"Non-Germans" Under the Third Reich (217 page)

12.
Cf. situation report from the military commander Kraków, October 9, 1939 (IfZ, Bestand MiG, Ma-682, Bl. 486 ff.), according to which the Jews believed themselves indispensable (because of their influence on the economy and commerce): “They are hoping for merciful treatment or a more or less advantageous solution of the Jewish question.” The Jews in eastern Poland showed an even greater degree of naïveté: SS offices expressed amazement that in 1939, after the Soviet takeover of eastern Poland, when commissions were established to oversee reciprocal repatriation of refugees (so-called Resettlement Offices, run by the SS), many Jews as well as a large number of Poles applied for return to the General Government; “gentle hints” from the SS offices fell on deaf ears. Regarding general living conditions, and in particular the availability of food to Jews in the General Government, cf. Madajczyk,
Polityka
, 2:225 ff.

13.
Decree on Forced Labor for Jews, October 26, 1939,
VBl.GG
(1939): 1. As early as May 1940, a Jewish ghetto was established on a trial basis in the Warsaw District. By the end of 1940, the ghetto was firmly established.

14.
The first three phases are clearly discernible in the “Report on the Development of the General Government” of July 1, 1940 (BA R 52 II/247).

15.
The first phase comprised (in chronological order): the introduction of forced labor, a ban on kosher butchering, the abolition of tax exemption for Jewish organizations, and compulsory identification badges and insignia for Jews and Jewish businesses; Jewish Councils were also instituted (decree of November 28, 1939,
VBl.GG
[1939]: 7, with implementing regulation issued on June 7, 1940,
VBl.GG
2 [1940]: 45; all quoted from “Bericht über den Aufbau im GG,” BA R 52 II/247), which effectively cut individual Jews off from any contact with German officialdom, since all decrees and directives were channeled exclusively through the Jewish Council, which was responsible for everything that happened in the Jewish community. An example of the scope of the responsibilities vested in the Jewish Council is the decree issued by the
Stadthauptmann
(head of town or city administration) of Warsaw to the commissioner for the Warsaw ghetto on February 27, 1941, which declared the Jewish Council responsible for any damage caused during clearance of apartments by Jews being resettled in the ghetto (ZS, Polen 352, 1127); as for the rest, the Jews were left to fend for themselves (“self-government”). Cf. also Decree on the Identification of Jews and Jewesses in the General Government of November 23, 1939 (
VBl.GG
[1939]: 61). From the age of 10, Jews were required to wear the Jewish star, on the
outer
sleeve. Any violation of the compulsory identification regulations carried the threat of prison and/or an unlimited fine as stipulated by the Second Decree on the Identification of Jews and Jewesses in the General Government, February 19, 1940 (
VBl.GG
[1940]: I 79). With regard to Jewish subjects of a neutral or allied country, cf. the instruction circulated by the head of the Central Department of Justice on July 21, 1941 (Main Commission Warsaw, Archive, government of the General Government, Central Department of Justice V/6) (see note 4, above).

16.
For further details, see “Bericht über den Aufbau im GG,” BA R 52 II/247, Bl. 190 f. This included compulsory registration for the purposes of “official records,” the obligation to notify the authorities of assets on the part of Jews, limitations on residence—reservation of permission to leave the commune (First Implementing Order to the Decree of October 26, 1939, on Forced Labor for Jews), and proscriptions on the use of public roads and squares, public transport, private vehicles, etc.

17.
For this phase, the authority to issue regulations governing conditions within the ghetto was disputed, since the SS and the police claimed sole regulatory powers (such matters being the concern of the Security Police), whereas the administration (
Kreishauptmann
) had the authority to set up ghettos (Decree on Residence Restrictions in the General Government, September 13, 1940,
VBl.GG
1 [1940]: 288) and, deriving from this, also authority in all regulatory matters concerning the ghetto.

18.
See, for example, the concluding report of the SSPF in the Galicia District regarding the solution of the Jewish question, sent to the HSSPF Kraków with a letter dated June 30, 1943 (Institute for Western Studies, Pozna
); report on the dissolution of the ghetto in Lemburg (L’viv), no date (probably 1942), no author (Institute for Western Studies, Pozna
); the so-called Stroop Report on the destruction of the Warsaw ghetto, May 1943 (Nuremberg doc. PS-1061; published as J. Stroop,
Es gibt keinen jüdischen Wohnbezirk mehr
[1976]); Szender, “Der letzte Jude aus Polen,” 1945 (BA D IV d 226 a).

19.
The basis for the change in jurisdiction was the decree sent on September 21, 1939, by the chief of the Security Police and the SD to the chief of the
Einsatzgruppen
(Special Operations Squads), which concerned the secrecy of the Final Solution and the ghettoization of the Jews as a preliminarty step (Nuremberg doc. EC-307–1). See concluding report of the SSPF Galicia (Institute for Western Studies, Pozna
).

20.
Cf. memorandum from the Armed Forces High Command about a discussion with Hitler on October 20, 1939, item 3: “We must prevent a Polish intelligentsia from forming a ruling class. A lower standard of living should be maintained in the country; we need it only as a manpower reservoir” (Nuremberg doc. PS-864).

