"Non-Germans" Under the Third Reich (188 page)

Part One. Section 2. C. II. The Economic and Commercial Sector

1.
For full details, see the collection of documents published by Łuczak,
Grabie
polskiego mienia na ziemiach zachodnich rzeczypospolitiej “wcielonych” do rzeszy 1939–1945
(The seizure of Polish property in the Polish western territories “incorporated” into the Reich in 1939–1945) (1969), containing numerous previously unpublished sources from Polish archives, which confirm the arguments set out here in every particular; also the sources quoted in
Doc. Occ
. 5:174 ff.; see also the comprehensive introduction by K. M. Pospieszalski, with further references. With regard to the general National Socialist economic policy in Poland, see Madajczyk,
Polityka
, 1:509–36, 596 ff.; Nawrocki,
Hitlerowska okupacja wielkopolski
(1966), 242 ff.; Łuczak,
Dyskryminacja Polaków,
(1966), 204 f., 271 ff., 372 f.; as to the difference in economic policy between the Annexed Eastern Territories and the General Government, see the letter of October 19, 1939, from the head of the Four Year Plan to Governor General Frank and the Reich governor of Danzig (Gda
sk) (Nuremberg doc. EC-410) (in the General Government, exploitation for the benefit of the Reich; in the Eastern Territories, development of the economy, seizure of Polish and Jewish assets for the Reich); a list of the various special economic provisions can be found in Kluge and Krüger,
Verfassung und Verwaltung
(1941), 128 ff. No complete overview of the National Socialist economic policy in the Annexed Eastern Territories and the General Government yet exists. Polish archives contain comprehensive material from the Main Trustee Office East.

2.
Decree of March 3, 1942 (
RGBl
. I 166); the property of Jews previously of Polish nationality was confiscated under the so-called Polish Assets Decree of September 17, 1940 (
RGBl
. I 1270).

3.
Decrees of the chief of the Army Command dated September 29, 1939, on the use of commissionary administrators for businesses, factories, and real estate (
VOBl.Posen
, 21; reproduced in
Doc. Occ
. 5:54 f.) and on the acquisition of real estate, commercial business, etc. (
VOBl. Posen
, 23; reproduced in
Doc. Occ
. 5:55 ff.). For Upper Silesia, decrees issued by the head of the Civil Administration Kattowitz (Katowice) of September 5, 1939 (property of people who had fled,
VOBl. Grenzschutz
, no. I/39, reproduced in
Doc. Occ
. 5:68), September 16, 1939 (retail shops and artisanal workshops,
VOBl. Grenzschutz
, no. 6/39, reproduced in
Doc. Occ
. 5:70 f.), September 20, 1939 (administration of the property of people who had fled,
VOBl. Grenzschutz
, no. 8/39, reproduced in
Doc. Occ
. 5:72 ff.); and decree by the commander of the Frontier Defense Commando Unit regarding seizure (
VOBl. Grenzschutz
, no. 9/39, reproduced in
Doc. Occ
. 5:71 f.). For Danzig–West Prussia, see decrees issued by the military commander for Danzig–West Prussia of September 27, 1939 (seizure of Polish assets,
VOBl. Militärbefehlshaber
1939, 61, reproduced in
Doc. Occ
. 5:57 f.), with supplementary decree of the same date (
VOBl. Militärbefehlshaber
1939, 133, reproduced in
Doc. Occ
. 5:58 f.); third decree, dated October 22, 1939, by the head of the Civil Administration Danzig–West Prussia (seizure of Polish property,
VOBl. Militärbefehlshaber
1939, 162, reproduced in
Doc. Occ
. 5:59). For the Warthegau, see the decree of September 28, 1939, issued by the head of the civil administration of Posen (Pozna
) (trade in real estate and real rights,
VOBl. Posen
, 12, reproduced in
Doc. Occ
. 5:65).

4.
Full details in Arndt, “Entziehung und Verbringung jüdischen Vermögens” (1960), 92 ff.; with regard to the situation in the Annexed Eastern Territories, 104 ff.

5.
See, for example, the Directive on the Safekeeping of Jewish Assets of January 8, 1940, in the Ostrowo District (
Kreisblatt Ostrowo
of January 22, 1940; Institute for Western Studies, Pozna
).

6.
The report by Arndt, “Entziehung und Verbringung jüdischen Vermögens,” gives no details of unofficial confiscations, since the German Federal Republic archives contain no relevant documents (92). The following Polish sources are extremely valuable: reports of the Security Police, Rawitsch (Rawicz) (Wartheland) dated September 25; October 5, 7, 10; November 6, 10, 11, 12, 20, 22, 29; December 20, 1939 (State Archive Pozna
, Schutzpolizei, Dienstabteilung Rawitsch 16, Bl. 9, 27, 32, 48, 51, 53, 54, 63, 66, 71, 83). Letter dated November 27, 1939 (presumably from the Bürgermeister office, Strzelno) to a Pole in Strzelno (State Archives Bromberg, Dept. Inowrocław, Hohensalza—Magistrat Strzelno no. 832, Bl. 205, quoted by Łuczak,
Grabie
polskiego mienia
, 14 f.) and a letter of January 29, 1940, from the Bürgermeister office, Strzelno, to the Ostmark Hotel in Strzelno (Bl. 241, quoted on 15); report of October 8, 1939, by the SIPO, Posen (State Archives Bromberg, Dept. Inowrocław, Hohensalza—Magistrat Strzelno no. 832, “Der Chef der Zivilverwaltung,” 54, Bl. 86, quoted on 12), regarding the seizure of goods of all kinds for German offices and private individuals (settlers, company directors, etc.), including bicycles, typewriters, knitwear, cattle, living accommodations and furniture, sewing machines, coal, bed linen, records of political organizations, savings bank books, cars, cutlery, alcoholic drinks, works of art, records of Polish trade unions, etc. See also the letter of November 13, 1939, from the district president of Posen to
Generaljustitiar
Leibrock (internal) (State Archive Pozna
,
Reichsstatthalter
4, 21) regarding seizure of the libraries of Polish and Jewish lawyers and notaries for use in the office of the Reich governor of Posen, with explicit approval of the Posen Chamber of Lawyers. Report of November 6, 1939, by the Bürgermeister of Hohensalza (private collection, reproduced in Łuczak,
Grabie
polskiego mienia
, 12 f.):