1940: Poland

The agreement of Sept. 28, 1939, between Soviet Russia and Nazi Germany called by some 'the fourth partition of Poland,' left under Germany about one half of the area of the former Polish Republic, and almost two thirds of her population. Germany obtained the fertile sections of the Western provinces, and practically all industrial centers.

Russia received the Eastern provinces, inhabited by about 8,000,000 Ukrainians and White Russians, 3,500,000 Poles, 1,300,000 Jews, and about 100,000 Germans. The Russian section, while industrially poor, except for the oil wells in the Boryslaw-Drohobycz district, contains, however, important agricultural and timber resources. The only large cities under Russian rule are Lwow and, after the annexation of Lithuania, Vilna.

Germany subdivided the area she had taken from Poland into two sections. The provinces of Posen, Pomorze and Upper-Silesia, which formerly belonged to the German Empire, and the city and province of Lodz, part of the Russian Empire before the World War, were annexed outright on Oct. 19, 1939, to the Reich. The other section, with Cracow as the capital, was made into a Government General of Poland, by a decree of the Fuehrer, Oct. 26, 1939.

The policies followed by Germany in the two sections, are quite different in purpose and effect. While the Western provinces are destined to become purely German, the Government General, according to German plans, is to remain inhabited by Poles, but administered by the German 'master race.'

General Administration.

Until Oct. 26, 1939, the administration of the country was in the hands of the military authorities. On that day, the Government General was created, with its capital in Cracow. It is interesting to notice that Warsaw, the largest city and former capital of Poland, was not made the capital of the Government General, the official explanation being that Warsaw was almost entirely destroyed during the siege, and that the city was not the center of a large hinterland. It is more likely that the real reason was the heroic defense of the city against the German attack.

Dr. Hans Frank, former Reich Minister of Justice, and Member of the National Socialist party since 1919, was made Governor General, with dictatorial powers, and responsible only to the Fuehrer.

The Government General is divided into four districts: Cracow, Warsaw, Lublin and Radom; each of the districts is under the administration of a Governor, appointed by and subject to the Governor General; under the Governors, are the 'Starostas' (Kreishauptmann), or heads of counties. The counties are, in turn, subdivided into towns and villages, headed by 'Wojds,' or Mayors. Special courts have been established for the Germans, and the Nuremberg Laws, in a somewhat modified form, have been introduced.

During the first months of occupation, the German authorities sought to set up, in the Government General, a puppet Polish government. They approached several distinguished Poles, known for their former sympathies towards Germany, and asked them to head such a regime. None, however, accepted, and it is to the credit of Polish patriotism, that no Quisling could be found in Poland to play the game of the Nazis. In view of that situation, the Germans decreed that the Government General will be an integral part of 'Greater Germany.' By a decree of July 8, 1940, the Fuehrer proclaimed the Government General to be a 'Nebenland' (dependency) of the Reich. No legal precise definition of the term has as yet been given, but it is certain that the Government General enjoys status inferior not only to the territories directly annexed to the Greater Reich, but also to the areas under the Reich's protection, like the protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. Thus, since the German occupation, the Government General has already changed its status three times. First, it was under the military authorities; then, under the civil authorities, and considered as a future vassal state; and finally it was made a German 'Nebenland.' According to the German doctrine, the Governor General is in possession of all powers resulting from the German sovereignty. He directly represents the Chancellor and the German State. The economic ties with the Reich are such, that the Government General cannot conclude any commercial agreements with foreign countries.

In the annexed territory, Polish Upper-Silesia and the adjacent districts have been joined to Prussian Silesia, and some villages in the North to East Prussia. The bulk of the territory in the center has been divided into two new provinces, or Reichsgaue: the Reichsgau Wartheland, under the former President of the Danzig Senate, Arthur Greiser, and Danzig-West Preussen, under the former Gauleiter of Danzig, Albert Foerster.

The policy of the government is completely to segregate the Germans from the Poles in the annexed territory. The Jews have already been expelled and by the end of 1940 there were practically no Jews in the Western provinces. In Lodz, a ghetto for the Jews has been created. All the Germans, at the age of 18, must join the Nazi party. According to the report of a German newspaper in Lodz, in the Posen area alone there were 40,350 S.A. members, 7,839 S.S. members, 44,000 in the Arbeitsfront, and 64,000 in the Nazi women's organizations. Only Germans are appointed to official positions, even subordinate ones, in the annexed territory. Arthur Greiser, Gauleiter of Warthegau, appointed a Municipal Council in Lodz, composed exclusively of Germans. In the restaurants in Poznan, there are separate rooms for Germans and for Poles.

