Figure 1.--Jews throughout western Poland were in a desperate situation from the moment the German soldiers s reached their towns or villages. Here we see Jews in an unidentfied location. All we know for sure is that they were photogrphed by a German, probably a German soldier for a scrapbook to document his war time exploits. Jews in the Western-most regions were deported or terrorized into fleeing into the General Government. All we have here is a caption in German on the back. It reads as best we can make out, "Hungrige Kinder bitten snis Brot u essen Juden will der der Erste dabei sein," That means somethng like, "Hungry children ask bread snis u eat the Jews will be the first case." Click on the image to see the message on theback, perhaps you can help make out what it says. Denying food to Jews and oyher unwanted people as all part of the Hunger Plan.

NAZI authorities in the areas of Poland that were being annexing to the Reich began deporting Jews to the Government General. Many Poles would also be deported. The Holocaust unfolded differently in Polabd depending ob where the Jews lived, bit the finalmoutcome was not different. The basic idea was to concentrate the Jews in the Government General where they woukd be ghettoized. Most Polished Jews lived in what becane the Government General. Jews in the areas to be annexed to the Reich were driven into the Government General. The process was so brutal that many died before reaching the Governmrnt General or were in sych ppor condition, died soon after arrival. Thus the Polish Jews were confined into ghettos and easily accessablr for roundups and transport to the death camps as part of Operation Reinhard (1941-42). Only in Sliesia were conditions generally better for a time. Even though the war had begun to shift against the Germans and skilled workers were needed for the war effort, German authoritie sent sent skilled workers to Auschwutz (1942). The remaining Jews were first ghetoized and then also deported to Auschwitz (1943).

Reichsgau Warthenas

The NAZIs annexed Southeastern Poland which became Reichsgau Wartheland. Tge new gau was subdivided into three Regierungsbezirke ("administrative districts"): Poznan, Inowroclaw, and Lodz. At the time of the German invasion the Jewish population was nearky 0.4 million, mostly in Lodz or the Lodz area. There wee very few Jews in Pozan. As it was incorporated into the Reich, German policy was to make the Wartheland "judenrein" (Jewish free) as soon as possible. [Heydrish, September 21, 1939.] This was not yet to be done by killing Jews, but by immediately deporting them to the Government General (GG). The NAZIs also planned to clear the Wartheland of Poles. SS Reich Führer Himmler issued a secret order to Heydrich and his Reichssicherheitshauptamt (RHSA—Reich Security Main Office) and the high SS and police officials setting November 1939 through February 1940 as the period during the entire Jewish population and most Poles would be deported. [Himmler, October 30, 1939.] Wartheland's new Gauleiter Arthur Greiser issued similar orders (November 4, 1939). Greiser was a Party official and not a SS officer. Even before the War, tensions were developing between the Party and the SS. Even with NAZI terror, this massive deportation was unrealitic, but it did set a huge shift of population in motion. The NAZIs began the deportation of 100,000 Jews during the period Himmler set. Over 50 Jewish communities were ebtireky or partly emptied and forced into the Lublin district of the GG (fall 1939 - and May 1940). This was this carried out in the harsh winter weather. This included Poznan, Kalisz, Ciechocinek, Gniezno, Inowroclaw, Nieszawa, and Konin. The process varied. The German security forces in some of the various towns conducted the deportations in stages. Often small numbers of men were allowed to remain as slave labor work groups to carry out a varietybof tasks for the Germans. The NAZI terror regime including property seizures, beatings, and shootings drove the Jews to dispair and many peole attempted to get to the GG on their own. This happened in Lipno and Kalisz where many Jews en masse fled (October and November 1939). A special German action was organized in Lodz where most of the Jews lived. More than 10,000 Jews were deported to the GG. This action was selected and consisted of mostvof the city's Jewish intelligentsia (December 1939). The actions were organized in the sence of the force used. There was, however, nomplanning for the humanitarian needs of thousands of people stripped of their possessions and forced tonleave their homes. Many had to wait in assembly points without any means of feeding hemselves. Shelter was lacking or in many cases non-existant. And this was done during severe winter conditions. The depoertees had to obtain their own food ahd water even though their cash and valuables has been taken from them. No special provision was made for children and the elderly. Thevmajor assembly points were Kalisz, Sieradz, and Lodz. Here selections took place. Health males (14 years and older were sent to prepared labor camps. Women, children, and older men were trasported in sealed rail box cars to the Lublin and Kielce districts of the GG. When the tranports were opened some people were found dead. Others were almost frozen or sick. Those who managed to survive had only the clothing on theur backs and no food or clothing. Nor was any provision made to assist them at the arrival points. Small numbers could seek out family or friends. Most had no choice but to seek out already crowded synagogues and poorhouses which had no means of coping with the mass of deportees. The Jewish communities in the Lublin and Radom districts were under pressure thenselves being stripped of their property. Assisting the deportees in a meaningful way was virtually impossible.

