Figure 1.--This is a German press photo showing German troops being greeted by ethnic Germans, notice the NAZI salute, as they entered a town in what at the time was western Poland, possibly in the Polish Corridor. German troops being greeted as liberators was a popular theme for Goebbels' propaganda. The press caption read,"Germans in Polish City Greet Conquerors: The conquering German troops receiving a wild reception machine from the German populationof the coquered Polish city of Graudenz, ccording to the German censor-passed caption. The photograph appered in an Amrican nespaper September 26, 1939, it was taken earlier. Graudenz now Grudziądz was a town south of Danzig. It had a long history in the conlict betwwn Poles abd Germans and for aime was occupied by the Teutonic Knights. Frederick the Great built a fortress there.

The Polish kings invited German merchants, artists and craftsmen to live and work in Poland since the Middle Ages. Poland during the 17th and 18th centuries was dismembered by Austria, Prussia, and Russia. A new Polish state was created in the Versailles Peace Treaty (1919). Thus Germans who had once lived in Germany proper or Austrai-Hungary found themselves a minority in a new Polish state. Hostilities betwen the Poles and the new Soviet Red Army after World war I drove the border of Poland well into the east, bring many non-Poles including additional Volksdeutch, Ukranians, and other that had been rulled by the Tsar within the new Polish state. After the NAZI World War II occupation (September 1939) Polish citizens of German ancestry were allowed to claim German citizenship. Here there was no NAZI law governing this as different administrators used different approachees as to what was needed to proven German ancestry. Germans in Poland included ethnic Germans whose families had lived in Poland for centuries and had well established roots and attachmebnts to Poland. Other Germans found themselves in the new Polish state created by the Versailles Treaty They often had few ties to Poland and welcomed the NAZI invasion. Germans in occupied Poland faced the decession as to whether or not to sign the Volksliste. The Volksliste had four categories. Categories No 1 and No 2 were assessed ethnic Germans, while categories No 3 and No 4 were ethnic Poles. This was not only an issued faced by Germans. Some NAZI administrators were willing to very loosely just who was a German to speed up the process of Germinization. Thus some who were more Polish than Germany were able to sign the list. There were many advantages to signing. It meant improved rations as well as preventing property from being seized as part of the Germinaztion process. It also mean creating enemies. Those who signed were consider traitors by the Poles and those who did not sign became suspect by the NAZI authorities. The most significant immediate disadvantage was that the men in the family became eligible for conscription into the German military. After the NAZIs were driven out of Poland some of those who signed the Volksliste were tried by Polish courts for treason. The term Volksdeutsch is generally seen in Poland as synonymous with treason. Some indeed collaborated with the NAZIs and used the occupation to in effect steal from their Polish neigbors. Others actually worked with the Resistance. Volksdeutsche arec known to have made an important contribution in gathering intelligence for the Polish Resistance. They primarily worked with the non-communist Resistance and thus there work was not recognized by the Communist Government after the War which actually persecuted some of these people along with the collaborators.

Polish Kingdom

Poland was in the early Medieval period a land without central control, racked by warring tribes. Prince Mieszko I was baptised in 966. Mieszko and Roman Catholic Christianity provided stability and cohesion for the first time. Polish kings in the 16th and 17th centuries played a major role in Polish fashion developments. Poland had by the 17th century had become the largest state in Europe. An elected kingship and the power of the nobility significantly impaired the development of a strong national state. Despite important reforms in the late 18th century, Poland was partioned between Austria, Prussia, and Russia and the Polish monarchy ended.

