraum should not be considered an abhorrent or impediment to anybody as we are simply asserting our political and territorial rights.
For Hitler and his Nazi Germany, the quest for Lebensraum (Living Space) was based on the principle of “survival of the fittest”. In other words, it was based on the principle of “might is right”. But in the case of the Nagas, the quest for Lebensraum is based on the principle of “survival of the meekest and the simplest”. In other words, it is based on the principle of “right is might.”
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