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Este artículo trata sobre los territorios polacos anexados a la Alemania nazi. Para los otros territorios que fueron ocupados en 1939 pero no directamente anexados, ver Gobierno General .

Zonas polacas anexionadas por la Alemania nazi
Occupation of Poland 1939.png
En colores más oscuros, los territorios polacos anexados por la Alemania nazi y la Unión Soviética con Gobierno General semicolonial en amarillo claro (centro)
Karte viertepolnischeteilung.png
Cuarta partición de Polonia : el pacto nazi-soviético
Evolución territorial de Polonia
en el siglo XX
Después de la Primera Guerra Mundial
Segunda Guerra Mundial
Después de la Segunda Guerra Mundial
Áreas
Líneas de demarcación
Países adyacentes
Evolución territorial de Alemania
en el siglo XX
Antes de la Segunda Guerra Mundial
Segunda Guerra Mundial
  • Großdeutschland
  • Zonas polacas anexionadas por la Alemania nazi
  • Conferencia de Teherán (1943)
  • Conferencia de Yalta (1945)
Después de la Segunda Guerra Mundial
  • Conferencia de Potsdam (1945)
  • Anexiones holandesas (1949)
  • Anexiones belgas (1949)
  • Tratado de Zgorzelec (1950)
  • El regreso de Heligoland (1952)
  • Tratado del Sarre (1956)
  • "Pequeña reunificación" con Saarland (1957)
  • El regreso de Selfkant (1963)
  • Tratado de Varsovia (1970)
  • Tratado dos más cuatro (1990)
  • Tratado fronterizo germano-polaco (1990)
Áreas
  • Antiguos territorios del este de Alemania
Países adyacentes
  • Evolución territorial de Polonia
  • Cambios territoriales de los estados bálticos
  • v
  • t
  • mi

Después de la invasión de Polonia al comienzo de la Segunda Guerra Mundial , casi una cuarta parte de todo el territorio de la Segunda República Polaca fue anexada por la Alemania nazi y colocada directamente bajo la administración civil alemana. El resto de la Polonia ocupada por los nazis pasó a llamarse distrito del Gobierno General . [1] La anexión fue parte de la "cuarta partición de Polonia" por la Alemania nazi y la Unión Soviética , esbozada meses antes de la invasión, en el Pacto Molotov-Ribbentrop . [2]

Algunos territorios más pequeños se incorporaron directamente a las existentes Gaue East Prussia y Silesia , mientras que la mayor parte de la tierra se utilizó para crear nuevas Reichsgaue Danzig-West Prussia y Wartheland . De ellos, Reichsgau Wartheland era el más grande y el único que comprendía únicamente el territorio anexado. [3]

El término oficial usado por las autoridades nazis para estas áreas fue "territorios del este incorporados" (en alemán : Eingegliederte Ostgebiete ). [4] Se planifican para una completa germanización de los territorios anexados, considerándolos parte de su espacio vital . [5] La población judía local se vio obligada a vivir en guetos , y gradualmente fue deportada a campos de concentración y exterminio , el más infame de los cuales, Auschwitz , estaba ubicado en la parte anexada de la Alta Silesia Oriental . LaLa población polaca local iba a ser gradualmente esclavizada, exterminada y finalmente reemplazada por colonos alemanes. La élite polaca se vio especialmente sujeta a asesinatos en masa, [6] y se estima que 780.000 polacos fueron objeto de expulsión , ya sea al Gobierno General o al Altreich para realizar trabajos forzados . La población polaca restante estaba estrictamente segregada de la población alemana y sujeta a una variedad de medidas represivas. Estos incluían el trabajo forzoso y su exclusión de todos los aspectos políticos y culturales de la sociedad. Al mismo tiempo, la minoría alemana localSe le concedieron varios privilegios, y su número fue aumentando constantemente por el asentamiento de alemanes étnicos , incluidos los desplazados por los traslados de población nazi-soviéticos . [7]

Después de la ofensiva del Vístula-Oder a principios de 1945, la Unión Soviética tomó el control de los territorios. La población de etnia alemana huyó del Ejército Rojo o más tarde fue expulsada y los territorios pasaron a formar parte de la República Popular de Polonia .

Fondo

Ya en el otoño de 1933, Adolf Hitler reveló a sus colaboradores más cercanos sus intenciones de anexar el oeste de Polonia en una Gran Alemania imaginada . [8] Después de la invasión de Polonia en septiembre de 1939, el Tercer Reich anexó en octubre un área de 92.500 km 2 [2] (23,7% [2] de la Polonia de antes de la guerra ) con una población de aproximadamente 10.000.000 de personas (30% [2] de la población polaca de antes de la guerra). [9] [10] El resto del territorio polaco fue anexado por la Unión Soviética (201.000 km 2 [2] o 51,6% [2]de la Polonia de antes de la guerra según el Pacto Molotov-Ribbentrop ) o convertida en la zona de ocupación del Gobierno General controlada por los alemanes (95.500 km 2 [2] o el 24,5% [2] de la Polonia de antes de la guerra). Eslovaquia anexó una pequeña parte de la Polonia de antes de la guerra (700 km 2 [2] ) .

Desde 1935, la Alemania nazi se dividió en provincias ( Gaue ) que habían reemplazado a los antiguos estados alemanes y provincias prusianas . De los territorios anexados, algunos se adjuntaron a las ya existentes Gaue Prusia Oriental y Silesia (más tarde Alta Silesia ), mientras que de otros se constituyeron nuevas Reichsgaue Danzig-Prusia Occidental y Wartheland . Wartheland fue el único Gau constituido únicamente a partir del territorio anexado, [3] Danzig-Prusia Occidental comprendía también antiguas áreas alemanas y la antigua Ciudad Libre de Danzig . El Gobierno General ocupado permaneció fuera delTercer Reich .

La anexión violó el derecho internacional (en particular, el Convenio IV de La Haya de 1907 ). [11] [12] Los funcionarios de la Alemania nazi discutieron la convención y trataron de eludirla declarando el fin de la guerra contra Polonia antes de la anexión, lo que, en su opinión, hizo que la convención no fuera aplicable. [12]

Administración

Mapa de la Alemania nazi que muestra sus subdivisiones administrativas, Gaue y Reichsgaue y áreas anexas en 1944
Más información: administración militar alemana en la Polonia ocupada y división administrativa de los territorios polacos durante la Segunda Guerra Mundial

El 8 y 13 de septiembre de 1939, el distrito militar alemán en el área de Posen , comandado por el general Alfred von Vollard-Bockelberg  [ de ] , y Prusia Occidental , comandada por el general Walter Heitz , se establecieron en la conquistada Gran Polonia y Pomerelia , respectivamente. [13] Con base en las leyes del 21 de mayo de 1935 y del 1 de junio de 1938, la Wehrmacht delegó poderes administrativos civiles a los Jefes de Administración Civil (CdZ). [14] Hitler nombró a Arthur Greiser para convertirse en el CdZ del distrito militar de Posen, y Danzig'S Cauleiter Albert Forster para convertirse en el CDZ de la región militar occidental de Prusia. [14] El 3 de octubre de 1939, los distritos militares centrados y denominados " Lodz " y " Krakau " se establecieron bajo el mando de los generales de división Gerd von Rundstedt y Wilhelm List , y Hitler nombró a Hans Frank y Arthur Seyß-Inquart como jefes civiles. , respectivamente. [14] Así, la totalidad de la Polonia ocupada se dividió en cuatro distritos militares (Prusia Occidental, Posen, Lodz y Krakau). [15] Frank fue designado al mismo tiempo "administrador jefe supremo" para todos los territorios ocupados.[14]