Germans in Medieval Poland

The Polish kings invited German merchants, artists and craftsmen to live and work in Poland since the Middle Ages. There are numerous Germans who lived and worked in Poland and made an important contribution to cultural life. Some are of disputed nationality. The Nuremberg sculptor Veit Stoss (1450-1533) who carved the High Altar in one of Poland's most revered national shrines, St Mary's Church in Cracow, in wood (1478-79). The Poles call him Wit Stwosz and consider him one ot them. He returned to Nuremberg, however, where he died. Another genius of disputed nationality was Nicolas Copernicus / Nikolaus Kopernick(1473-1543). He was born in Thorn (Torun in Polish), a city in West Prussia. was a member of a German-speaking family in Poland.His mother was German, Barbara Watzenrode, and he was raised by his uncle, Lukas Watzenrode, who was the bishop of Ermland in East Prussia with residence in Frauenburg (Frombork in Polish). Copernicus, of course, wrote all his books in Latin, but we can assume that he was fluent in German and Polish. Letters by him to his uncle, Lukas Watzenrode, Bishop of Ermeland, East Prussia, were found to be in German. When he studied in Italy he belonged to a German fraternity. Copernicus lived most of his life in East Prussia after a few years in Rome. He died in Frauenburg and was buried in the cathedral there. [Stueck] Chopin got his first music lessons from Joseph Elsner, a German teacher in Warsaw.

Partitions of Poland

Poland was once the most powerful country in Eastern Europe. Austria. Prussia, and Russia agreed to the First Partition which was possible because of a weakened Poland (1772). The partition took 23 percent of Poland's territory and 4.5 million people. Prussia got the smallest, but richest area. Austria got the most heavily populated. Russia got the largest, but poorest area. The three powers forced the Sejm to ratify the partition (1773). The shock of the First Partition caused Poland to persue a series of reforms, including state efforts to promote education for the first time. The King gave priority to promote Polish culture. The King's reform programme included a ground-breaking liberal constitution, the Constitution of the Third of May (1791). Russia's Tsar who was a absolute monarch as well as the Prussian king and Austrian emperor saw the new constitution as a dangeropus prcedent in a neigboring monarchy. Russia instigated a group of wealthy Polish landlords to form the Confederation of Targowica which rose against the new Constitution and asked for Russian assistance. Russian troops entered Poland. The Poles resisted, but resistance was futile after Prussia invaded from the west. Many Poles who had been active in the struggle had to flee Poland. Russia and Prussia negotiated the Second Partition (1793). This involved half of the country and 4 million people. The two powers forced the Sejm to accept the Partition and abrogate the reforms. This was followed by a popular insurection in which all sectors of Polish society participated. The Polish effort was launched in Krakow's Market Place by Kosciuszko (March 24, 1794). Peasant scythbearers fought trained soldiers. The people of Warsaw defeated a Russian regiment. Berek Joselewicz commanded a Jewish military unit, the first such action since the Disapora. Kosciuszko issued the Polaniec Manifesto abolishing serfdom (May 7). The Poles could, however, not match the combined forces of Russia and Poland. The Polish forced were defeated at Maciejowice and took Kosciuszko prioner (October). The Russians took Warsaw, slaughtering the entire population of Praga (November). The Russiand Prussian victories led to the final and Third Partition (1795). The King was forced to abdicate and he was taken to St. Petersburg where he died (1798). Many Poles who had fought were exiled to Siberia by the Russians. Others were sent to Siberia but others managed to reach Italy. There they formed the Polish Legion, led by General Henryk Dabrowski which fought with Napoleon against the Austrians. The Polish Partitions are important because they brought large numbers of Poles under the authority of two German monarchies (Austria and Poland). It mean that the Germans in the western and southern Poland were now in German states. It also facilitated the movement of more Germans into what had once been Poland

Population Mixing

There was during the period of Austrian, Prussian, and Russian occupation following the partition there was considerable mixing of the Polish and German and russian populations. A reader writes, "You might be right about the Volksdeutsche of Polish origin. As a matter of fact there are many Vertriebene in Germany from Upper Silesia with Polish names. The leader of one of the largest Vertriebene organizations in Germany, who is fighting for recognition and compensation, is Erich Czaja, not exactly a German name." [Stueck] We also notice Polish families with German names, such as the Weigl family.

Napoleonic Wars

Napoleon was aided by Polish nationalists in his campaigns against Austria and Prussia. He created the Duchy of Warsaw which mayb have become a new Polish nation. Napoleon's devestating defeat in Russia (1812-13) ended any hope of a restored Polish monarchy as the peace was dictated by the very powers that had partioned Poland.