On the occasion of the first anniversary of the establishment of the Nazi regime in Poznan, an exchange of land between Poles and Germans will be effected, so that the Volksdeutsche (Germans by race) possessing poor lands will be given the better land of the Poles who are still remaining in Poznan. The ultimate purpose is to expel all the Poles from the annexed territories, and to transfer to these territories the Germans from Eastern and Southern Europe, as well as the landless Germans from the Reich. Intermarriage between the Poles and the Germans is forbidden. This places the Poles in the estimation of the Nazis, on an even lower level than the Czechs and Slovaks, who are permitted to marry Germans.

The Ukrainians on the contrary, seem to enjoy a privileged status, as compared with the Poles. In some instances, their status is practically similar to that of the Germans. There are now 600,000 Ukrainians under Germany, divided as follows: Lemko Land 190,000; San Land, 35,000; Lwow province, Western part, 100,000; Chelm Land and Southern Podlasic, 200,000; and about 75,000 Ukrainian prisoners of the former Polish army. Dr. Frank is particularly interested in promoting Ukrainian schools and culture. While the Poles are in the so-called labor service (Bandienst), the Ukrainians are put into special battalions called Home Service (Heimat Dienst), which enjoy privileged status. The mountaineers are also put in those special battalions, and a special school has been established for the mountaineer children. As explained by the Voelkischer Beobachter, the purpose of this school is to teach the children 'in their own ancient language.' The mountaineers in Poland, as in all other countries, have their own dialect. The Germans, now, are trying to dignify it into a language and thus break the unity of the Polish nation. A special Ukrainian militia, 8,000 strong, has been established, which is employed along the German-Soviet frontier, near Brest-Litovsk. Thousands of Ukrainians and anti-Communist Russians are also maintained in camps in the Bohemian-Moravian protectorate, for all eventualities.

Population Movements.

During 1940, millions of people in the former Polish Republic were on the move. About 200,000 Germans from Baltic countries, Eastern Galicia, and Volhynia, were brought into Warthegan alone. Herr Greiser, Gauleiter of Poznan, in a speech at the Poznan University, boasted that while from 1885 to 1914 the German Empire had succeeded in settling in the Danzig area only 70,000 Germans, the Nazis had settled 170,000 Germans in Poznan in one year. Of these, 55,000 Germans were brought from the Baltic States. This colonization, according to the Nazi press itself, met with great obstacles. For instance, the Germans of Estonia provided 15 times as many doctors, 11 times as many teachers, and 20 times as many professors of higher education, as the percentage of these professions in Germany.

During the summer of 1940, 120,000 Germans were transferred from Volhynia, Galicia, and the Modlin district on the Narev river. Next were the 30,000 Germans living in the triangle Lublin-Chelm-Lubartow. The Koelnische Zeitung of September 22, 1940, writing on the 'great reconstruction of the German East,' stated: 'This reconstruction can only be completed after the war, when the German peasants, at present under arms, can be settled freely in the Warthegau. Anyone regarding these operations as a matter solely concerning the German East is underestimating their importance. Here, it is a question of creating a new German national peasant stock, which in the future, will labor for the good of the German people and the German Reich.'

Altogether, about 350,000 Germans have been transferred into the German-annexed territory of Poland. 'They have lost a homeland,' said Alfred Rosenberg, the Nazi party philosopher, 'and have acquired a fatherland.' In order to make room for those Germans, according to the most reliable figures, over one million Poles and Jews were driven from the German-annexed territory into the already over-populated Government General. The German colonists who were settled on the land, in the Poznan province, received 100,000 hectares or 3 per cent of the cultivated land. A special corporation for the financing of about 60,000 German artisans settling in Poland was set up. Many tax reductions have been granted to the new settlers.

Some of the population movements are very difficult to explain. While the Germans of the Government General are being sent to the territory of the Old Reich, some Germans from Central Germany are being settled in the Government General. The most likely explanation is that at least some of the Germans of the Government General are not considered sufficiently loyal to the Nazi ideology, and they are being sent to Germany for training in Nazism. Also interesting are the reports that children have been evacuated from Berlin and sent to Poznan. It is estimated that about 20,000 German children have arrived to Poznan in the month of October alone. British bombing of Berlin certainly has something to do with that migration of children.

