The German and Soviet occupation of Poland after 1.9.1939

The German occupation politics in Poland 1939-45

Poland was the state that was occupied by the 3rd Reich for the longest time, nearly 5 ½ years from 1939 on. This occupation completely changed the Polish society and it touched the life of every single person. There were new borders and the economy and administration was radically reorganized.
Basic characteristics of the NS- occupation politics in Poland:
The Nazis created the public image of an ‘enemy Poland’ (in a relatively short time), i.e.:
 People believed that the Polish state was partly erected on German territory and that these territories were originally German and that Germans needed Lebensraum.
 People tended to look down on Poland
 Racism against Slaws (‘inferior, subhuman people’), already in ‘Mein Kampf’
Aim: Elimination of the Polish nation !
Hitler on 22. August 1939: “The elimination of Poland is the main aim. This war is not about achieving a certain border, but all living powers (in Poland) should be destroyed, no mercy and a brutal conduct is necessary”.
Especially targeted (killed) was the Polish intelligence: catholic priests, school and high school teachers, officials of political clubs, doctors, pharmacists, officers, civil servants, economists, land owners, high school students, aims: first, to prevent Polish elites from organizing resistance or from ever regrouping into a governing class; second, to exploit the less educated majority of peasants and workers as unskilled laborers in agriculture and industry.
All universities, schools, monuments , museums and libraries were closed, plundering and destruction of cultural signs, persecution of Catholic priests, in annexed territories: no Polish press, in GG: Press on the lowest level,
Himmler wrote in a May 1940 memorandum, "The sole goal of this schooling is to teach them simple arithmetic, nothing above the number 500; writing one's name; and the doctrine that it is divine law to obey the Germans. . . . I do not think that reading is desirable"
Sind 1.9. 1939: Terror system without example in Poland , Terror and Air war against the civil population, killing of war prisoners
Mass executions by SD Einsatzgruppen (Himmler), „Selbstschutz“ (German minority) and Wehrmacht. Most brutal: An action codenamed "Operation Tannenberg" ("Unternehmen Tannenberg") in September and October 1939, an estimated 760 mass executions were carried out by Einsatzkommandos, resulting in the deaths of at least 20,000 of the most prominent Polish citizens. Expulsion and murder became commonplace.
Proscription lists (Sonderfahndungsbuch Polen) identified more than 61,000 Polish activists, intelligentsia, actors, former officers, etc who were to be interned or shot. Members of the German minority living in Poland assisted in preparing the lists.

Anti-Polish and anti-Jewish propaganda
3. Sept.1939: Himmler’s Order: Killing all Polish insurgents and partisans, 3./4. Sept. Bloody Sunday in Bromberg (Bydgoscsz), used by propaganda.
2. October 1939: Hitler says “There can only be one Lord for the Poles and this is the German. There cannot be two Lords so all representatives of the Polish intelligence are to be eliminated. That sounds hard, but this is the law of life”.
Possibility of a peaceful cooperation between Germany and Poland destroyed (forever).
8. October 1939: Division of Polish territory
Annexation of the following areas: Danzig-Westpreussen (Westpreussen, Pomerellen), Wartheland (Grosspolen), Regierungsbezirk Zichenau (Masuren, Suwałki), Ostoberschlesien. These annexed territories were the most developed parts of Poland. While drawing the lines the historical borders were not respected. In central Poland the German borders were pushed 100-200 km further east then the borders of 1918. Nearly 1 million Poles were expelled from this German ruled area, while 600,000 Germans from Eastern Europe and 400,000 from the German Reich were settled there.
East Upper Silesia and Lodsch were important because of the industry, Wartheland = important because of the agriculture.
Generalgouvernement= “German colony”
Ruled by Gouverneur Hans Frank in Krakau, districts in Warschau, Lublin, Radom, Krakau, (since 1941 Lemberg), “Polish reservation”, Poles and Jews were driven to this territory
- Administration (high and middle) solely German, all from the Reich, because German minority was not qualified, had no connections and was seen as unreliable, Reichsdeutsche = interested only in their carreer, did not know land and country, looked down on Polish population
- no higher positions for Poles, special law for Poles (Sonderstrafrecht), only Polish police (“Blue police”) stayed, but without big competences
- many commands and interdictions for Poles: for example duty to greet German officials/ shops, parks and transportations which could only be used by Germans
‘The Germanisation of Polish territories occurred by deporting and exterminating the Jews, depriving Poles of their rights and supporting the local Germans and the ethnic Germans resettled from the East. The German minority living in this ethnically mixed region was required to adhere to strict codes of behaviour and was held accountable for all unauthorised contacts with their Polish and, even more so, their Jewish neighbours. The system of control and repression strove to isolate the various ethnic (‘racial’) groups, encouraging denunciations and thus instilling fear in the populace’.
Aim: in the short run = exploitation, in the long run = Germanisation (Generalplan Ost for ethnic cleasing: In ten years' time, the plan called for the extermination, expulsion, enslavement or Germanisation of most or all Poles and East Slavs still living behind the front line. Instead, 250 million Germans would live in an extended Lebensraum ("living space") of the 1000-Year Reich (Tausendjähriges Reich / 1000-Year empire) . Fifty years after the war, under the Große Planung, Generalplan Ost foresaw the eventual expulsion and extermination of more than 50 million Slavs beyond the Ural Mountains.
By 1952 only about 3–4 million Poles were supposed to be left residing in the former Poland, and then only to serve as slaves for German settlers. They were to be forbidden to marry, the existing ban on any medical help to Poles in Germany would be extended, and eventually Poles (believed by the Nazis to be Untermenschen, that is "sub-human") would cease to exist.