Versailles Treaty (1919)

The Versailles Peace Treaty ending World War I was signed on June 28, 1919, about 7 months after the Armistace stopping the fighting on November 11, 1918. It had a huge impact on the international status of Germany, impacting the country territorially, militarily, and econimically. Germany was made a pariah country and largely blamed for the start of the War. Of major significance, the Germany being punished was the Germany of the Weimar Republic and not Imperial Germany as the Kaiser had abdigated. As a result, the domestic German oposition to the changes, including the territorial changes, came to be directed at the Weimar Republic and not the Imperial Government and German military that had conducted the War. The NAZIs and other right-wing groups were to saddle demoncratic politicans with the "shame of Versailles". Germany under the terms of the Treaty suffered many consequences. The navy and merchant marine was lost. The battleships had to be turned over the the Allies. The battleships ships in fact steamped into the British naval base at Scappa Flow. The German captains, however, rather than turning them over to the British, scuttled them. Germany lost her African and Pacific colonies. Along with territorial losses in Europe were important natural resources. The German Army was reduced to virtual impotence. And the country was sattled with immense retributions. A critical elemement in the treaty was the principle of national self determination promoted by President Wilson. This resulted in the creatiion of a large number of small, weak states in Eastern Europe. It must be said that the the Versailles Treaty was not as onerous as the Treaty of Breast-Litovsk (1918) imposed on the Russians. Still it was undenuably harsh. Many historians see it at the first step toward World War II.

Polish Republic (1919-39)

A new Polish state was created in the Versailles Peace Treaty (1919). Thus Germans who had once lived in Germany proper or Austrai-Hungary found themselves a minority in a new Polish state. Hostilities betwen the Poles and the new Soviet Red Army after World war I drove the border of Poland well into the east, bring many non-Poles including additional Volksdeutch, Ukranians, and other that had been rulled by the Tsar within the new Polish state. There were also problems with Germany determining the Western border. The Versailles Treaty transfered some areas to form the core of the new Polidh Republic. The future of several areas was decided by refrendum. I do not know at this time to what extent Germans were allowed separate schools or steps by the Polish government, if any, to Policize them. The ethnic Germans formed a range of organizations with both cultural and political organizations: Jungdeutsche Partei, Deutsche Vereinigung, Deutscher Volksbund and Deutscher Volksverband. Once Hitker seized power in Germany (1933), these groups began covertly cooperating with the NAZIs. Efforts were conducted to radicalize the German minority abnd promote support for the NAZIs. Actions also included espionage, sabotage, and provocations that to cause incidents that could be picked up by Goebbels media to incite German public opinion and jusrify intervention--the same senario used against Czechoslovakia. Several German organizations were involved in this, including the the NAZI Party, Auslandsorganisation, Gestapo, SD and Abwehr. Eventually about 25 percent of the German minority in Poland joined the pro-NAZI organisations. This means that the Germans in Poland were heavily politicized. SD agents began organizing Selbstschutz units among the ethnic Germans (1938). They were trained at sites in the Reich in sabotage methods and guerilla warfare. Given the disparity in available forces, these activities did not prove important. And the Western Allies after Hitler violated the Munich Agreement were not impressed with claims of how the Germans in Poland were being mistreatd. Of greater importance were the lists the Selbstschutz members were compiling of important Poles that should be eliminated. The list would be used by SS units in Operation Tannenberg.

World War II (September 1939)

The Germans more than any other military, correctly assessed the lessons of World War II. The War in Europe began in 1939 when the German blitzkrieg smashed Poland in only a few weeks. The invasion was made possible the preceeding week when Stalin signed a non-aggression pact with Hitler. The Panzers crossed the Polish frontier on September 1 along with a devestating strike by the Luftwaffe. The Polish Army and Air Force was shattered. About 1.8 million German soldiers surged into Poland. Hitler emerged from the Reich Chancellery in a new grey uniform with his World War I Iron Cross. In a speech at the Reichstag before cheering NAZIs he declared, "I myself am today, and will be from now on, nothing but the soldier of the German Reich." Whithin 6 days Cracow, the center of Polish nationhood, fell. Pincer movements began on September 9 to encirle the major remaining Polish forces. Once certain of Polish defeat, Stalin ordered the Red Army to attack from the East. German and Russian forces met at Brest-Litovsk on September 18. Warsaw fell a few days later after a ruthless bombing assault. The Blitzkrieg tactics that were to prove so devestaing in the West during 1940 were all on display in 1939. Neither the British or French showed much attention, abscribing Polish defeat to military incompetance. The French had promissed the Poles an offensive in the West. It never came.