Decreto de anexión de Hitler, octubre de 1939

Un decreto emitido por Hitler el 8 de octubre de 1939 [16] preveía la anexión de las áreas occidentales de Polonia y la Ciudad Libre de Danzig . Una ordenanza separada estipulaba la inclusión del área alrededor de Suwalki (el triángulo de Suwalki ). [10] [17]

Arthur Greiser en la Poznań ocupada por los alemanes , 2 de octubre de 1939

Los dos primeros párrafos del decreto establecieron " Reichsgau Posen " en la Gran Polonia con las regiones gubernamentales ( Regierungsbezirk ) Hohensalza , Posen y Kalisch, así como " Reichsgau West Prussia " ( alemán : Westpreußen ) en Pomerelia con las regiones gubernamentales Bromberg , Danzig y Marienwerder . [10] Estas regiones gubernamentales recibieron el nombre de los nombres en alemán de sus principales ciudades: Hohensalza ( Inowrocław ), Posen ( Poznań ), Kalisch (Kalisz ), Bromberg ( Bydgoszcz ), Danzig ( Gdańsk ) y Marienwerder ( Kwidzyn ). Los territorios anexados eran dos veces más grandes que las antiguas conquistas prusianas en las particiones de Polonia , también contenían el doble de personas. En comparación con 1914, la frontera del Reich se extendió hacia el este entre 150 y 200 km en promedio. [18] A pesar de este hecho, Alemania utilizó la vieja propaganda prusiana de crear un "muro viviente alemán" en los territorios polacos. [3] El 29 de enero de 1940, Reichsgau Posen pasó a llamarse " Reichsgau Wartheland " (Warthegau). [10] Reichsgau West Prussia pasó a llamarse "Reichsgau Danzig-West Prussia".

Las áreas restantes anexadas no se hicieron provincias separadas, sino que se incluyeron en las provincias existentes de Prusia Oriental y Alta Silesia según el § 4 del decreto de Hitler. [10] Arthur Greiser fue nombrado Gauleiter de Reichsgau Posen y Albert Forster de Reichsgau West Prussia. [10]

Después de la Operación Barbarroja de junio de 1941

Después del ataque alemán a la Unión Soviética en junio de 1941, el distrito de Białystok , que incluía los condados de Białystok , Bielsk Podlaski , Grajewo , Łomża , Sokółka , Volkovysk y Grodno , se adjuntó (no incorporó) a Prusia Oriental . [19] [20] Otros territorios polacos, primero anexados por la Unión Soviética y luego por Alemania, se incorporaron al Reichskommissariat Ostland (en el norte), Reichskommissariat Ucrania (en el sur) y al Gobierno General ( Distrikt Galizien en el extremo sur).

Ampliación prevista de los planes de anexión

El gobierno nazi tenía la intención de continuar incorporando el territorio polaco de antes de la guerra al Tercer Reich. La región de la grupa del Gobierno General de la Polonia ocupada que ya estaba bajo completo control civil alemán se veía simplemente como una forma de gobierno de transición, antes de la futura integración completa del área en el Gran Reich Alemán ( Grossdeutsches Reich ). [21] Los burócratas alemanes discutieron posteriormente varias propuestas para el desmembramiento de los territorios restantes.

Hans Frank abogó por la transformación de parte o la totalidad de su provincia en un " Vandalengau ", en honor a las tribus vándalas germánicas orientales que en la antigüedad habían vivido en la cuenca del río Vístula antes de las migraciones bárbaras . [21] A finales de 1939, una comisión de dieciséis hombres también estaba activa para trazar los límites de un Reichsgau Beskidenland proyectado (llamado así por la cordillera de Beskid ), que habría abarcado las áreas situadas al oeste de Cracovia hasta el río San al este. de ella. [22]

El secretario del Partido Nazi , Martin Bormann, por otra parte, propuso que el Gobierno General se convirtiera en un futuro próximo en 3-5 Reichsgaue o Reichsobergaue , incluido el distrito gallego . [23] [24] Dejando tales discusiones abiertas para la conclusión de la guerra, Hitler nunca adoptó o implementó oficialmente ninguna de estas sugerencias, sino que mantuvo el status quo de usar las áreas como reserva de mano de obra. [23]

divisiones administrativas

Nuevas unidades administrativas nazis alemanasAntiguas unidades administrativas polacas
Reichsgau / Gau
(provincia)		Regierungsbezirk
(región gubernamental)		Voivodato polaco /
(provincia)		Condados
Reichsgau Wartheland
(Warthegau)
inicialmente Reichsgau Posen [25]		Regierungsbezirk Posen
Reg.Bez. Hohensalza
Reg.Bez. Litzmannstadt 5		Poznań Voiv.todos los condados
Łódź Voiv.la mayoría de los condados
Pomerania Voiv.cinco condados
Varsovia Voiv.un condado
Reichsgau Danzig-West Prussia 1
(Danzig-Westpreußen)
inicialmente Reichsgau West Prussia		Reg.Bez. Bromberg
Reg.Bez. Danzig 1
Reg.Bez. Marienwerder 1		Gran Pomerania Voiv.la mayoría de los condados
Ciudad libre de Danzig
Prusia Oriental 1
(Ostpreußen)
parte más meridional 2		Reg.Bez. Zichenau
Reg.Bez. Gumbinnen 1		Varsovia Voiv.Ciechanów , Działdowo , Maków , Mława ,
Płock , Płońsk , Przasnysz , Sierpc ;
partes de Łomża , Ostrołęka , Pułtusk ,
Sochaczew , Varsovia
Białystok Voiv.Suwałki y parte de Augustów
Bezirk Białystok
(adjunto en 1941) 6		Białystok Voiv.Białystok , Bielsk Podlaski , Grajewo , Łomża ,
Sokółka , Volkovysk , Grodno
(Alta) Silesia 1; 3
(Oberschlesien)
parte más oriental 4		Regierungsbezirk Kattowitz
Reg.Bez. Oppeln 1		Silesia Voiv.
Kielce Voiv.Będzin , Olkusz , Sosnowiec , Zawiercie
Cracovia Voiv.Chrzanów , Oświęcim , Żywiec [26]
1 Gau o Regierungsbezirk solo comprendían parcialmente el territorio anexado

2 las partes anexas también se denominan "Sureste de Prusia" ( alemán : Südostpreußen )
3 Gau Upper Silesia se creó en 1941, antes de que formara parte de Gau Silesia
4 las partes anexas también se conocen como "East Upper Silesia" ( Alemán : Ostoberschlesien )
5 lleva el nombre de la ciudad principal, polaco : Łódź . Esta área se unió al Warthegau el 9 de noviembre de 1939; [27] el 12 de abril de 1940, el nombre de Łódź se convirtió en Litzmannstadt , por lo que el nombre de Regierungsbezirk se cambió en consecuencia. [27]
6no incorporado, pero administrado por Gau Prusia Oriental, adjunto después de la invasión nazi alemana de la Unión Soviética, 1941