It is estimated that since the beginning of the war the Polish population has been reduced by about four million people. But there still are millions of Poles in the German-annexed territory. The latest reports as yet unconfirmed state that those Poles will be evacuated in the near future and sent to the Government General.

More than a million Polish workers, including skilled metal workers, engineers, agricultural laborers and domestics, were deported to Germany from the Government General, for forced labor. The Jews are not being deported, but are being compelled to labor at home. All unemployed of both sexes, between the ages of 16 and 25, must register for work in Germany. The deported workers are given a railway ticket and two marks in cash. They are sent to the Old Germany, Austria, or the Sudetenland. People are expected to sign up voluntarily for work in Germany. If this fails to provide an adequate contingent of labor, the Germans organize round-ups. In one of those raids, on Aug. 12, which covered the whole city of Warsaw, 20,000 people were picked up and sent to Germany. Persons holding certificates issued by the German Department of Labor, confirming that they work in factories or in Public Utilities, are released; the others are sent to labor camps in Germany.

Jews, while not sent to Germany, are held in labor camps. At the end of 1940, there were 43 such labor camps in which 30,000 Jews were employed. The majority of the camps are in the Lublin district where there are 31 camps with 26,000 Jews; the remainder are in the Warsaw district. Ten thousand Jews and two thousand Poles are working in labor battalions, which are regulating the Vistula and the Bug rivers between Warsaw and Lublin. The Poles working in Germany must wear a 'Polish badge.' This is a large yellow 'P' in a violet-edged square. Because of the raids, and the deportation of Poles for labor in Germany, many Poles are wearing Jewish badges. A regular trade in Jewish armlets is going on in Warsaw, where the price for such an armlet varies from 10 to 50 zlotys per 24 hours. The population of the larger cities has considerably increased. Before the war, Warsaw had a population of 1,400,000. At the end of 1940, it was estimated to be 1,800,000 of whom 1,300,000 were Poles, 450,000 Jews, and 50,000 Germans. An average of 400 Jews weekly are reaching Warsaw from provincial towns. This influx is aggravating the situation in the already overcrowded Jewish ghetto.

The situation of the Jews in the labor camps is such, that lack of food, lack of clothing, and the spreading of disease have prompted the Executive of the Warsaw Jewish community to apply to the Nazis for a special loan to be used in improving health conditions in the camps. At the same time, the community has organized its own campaign for clothing to be shipped to the camps. A number of Jewish doctors and supplies of medicine were also sent to the camps to prevent the spreading of diseases resulting from the cold and the poor sanitary conditions. Despite those measures, various diseases were raging in the camps and thousands perished, especially during the winter months.

Food Situation.

The 1940 harvest was at best mediocre, because of the drought and heat in May and June, and ceaseless rains from July to September; but the Germans have fixed the amount of products to be delivered to them per acre, and have set it very high. While in Germany, agricultural cooperatives are discouraged through the influence of the small shopkeepers, in Poland, agricultural cooperatives are favored as a means of collecting food for Germany. The Polish peasants in the Government General have been ordered to hand over their crops to the central agricultural board, retaining only small portions for themselves, for sowing purposes. The entire food industry, production, distribution, etc., has been put under the control of the food and agricultural department of the Government General. A strict rationing system has been introduced, the amount of the rations depending on the nationality of the individual.

Before the war, the area now annexed by Germany was exporting an average of 200,000 tons of wheat, while the territory now belonging to the Government General was compelled to import wheat and grain. The two areas were thus economically complementing one another. Now, the Germans have separated them and the surplus of grain from the Western Polish provinces is being shipped into Germany. Gauleiter Greiser boasted that instead of 200,000 tons, the annexed territories succeeded in sending to Germany in 1940 approximately 700,000 tons. It is quite evident that this could have been accomplished only through a considerable decrease in consumption by the local population. In the Government General, Dr. Frank stated, the year's harvest will suffice for the needs of the population. Again, this could not have been because of any considerable increase in production, since owing to war and the hostile attitude of the peasants towards the German authority production was rather decreased, but only because of a substantial decrease in the consumption of the population. A sort of hierarchic system in regard to the distribution of food regulates the incidence of hunger to suit the Nazi philosophy. The German army must be served first; then the S.S.; the Reichsdeutsche (Germans coming from the Reich); then the Volksdeutsche (Polish Germans); after them, the Poles; and last, if anything is left, the Jews. In the Nazi plan, Poland is destined to become a purely agricultural country, a granary, for the industrial Reich. German agricultural experts estimate that by raising in the annexed provinces the yield per hectare to the German average level (18 quintals per hectare), there would be a grain surplus for export to the Reich amounting to one million tons. By raising the potato crop to the level of the average Reich yield (150 quintals per hectare, as against the present 138 quintals in Poland) there would be an annual surplus of eight to ten million quintals.