Selbstschutz Units

The SD before the War organized Selbstschutz (Self Defence) Units in Poland among the ethnic Germans. Members were trained at secret sites in the Reich. When the Germans invaded Poland, the Selbstschutz units coducted aange of activities to disrupt the Polish defense. This included sabatoge and attacks on Polish positions and rail lines as well as attacks on Polish civilians. SS officers oversaw the operations. Gustav Berger was the overall commander. As the Wehrmacht advanced district commanders appointed in West Prussia, Upper Silesia and Warthegau--all areas to be annexed. Individual Selbstschutz Units remained under the control of local ethnic Germans who both obeyed orders from head quarters as well as conducted actions on their own initiative. The Selbstschutz set up concentration camps for Poles. Some of their camps were set up independently. Others were set up where the Wehrmacht or German police commands were setting up camps. The Selbstschutz camps included: Bydgoszcz (Bromberg), Brodnica (Strasburg), Chełmno (Kulm), Dorposz Szlachecki, Kamień Krajeński, Karolewo, Lipno (Lippe), Łobżenica, Nakło (Nakel), Nowy Wiec (near Skarszew), Nowe (over Vistula), Piastoszyn, Płutowo, Sępolno, Krajeńskie, Solec Kujawski (Schulitz), Tuchola (Tuchel), Wąbrzeźno (Briesen), Wolental (near Skórcza), Wyrzysk (Wirsitz). The great majority of the Poles arrested and detained in these camps were murdered within weeks. But few survived the War. The Poles targeted by the Selbstschutz were Polish intellectuals (writers, journalists, artists, composers, university professors, teachers, etc.), nationalists, priests, Jews, Roma, and even Catholic Germans, ethnic Germans married to Poles, and Poles denounced for personal reasons). In addition to their on actions, the Selbstschutz worked closely with the newly formed SS Einsatzgruppen--mobile killing units.

Ethnic Germans in Eastern Poland

After the NAZIs and Soviets partitioned Poland, about 136,000 etgnic Germans found themselves in Soviet hands. The Germans brought up the issue in negotiations concetning the implementation of the NAZI-Soviet Non-Agression Pact. The Soviets agreed to allow these Germans to emigrate to the Reich. I do not know if any anti-Communist Germans were arrested or how their property was disposed with. Some of the same issues arrose with the Baltic Germans after Hitler ordered them "Home to the Reich." I have no details at this time concerning details on the transport. I believe they were interned in camps in occuoied Poland so that the SS could assess their racial characteristics.

NAZI Occupation (1939-44)

After the NAZI World War II occupation (September 1939) Polish citizens of German ancestry were allowed to claim German citizenship. Here there was no NAZI law governing this as different administrators used different approachees as to what was needed to proven German ancestry. Germans in Poland included ethnic Germans whose families had lived in Poland for centuries and had well established roots and attachmebnts to Poland. Other Germans found themselves in the new Polish state created by the Versailles Treaty They often had few ties to Poland and welcomed the NAZI invasion. Germans in occupied Poland faced the decession as to whether or not to sign the Volksliste. The Volksliste had four categories. Categories No 1 and No 2 were assessed ethnic Germans, while categories No 3 and No 4 were ethnic Poles. This was not only an issued faced by Germans. Some NAZI administrators were willing to very loosely just who was a German to speed up the process of Germinization. Thus some who were more Polish than Germany were able to sign the list. There were many advantages to signing. It meant improved rations as well as preventing property from being seized as part of the Germinaztion process. It also mean creating enemies. Those who signed were consider traitors by the Poles and those who did not sign became suspect by the NAZI authorities. The most significant immediate disadvantage was that the men in the family became eligible for conscription into the German military.