Demografía

Antes de la invasión nazi alemana en septiembre de 1939 y la posterior anexión en octubre, los territorios albergaban hasta 10.568.000 personas o alrededor del 30% de la población de Polonia antes de 1939 . [10] [25] Debido a los vuelos, las pérdidas de guerra, la migración natural y la falta de datos confiables contemporáneos, la demografía, especialmente en las regiones fronterizas, solo se puede estimar. [28]

Datos de área y población en 1939 para Nazi Gaue que incluían territorios anexados de Polonia 1
Gau / ReichsgauPrusia OrientalReichsgau Danzig / Prusia OccidentalReichsgau WarthelandProvince of SilesiaTotal of
the four
provinces		Only annexed
parts of
these provinces
Area (km2)52,099 km225,705 km240,309 km246,908 km2165,021 km286,295 km2
Total population3,113,0002,156,0004,203,0007,258,00016,729,0009,082,000
Persons per km261 per km284 per km2104 per km2155 per km2101 per km2105 per km2
EthnicityTotal%Total%Total%Total%Total%Total%
Germans2,004,76871%817,47438%309,0027%3,813,93066%8,145,17449%597,7847%
Jews79,1983%23,3021%322,9478%123,2022%548,6493%494,9135%
Poles810,83426%1,310,09961%3,558,48985%2,184,32930%7,863,75147%7,817,37786%
Other17,773?%4,666?%11,984?%136,578?%171,001?%171,001?%
1 Estimates according to Nazi German Bureau for Racial Policies, 25 November 1939.[29][unreliable source?]

Heinemann (2003) gives identical numbers for Reichsgau Danzig-West Prussia[30] and Warthegau.[31] For East Upper Silesia, Heinemann gives numbers based on the Nazi census of December 1939, that claimed they were 2.43 million people, of whom ~1.08 million were ethnic Germans, ~930,000 Poles, and ~90,000 Jews.[32] Heinemann and Encyclopaedia Judaica also give a higher estimate regarding the Jewish population, whose number they put between 560,000 and 586,628 people.[33][34] Eberhardt (2006) confirms the number given by the Bureau for Racial Policy by saying about 600,000 people were Germans.[35]

"The Mass Extermination of Jews in German Occupied Poland", by the Polish government-in-exile addressed to the wartime allies of the then-United Nations, 1942

Prof. Stanisław Waszak (pl) of Poznań University cited slightly differing estimates; first published in 1947:

The 1939 total population of Nazi German Gaue including annexed territories 1
GauTotal populationPolesGermansJewsUkrainiansOthers
Wartheland4,933,6004,220,200324,600384,500–4,300
Upper Silesia2,632,6302,404,67098,204124,8771,2023,677
Danzig-West Prussia1,571,2151,393,717158,37714,4581,6483,020
East Prussia (part added after WWII started)1,001,560886,06118,40079,0988,00999,902
Total10,139,0058,904,648599,576602,95310,94920,899
1 The Western Review, Supp. Number for Abroad, July and August, 1947, page 49; the 1947 estimates as cited by Stanisław Waszak, Demographic Picture of the German Occupation (1970).[28]

Census data was compiled by Nazi Germany in Danzig-West Prussia on 3 December,[36] and in Warthegau and Upper Silesia on 17 December.[37] A number of Poles tried to present themselves as Germans (Volksdeutsche) hoping to avoid the anti-Polish atrocities[38] or were classified as Germans to meet quotas.[39]

Nazi Germanization Plans

Further information: Lebensraum and Generalplan Ost

On October 7, 1939, Hitler appointed Heinrich Himmler as his settlement commissioner, responsible for all resettlement measures in the Altreich and the annexed territories as well as the Nazi-Soviet population exchanges.[40] For his new office, Himmler chose the title Reichskommissar für die Festigung deutschen Volkstums ("Reich's commissioner for strengthening Germandom", RKF).[41] The RKF staff (Stabshauptamt RKF) through the Hauptamt Volksdeutsche Mittelstelle (VOMI) and the 'Main Department of Race and Settlement' (Rasse- und Siedlungs-Hauptamt, RuSHA) of the SS planned and executed the war-time resettlement and extermination process in the annexed territories.[42] In October 1939, Himmler ordered the immediate expulsion of all Jews from the annexed territories, all "Congress Poles" from Reichsgau Danzig-West Prussia, and all "Reich's enemies" from the Warthegau, South East Prussia and East Upper Silesia.[42] The term "Reich enemies" was applied to all Poles with higher education, engaged in pre-war in any patriotic organisations or initiatives and generally those who manifested Polish patriotism. Those expelled were to be deported to the General Government.[42]

Photo from Nazi-occupied Łódź just after its renaming as "Litzmannstadt" (1940). A board announcing a new name for a city.

This directive was superseded by another RKF-directive of early 1940,[42] ordering the immediate expulsion of the remaining Jews and the replacement of 3.4 million Poles with Germans settlers in the long run.[34] This RKF scenario envisioned, as a first step, the settlement of 100,000 German families within the next three years. In this early stage, planners believed the settlers would be relocated from the Altreich.[34] "Racially valuable" Poles were to be exempted from deportation and "racially valuable" ethnic Germans were also to be settled.[43] Himmler said he wanted to "create a blonde province here".[44] Responsible for "racial evaluation" were 'Central Bureau for Immigration' (Einwandererzentralstelle, EWZ) and 'Central Bureau for Resettlement' (Umwandererzentralstelle, UWZ) of the SS' RuSHA.[43] The annexed territories were to be Germanised in rural areas within 5 years and in urban areas within 10 years,[45] the General Government in 15 years[46]

In practice, the war-time population shift in the annexed territories did not take on its planned extent, either in regard to the number of expelled Poles and the resettled Germans, or in regard to the origin of the settled Germans which was the Soviet Union.[47] Plans for a resettlement of Germans from the Third Reich were upheld in the Generalplan Ost but postponed to after the war.[47] This plan envisioned the elimination of all Jews and, in the long run, the deportation of initially 31 million, later 51 million Slavs to Siberia from a large area designated for German settlement.[48] The removal of Poles consisted of such actions as ethnic cleansing, mass executions, organised famine and eradication of national groups by scattering them in isolated pockets for labour.[49] About 350,000 ethnic Germans were settled in Poland after Nazi propaganda persuaded them to leave the Baltic States prior to the Soviet Union's take-over,[50] and subjected to Germanization.

In addition, other Germanic settlers such as Dutch, Danes and Swedes were envisioned to settle these lands. A small Dutch artisan colony was already established in Poznań in 1941.[51]

Expulsion and genocide of Poles and Jews

Expulsion of Polish civilians, autumn 1939
Further information: Expulsion of Poles by Nazi Germany (1939–1944), Holocaust in Poland, and Treatment of Polish citizens by the occupants

The Jewish and Polish population was subject to mass murder and expulsions already during the September invasion, triggering mass flight.[25][33] The Jewish population was to be resettled but when that proved impossible exterminated.[52] Nazi Concentration camps and extermination camps were set up within the annexed territories including Auschwitz (consisting of several subcamps), Chelmno (Kulmhof), Potulice (Potulitz) and Soldau.

According to Heinemann, about 780,000 ethnic Poles in the annexed territories lost their homes between 1939 and 1944.[53] Of these, at least 250,000 were deported to the General Government, 310,000 were displaced or forced into Polenlager camps within the respective Gau, and the others were subject to forced labour either within the annexed territories or in the Altreich. Heinemann says that according to Madajczyk, 987,217 were displaced in the annexed territories and the Zamość region, including Jews.[53] People were sometimes arrested from the street in so-called łapanki.