21.
Decree of December 20, 1940,
VBl.GG
1 (1940): 378. Decree of March 8, 1940 (98). Decree issued by the government of the General Government on May 14, 1941 (ZS, Polen 256, 147), concerning “removal from public buildings of all artifacts that keep the memory of Pilsudski alive”; for more details, see directive (“request”) from the Central Department of Internal Administration, Department of Ecclesiastic Affairs, to the archepiscopal diocesan authorities in Kraków, June 28, 1941, to remove all Polish statuary, pictures, and memorial plaques from Polish churches, for example, busts of Koszciuszko or Pilsudski, on the grounds that “their further retention … is not in keeping with the real conditions in the General Government” (Main Commission Warsaw, Archive, Reg. des GG Hauptabteilung Innere Verwaltung II/270).

22.
The center for such research was the Institut für Deutsche Ostarbeit (Institute for German Development in the East) in Kraków, which was intended as the core of a future German university of the East, whose establishment under the presidency of the governor general was the subject of a decree dated April 19, 1940 (
VBl.GG
1 [1940]: 149 f.).

23.
The plans were developed as early as 1940, above all in relation to Kraków, Warsaw, and particularly Lemberg (L’vov); for further details, see Urban, “Krakauer gegenwärtige und zukünftige Neubauten” (1940).

24.
Decree on the Identification of Businesses in the General Government, November 23, 1939,
VBl.GG
(1939): 61. Guidelines issued by the head of the Governor General’s Office (Bühler) concerning the behavior of Germans in Poland, April 24, 1940, no.1 (court records from the Bühler trial), vol. 16, K. 198, in
Doc. Occ
. 6:381 f. Decree circulated by the government of the General Government on March 23, 1941, ZS, Polen 256/1969.

25.
Decree issued by the Central Department of Internal Administration on January 15, 1941 (Main Commission Warsaw, Archive, government of the General Government, Central Department of Internal Administration, II/374; also ZS, Polen 257, Bl. 42; copy); the district chiefs were instructed to have any contradictory directives removed step by step, without this appearing to be a “climb down” on the German side. At a meeting of
Kreis
-and
Stadthauptleute
of the Lublin District on January 17, 1941, it was agreed to abolish the “onerous compulsory Hitler-
Gruß
by Jews,” in accordance with the decree of January 15, 1941 (minutes, ZS, Polen 347, 293 ff.).

26.
Guidelines issued on April 24, 1940, by the head of the Governor General’s Office concerning the behavior of Germans in Poland (
Doc. Occ
. 6:381 f.), which stated, among other things, “Service in Poland is service in an enemy country and demands that we Germans adopt an especially responsible attitude … a constant awareness that each and every one of us represents the honor and dignity of the German Reich toward the enemy…. No. 3: … Social intercourse with Poles or Jews of either sex will be shunned by every German as a matter of course. In particular, intimate relations with enemy subjects are undignified and a danger to health…. No. 4: … Similarly in religious matters, this separateness is to be rigorously observed…. It is not commensurate with the proper conduct of any German who holds his sense of honor dear to attend … church services involving Polish clerics.” These guiding principles were handed out to all officials and employees in the office of the governor general; cf. letter from the head of the Governor General’s Office to all departments and district chiefs, October 11, 1940, quoted from
Doc. Occ
. 6:380 f.

27.
Decree of October 26, 1939, on the Introduction of Identification Cards in the General Government (
VBl.GG
[1939]: 8) and First and Second Implementing Regulations of June 13, 1941 (
VBl.GG
[1941]: 55), and April 17, 1943 (
VBl.GG
[1943]: 31). The identity cards were issued by the
Kreishauptamt
(
Stadthauptamt
) and were valid for five years (secs. 8, 10, par. 1, of the First Implementing Regulation of June 13, 1941). Identification cards were obligatory for Jews and Gypsies, even for those who were German citizens (First Implementing Regulation of June 13, 1941,
VBl.GG
[1941]: 55).

28.
Sec. 4 of the First Implementing Regulation of June 13, 1941 (
VBl.GG
[1941]: 55).

29.
Distribution was held up until 1941, apparently on technical grounds (for example, lack of photographic material), according to Governor Ernst Zörner of the Lublin District, speaking at a government meeting held on October 15, 1941, and
Landrat
Dr. Schönhals at the government meeting of October 17, 1941 (“Diensttagebuch 1941”).

Part One. Section 3. B. The Nature of the System of Special Law

1.
Cf. record, dated October 20, 1939, from the Armed Forces High Command (OKW) of a “discussion between the Führer and the chief of the OKW on the nature of future relations between Poland and Germany,” held on October 17, 1939 (Nuremberg doc., PS-864), in which Hitler’s concept was set out; no. 2: Poland “will become neither a part of the German Reich nor an administrative territory of the Reich”; no. 4: “The Civil Service … should not be dependent on Berlin…. Responsibility is not borne by the Berlin ministries, because it is not a German administrative unit.”

2.
Statements by Hitler, in minutes from the OKW, October 20, 1939, ibid., no. 4.