Adolf Hitler encouraged settler colonialism in Eastern Europe.
Adolf Hitler . Hitler sought Lebensraum ( `` living space '' ) for the German people in Eastern Europe . The German concept of Lebensraum ( [ ˈleːbənsˌʁaʊm ] , `` living space '' ) refers to policies and practices of settler colonialism which proliferated in Germany from the 1890s to the 1940s . Following Adolf Hitler 's rise to power Lebensraum became an ideological principle of Nazism , and provided justification for the German territorial expansion into East-Central Europe .