Heinemann further says that an additional 110,000 Jews were deported to the General Government.[53] Another more than 400,000 Jews were later deported to Auschwitz, Treblinka or Chelmno (Kulmhof) concentration camps,[54] and thousands had died in the ghettos.[54] Of the deported Jews, more than 300,000 were from Warthegau, 2,000 from Reichsgau Danzig-West Prussia, 85,000 from East Upper Silesia, 30,000 from the Zichenau district and 200,000 from the Białystok district both in South East Prussia.[54]

Eberhardt cites numbers provided by Jastrzębski, 1968, who says that according to RKF documents, 365,000 were deported between 1939 and 1944.[55] Jastrzębski notes that adding the numbers retrieved from documents of local authorities yields a higher total of 414,820 deported, and estimates a total of about 450,000 including unplanned and undocumented expulsions.[55] Eberhardt notes that on top of these numbers, many had fled, and cites numbers provided by Czesław Łuczak (1979), who estimates that between 918,000 and 928,000 were deported or evicted from the annexed territories between 1939 and 1944.[55] A similar estimate (923,000) is also given by the Institute of National Remembrance.[56]

Ghettoization of Jews, Litzmannstadt 1941

Heinemann and Łuczak ak as cited by Eberhardt detail the expulsions as follows: 81,000 Poles were displaced from their homes in East Upper Silesia,[32][55] 22,000 of whom were deported to the General Government.[32] They were replaced with 38,000 ethnic Germans primarily from Bukovina.[32] From the Zichenau and Suwałki areas of South East Prussia, 25,000[30] to 28,000[55] Poles were "evacuated", an additional 25,000[55] to 28,000[30] from the Bialystock area attached in 1941. In Reichsgau Danzig-West Prussia, 123,000[30] to 124,000[55] were displaced until the end of 1942, 53,000 of whom were deported to the General Government,[30] the others were forced into camps where they were "racially evaluated".[30] In the Warthegau, 630,000 were displaced between 1939 and 1944.[55][57] Additionally, Łuczak estimates that between 30,000 and 40,000 were subject to "wild" expulsions primarily in Pomerelia.[55]

Poles due be deported to the General Government were first put in camps where they were subject to racial evaluation (Durchschleusung) by the UWZ similar to the Durchschleusung of ethnic Germans (see below).[58] Those deemed "capable of re-Germanization" (wiedereindeutschungsfähig) were not deported to the General Government, but instead to the Altreich.[58] Those that resisted Germanization were to be put in concentration camps, or executed; their children might be taken for Germanization and adoption.[59] A total of 1.5 million people was expelled or deported, including those deported for slave labor in Germany or concentration camps.[60] Eberhardt says a total of 1.053 million people were deported for forced labour from the annexed territories.[61]

German colonization and settlement

The Third Reich in 1940 (dark grey) after the conquest of Poland together with the USSR, showing pockets of German colonists resettled into the annexed territories of Poland from the Soviet "sphere of influence" during the "Heim ins Reich" action. – The Nazi propaganda poster, superimposed with the red outline of Poland missing entirely from the original German print.[62]
See also: Nazi-Soviet population transfer and Heim ins Reich

Throughout the war, the annexed Polish territories were subject to German colonization. The goal of Germany was to assimilate the territories politically, culturally, socially, and economically into the German Reich. According to Esch, because of the lack of settlers from the Altreich, the colonists were primarily ethnic Germans from areas further East.[47][63] These ethnic Germans were resettled during colonisation action "Heim ins Reich" in homes from which the Poles had been expelled, often so abruptly that they found half-eaten meals on tables and unmade beds where small children had been sleeping at the time of expulsion.[64] Members of Hitler Youth and the League of German Girls were assigned the task of overseeing such evictions to ensure that the Poles left behind most of their belongings for the use of the settlers.[65]

Eberhardt cites estimates for the ethnic German influx provided by Szobak, Łuczak, and a collective report, ranging from 404,612 (Szobak) to 631,500 (Łuczak).[66] Anna Bramwell says 591,000 ethnic Germans moved into the annexed territories,[63] and details the areas of colonists' origin as follows: 93,000[63] were from Bessarabia, 21,000[63] from Dobruja, 98,000[63] from Bukovina, 68,000[63] from Volhynia, 58,000[63] from Galicia, 130,000[63] from the Baltic states, 38,000[63] from eastern Poland, 72,000[63] from Sudetenland, and 13,000[63] from Slovenia.[63]

Additionally some 400,000 German officials, technical staff, and clerks were sent to those areas in order to administer them, according to "Atlas Ziem Polski" citing a joint Polish-German scholarly publication on the aspect of population changes during the war[67] Eberhardt estimates that the total influx from the Altreich was about 500,000 people.[68]

Arthur Greiser welcoming millionth Volksdeutscher resettled during "Heim ins Reich" action from the East Europe to occupied Poland – March 1944

Duiker and Spielvogel note that up to two million Germans had been settled in pre-war Poland by 1942.[69] Eberhardt gives a total of two million Germans present in the area of all pre-war Poland by the end of the war, 1.3 million of whom moved in during the war, adding to a pre-war population of 700,000.[68]

Number of German colonists settled as per Piotr Eberhardt [70]
AreaNumber of colonists%
Warthegau536,95185.1%
Reichsgau Danzig-West Prussia50,2047.9%
East Upper Silesia36,8705.8%
Regierungsbezirk Zichenau7,4601.2%

The increase of German population was most visible in the towns: in Poznań, the German population increased from ~6,000 in 1939 to 93,589 in 1944; in Łódź, from ~60,000 to 140,721; and in Inowrocław, from 956 to 10,713.[71] In Warthegau, where most Germans were settled, the share of the German population increased from 6.6% in 1939 to 21.2% in 1943.[72]

A Nazi official assigns a Polish house in Warthegau to Baltic German resettlers

Only those Germans deemed "racially valuable" were allowed to settle. People were "evaluated" and classified in the Durchschleusung process in which they were assigned to the categories RuS I ("most valuable") to IV ("not valuable").[73] Only RuS I to III were allowed to settle, those who found themselves in RuSIV were either classified as "A"-cases and brought to the Altreich for "non-selfdetermined work and re-education", or classified as "S"-cases who were either sent back to their original Eastern European homelands or "evacuated" to the General Government.[74] Initially, people classified as RuS III were to be deported to the Altreich for forced labour, yet since January 1940 were allowed to settle on smaller farms (20 hectare compared to 50 hectare farms for RuS I and II).[74] This change was based on a personal order by Himmler and led to a more restrictive categorization by the classifying officials.[74] About a million ethnic Germans had been subjected to Durchschleusung by the end of 1944.[75] RuS I and II were assigned to between 60% and 70% of the Baltic Germans and 44% of the Volhynian Germans, while many ethnic Germans from the Soviet Union were put in the lower categories.[76]

Ethnic segregation

Main article: Nur für Deutsche
German warning in occupied Poland 1939 – sign "No entrance for Poles!"
German Wehrmacht soldiers remove Polish signs in Gdynia, renamed Gotenhafen, September 1939.

