The German invasion triggered anti-Soviet uprisings in all the western provinces. Pursued by the Wehrmacht and harassed by nationalist guerrillas, the Red Army and civilian administrators evacuated the borderlands. This chapter examines the impact that the German occupation and the actions of nationalist groups, German collaborators, and Red partisans had on borderland societies. It also offers an overview of the strategies nationalists chose during the German occupation and explains how those strategies affected relations between them, the Germans, and the borderland population. All nationalists, except the Poles, collaborated with the Germans, hoping the latter would allow them to establish independent states. The Germans, however, sought to turn the conquered eastern lands into a vast agrarian colony of the Reich. The brief honeymoon between the Germans and the nationalists ended with arrests and executions of nationalist leaders by the Nazis. The clashes between nationalists and Red partisans and the ethnic cleansing conducted by nationalists polarized the borderland societies.