But regional differences: Ostoberschlesien / Danzig-Westpreussen: Germanisation, but maintenance of economic and technical infrastructure.
Warthegau/ Zichenau/ GG = ethnic cleansing and separation, deportation and executions

Generalgouvernement (GG) and annexed territories = private banks, companies and land owners which were not German were dispossessed and their property fell into the hands of the state. 1939-41: Dispossession of 214.000 estates, 38.000 industrial objects, 897.000 farms with 8,1 Mio ha.
Profiting from this were : German companies, immigrants from the Reich, German minority and German immigrants from East Europe and the Baltics (“Heim ins Reich”).
Intensive explotation of agriculture, Poles only kept the bad grounds, duty to hand in agricultural products
GG= stocks and machines were transported into the Reich, raising of taxes, duties, war charges
Since 1941= GG was exporting, the Polish and Jewish population starved to death, food had to be given to German authorities (under pressure, physical violence)
Exploitation and killing of Jews and Poles made it possible that the Reich had enough food until 1945.
Generalgouvernement (GG) and annexed territories served also as a reservoir for cheap labour, mass forced labour (2,8 Mio, in Wartheland 12% of the population was deported into the Reich), but also forced labour on the spot: agriculture, administration, companies. Special camps were erected for people who did forced labour. In addition to SS-owned enterprises (the German Armament Works, for example), private German firms—such as Messerschmitt, Junkers, Siemens, and IG Farben—increasingly relied on forced laborers to boost war production.
Since 1939: erection of ca. 400 Ghettos for Jews (living conditions and sanitary conditions of the worst kind). ‘Waiting hall’ until the ‘final solution’ of the Jewish question.
Until 1945 on Polish soil: 2,7 Mio Jews killed, 1,8 Mio of them were Polish
All in all 5 Mio Jews, 3 Mio of them Polish
Most Jews died in concentration camps like Auschwitz, Treblinka, Majdanek etc. There was also camp Stutthof concentration camp used for mass extermination of Poles. There was a number of civilian labour camps (Gemeinschaftslager) for Poles (Polenlager) on the territory of Poland. Many Poles did die in German camps. The first non-German prisoners at Auschwitz were Poles, who were the majority of inmates there until 1942, when the systematic killing of the Jews began. The first killing by poison gas at Auschwitz involved 300 Poles and 700 Soviet prisoners of war, among them ethnic Ukrainians, Russians and others. Many Poles and other Eastern Europeans were also sent to concentration camps in Germany: over 35,000 to Dachau, 33,000 to the camp for women at Ravensbruck, 30,000 to Mauthausen and 20,000 to Sachsenhausen, for example.
The brutal disposession, exploitation, persecution and elimination took place in front of the German and Polish civil population. Also the Polish population was deported, persecuted and terrorized.
Mass deportation into the GG (at least 360.000 inhabitants of the annexed areas, in annexed areas also Germanisation, “Deutsche Volksliste”), separation of German and Polish population, Poles can use public transport only with permission, German shops and Polish shops, on public markets: different times for German and Polish buyers, restaurants “For Poles forbidden” and “Only for Poles”.
Curfew only for polish population, flyers promote separation of Germans and Poles
BUT: regional differences = sometimes no duty to greet German officials, sometimes Polish as inofficial language allowed (extremely strict: Warthegau, extremely light: Ostoberschlesien).
Sometimes also Polish police helped to execute NS-politics: deportations of forced workers, executions, helping with Razzias and killing of Jews.
In GG Polish underground state: not only military and partisans, Armia Krajowa, underground administration, secret schools.
in GG some Polish caritative organizations worked (Rada Główna Opiekuńcza).
Of 35 Mio citicens 1939 ca. 6 Mio died (about 20% of the population, 90% civilians), 3 Mio Jews, ca. 1,5 Mio ethnic Poles, in Germany there is more a discussion about Holocaust and the migration after World War II, Polish victims should be part of the German remembrance culture.