The segregation of Germans and Poles was achieved by a variety of measures limiting their social interaction.

Łuczak described the segregation:

"Access to a variety of cinemas, theatres, museums, hotels, cafes, restaurants, parks, playgrounds,[3] public transport such as first and second class train departments and best city trolleys, public bathhouses, beaches, public phones[3] and public benches was granted only to Germans, while forbidden by law for Poles and Jews.[3] Poles were not allowed to attend German-held masses.[3] Attending cultural activities or events for non-Germans was punishable, for example in Poznań, four young Polish women who attended an opera were sentenced by German court for 4 months of penal work camp[3] Other laws made it obligatory for Poles to give way to Germans in every occasion on sidewalks, and all Poles were to bow down to Germans as form of greeting.[3] Support for Nazi policies was high among the German minority in the annexed territories[3] Nevertheless as part of their racial policies the German officials forbid friendly or supportive contacts by Germans to Poles and Jews were dealt with quickly and harshly by the authorities by imprisonment in concentration camps, confiscation of property or death sentences.[3] After the Polish decrees became enforced, sexual relations between Germans and Poles were forbidden as Rassenschande (race defilement), a Polish women caught in an affair with a German man were arrested and in some cases forced into a brothel."[3]

Nazi Germany viewed Poles as subhuman, and such views were spread in the media. For example, in October 1939, Nazi propaganda was issued instructing Germans to view Poles, Jews and Gypsies as subhumans.[77] Occasionally, signs were posted in public places reading: "Entrance is forbidden to Poles, Jews, and dogs".[78] When Germans wanted to silence Poles and Jews, they used such expressions, as "stop barking" or "shut your snouts".[79]

Part of the population was classified as Volksdeutsche, mostly German ethnic minority. Some Poles were classified as such as well, either by their own free will or by force which included death threats.

Repressions against Polish and Jewish population

Because Nazi Germany envisioned a near-term complete Germanization of the annexed territories, measures there differed from those implemented in the General Government. Germans and the remaining Poles and Jews were strictly segregated. In case of the Jews, this was achieved by ghettoization.

The German administration classified people based on political and racial criteria with Poles and Jews being considered "untermenschen" (subhumans) as opposed to Germans who according to the Nazi racial ideology were the ubermenschen "herrenvolk" (master race). This classification had not only ideological meaning but was expressed in all aspects of practical daily life and treatment of the population.[3] Three main goals were formulated by German authorities in regards to Polish population: Gradual biological eradication of Polish nation, expulsion out of the annexed areas and use of Poles as forced labour, and changing remaining Poles into obedient low-skilled workers by draconian means.[3]

Economic discrimination

Many Polish owned buildings and enterprises were confiscated, and all jewelry, furniture, money, clothing were subject to forced confiscation.[3] All executive positions which were formerly occupied by Poles and Jews were given to Germans.[3] Poles were forbidden to own rural and industrial enterprises, transport firms, building firms, workshops. The Nazis seized tens of thousands of Polish enterprises, from large industrial firms to small shops, without payment to the owners. Higher taxes and obligatory contributions were enforced on Polish population. Polish workers were stripped from any right to holidays or leave from work. Payment for overtime hours in work was abolished in general, only after working 61 hours in week were Poles allowed to receive a 10% higher compensation in pay (Germans were paid 100%). All employed Poles were given the lowest possible pay for their work.[3] Overall the German policy was to create lowly educated slaves out of Poles for basic work.[3]

Slave labour

While in General Government all Poles from age of 14 to 65 were subject to forced labour on behalf of Nazi German state, in annexed territories children had to work from the age of 9 (and in rural areas from the age of 7–8), additionally the duty to perform slave labour for Germans was extended to the age of 70 for men in annexed territories.[79]A network of outposts overseeing gathering of labour force was established by German authorities that coordinated forced labour together with German police units.[9]

Reducing biological growth of Polish population

To reduce the biological growth of the Polish people, a partial ban of marriage was introduced; Polish women were allowed to marry only at the age of 25 and men at the age of 28.[79] Married couples were separated when subjected to forced labour in Germany, and calorie intake was lowered for Poles. The forced labour working hours for both parents often meant that a child or infant was left without care and incidents and infant deaths soared.[79] The supply of dairy and fat products for Polish children were just one-fifth of that for German children.[79]Likewise, the winter brought many deaths, as Germans limited the available heating supplies to 1/4 of that available to Germans.[79] A strict ban on collecting coal left by trucks and supply wagons on the streets by non-Germans was introduced.[79]

Poles sent to slave labour from annexed territories according to Nazi German estimates 1
Time periodNumber of Poles from
annexed territories
held in forced labor
13 July 1942827,000
20 November 1942896,000
15 February 1943934,000
31 August 19431,066,000
30 June 19441,033,000
15 August 19441,015,000
30 September 19441,053,000
1 As cited by Czesław Madajczyk (1970), Polityka III Rzeszy.[28]

Within Germany, OST-Arbeiters could be aborted, even against their will and contrary to the usual Nazi law against abortions.[80] Only if the parents appeared to be of "good blood" was the child to be born, and if deemed satisfactory, was removed to a Lebensborn institution.[80] Children who failed were sent to the Ausländerkinder-Pflegestätte, where they routinely died within a few months for lack of food.[81]

To further reduce the Polish population, a German official Krumey (de) from occupied Łódź demanded that Polish women be kept at work until reaching 8.5 months of pregnancy. The aim was to help in miscarriage and provoke ‘accidents’ that would result in failed birth.[28] Nevertheless, German officials remained extremely worried about Polish birth rate and various other ideas floated among German leadership how to not only reduce pregnancy, but to prevent it.[28] Among the proposals were: garrisoning the population in labour camps, making the age of allowing marriage much higher, creating labour battalions out of the Polish population, introducing a child tax, performing abortions, an extended forced work duty during Polish lifetimes, combined with relocation to work camps, and finally sterilization of Polish women. Doubts about the ability to perform mass sterilization hindered this idea, however, as 55% of available doctors in certain parts of annexed territories were Poles and it was thought they would sabotage the action.[28] The German state organization SD performed its own study on the problem. Among the things it concluded was the fact that the number of Poles was wrongly estimated in initial years; however, both the birth rate and survival of German children was higher than that of the Poles.[28] The proposed solution to Polish problem was mass sterilization of lower classes (named "primitives" by the report), sending married Poles to slave labour in Reich. An original idea was proposed by Karl Zieger, who believed those measures to be futile. Instead, he postulated that whole Polish villages should be moved and scattered into the Reich itself.[28]

The Nazis fell into a trap of perception—the seemingly high birth rate of Poles was a result of expelling all Poles from higher classes into the General Government; as such the Poles who remained were those with high birth rate, while those with few children were no longer present.[28] Stripping Poles of all cultural activity by the Germans and leaving them to spend all time outside of work in homes, led to conditions favourable to sex and a rising birth rate. One practice that had terrible effects on Polish women was the refusal for female slave workers to travel home for birth. Pregnancies by Polish women-workers were subject to abortion, and in case of birth, the children were taken by SS Lebensborn. Polish slave labourers naturally were forbidden to marry.[28] The harsh nature of the German occupation however reduced the birth rate. In Poznań, at the end of the war, the birth rate was near zero; in Łódź and Inowrocław there were more deaths than births.[28] In comparison, the birth rate of Germans rose until the end of the war.[28] From 1939's birth rate survival of 850 live births per 1000 births, the rate fell to 680 per 1000 births in 1944.[28]

Discrimination against the Polish language

A ban on the use of the Polish language was implemented in all institutions and offices in annexed territories, as well in certain public places like public transport in the cities.

