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war and social upheaval: World War II -- Poland ethnicity
World War II: Poland--Ethnicity
Figure 1.--Hitler used the aleged Polish mistreatment of ethnic Germans as part of the excuse to invade the country and in effect launch World War II. Here some ethnic German boys during the German invaion are wellcoming the rival of German troops, in this case Luftwaffe men. This wire service ohotogrph released by the Gernans was captioned, "Soldier shares his meal: Somewhere in Poland the driver of a Gernan military car offers food to a a youngster who ears the driver's helmet. Other youngster look on." The caption provided by the Germans read, "A youth of German extractionis being offered food out of a plate by a German soldier." The photograph was dated September 23, 1939."
Eastern Europe between Germany and Russia was an area of mixed etnicity. The werstern part of the area was largely Polish. The eastern are was mixed. One area refers to it as the 'Bllodlands' because of what transpired there during World War II. Poland was in part created by the Versailles Treaty (1919) ending World War I and a war with the Bolsheviks which extended Poland's boundary east into areas with populations that were not predominately Polish. As a result, Poland during the inter-War era was a muti-national, multi-ethnic, and mult-relogious state. About 60 percent of the populatin waas Polish-speaking and predominately Catholic. The Polish population predominated in western and centrl Poland. Futher east the population was more varied. The largest minority was the Ukranians in the east which constituted about 15 percent of the population. About 10 percent of the population was Jewish. The Jews were scattered thrughout the country, but mostly in urban areas, both cities and villages. As a result, about 40 poercent of the population of Warsaw was Jewish. There were other minorities, including Germas in the west and Lithuanians, and Belorussians in the east. Hitler used the susposed mistreatment of ethnic-Germans as an excuse to launch the War. Poland was invaded and occupied by the Germans and Soviet Unuin (Sptember 1939). Both were determined to destroy the Polish nation. The NAZI obsession with race proved deadly in Poland. Rights and essential maters like rations were determined by ethnicity under German rule. Stalin was also concedrned with ethnicity, but not because of race. He recognized the nationalist and religious factors associated with ethnicity and the impact on his ability to control an area. This is why he launced the Ukranian famine (early 1930s). Animosities between the ethnic groups caused futher conflict, especially animosity between Poles and Ukranians. Despite plans to kills Ukranians in large numbers, some Ukranians cooperated with the Germans against Jews Poles and Soviets. Generalplan Ost was a secret document, but many Ukranians watching the Einsatzgruppen openly killing Jews asked the logial question, 'Are we next?' The Einsatzgruppen did not immediately begin killing Jews in NAZI-occupied POland (September 1939), thry did when the Whermacht invaded the Soviet Union which included easter Poland (June 1941).
Sources
Snyder, Timothy. Bloodlands: Europe between Hitler and Stalin (Basic Books: New York, 2010), 524p.