The Sowjet Occupation 1939-41 (according to Mikołaj Morżycki-Markowski, Museum of World War II Gdańsk)

1.9. 1939: 100.000 civilians fled in Sept. 1939 from the German attackers to the eastern polish territories also the Polish government moved to Zaleczyki. Poles expected that the front would stabilize along the Wisła and expected help from the partners Great Britain and France, but help didn’t come.
17.9. 1939: Red army invaded East Poland with 500.000 soldiers > shock, stap into the back, all Polish armed forces were fighting in the West, so only very few troups could do resistance in the East, the Polish government was completely surprised, at first it thought that Red army wanted to help Poland in its war against Germany. General Edward Rydz-śmigły first gave the order to not attack the sowjet troups exept in the case of a direct threat, this order created additional chaos. At the end of September 1939 it was clear that there had been the Hitler-Stalin-Pact and that the two aggressors were united. German and Sowjet troups were stationed along the Bug and San and there was even an common military parade in Brest. There were also four Gestapo-NKWD conferences in 1939/40 The secret protocol of the 23rd August 1939 said that the SU should get the whole eastern part of Poland (Stanisławów, Tarnopol, Wolhynia, Polesie, Nowogród, Vilnius, Białystok, Lwów), now 52% of Polish territory and 14 Mio people were under Sowjet occupation.
Many Poles fled from the East to the West now, because they were afraid of the Bolschewiki and wrongly expected a better life under the German occupation, many emigrated to Rumania and lived in camps there.
The Sowjet propaganda declared the occupation as a humanitarian gesture to protect life and property especially of the Belarussian and Ukrainian population after the complete breakdown of the Polish state, according to Molotow a “bastard of the Versailles Treaty”.
Ethnic composition of the Eastern areas: 38% Poles (ca. 5.1 million people), 37% Ukrainians, 14.5% Belarusians, 8.4% Jews, 0.9% Russians and 0.6% Germans. There were also 336,000 refugees from areas occupied by Germany, most of them Jews (198,000).
The Jews in Eastern Poland, who were very poor, (and to a lesser extent also Ukrainians and Belarussians) saw the possibility to emancipate from the privileged Poles. Many of them were communistic and left-wing and believed that the SU would guarantee freedom and security. In contrast to the 3.Reich where the ‘Nuernberger Laws’ were in place there didn’t seem to be any anti-Semitism in the USSR. Parts of the Jewish population greeted the Red Army with approval and helped to build up political power structures. This led to an anti-Jewish mood in the Polish population in which also crimes against Jews were perpetrated (June 1941, Jedwabne).
Situation of the Polish population after 17.9.1939:
- Red Army and NKWD thought that the Polish population was counter-revolutionary and didn’t believe in the communist ideology
- They had a list of persons who were directly imprisoned: officials, teachers, officers, policemen, land owners. Partly there were also lynchings of Poles, especially in the areas where Ukrainians lived
- Ukrainians who were for independence were as much persecuted as Poles who were for independence.
- Of the deported and executed people in 1939-41 (ca. 500.000): 59% Poles, 25% Jews (most came from Westpoland), 8% Ukrainians, 7% Belarussians
1./2. November 1939: Annexation of the East Polish territories into the SowjetUnion (Belarussian and Ukrainian SSR), the Sowjetic political, economic and judicial system was immediately introduced. Politics of Russification, no cultural and linguistic autonomy was allowed, the counterrevolutionary Ukrainian and Belarussian intelligence was deported and killed.
10.000 officials from the NKWD (mostly from behind the Ural) tried to control the newly annexed territories and to get rid of the Polish, Jewish, Belarussian and Ukrainian intelligence.
1939-40: ca. 330.000 Polish people were deported from East Poland to Siberia, plus 200.000 Polish soldiers who were brought into Sowjet camps (of these 25.000 Polish officers were executed in Katyn, Charkow and Tver after a direct command from Stalin)
Ca. 200.000 Polish people had to fight in the Red Army or had to do forced labor.
(ca. 10% of the population of Eastern Poland was deported, most of them died).
At least 22.000 Polish citicens were publicly executed between 1939 and 1941.
(Wikipedia says: In 1940 and the first half of 1941, the Soviets deported more than 1,200,000 Poles, most in four mass deportations. The first deportation took place February 10, 1940, with more than 220,000 sent to northern European Russia; the second on April 13, 1940, sending 320,000 primarily to Kazakhstan; a third wave in June-July 1940 totaled more than 240,000; the fourth occurred in June, 1941, deporting 300,000. Upon resumption of Polish-Soviet diplomatic relations in 1941, it was determined based on Soviet information that more than 760,000 of the deportees had died—a large part of those dead being children, who had comprised about a third of deportees)
Difference German occupation – Sowjet occupation:
In contrast to the Nationalsocialists the communistic system made a life in relative security possible if a citizen completely took over the Sowjetic doctrine and even upward social mobility was possible then. Poles had the chance to proof that they were willing and able to build up a communistic state.