A particular form of oppression was a law ordering the Poles to use German in all contacts with officials under penalty of imprisonment.[3] Poles who did not know German had to hire a translator; however, such jobs were restricted by German authorities, and Poles with knowledge of German who helped their countrymen for free were imprisoned.[3] This law covered all contacts between Poles and Germans and made it difficult, if not impossible, for Poles to pay obligatory taxes (which were higher for Poles) and various state-imposed donations for German society by Poles.[3] A total ban on Polish language was proposed during the war, but as the areas still contained a large number of Poles, it was determined to be impractical at the time of the proposal.[3] A particular form of harassment was a law requiring imprisoned Poles to communicate with their families solely in German. In practice, this meant that many families received no information on their relatives as correspondence in Polish was confiscated.[3]

Discrimination in education

Main article: Education in Poland during World War II

Education standards for Poles were significantly lowered, so that future Poles would become slaves to Germans.[80] All Polish schools and cultural institutions were closed.[82] Teaching of history, literature and geography to Poles was prohibited.[80] Further education for "racially valuable" children was to be provided by removing the child to Germany for Germanization.[80]

In some regions, schools for children were established where according to directives of Himmler:[80]

For the non-German population of the East there can be no type of school above the four-grade rudimentary school. The job of these schools should be confined to the teaching of counting (no higher than up to 500), the writing of one's name, and the teaching that God's commandment means obedience to the Germans, honesty, industry and politeness. Reading I do not consider essential.

Writing and reading were not taught. Even so, such schools covered a small number of Polish children, for example in Łódź only one-tenth of children between 9 and 13 attended them.[3] Often under the cover of education, the Germans organised child labour, sending the children to perform hard physical work.[3]

The Polish population was banned from performing or creating any type of music and from owning radio receivers. Distribution of Polish books was forbidden and persecuted by the German police; at the same time, Polish libraries were closed and many of their possessions destroyed.[3] Millions of books were lost in this manner.[83] Lending Polish books was a punishable offense for which one could be sentenced to concentration camps.[3] Additionally, education that would enable Poles possessing skills needed in manufacturing and trade was forbidden. Poles were banned from undertaking any exams for craftsmen.[3] Throughout the whole occupation, this law was strictly observed.[3] In Poznań, Germans collected all Polish books and burned them.[79]

In 1939 Polish teachers created Secret Teaching Organization an underground Polish educational organization to provide underground education in occupied Poland. Thousands of its members were arrested and killed by the Germans. It is estimated that about 15% of Polish teachers[84] or 8,000[85] died during the occupation period. Extermination of teachers and scientists was part of a Nazi plan to eliminate all Polish intelligentia during action Intelligenzaktion.

Religious discrimination

Main article: Nazi persecution of the Catholic Church in Poland

The German state's fight during the war to destroy the Polish nation covered religious life of Poles as well. Jewish Poles were hit the worst since those who had survived the first murderous actions against them in the course of the invasion were all expelled from German-annexed Poland to German-occupied Poland. Especially outspoken advocates of Judaism and rabbis were at high risk of being murdered by the German occupiers. All synagogues have been expropriated, diverted and misused or destroyed. The same fate hit many Jewish cemeteries.

Already in the 19th century Catholic Germans of Polish ethnicity and the German state clashed in a struggle for the unadulterated Roman Catholic faith in events like the Kulturkampf of the 19th century.[86] In those regions of Germany with a considerable population of Polish ethnicity Catholic Church mobilised Polish resistance during the Prussian partitions of Poland and served as a stronghold of Polish identity. Due to this Nazis targeted it in the newly annexed territories. In the General Government the attitude of Nazis was different as it was to serve as temporary work camp and reservation for Poles and they wanted Church's religion to serve as tool to control Poles (this also meant extermination and terror against priests as well opposing Nazi plans) existence.[86] The Nazi fight against Polish parts of Catholic Church was also a problem for the Catholic Church in Germany, where many priests supported nationalist claims during the war and were faced with a split of the Church itself as Polish Catholics were persecuted.[86] Overall the German hierarchy silently accepted (and in some cases supported or encouraged) the discrimination and treatment of Poles as Untermenschen, with notable individual exceptions who either protested or tried to help their fellow church members of non-German ethnicity.[86]

In time, as the war continued the growing split between German Catholics and the persecuted Polish church facing destruction worried the Vatican and the Pope himself.[86] The annexed parts of Poland covered the dioceses located in Gniezno, Poznań, Chełmno, Katowice, Włocławek, most of Łódź and Płock as well parts of the Warsaw diocese, Łomża, Częstochowa and Kielce.[86] The German authorities in line with the policy of total Germanisation aimed to completely destroy Catholic Polish church in those locations and replace it with Catholic German priests and structures. Catholic Polish priests were to be either expelled or exterminated.[86]

The main contact point for the Nazis in those plans was Carl Maria Splett, bishop of Danzig and a member of the Polish conference of bishops before 1939, who held close relations to the Nazi Albert Forster, and pursued plans to replace Polish clergy with German ones. Another notable German member of the clergy was archbishop Adolf Bertram who personally contacted the Vatican with the request to Germanise the Catholic Polish church organisation.[86] With the position of the Catholic Church in Germany threatened itself since 1933 Bertram called for freedom of faith.[86] Their work was helped by the fact that as German terror grew and became widely known many high-ranking members of Catholic Polish clergy sought refuge abroad to save themselves (Germans were murdering elites of Polish nation as part of their plans) and their deputies were prevented from taking office.[86] The earliest victim was the Pomeranian Voivodeship where almost every Catholic Polish church was closed down, robbed and turned ever into some kind of warehouse, stable or depot. Catholic Polish priests faced three waves of arrests after initial massacres.[86] Those who were arrested ended in concentration camps of Dachau and Stutthof. Monasteries were closed, their collection of arts and books stolen or destroyed by Germans.[86] Splett cooperated with Forster and introduced 200 Catholic German priests into Chełmno diocese where he had been appointed as diocesan administrator from December 1939 on. Under his reign Polish priesthood was oppressed, and prayers and masses under his direction praised Hitler. He also issued a ban against use of Polish language in churches. When he banned confessions in Polish in May 1940 the Vatican intervened and ordered that the ban be lifted.[86] Not only did Splett defend his ban, he argued it was to "protect" people making the confessions.[86] After this argument he tried to claim that confessions in Polish are used for "nationalistic means".[86] Eventually Vatican accepted his explanation.[86] Besides banning Polish language, Splett ordered removal of Polish signs and names in graveyards from monuments and graves and in all churches under his jurisdiction.[86] Albert Forster praised Splett's work for Germany.[86]

Poles deported for forced labour in a camp in Germany proper

In Wartheland the occupants decided against using German Catholic priests for Germanisation. The Polish Catholic church was to disappear completely. On 13 September 1941 Arthur Greiser issued a decree in which the German administration rejected the existence of churches as legal entities in that Reichsgau.[87] Three weeks later majority of Catholic Polish priests were sent to concentration camps. Out of 6 bishops in the region, only one managed to remain – Walenty Dymek. It was Dymek who through his energetic protests finally started worrying the Vatican that it would eventually lose all of the Polish churches in the region-in no less than 2–3 months. The Vatican, concerned about the possibility of development of German National Catholic Church, intervened and as first step appointed two administrators-one for German and one for Polish population in the region,[86] with Dymek appointed as administrator over the Polish population. The condition of the Roman Catholic Church in Warthegau region was catastrophic – till 1944 up to 1,300 churches and temples were closed, with 500 turned into warehouses, two were simply blown up by the Germans, others were given to congregations of the United Evangelical Church in Wartheland. Cathedrals in Poznań and Włocławek were robbed from their relics and art. Part of the looted art was destroyed by the Germans. In Gniezno the basilica was devastated.[86] In Poznań Catholic press and organizations which formed the religious centre in the religion were destroyed.[86] Most of religious monuments, rural crosses, small chapels were eradicated from the region as well.[86] Access to masses was hindered, and often Germans subjected Polish worshippers leaving the church to łapanka. Up to 80% of Catholic Polish priests were to be expelled, and massive arrests followed.

