and Latvia in October 1939. The Baltic Germans were to be resettled in occupied Poland and compensated for their losses with confiscated property at their new settlements. Though resettlement was voluntary, most Germans followed the call because they feared repression once the Soviets would move in.<ref name="ReferenceB">Valdis O. Lumans, Himmler's Auxiliaries, pp 158ff</ref> Eventually, this actually happened to the ones who stayed. The Baltic Germans were moved to Germany's northeastern port cities by ship. Poles were expelled from West Prussia to make space available for resettlement, but due to quarrels with the Gauleiter Albert Forster, resettlement stalled and further "repatriants" were moved to Posen. Resettlement of Germans from Italy On October 6, 1939, Hitler announced a resettlement program for the German-speaking population of the Italian province of South Tyrol. With an initial thought to resettle the population in occupied Poland or the Crimea, they were actually moved to places in nearby Austria and Bavaria. Also affected were German speakers from other areas in northern Italy, like the Kanaltal and Grödnertal valleys. Resettlement stopped with the collapse of Mussolini's regime and the subsequent occupation of Italy by Nazi Germany. German "Volksdeutsche" in Nazi-occupied Europe The actions of Germany ultimately had extremely negative consequences for most ethnic Germans in Central and Eastern Europe (termed Volksdeutsche to distinguish them from Germans from within the Third Reich, the Reichsdeutsche), who often fought on the side of the Nazi regime - some were drafted, others volunteered or worked through the paramilitary organisations such as Selbstschutz, which supported the German invasion of Poland and murdered tens of thousands of Poles. In places such as Yugoslavia, Germans were drafted by their country of residence, served loyally, and were even held as POWs by the Nazis, and yet later found themselves drafted again, this time by the Nazis after their takeover. Because it was technically not permissible to draft non-citizens, many ethnic Germans ended up being (oxymoronically) forcibly volunteered for the Waffen-SS. In general, those closest to Nazi Germany were the most involved in fighting for her, but the Germans in remote places like the Caucasus were likewise accused of collaboration. German exodus after Nazi Germany's defeat The 20th century wars annihilated most Eastern and East Central European German settlements, and the remaining sparse pockets of settlement were subject to emigration to Germany in the late 20th century for economical reasons. Evacuation, and flight of Germans during the