The Gestapo and German Society: Enforcing Racial Policy 1933-1945 (61 page)

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Authors: Robert Gellately

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BOOK: The Gestapo and German Society: Enforcing Racial Policy 1933-1945
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z Jan Tomasz Gross, Polish Society under German Occupation: The Generalgouvernement (Princeton, 1979), 47. See also Martin Broszat, Zweihundert Jahre deutsche Polenpolitik (1963; Frankfurt, 1972), 234 ff. Cf. Richard C. Lukas, Forgotten Holocaust: The Poles under German Occupation 19391944 (Lexington, 1986), 1 if. See esp. Jochen August, 'Die Entwicklung des Arbeitsmarkts in Deutschland in den 3oer Jahren and der Masseneinsatz auslandischer Arbeitskrafte wahrend des Zweiten Weltkrieges', Archiv fur Sozialgeschichte, 24 (1984), 305 R.

' Hans-Ulrich Wehler, The German Empire 1871-1918. trans. K. Traynor (Leamington Spa. 1985), 113. See Richard C. Murphy, Gastarbeiter im Deutschen Reich: Polen in Bottrop 18911933, trans. T. Schoenbaum-Holtermann (Wuppertal. 1982). 183ff. Cf. Christoph Klessmann. Polnische Bergarbeiter im Ruhrgebiet (Gottingen, 1978): Dietmar Petzina, 'Soziale Lage der deutschen Arbeiter and Probleme des Arbeitseinsatzes wahrend des Zweiten Weltkriegs', in Waclaw Dlugoborski (ed.), Zweiter Weltkrieg and sozialer Wandel (Gottingen, 1981). 65 ff.: Hans Pfahlmann, Fremdarbeiter and Kreigsgefangene in der deutschen Kriegswirtschaft 1939-1945 (Darmstadt, 1968) 153ff.

i Wolfgang J. Mommsen, Max Weber and German Politics 189o-192o, trans. M. S. Steinberg (Chicago, 1984), 21ff.

Ulrich Herbert, Geschichte der Auslanderbeschajtigung in Deutschland 188o bis 1980 (Berlin, 1986), 100. See also Martin Broszat, Nationalsozialistische Polenpolitik 1939-1945 (Stuttgart, 1961). 9ff.

BAK: R49/75: 25 Nov. 1939, 'Die Frage der Behandlung der Bevolkerung der ehemaligen polnischen Gebiete nach rassenpolitischen Gesichtspunkten', 16, 20.

" Ibid. 23.

See the report of Jan.-Feb. 1938 of the Reich Labour trustee, in Mason, Arbeiterklasse, 618ff.

See BAK: R49/5: decree of 19 Feb. 1942.

1' Ibid. R49/75: memo of 25 Nov. 1939, P. 25. See also Himmier's decree of 30 Oct. 1939 on 'Einsatz von eindeutschungsfahigen Polen', ibid. R49/11, 0.

" Ibid. R49/75: memo of z 5 Nov. 1939. p. 36. See also ibid. R49/2: Fiihrer decree, 7 Oct. 1939, p. 3: and Jutta Sywottek, Mobilmachung fur den totalen Krieg: Die propagandistische Vorbereitung der deutschen Bevolkerung auf den Zweiten Weltkreig (Opladen. 1976), 209ff.

14 Text, with introduction by Helmut Krausnick, in 'Denkschrift Himmlers fiber die Behandlung der Fremdvdlkischen im Osten (Mai 1940)', VIZ 5 (1957), 194ff. Full text in BAK: R49/2, 76ff.

'' Ibid. 319, 309, 310.

Cf. Robert L. Koehl, RKFDV: German Resettlement and Population Policy 19-39-I945'. A History of the Reich Commission for the Strengthening of Germandom (Cambridge. Mass., 1957), 41ff.; and Jan Gross, 29ff.

12 Text, with introduction by Helmut Heiber, in 'Der Generalplan Ost', VJZ 6 (1958). 3o6-9.

' Ingrid Schupetta, Frauen- and Auslandererwerbstatigkeit in Deutschland von 1939 bis 1945 (Cologne, 1983). 39ff. The average working week increased only slightly from 46 hours in 1929 to 47.8 in 1939: Karl Hardach, Wirtschaftsgeschichte Deutschlands im 20. Jahrhundert (Gottingen, 1976), 95ff. See Claudia Koonz, Mothers in the Fatherland: Women, the Family and Nazi Politics (New York, 1987), 196ff.; Jill Stephenson, The Nazi Organisation of Women (London, 1981), 178ff.; Ddrte Winkler, Frauenarbeit im 'Dritten Reich' (Hamburg, 1977), 187ff.; Ludolf Herbst, Der totale Krieg and die Ordnung der Wirtschaft: Die Kriegswirtschaft im Spannungsfeld von Politik, Ideologie and Propaganda 1939-1945 (Stuttgart, 1982), 15off.

