"Non-Germans" Under the Third Reich (204 page)

Generally the Poles feared that they would suffer the same fate as the Jews, since despite all efforts to maintain secrecy, rumors were rife of mass executions in the East (SD report, Posen, of November 16, 1942, in
Meldungen des SD aus dem Reichsgau Wartheland
, November 8, 1942 [Institute for Western Studies, Pozna
]). See the reports for the period January 16 to February 15, 1941, by the district president of Posen (State Archive Pozna
, R-sta 854, Bl. 33–34) regarding the economic consequences of the resettlement and for December 1 to 15, 1939 (R-sta 853, Bl. 3 f.). For the “settlement” of Germans in the “liberated” areas, see Sobczak,
Hitlerowskie przedsiedlenia Łudno
ci niemieckiej w dobie II wojny s’wiatowej
(1966).

57.
Cf. the basic instructions no. 1/II of October 30, 1939, by the RFSS/RFK (ZS, Poland, film 62, Bl. 0546) and the implementing provisions of November 12, 1939, by the HSSPF Posen (Bl. 0547–0551); RSHA directives IV B 4 a (Eichmann) and secret circular of the HSSPF Posen dated November 12, 1939 (ZS, Poland, 243, Bl. 181–87, 257–73), according to which all Jews, “the whole Polish intelligentsia or Poles whose nationalistic attitude
might
make them a danger to the consolidation of German nationhood” [my emphasis], and “criminals” were to be deported from the Wartheland. A further circular of November 16, 1939, extended this to include members of politically and economically important professions, above all “teachers, important landowners, and factory owners,” but also craftsmen and small shopkeepers, and all people of asocial appearance(!) (reproduced in Łuczak,
Diskriminierung der Polen
, 154 ff.); see also report, December 23, 1939, district president of Posen for the period December 1 to 15 (State Archive Pozna
, R-sta 853, Bl. 26). Regarding the administrative confusion and duplication of powers in the settlements, see the letter of November 30, 1942, from the R-sta Posen to the district president (R-sta 1174, Bl. 106). According to a decree dated November 29, 1939, by the RFSS/RFK, anybody returning from the General Government was to be “immediately shot under martial law” (report of January 17, 1940, by the district president of Posen, Institute for Western Studies, Pozna
, doc. I-419); in this respect see also the instruction dated October 30, 1940, by the Gendarmerie chief, Posen (reproduced in Łuczak,
Dyskryminacja Polaków
, 166).

With regard to the extent of the resettlement, see the secret circular of November 12, 1939, from the HSSPF Posen to the governor general of Poland; report by the HSSPF Posen dated January 26, 1940 (ZS, Poland, film 62, Bl. 0547–0551); report of December 18, 1939, from the HSSPF Posen to the RSHA (film 14/634 ff.). Closing report of the Resettlement Center, Posen, on the evacuations in the framework of the transfer of Germans from Wolhynia-Galicia and Cholm (“second short-term plan”) in the
Reichsgau
Wartheland between December 1, 1939, and January 20, 1941 (film 14, Bl. 650 ff.); closing report on the evacuations in the framework of the transfer of Germans from Bessarabia (“third short-term plan”) in the
Reichsgau
Wartheland between January 20, 1941, and January 20, 1942 (IfZ, MA-708/2, 663–68; also ZS, Poland, film 62, Bl. 663); further see the closing report under the third extended short-term plan of December 31, 1942 (IfZ, MA708/2, Bl. 701–5; also ZS, Poland, film 57, Bl. 221 ff.); closing report for 1943 (film 14, Bl. 701 ff.; and IfZ, MA708/2, Bl. 701–5); letter of January 6, 1941, from the head of the SIPO and the SD/Resettlement Center, Posen, to the RSHA (Eichmann) (ZS, Versch. 84/398); regarding the “catastrophic consequences” of the resettlement, see the letter of June 25, 1940, from the governor general to the RMuChdRkzlei (Nuremberg doc. NG-1627, 2); urgent memorandum of March 1940 from the president of the Council of Ministers for Defense of the Reich and the head of the Four Year Plan (Hauptkommission Warschau, Archiv Regierung des GG, Hauptabteilung Innere Verwaltung, II/374). Report by Dr. Siebert, “Zur Polenpolitik im GG,” May 4, 1959, BA Ostdok. 1 General Government 1 b/3.

Part One. Section 2. C. VIII. Restrictions on Communication Information Exchange and the Confiscation of Cultural Goods

1.
Decree by the head of the Civil Administration (CdZ) Kattowitz (Katowice) (
VOBl. Militärbefehlshaber Oberschlesien
39, no. 16). Secret directives from the head of the Civil Administration Danzig (Gda
sk)—West Prussia (Institute for Western Studies, Pozna
, doc. I-107; reproduced in
Doc. Occ
. 5:65 n. 30). However, no central decree on seizures was issued under the terms of the directives. Seizures did occur at the local level; cf. letter of October 18, 1939, from the
Stadtkommissar
Gnesen (Gniezno) to the head of the Civil Administration Posen (State Archive Pozna
, CdZ 43).

2.
VOBl. Posen
39, 21 (in
Doc. Occ
. 5:65); see also the letter of October 12, 1939, from the head of the Civil Administration Posen (CdZ) to the police president of Posen (State Archive Pozna
, CdZ 43, 6); cf. protocol of a meeting at Armeeoberkommando 8 on September 22, 1939, in Posen: “Since it has been established that English radio stations have considerably increased their anti-German propaganda, all radio receivers should be confiscated and recalled” (State Archive Pozna
, CdZ 47, 23); cf. also the corresponding pronouncements of October 7 and 31, 1939, in Polish by the Bürgermeister of Klodawa (Kolo-Warthbrücken district) (Kreisarchiv [district archive] Konin, Akten Stadt Klodawa 21). The head of the civil administration was established until October 12, 1939, under Wehrmacht rule. After that date the territories were annexed formally and a Reich governor established.