Economic Conditions.

A highly confidential circular issued by Governor General Frank, on Feb. 12, 1940, at the command of the head of the four-year plan, Field-Marshal Goering, gave the objectives of the Germans in the Government General, in view of the present war situation. 'In view of the actual needs of the war economy of the Reich,' it is said, 'no long-range economic policy should be followed in the Government General. The economy of the Government General should be directed towards the greatest return in the shortest time, in order to immediately increase the war potential of the Reich.' With that objective in mind, agricultural production, especially of the larger holdings, must be increased for the securing of food for the army, military auxiliary forces, and finally for the population. Intensive exploitation of the forests must be introduced, even at the expense of a rational exploitation, so that 1,200,000 cubic meters of timber may be obtained. The production of raw materials will be increased, and the war industry put on a 24 hours a day working basis. The industries are divided into three categories: (1) those that fill orders for the army; (2) those factories that might eventually take the place of the armament factories in the Reich, in the event of the necessity of evacuating these from the Reich territory; (3) all other industrial establishments. The third category, which comprises the great majority of all the industrial enterprises of the Government General, will be kept working at a minimum, or if necessary, abolished altogether.

In order to accomplish these objectives, the workers should be given sufficient food to keep them in good physical condition, and thus enable them to produce as much as possible for the needs of the army.

The circular goes into great detail in describing the methods and ways of accomplishing those objectives. While the authenticity of this circular was denied by the German authorities, the policies of the Government General seem to comply with its terms. At the very beginning of the German occupation, a strict control over the entire economic life of the country was established. On September 23, 1939, the military authorities created credit-banks which stamped the zlotys for circulation in the Government General. A decree of March 27, 1940 abolished those institutions and created an Emission-Bank of Poland, which issued banknotes. The former zlotys had to be exchanged against the new banknotes, which are the only legal currency in the Government General.

One of the first acts of the German administration was to confiscate the Polish state property. In October 1940, all the former Polish state factories administered by 'trustees' (Treuhandlers), have been united in one company under the direction of an official of the Government General.

The expropriated Polish and Jewish property in the annexed territory was also put into the hands of 'trustees' (Treuhandlers). The Baltic Germans transferred to the Poznan area were given about 3,000 industrial establishments, over 2,000 workshops, and 2,560 farms, the latter with an aggregate area of about 136,000 hectares. Before their transfer from Estonia and Latvia, these Germans owned about 80,000 hectares. The 130,000 Germans from Volhynia and South-Eastern Poland, settled in the Lodz area, have received 83,000 hectares of land. Of the 10,000 small Polish commercial enterprises, 7,000 have already been handed over to the Germans. Only 200 are still in the hands of the original owners. The remainder are in charge of Nazi trustees. Of the 4,600 textile shops and small enterprises in Lodz, belonging to Poles and Jews, 3,600 have already been expropriated. The Lodz industry represents about  of the productive capacity of the textile industry of Greater Germany; because of the British blockade, and lack of raw material, Lodz produces only  of its potential output.

All mines in Upper-Silesia which were owned by the Polish state or the Jews, are now administered by the 'Hermann Goeringswerke,' which raised at the end of 1940 its capital stock from 100 million to 250 million marks.

Prices in practically all branches of industry are strictly controlled. Permission of the authorities is required for the transfer or mortgage of real estate. The central office of the textile industry has a right to regulate purchases, sales, exports, etc. In order to manage a textile factory or store, a special permit is required.

Intellectual Life.