" Mason, Arbeiterklasse, 1ff. See also his 'Women in Germany, 1925-1940: Family, Welfare and Work', History Workshop journal, 1, 2 (summer and autumn 1976), 120ff.

" See Richard Overy,'Germany, "Domestic Crisis" and War in 1939, Past and Present (1987), 138ff.

See Horst Rohde, 'Hitlers erster "Blitzkreig" and seine Auswirkungen auf Nordosteuropa', in Das Deutsche Reich and der Zweite Weltkrieg, ii (Stuttgart, 1979), 139ff.

21 IMT, xxvi. 377ff., doc. 864-PS.

IMT, xxxix. 425, doc. 172 USSR.

24 Alfred Konieczny and Herbert Szurgacz, Praca przymusowa polakow pod panowaniew hitlerovskiin 1939-1945 (Poznan. 1976), 319 (p. j25 for the decrees): cf. Homze. 29.

25 Figure cited from Jan Gross, 79 n. 27.

2h Das Diensttagebuch des deutschen Generalgouverneurs in Polen 1939-1945, ed. Werner Prag and Wolfgang Jacobmeyer (Stuttgart, 1975), 96-7 (r9 Jan. 1940).

17 Konieczny and Szurgacz, 326ff.

21 See IMT, xxix. 391,doc. 2233-PS (remarks by Frank, 16 Mar. 1940). Cf. Konieczny and Szurgacz. 3S4ff. (2 May 1940).

22 Edward L. Homze, Foreign Labor in Nazi Germany (Princeton, 1967), 23.

21 Jan Gross, 5o.

'' Ibid. 79ff.

17 Ibid. 796. Cf. Fritz Sauckel's testimony in IMT, xv. 164ff.

Diensttagebuch des Generalgouverneurs. 63 1 (i 3 Mar. 1943).

See Ulrich Herbert, F'remdarbeiter: Politik and Praxis des 'Ausinnder-Einsatzes' in der Kriegswirtschaft des Dritten Reiches (Berlin, 1986). 272. Cf. Czeslaw Luczak, Poloienie polskich robotnikow przymusowych w Rzeszy 1939-1945 (Poznan. 1975). 201, and Homze, 195•

40 Schupetta, 97.

'y DUrkefalden. 1 19: Herbert Spaich, F'remde in Deutschland: Unbequeme Kapitel unserer Geschichte (Weinheim, 1981), 169ff.

17 Diensttagebuch des Generalgouverneurs, 293 (27 Oct. 1942).

See esp. August, 'Arbeitsmarkt', 342ff. Cf. Konieczny and Szurgacz, 420ff.

Jan Gross, 79.

Ibid. 153 (12 Mar. 1940).

Ibid. 511 (22 June 1942).

6 Ibid. 587 (9 Dec. 1942).

StA W: SD 9 (27 June 1940).

as BAK:Rj8/1o3o, 1ff.: Group Arbeitseinsatz of Goring's staff to Minister of War (12 Apr. 1937)•

Eva Seeber. Zwangsarbeiter in der Jaschistischen KriegswirtschaJt (Berlin (East). 1964). 152.

See the table in Luczak, p. lxxiv.

+' Ibid. 6-7.

Ibid. 7-8.

1' Ibid. 28-35: Himmler to all police (8 Mar. 1940).

For examples of surviving files see StA NadD and BGLK. See also Christoph U. SchminckGustavus, 'Zwangsarbeitsrecht and Faschismus: Zur "Polenpolitik" im "Dritten Reich"', Kritische 111stiz, 13 (1980), 1-27, 184-206.

4' BAK: 1158/1030, 42-3.

Ibid. 46ff. The 'Ost'-badge decree was issued on 20 Feb. 1942: see Allgemeine E'rlaf3sanunlmui. 24ff.

:2 See Klaus J. Bade, 'Transatlantic Emigration and Continental Immigration: The German Experience Past and Present', in Klaus J. Bade (ed.). Population. Labour and Migration in 19th and 20th Century Germany (Leamington Spa. 1987), 143 .

BAK: 5;: Himmler to Hess.

See SD reports for 1938 in StA L: Kr 1o/44; cf. LA Speyer: H33 1268 III. reports from Frankental (29 Nov. 1939).

Wendelgard von Staden, Darkness over the Valley, trans. M. C. Peters (Harmondsworth, 1982), 39.

'`' Ibid. 40.

57 Ibid. 42-3.

Herbert, Fremdarbeiter, 154fi•

5' Heinz Boberach (ed. ). Meldungen aus deco Reich: Die geheinten Lageberichte des Sicherheitsdienstes der SS 1938-1945 (Herrsching, 1984). 528 (4 Dec. 1939) [cited henceforth as Meldungen aus dein Reich].