The sparse Lutheran congregations of the Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession in Poland, e.g. in Bydgoszcz and Poznań, mostly comprising congregants from former Russian Poland, were expelled by the German occupants. Also the situation of the United Evangelical Church in Poland [pl], mostly comprising Poles of German language, deteriorated.[88] While its congregants, if considered by the Nazi occupants to be of good breed for their Germanisation plans in the Wartheland, were treated in a way to win them for the Nazi politics, their church body and confessors of faith underlay the same anticlerical regulations by Arthur Greiser as the Catholics. While the Polish authorities had always protracted their confirmation of the United Evangelical Church in Poland as religious statutory corporation, Greiser had done away with that status for all religious bodies in the Wartheland. Greiser pressed the United Evangelical Church in Poland down to a mere civic association.[89] Greiser's orders as to civic associations allowed only inhabitants who had been living before 1 September 1939 in the area of the Wartheland, and new immigrants – usually of German native language – from Soviet-annexed states (eastern Poland, Baltic states) to join these associations and only if they were not German citizens.[87] Thus even General Superintendent Paul Blau, spiritual leader of the United Evangelical Church, who had been tolerated by the Polish authorities, although no Polish citizen, was declared a non-member of his own church body downgraded to an association, because he bore the German citizenship.[87]

In 1940 Hanns Kerrl, the Reich's minister of church affairs, tried to usurp competence over congregations in Danzig-West Prussia and the Wartheland. While he succeeded in Danzig-West Prussia, Greiser – with the help of Hitler – repelled Kerrl's attempt in the Wartheland.[90] The United Evangelical Church in Poland congregations in the Pomeranian Voivodeship could receive the status as statutory corporations – although in a dictatorship this meant little. However, therefore the church body split, its Pomerellian congregations merged in the new old-Prussian rather provisional Ecclesiastical Region of Danzig-West Prussia in 1940. The remaining United Evangelical Church in Poland had to rename into the United Evangelical Church in the Wartheland. While all Jewish clerics, and most Catholic and Lutheran clerics of Polish native language had been removed from their functions, often even killed or enjailed, pastors of the United Evangelical Church were tolerated as long they were not convicted for speaking up against the crimes in the Wartheland.

Number of Catholic Polish priests killed within the territories annexed to the German Reich 1
Church
diocese		Polish
priests
in 1939		PerishedPercentageMurderedDied in
prisons
& camps
Chełmno63430347,8 %23073
Katowice489438,7 %637
Kielce357133,6 %211
Kraków680304,4 %327
Łomża2924816,4 %1236
Łódź34712636,8 %9119
Gniezno36918048,8 %17163
Płock38210928,5 %4105
Poznań68121231,1 %1211
Włocławek43321349,2 %32181
Warszawa6578212,4 %3250
1 Statistical data according to Czesław Madajczyk (1970), Polityka.[86]

Eventually Germans abandoned any public justification or explanations regarding arrests and expulsions.[86] From 2,500 Catholic priests in the Warthegau region 752 perished and 1/3 survived the war in prisons and concentration camps.[86] In Poznań out of 800 Catholic Polish priests in 1939, only 34 remained in 1943.[86] In Upper Silesia the Bishop of Katowice, Stanisław Adamski, ordered Poles to pray in German and identify as Germans. Throughout the war Adamski encouraged this with acceptance of Polish Government in Exile, in order to save the local population from German genocide.[86] In monasteries he brought Germans who would represent them to German officials. Nevertheless, at least 60 were closed. To avoid accusations of personal interests, after issuing this call he publicly declared himself Polish.[86] Despite Adamski's actions the Upper Silesian Polish Catholic church was also subject of repression – 43 priests were murdered in concentration camps and prisons, 2 died in executions for their collaboration with Polish resistance, 13 were expelled to General Government (including 2 bishops), several were stripped of their function.[86]

Many Catholic Polish priests were arrested and put into concentration camps or prisons[3] or murdered in executions.[86] Historic churches were destroyed, and in several cases Germans defiled icons or religious items symbolic for Polish people.[3] Poles were forbidden to attend funerals of other Poles unless they were direct and close family of the person which died.[3] Several Catholic Polish churches were closed down. Selected Catholic Polish religious songs banned, while books containing them were confiscated and destroyed. Polish religious organisations were dissolved. In many places objects of religious worship of significance to Poles were destroyed or defiled.[3]

Judicial system

In judicial system the proceedings against Poles were shortened. In court Poles had no legal protection.[3] Public whipping, beatings of Poles were allowed by German authorities. Public beatings of Poles by Germans were accepted by law as long as the beating did not "lower the productivity of a Pole".[3] German criminal law was introduced on Polish territories annexed to Reich on 6 VI 1940.[91] It contained several parts based solely on racial and ethnic category of the person subject to trial. Special courts were established which were granted right to pass death sentences in quick and easy way. The idea that Poles and Jews just like Germans could stand before the same court was unacceptable to German authorities.[91] The base idea of the law was to put as many as possible violations against German occupation under penalty. Prison as punishment was considered unsuitable and death sentence and whipping preferred in designed projects of the law.[91] Additionally hard labour and very hard labour were introduced as methods of punishment. The core ideology of the law and its motivation was based on racist ideology.[91] As the German Interior Ministry explained the foundation of the law was "Polish guilt which can’t be washed away, and that proves Poles are not worthy of Europe" and that the atrocious nature of Poles is the starting point of the German penal law.[91] The new law gave almost unlimited right to pass death sentences against Poles and imprisonment in concentration camps.[91] For example, in Katowice a special German court passed in 40% of cases deportation to Auschwitz as punishment, and in 60% of cases death penalty. In Białystok in proceedings under the supervision of Alfred Konig, 80% of accused were sentenced to death and 15% – to concentration camps.[91]

Execution of Poles in Kórnik, Warthegau; 20 October 1939

The harshness of German law was demonstrated by such cases, as 5 months of penal camp for a woman who smiled to English POW's in Ostrów Wielkopolski.[79] A 15-year-old girl who gave a cigarette to a POW was sentenced for 3 months imprisonment in concentration camp.[79] In order to intimidate Polish population a law was passed that ordered obligatory participation in mass executions.[79]