The question of Polish cooperation with the Sowjets is hard to answer:
- The famous writer Ignacy Witkiewicz killed himself on 17. September 1939, other Poles died fighting against the Sowjets
- Again others fled to the west, because they thought that the German occupation would not be so brutal (experiences from the First World War)
The example of Lwów:
They were still official newspapers in Polish language (Czerwony Sztandar: Red Flag, Prawda Radziecka: Sowjetic Truth). Articles had to be in line with ideology. For articles which were not in line with the ideology journalists could go 10 years to prison also for example for wrong dates in articles (like the founding date of the Red Army).
There were also still Polish professors at the university, only professors from philosophy, history, sociology and economy were expelled and replaced by professors from Moscow or Leningrad. Mathematicians, Physicians and Chemists could stay, but had to do lectures in Russian or Ukrainian.
Also the Polish Theatre and the Polish Radio had to follow ideology, but polish classical works and works of the world literature could still be played.
After 17. September 39: scarcity of goods in former East Poland, because
- Red Army and NKWD bought or confiscated everything.
- Private productions were closed, free trade was absolutely forbidden (Farmers could not sell their products, they had to join collectives and hand in their goods, that didn’t work in the beginning)
- Nationalisation of private banks and factories (owners often went to prison)
- Private craftsmen were first tolerated (so that there is no shortage of industrial goods), later they had to join collectives
 Economic difficulties: the cities got products of inferior quality from other parts of the EU, exchange of goods between towns and countryside didn’t work, so there was dirt and chaos in the towns
 Also there were migrants from the Soviet Union, they were seen as backward, because the living standard in Poland was much higher, soldiers of the Red Army considered the flat of a Polish worker to be luxurious
 The French defeat in 1940 led to a shock among the Polish population and to a new wave of Sowjet propaganda (especially in schools, universities, companies). The hopes to erect a Polish state again were waining
Underground: The Sowjet secret service NKWD fought against the Polish underground army ZWZ as well as against the Ukrainian underground army (UPA). (Especially after 1943 they worked very effectively with the help of Polish and Ukrainian spies whose families were in Siberia).
The Operation Barbarossa on 22.June 1941 raised hopes among Poles and Ukrainians that it would be possible to use the Russian-German conflict for building a new independent state. But the Germans did not only kill Russians, but also Poles and Ukrainians. The Polish and Ukrainian population also attacked people from the Sowjet administration.
3. January 1944: The Polish exile government decides to work together with the Sowjets
23. March 1944: Action ‘Burza’, Polish territories were liberated from the Germans by the Polish underground army which became a regular army, Polish units fought with the Red Army against the Germans, but after the Red Army was in control of the territories all representatives of Polish administration and army were arrested and then brought to Siberia or forced to fight in the Red Army. The SU declared that the Polish underground army was facist and had fought with the Nazis so tens of thousands were brought to Siberia.
1. August 1944: Outbreak of the Warsaw uprising, Red Army stopped fighting for 5 months until the Germans had completely destroyed Warsaw.
Conference of Jalta February 1945: Poland was moved to the West by Stalin, until February 1945 the Poles thought that there was still a chance that the eastern territories could fall to Poland so they tried to liberate these areas from the Soviets.
From 1944 to end of 1945 Sowjet occupation of all Poland, no influence of Polish administration, complete distruction of the military structures (Home Army and NSZ), all Poles were expelled from the Eastern territories to the West (2-3 Mio?), whole factories were brought to the SU, towns and villages plundered, until the 50s/ 1989 permanent Soviet control over the institutions of the Polish state.