Ibid. The report concluded that the German population was also not 'reserved enough' when it came to Czech farm-workers.

StA B. in IfZ: MA 541 (Aug. 1940).

KLB vi. 16 3.

°' Ibid. ii. 345-6 (Mar. 1940).

°S See Wolfgang Schumann et al.. Deutschland im zweiten Weltkrieg, ii (Berlin, (East). 1975). 412.

`'a Ibid. iv (1985). 407. For further exploration of the Gestapo's arrest statistics and their implications see my 'Surveillance and Disobedience'.

65 StA W: Gestapo 14819.

Ibid. 1145 3 (obernbreit).

'" Ibid. 2762 (this was Shrove Tuesday).

''' StA W: Gestapo 568.

Ibid. 7,596: 16606.

69 Ibid. 1646o.

71 See e.g. ibid. 12073: Wurzburg (Apr. 1941).

Ibid. 827r.

" Ibid. 5361: cf. 16397. Though not prosecuted for sending the wreath (the man had worked for her for three years), the woman was brought in for interrogation. The latter case and the whole issue of enforcement of policies in the religious sphere are discussed in Anton Grossmann. 'Fremd- and Zwangsarbeiter in Bayern 1939-1945• in Klaus J. Bade (ed.). Auswanderer- Wanderarbeiter-Gastarbeiter: Bevolkerung, Arbeitsmarkt and Wanderung in Deutschland seit der Mitte des 19. Jahrhunderts (Ostfildern, 1984). 614ff. For the law see Allgemeine Erlal3sammlung. 15off. (In Sept. 1943).

StA W: Gestapo 6297.

75 Ibid. 4280: 9631.

7b Ibid. io865.

71 See Meldungen aus dem Reich, 1873-4 (Dec. 1940): 2148 (Mar. 1941): 3496ff. (Mar. 1942).

77 StA W: Gestapo 16179.

71 Ibid. 46 3.

"" Herbert, Fremdarbeiter, 125.

For an early analysis of conditions see Patricia Harvey, 'Labour', in Arnold Toynbee (ed.), Survey of International Affairs 1939-1946: Hitler's Europe (London, 1954), 249ff.: cf. International Labour Office, The Exploitation of Foreign Labour by Germany (Montreal. 1945), 90ff•

12 StA W: Gestapo 6963.

Cf. Herbert. Frerdarbeiter, 125-6, and Therkel Straede. 'Danische Fremdarbeiter in Deutschland wahrend des Zweiten Weltkrieges'. Zeitgeschichte, 1 3 (1986). 397ff.

"' StA W: Gestapo 4946.

" Ibid. t 3464.

'5 Cf. ibid. 14102; Wurzburg case (26 June 1940). 86 IC IL,..L- 11 ...... i - 1 m._ __1 _ _. n.

"' Grossmann. 'Fremd- and Zwangsarbeiter'. 658. maintains that the law applied initially only to Bavaria and only later (5 July 1941) to the country as a whole. This is not borne out by correspondence in BAK: R/58 5030, 42-3.

StA W: Gestapo 5645•

"y BAK: R58/5o30, 88ff.

Ibid. 9o.

" StA W: Gestapo 17008; this case is also discussed in Anton Grossmann, 'Polen and Sowjetrussen als Arbeiter in Bayern 1939-1945', ArchivfurSozialgeschichte, 29 (1984). 382-3. "Z StA W: SD 9 (22 Nov. 1940).

BAK: 1198/10 30. 9i ff.: Heydrich to Gestapo (3 Sept. 1940). See also the reference to the fate of Polish and Soviet workers in note 1, p. 215 above.

9h See StA W: Gestapo 2062. for an example of a woman arrested on suspicion of sexual relations with an Italian internee in Aug. 1944. For a case where all that happened was that a woman gave an Italian apiece of bread and an apple (30 Dec. 1943) see ibid. 5 i o i .

17 The case is discussed in Grossmann. 'Polen'. 386.

StA Nadi): Keg. 17377.

" Grossmann, 'Polen', 387.

BAK: R58/io3o, 168-70.

StA W: Gestapo 6961: 8548. (Bauer eventually had a miscarriage.)

""' See Grossmann, 'Polen', 384-5, and C. U. Schminck-Gustavus, Das Heimweh des Walerjan Wroble: Ein Sondergeriehtsverfahren 1941/¢2 (Berlin, 1986), 142.

"" See e.g. Beck, 15 1 ff.

roe BAK: NS 29/4, 103-4.

St A W: SD (5 Oct., 8 Nov. 1940).

Ibid. (1 o Sept. 1940).

Ibid. (7 Dec 1940).

116 StA W: Gestapo 5352 (May/June 1940).

1117 StA W: SI) (2 Dec. 1940).

"'y Ibid. (22 Nov. 1940).