Ressettlement

The Hauptamt Volksdeutsche Mittelstelle (Main Welfare Office for Ethnic Germans--VoMi) was a NAZI Party created to oversee the interests of the Volksdeutsche (1937). The SS from the very beginning has a central role in the agency. The first director was SS-Obergruppenführer Werner Lorenz. VoMi's primary task as it vecame clear that war was coming was to prepare for the resettlement of the ethnic Germans in Soviet-controlled areas into the Reich (1939-41). The slogan became "Heim ins Reich"--Home into Germany. There were Germans in countries conquered by Germany (Czechoslovakia, western Poland, Denmark, the Netherlands, Yugoslavia. as well as NAZI allies (Romania and Hungary). These Germans, however, were not ordered Hime to the Reich. They were used by the NAZIs to help control the local populations. It was only the Germans in Soviet controlled areas that were ordered home. Himmler only days after the invasion of Poland moved to seize control of the VoMi resettlemrnt functions. (In this and other areas there was jurisdictional conflicts between the NAZI Party and the SS.) The VoMi under Allgemeine-SS administration became a ley element pursuing NAZI Lebensraum in Eastern Europe. The VoMi oversaw about one million ethnic German brought into western Poland. Himmler and close associate Walther Darré dreamed of creating a ind of feudal peasant aristocracy in occupied western Poland. To make room for the Germans moved in, the SS would have to evict the Poles and Jew alreasy there. Himmler concinced Hitler to put him in charge of the poroject. Hitler signed the decree (October 7, 1939). It was a kind of birhday present to Himmler. The Rasse- und Siedlungshauptamt-SS (Race and Settlement Central Office--RuSHA) was given the job of assessing racial purity and political indoctrination. The Jews were deported and interned in gettoes being set up in the Government General. The Poles were also to be deported, but some were to be retained as serfs--slave workers. The Reichssicherheitshauptamt (Reich Main Security Office--RHSA) under SS-Obergruppenführer and General of Police Reinhard Heydrich oversaw the actions condiccating the property and deporting Jews abnd Poles. .

Liberation (1944)

After the NAZIs were driven out of Poland some of those who signed the Volksliste were tried by Polish courts for treason. The term Volksdeutsch is generally seen in Poland as synonymous with treason. Some indeed collaborated with the NAZIs and used the occupation to in effect steal from their Polish neigbors. Others actually worked with the Resistance. Volksdeutsche arec known to have made an important contribution in gathering intelligence fir the Polish Resistance. They primarily worked with the non-communist Resistance and thus there work was not recognized by the Communist Government after the War which actually persecuted some of these people along with the collaborators.

Expullsions

Following World war II, the Soviets pushed the Poland west. The new Polish state included areas that had been German for centuries. Most Germans living in the areas taken over by Poland had fleed with the retreating Wehrmacht. Whether they were officialy urged to flee – this would be deportation, isn`t it? – I don´t know. Many were fleeing when the German army had to leave these areas as they were anxious what the Soviet Russian army and soldiers would do; asking for the „Uru, Uru“ („Uhr“ in German for watch) by Russian soldiers certainly was harmless; but people were more anxious – and had some reason for it. Soviet troops in Germany engaged in widespread looting and raping. I assume this began with the Germand that they encounterd in Poland. Most Germans remaining were forced to migrate west to Germany without any assistance in doing so. Russian policy was to drive the Germans further west out of the new Poland. One account reported, "... the Russians are acting little better than thugs. They have wiped out all the liquid assets. No food cards are issued to Germans, who are forced to travel on foot into the Russian zone, often more dead than alive. An iron curtain has descended over the fate of these people and very likely conditions are truly terrible. The promises at Yalta to the contrary, probably 8 to 10 million people are being enslaved." [Dulles] It was not just the Russians forcing the Germans west. Poles who had been terribly abused by the Germans during the War, now took revenge on any Germans who tried to remain. The Polish Government reportedly mprisoned about 100,000 Germans, mostly civilians, who were judged to be threats to the state. The conditions were similar to those in NAZI concentration camps. About 15,000 are believed to have died from ill-treatment. Some of these Germans were not released until 1950.

Sources

Dulles, Allen W. "That was then: Allen W. Dulles on the occupation of Germany" Foreign Affairs (November/December 2003).

Stueck, Rudi. E-mail message, April 16, 2004.

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Created: April 15, 2004
Last updated: 1:20 AM 2/15/2016