The Reich ministries had been concentrated around Wilhelmstraße since the Kaiserreich. During the Nazi era, it was here that the ministry officials planned the war of aggression, exploitation and extermination. In 1941, undersecretary Backe from the Ministry of Nutrition introduced the Backe-Plan: In order to not have to feed the occupying forces from Germany, millions of Soviet citizens had to starve.

Other agencies worked on the Generalplan Ost. It planned the Germanisation of Eastern Europe and enslavement of the Polish and Soviet population.