°N Ibid. (7 Dec. '94o).

1 2 Herbert. Fremdarheiter. 126.

"" Ibid. (14 Mar. 1941).

"' BAK: R22/3369, 12: OLGP (3o Mar. 1940).

BAK: R22/3381. 76-7, 88ff.: OLGP Nuremberg.

StA B: M3o/1o49 SD (20 July 1942).

"a Ibid. (17 Aug. 1942).

"' Ibid. (;t Aug. 1942).

121 BAK: R22/3371, 71: OBLGP Kassel (5 Mar. 1942). See also examples in Aurel Bilistein, Fremdarbeiter in unserer Stadt (Frankfurt, 1980), 36ff.

122 For what follows see StA B: M3o/1049. SD (17 Aug. 1942).

11 Ibid. (i i Aug. 1942).

Ibid. i 19.

121 Ibid. 28.

' BAK: R22/3369, 9ff.

123 Ibid. (21 Aug. 1942). Not only Nazi zealots felt that the German woman should be punished: cf. the magistrate in Miihldorf. Feb. 1941, cited in Grossmann, 'Fremd- and Zwangsarbeiter', 618-19.

' StA B: M3o/1049, SD (17 July 1942): also for what follows.

Grossmann, 'Polen', 384.

'Z'BAK: R22/3379, 115: GSA b. OLGP, Munich (so June 1944).

117 Meldungen aus dem Reich, 4750 (4 Feb. 194 3).

zs Beck, 15.

"Z Cf. BAK: R22/3381, pp. 126ff.: OLGP Nuremberg (31 Mar. 1943). Cf. the popular outrage (even among Party members) in Weisingen, near Dillingen/Donau, when a French prisoner of war was shot in Dec. 1942: StA NadD: GL Schwaben 2/27.

15 StA NadD: SD Friedberg (i Mar. 1943).

"' BGLK: Abt. 465d, GL Baden 8. Cf. the mixed reports in Meldungen aus dem Reich, 5295 if. (May 1943); 5861ff. (Oct. 1943); 6349 B. (Feb. 1944).

1.. Meldungen aus dem Reich, 4849 (25 Feb. 1943)•

10 Quoted ibid.

Ibid.

StA W: SD (8 Mar. 1943).

' StA NadD: SD Friedberg (8 Feb. 1943).

StA NadD: SD Friedberg (23 Apr. 1943). Cf. the SD in Wurzburg to the same effect, quoted in Kershaw. Popular Opinion, 365.

142 StA NadD: SD (6 Feb. 1944).

' Cf. Steinert, 14 3.

~~" StA W: SD (26 Oct. 1943).

"' Ibid. (i i Apr. 1944).

Figures in Beck. 72: 84-5.

For earlier complaints see BAK: R22/ 3 381, 69: OLGP, Nuremberg (6 May 1941).

'a' Manfred Messerschmidt and Fritz Wullner, Die Wehrmachtjustiz im Dienste des Nationalsozialismus (Baden-Baden, 1987), 63ff. Reports ('Anzeigen') to the 'People's Court' greatly increased after July 1944: see Schumann et al., vi (1985), 266.

See above pp. 226ff.

'+' Jochen August, 'Erinnern an Deutschland: Berichte polnischer Zwangsarbeiter'. in Jochen August et al.. Auslandische Arbeiter and Deutsche 19 39-1945 (Berlin, i 986). 124-5.

BAK: R55/ 12.3 3, 149: Propaganda Ministry memorandum (29 Aug. 1944). See Grossmann, 'Fremd- and Zwangsarbeiter'. Got.

1 BAK: R22/3 379, 118: GSAWb. OLGP. Munich (31 July 1944).

IiN BAK: R22/3379, 76: OBLGP (29 July 1942).

For the above see Max Domarus, Der Untergang des alten WOrzburgs im Luftkrieg gegen die deutschen Grof3stadte (Wurzburg, 1985), 14ff. Wurzburg was bombed with devastating results only weeks before American troops arrived: at least 5,ooo people perished; 9o% of the old city, and about 70% of the rest, was destroyed. See Heinrich Dunkhase. 'Wurzburg, 16. Marz 1945 21.25 Uhr-21.42 Uhr: Hintergrunde, Verlauf and Folgen des Luftangriffs der No. 5 Bomber Group', Mainfrankisches Jahrbuch, 32 (1980), 1ff.

BAK: R22/3355• 103: Bamberg OBLGP (I Dec. 1944).

"z Cf. BAK: R22/3374, 95ff: OLGP. Cologne (i Apr. '943): the same tone is in all the reports. See also Wolfgang Domarus, Nationalsozialismus. Krieg and Bevolkerung: Untersuchungen zur Lage, Volksstimmung and Struktur in Augsburg wa'hrend des Dritten Reiches (Munich, 1977), 158ff.

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