Fortress Europe

Posted by Smokey Stover on August 29, 2004

In Reply to: Fortress Europe posted by Ingo on August 27, 2004

: Does anyone know where this phrase originated? Whenever I stumble upon it, it refers to Europe's efforts to keep third-world immigrants from entering the EU.
: I think there might be a connection to world war II and the Nazis proclaiming a "Festung Europa" (Fortress Europe) sometime before D-day, but I am not too sure if this is a fact ... Anybody out there with some more solid knowledge?

I can't give you chapter and verse, but everyone alive and kicking during WW 2 heard the expression Fortress Europe repeatedly, perhaps about as often as Festung Europa. The Germans put up very strong fortifications all over the northern and western seacoasts of Europe, as well as throughout the Italian and Balkan peninsulas, at least from 1943 on. This presumably made all Europe one big fortress, designed to repel attack from the Allies. The strongest fortifications were presumably along the coast facing England. But the defense of Italy (after the German takeover) made the invasion of that peninsula by the Allies a difficult, tedious and very dangerous struggle. I don't know exactly when the Germans (or which German) coined the expression Festung Europa, but this was what it meant. SS

  • Fortress Europe MichaelFR 30/August/04