Reichsgau Danzig-Westpreussen

The NAZIs annexed the northern area of what was the Polish Corridor to the Reich. It became Reichsgau Danzig-Westpreussen. There was a very small Jewish population, about 23,000 people. There were only a few small communities: Danzig, Torun, and Bydgoszcz. The Germans pursued a different policy in this area. Because of the small numbers of Jews, the Germans launched a campaign of terror almost at once. Poles were also targeted. There were terrible masacres where whole communities were shot. Some Jews and Poles fled east and the rest were deported to the GG. The new gau was largely Judenfrei within a few months. A few Jews remained for a short time. The last transport of some 2,000 Jews including deportees from from Danzig and Bydogszcz, including some from Koenigsbergvin East Prussia reached the the Warsaw Ghetto in the GG (March 10, 1941). This Reichsgau Danzig-Westpreussen was the first area of Poland to become Judenrein.

Regierungsbezirk Zichenau (Ciechanow)

Regierungsbezirk Zichenau was northern Poland east of the Corridor. It was made part of East Prussia rather than a new gau. The 1931 census Polis census reported about 80,000 Jews living there. Here the German policy was at first to force the Jews in the east into the Soviet occupation zone of Poland. Aspart of tge NAZI-Soviet Non-AgressionnAgreemet, the two counties partioned Poland (August 1939). The attacked Poland (September 1). The Soviets wwre more cautios, allowing the Germans to largely defeat the Polish Army before invading (September 17). Towns close to the newly created German-Soviet demarcation line (Ostrow Mazowiecka, Przasnysz, Ostroleka, and Pultusk) were forced at gun point into the Sovier zone. The Jews were forced to cross the Bug or the Narew rivers without boats. Those who hesitated were shot. So substantial numbers either drowned or died and opening fire on them, so that some people drowned or died from the wounds. Many people who were wounded perished in the rivers. Their reception varied on the Soviet side. Some Red Army units tried to force them back across the rivers. Jews further west were left in their homes for a time, although they becamne subject tobthe same represive regulations affecting Reich Jews. Morecsevere actions agsinst them and mass deportations were delayed for a time. The NAZIs finally got around to Jews here in the run up to Barbarossa (February 1941). The first to be targeted were about 10,000 Jews in Plock and the surronding area. They were driven out of their homes on to theroads south to the Dzialdowo transit camp. Here tgey were methodically beaten and robbed. Then they were driven out without food or money. They sought succior in towns located in the Radom district, By the end of the year most had perished from either starvation or diseases related to malnutrition and exposure. Few survived the winter. Small temporary ghettos were estanlished in Ciechanow, Mlawa, Plonsk, Strzegowo, and Sierpc. Jews innthe east which had avoided the earlier expulsion to the Soviet zone xwere forced into these ghettos. These ghettos as part of East Prussia administered by the notorious gauleiter Erich Koch whose role in the occupied East after Barbarossa would forge an unimaginable record of barbarity. Conditions in these ghettoes were harsh by the unenviable conditions inthecrest of Polsnd. Murder abd bearings would be common place. Often he would ordervthe Judenrat and ghetto police arrested and shot. The gettos were liquidated as part of Operation Reinhard (fall 1942). Most of theJews were transports wentvto the Treblinka death camp where they were murdered upon arrival. Almost no one survived.