Kidnapping and murder of Polish children

Polish children were kidnapped for Germanization, forced labour and medical experiments.[9] in annexed territories. They were forbidden to enter playgrounds for German children and their healthcare was lowered resulting in rising deaths among the young.[79]

As the war continued the attitude of Poles changed from hostility to hatred towards the Germans, and while already animosity existed due to German oppression of Poles in the 19th century, the racist and genocidal actions of German state during Second World War heightened this conflict to another level.[92]

Consequences

The repressive system unified Polish reaction to German occupation, which went above political and ideological differences.[3] The German actions of forced resettlement and deportations in territories annexed by Third Reich in the end brought disadvantageous consequences for the German population. The precedent they created was used as justification in the later relocation of the German population[25]

Status of German minority

In accordance with Nazi racial theory, the Nazis set out to cull German blood out of the mixed population, if necessary by force.[82] Heinrich Himmler declared that no drop of German blood would be lost or left behind for an alien race.[93]

"Baltenlager" (transit camp for Baltic Germans), Poznań 1940

This began with the Volksliste, the classification of people deemed of German blood into different categories: - those Germans who had collaborated before the war; those still regarding themselves as German, but who had been neutral; partially Polonised but Germanizable; and those Germans who had been absorbed into Polish nationality.[94] Any person classified as German who resisted was to be deported to a concentration camp.[6] Himmler himself oversaw cases of obstinate Germans, and gave orders for concentration camps, or separation of families, or forced labor, in efforts to break down resistance.[95]

Numerous cultural events were organised for German community. A network of public schools engaging in various forms of education was set up across the territories. Reich University of Posen was set up in Poznań replacing the former Polish one. At this university, studies of Eastern Europe were conducted, including theories on extermination of non-Germans and means to Germanize the region. Chairs for race policy and Jewish history were established[96][97] Local Germans organised in Selbstschutz paramilitia units engaged in arresting Jews and Poles, the oversight of their expulsions, and murder.[98]

Nazi Germany put the Germans in a position to economically exploit the Polish society, and provided them with privileges and a comparably high standard of living at the expense of the Poles, to ensure their loyalty.[3] While certain conditions under Nazi rule were limiting the freedoms of Germans, such as the dissolution of various German religious and political associations, the Nazi regime provided for political, cultural, and material benefits.[3] Germans received executive positions from which people classified as "Untermenschen" were removed.[3] German was made the only official language.[3] Germans received the right to enter any Polish home at will to perform revision and identification of people living there at any time, and could acquire possessions from Poles and Jews with little effort and mostly without payment or at a low price. For example, a German could easily request a Polish house or apartment from the government, even if Poles were still living there.[3] As the overwhelming majority of Germans in annexed authorities supported Nazi authorities and their policies, this gave the Nazi politicians a degree of self-confidence based on popular support.[3] In Warthegau alone out of 309,002 Germans, 180,000 served in various organizations that provided assistance and were vital to Nazi plans against Poles and Jews.[3] They provided invaluable due to their knowledge of local conditions and society. Motives for cooperation ranged from ideological support for Nazism to material opportunism.[3]

Polish diaries and memoirs from the era remember Volksdeutsche as particularly brutal and ruthless group.[92] Pomerania was noted as a region with very strong pro-Nazi German society by Polish observers as well as Łódź. Support for German nationalism was especially evident in regards to young part of the population, which was strongly influenced by Nazis ideology. The mass conscription of young Germans in military by 1942 was greeted with relief by the Polish population. When trains with wounded and crippled German soldiers started returning from Eastern Front they were welcomed alongside train tracks by groups of celebrating Polish population.[92] Local Germans were rewarded for their support in genocide of Jews and Poles and invasion of Poland by high positions in administration and increased their wealth by confiscations of Polish and Jewish property.[92] The German colonists were of wide origin and their image varied. The ones from Bessarabia were considered the worst. In all however was noted an infinite support for Hitler and belief in German state's supremacy. Many were thankful for material benefits provided by German state. In time their attitude towards local Poles grew in harshness and ruthlessness. While some initially talked to Poles, in time as they soaked up Nazi ideology, this stopped, and some turned to violence against Poles.[92] On farms the Poles were treated by Germans as farm animals, and some Germans treated their dogs more humanely than Polish slave labourers.[92] Only 529 cases of friendly contacts between Poles and Germans were reported by German police in 1941[92] out of 786,000 Germans located in Wartheland.

Case study-Mława district

A case study of relationship of Germans towards Poles was conducted by Polish Home Army unit in Mława. From the start of the war till spring 1942 Polish Underground performed a thorough analysis of 1,100 Germans and their actions and behaviour towards Polish population. Out of those, 9 Germans engaged in friendly relationship with Poles or tried to help them (among those were 3 craftsmen, 3 policeman, 1 camp guard, 1 administration official). The group who took supported Nazis and engaged in despicable acts was much larger.[92]

Post-war changes

None of the Nazi-ordered territorial changes were recognised by the Allies of World War II, and the annexed territories became the centre of the People's Republic of Poland after World War II. Germans living in the formerly annexed territories fled or were expelled to post-war Germany. In post-war Poland, some captured German Nazis and collaborators were put on trial. West Germany did not extradite people charged in Poland.[citation needed]

See also

  • Administrative division of Polish territories during World War II
  • Areas annexed by Nazi Germany
  • Czesław Łuczak
  • Former eastern territories of Germany
  • Polish areas annexed by the Soviet Union
  • Territorial changes of Poland
  • The Holocaust
  • Treatment of the Polish citizens by the occupiers
  • World War II atrocities in Poland

Footnotes

  1. ^ Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, "German Occupation of Poland" (Washington, D.C.: Dale Street Books, 2014), pp. 12–16.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Maly Rocznik Statystyczny (wrzesien 1939 – czerwiec 1941), Ministerstwo Informacji i Documentacji, London 1941, p.5, as cited in Piotr Eberhardt, Political Migrations in Poland, 1939–1948, Warsaw 2006, p.4 "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-10-18. Retrieved 2016-02-08.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai aj ak al am an ao ap aq ar Czesław Łuczak (1987). Położenie ludności polskiej w Kraju Warty 1939–1945. Dokumenty niemieckie. Poznań: Wydawn. Poznańskie. pp. V–XIII. ISBN 8321006329. Google Books.
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  11. ^ Hague IV SECTION III MILITARY AUTHORITY OVER THE TERRITORY OF THE HOSTILE STATE (Art. 42. and later)
  12. ^ a b Toppe (2008), p. 409.
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  26. ^ Ryszard Kaczmarek Górnoślązacy i górnośląscy gauleiterzy Biuletyn IPN NR 6–7 (41–42) 2004 page 46
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References

  • Heinemann, Isabel (2013) [2003]. "Rasse, Siedlung, deutsches Blut": das Rasse- und Siedlungshauptamt der SS und die rassenpolitische Neuordnung Europas. 2nd edition. Göttingen: Wallstein Verlag. 700 pages. ISBN 978-3-8353-2049-9 – via Google Books, preview.
  • Toppe, Andreas (2008). "Militär und Kriegsvölkerrecht": Rechtsnorm, Fachdiskurs und Kriegspraxis in Deutschland 1899–1940. München, Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag GmbH: Walter de Gruyter. 467 pages. ISBN 978-3-486-70854-7 – via Google Books, preview.

External links

  • Map of Poland under German and Soviet occupation
  • The expulstion of the Germans