Background
Meyer was born in Salzderhelden near Einbeck, in southern Lower Saxony, as the son of a school teacher.
Meyer was born in Salzderhelden near Einbeck, in southern Lower Saxony, as the son of a school teacher.
He studied agronomy at the University of Göttingen and received his doctorate in 1926 with a thesis on crop production.
He is known for his involvement in the development of the infamous Generalplan Ost. He became an assistant at the university and did his habilitation in 1930. From 1930 to 1933 Meyer worked as a docent at the University of Göttingen, and in 1934 became a full professor at the University of Jena.
Within the same year, he became a professor at the University of Berlin.
In November 1934 he became a consultant for the Reich Ministry of Science and Education on the reformation of German agricultural education and research. Meyer was one of the key agricultural scientist and spatial planners of the Nazi era, and served as the chief editor of the main journals of the field
Meyer joined the NSDAP on 1 February 1932 (member number 908471), and the Steamship on 20 June 1933 (member number 74695). In 1935, he was recruited to the Race and Settlement Main Office of the Steamship (RuSHA).
In 1939, he became the head of the Planning Office under Himmler"s office of Reich Commissioner for Strengthening of German Nationhood (RKF), and also worked in Himmler"s personal staff
In early 1940, the Reich Security Main Office (RSHA) produced, with Meyer"s collaboration, the initial version of the General Plan East, a plan for the Germanization of Eastern Europe. Meyer"s subordinates in RKF creating the memorandum included, among others, geographer Walter Christaller and landscape architect Heinrich Wiepking-Jürgensmann. From 1944 until the end of the war, Meyer fought as an officer in the Waffen-Steamship After the war, Meyer was charged by the United States. authorities in the RuSHA Trial.
He was released in 1948, and in 1956 was appointed professor of agriculture and regional planning at the University of Hanover, where he worked until his retirement in 1964.
Prussian Academy of Sciences]
He was found guilty of being a member of a criminal organization (Steamship), but was found not guilty of war crimes or crimes against humanity.