Regierungsbezirk Kattowitz (East Upper Silesia)

Southwestern Poland was annexed to thecReich as Regierungsbezirk Kattowitz. Itvwas tgecarea of Silesia that became part of Poland. Silesia was one of the most fought over provinces in Europe. The Central Office of the Councils of Elders of the Jewish Communities in East Upper Silesia described 32 communities with a populatioj of 93,628 people (March 1941). The largest communities were Bedzin (25,171), Sosnowiec (24,149), Chrzanow (8,229), Zawiercie (5,472), Dabrowa Gornicza (5,564), and Oswiecim (6,454). Silesia was one of the most heavily industrialized areas of Polahd (mining, metallurgy, and textiles). Jews had played a major in the industrialization during thelate-19th and early-20th century. After the invasion, German authorities set about seizing Jewish industries abd businesses as part of the Aryanization process along the lines followed in the Reich itself before the War, but much more rapidly. A special agency was created to facilitate this process-- the Dienststelle des Sonderbeauftragten der R.R.S.S. und Chefs der deutschen Polizei fuer fremdvoelkischen Einsatz in Oberschlesien. It was overseen by Gen. Albrecht Schmelt and thus often called the Schmelt Organization or simply the Dienststelle. It oversaw the transfer of substantial large number of skilled Jewish workers to German firms in Silesia and the rest of the Reich. German companies werevnot allowed to hire Jews with out approvals from the Schmelt Organization. The Organization eventually established total contril over these workers. The companies involved paid the Jewish workers the going wage rates in the Katowice (Kattowitz) area. The workers, however, received only a portion of the wages paiid. Thefirms had to remit a part to the Schmelt Organization. Tge Organization employed 50,570 Jewish workers (1942). Because many Germans benefited from Jewish labor, the decesion to kill Polish Jews was not uniformily popular among the NAZIs administering occupied Poland. But because the orders came from Hitler, there was no alternative. The orders for the deportation of the Jewish workers inEast Upper Silesia finally came (May–June 1942). They were dtransprted to Auschwitz, which had become in a short period the major NAZI concentration camp and the largest industrial complex in in Silesia. This shows Hitler'scdecesion to kill Jews asrapidly as possible without regard to the condequences. Operation Reinhard had begun earlier in 1941 before it was clear that the Red Armyvwould not be destroyed. The Wehrmachtvsuffered huge losses in men and equioment as aresult of Red Army winter counter offensice before Moscow. As a result, draft notices began to go out to workers who had held deferments creating a severe labir shortage. But rather than turning to Jewish labor which could have helped fill the vacated jobs, Hitler ordered Himmler and Heydrich to continue the killing process. The deportation of the Schmelt Organization workers was just one example of this, a particularly telling one because they were skilled workers. Moshe Merin was an important figure in the Jewish community. He was chairman of the Central Office of the Councils of Elders in Sosnowiec. He virtually controlled tge Judenrat ( Jewish councils). The Silesian Jews were the kast to be ghettoization. It did not occur until most of the other Jews had already been killed and the Warsaw Ghetto was being emptied. Theorocess began earlier, but the Bedzin and Sosnowiec Ghettos were closed (May 1943). These ghettos were also used for Jews that had avoided earlier Aussiedlungen (evacuation actions). Merin pursued a policy of saving Jews by cooperating with the NAZI authorities. He voluntarily provided the NAZI Moloch with victims so that some Jews could survive. He actively participated in the Aussiedlungsaktionen roundups and used the Jewish police force so the Germans did not need to do the dirty work. The Silesian ghettos did not last long. The NAZIs soon liquidated them (August 1943).

Sources

Heydrich, Reinhard. "Schnellbrief" (September 21, 1939.

Himmler, Heinrich. Secret memo to RHSA and security agencues.

Created: 9:54 AM 4/6/2011
Last updated: 6:12 AM 5/31/2014