In the annexed territory the use of the Polish language has been banned from public life and in many parts, it is even forbidden to use Polish in private conversation, in the streets, or in public offices. In the Government General, Polish is the second official language of the authorities, and all laws are being published in German and in Polish. The publication of Polish newspapers and books is prohibited in the annexed territory. Polish books may be published and sold, after censorship, in the Government General. Whoever is professionally engaged in music, theater, motion pictures, writing, the press, or photography, is placed under the supervision of the Propaganda and Public Enlightenment Department of the Government General. In the Government General three dailies are being published in Polish. One semi-official daily, and its Warsaw edition, published in German, as well as two periodicals, an illustrated monthly, and a quarterly, are spreading Nazi ideology in the Government General. The possession of a radio requires a permit issued by the postal authorities. A permit is also required for those producing or selling radios. The permit is issued only for a given place, and the radio cannot be listened to in any other place. The postal authorities may withdraw a permit at any time, and without explanation. Those listening to a radio without a permit are punished by a prison term of no less than six months.

In the annexed territory, all Polish schools have been transformed into German establishments. Outstanding professors of the Poznan University have been arrested and taken to German concentration camps. Among the Poles transferred from the annexed territory to the Government General, the educated classes form a much larger percentage than their proportion in the population. The Germans thus try to deprive the Poles in the annexed territory of their leaders and so break their resistance to the German rule. In the Government General, only elementary schools and trade schools are allowed to remain open for Poles. Many German secondary schools have been created. The Nazis have seized the equipment of the Institute of Physics in Warsaw, which was largely a Rockefeller Endowment, and also the one and a half gram of radium, a gift from the American women to the Madame Curie Sklodowska Radiological Institute in Warsaw. Private teaching requires a special written permit, which is given only to those who have the proper political qualifications. All the universities in the Government General have been taken over by the Germans. At the University of Cracow, all the professors and lecturers, 173 in all, were ordered, on Nov. 6, 1939, to gather in the center hall of the University. There, they were told they would listen to a lecture given by an S.S. leader, Dr. Mayer, on 'The attitude of National Socialism towards science.' When they came, they were all arrested, and Dr. Mayer accused them of attempting to resume classes and giving examinations without knowledge or permission of the German authorities. They were all sent to concentration camps, near Breslau and Berlin. After three months, 104 professors were released, about 50 still remained in the camps of Dachau and Oranienburg, 17 have died.

The University of Warsaw has not been permitted to reopen. The buildings suffered severely during the bombardment of the city. The scientific installations and instruments have been dismantled and transported to the Reich. Some of the outstanding professors have been put in prison. The University of Lublin, the only Catholic institution of its kind in Central and Eastern Europe, has been closed. The Jewish communities are permitted to open Jewish schools for their children; those schools are maintained by the budget of the community. As no Polish performances are allowed in the theaters of Warsaw, many well-known actors and actresses have taken on jobs as waiters and waitresses in cafes and restaurants. Opera singers now sing in restaurants. It is very common in Warsaw for outstanding musicians to give street concerts. (See Also RELIGION: Jews.)

Poles in Exile.

After the collapse of Poland, thousands of Poles succeeded in fleeing the German army. President Moscicki resigned and appointed as his successor the former speaker of the Senate, Vladislaw Raczkiewicz. President Raczkiewicz formed a new Government in France, under the leadership of General Ladislaw Sikorski. A large Polish force was organized in France and the Poles played a large part in the defense of Belgium and France. After the defeat of France, some of the Poles succeeded in fleeing to England. The Government of General Sikorski carried on in England, as did the refugee governments of other European countries occupied by Germany. The exiled Polish army, which suffered greatly in the campaigns of Belgium and France, was reorganized. At the end of 1940, there were units of the Polish army in Scotland, Egypt, Palestine and Greece. A Polish naval and air force was also organized, which at the end of 1940 seemed to be stronger than the pre-war Polish force. The Polish pilots have shot down, during 1940, more than 300 German planes, or about 10 per cent of all the planes lost by Germany in her attacks against the British Isles. The Polish government represents all political parties and is a government of national unity. The Polish National Council, which has replaced the Parliament, also includes representatives of all the political factions in pre-war Poland. An interesting development is shown by the close cooperation between the Polish and Czech governments in exile. An official statement issued by the two exiled governments in London condemns their pre-war policies and calls for close political and economic collaboration, and even a customs-union between the two Slavic countries. On Nov. 3, the Minister of Public Welfare and Labor officially declared in the name of the exiled Polish Government, that in the Poland of the future the Jews will enjoy complete equality of rights and freedom of cultural development. All these statements point to the need for close cooperation among the now Nazi-occupied countries and favor a European or, at least, a Central European Federation.

See also EUROPEAN WAR; GERMANY.