the media is still lying about ww2, wake up you stupid goyim cattle
brian wallace
Dead and Missing
were lost by the German minority in Poland during the days of their
liberation from the Polish yoke, as far as can be ascertained at
present. The Polish nation must for all time be held responsible for
this appalling massacre consequent upon that Polish reign of terror.
Up to November 17, 1939, the closing day for the documentary evidence
contained in the first edition of this book, 5,437 murders, committed
by members of the Polish armed forces and by Polish civilians on men,
women and children of the German minority had already been irrefutably
proved. It was quite apparent even then that the actual number of
murders far exceeded this figure, and by February 1, 1940, the total
number of identified bodies of the German minority had increased to
12,857. Official investigations carried out since the outbreak of the
German-Polish war have shown that to these 12,857 killed there must be
added more than 45,000 missing, all of whom must be accounted dead
since no trace of them can be found. Thus the victims belonging to the
German minority in Poland already now total over 58,000. Even this
appalling figure by no means covers the sum total of the losses
sustained by the German minority. There can be no doubt at all that
investigations which are still being conducted will disclose many more
thousand dead and wounded. The following description of the Polish
atrocities which is not only confined to murders and mutilations but
includes other deeds of violence such as maltreatment, rape, robbery
and arson applies to only a small section of the terrible events for
which irrefutable and official evidence is here established.
CONTENTS
I. More than 58,000 dead and missing
5
II. Sources of information and explanations
9
III. Statement
11
a) The German-Polish situation up to the outbreak of war
13
b) The Polish atrocity policy
17
IV. Documents
33
a) Cases of typical atrocities
35
b) Personal accounts of survivors of the various concentration
marches
127
V. Report of the medico-legal experts
193
VI. Illustrations
209
a) Documents
211
b) Injuries, mutilations, mass graves
215
c) Arson, pillage and devastation
247
d) Announcements of dead and missing
250
e) Notices and other proofs
266
VII. Illustrated reports by medico-legal experts
275
VIII. Survey map of most important places of murder
311
SOURCES OF INFORMATION AND EXPLANATIONS
The statement of the acts of atrocity committed on minority Germans in
Poland is based on the following documentary evidence, the penal
records of the Special Courts of Justice in Bromberg and Posen, the
investigation files of the Special Police Commissions, the testimony
of the medico-legal experts of the Health Inspection Department of the
Military High Command, and the original records of the Military
Commission attached to the Military High Command for the investigation
of breaches of International Law. The documentary evidence concerning
the individual cases of atrocity has been taken from the
aforementioned files.
The Special Courts of Justice set up at Bromberg and Posen are regular
courts, their administration of justice being based on the Common Law
of Germany and the jurisprudence of the Supreme Court of the Reich,
and which deal with all cases in complete accordance with the
principles of the German Penal Code. The legally justified
confirmation of verdicts and the sworn statements of German as well as
Polish witnesses have been used. These were taken from the records of
these Special Courts of Justice up to the Nov. 15, 1939. The various
Criminal Investigation Departments' reports, documents, and
photographs, have been employed and taken from the files of the
Special Commissions. Reproductions of statements, photographs and
preserved specimens, as well as the collective memoranda representing
a report on the result of the autopsy on the victims, were taken from
the records of the medico-legal experts. The statements of
eye-witnesses sworn and taken down before the military legal
officials, have been taken mainly from the investigation files of the
Army Investigation Department. These in turn are based upon extracts
from the High Command's (Legal Dept.) book on this subject, issued in
two volumes, "Polish Atrocities on minority Germans and Prisoners of
War in Bromberg, Pless, Stopanica" (vol. 1) and "Polish Atrocities on
minority Germans and Prisoners of War in the District and Province of
Posen" (vol. 2) and in which the various statements are compiled.
The records have been supplemented by accounts of personal experiences
by individuals of the German minority arrested, ill-treated, and
abducted, as well as by photographs of numerous atrocities on minority
Germans, as perpetrated by soldiers of the Polish army and by Polish
civilians (i. e. murders, mutilations, and arson). The photographs are
genuine copies of snap shots taken of the actual victims, either
beaten to death, shot dead, or mutilated, and taken on the spots where
the victims were found and the crimes committed. Any pictures that
could not be considered definitely authentic were rejected and not
included in the collection. Attached are photographic reproductions of
whole pages of "dead and missing" notices. These appeared daily for
weeks, after those days of horror, in the Bromberg and Posen
newspapers.
[p. 10] In the text, the findings of the Military Investigation
Department are cited with the reference No. W. R. I and W. R. II,
those of the Special Courts with the reference No. Sd. K. Ls. or Sd.
Is. with consecutive file numbers. Those resulting from the
investigation of the Special Police Commission of the Criminal Police
Office of the Reich are marked RKPA., and those of autopsy and post
mortem findings with OKW. HS. In. Br. or P.
The amount of material on atrocities was so great as to render it
impossible to print the full text of the sworn statements in all
cases. Some are printed in their original version. Others refer to the
decisive position, as narrated by the eye-witnesses. For the same
reason it was decided to omit the history of illness suffered by
minority Germans, due to their serious injuries received during the
marches they were forced to make through Poland. All this collection
of facts is stored in the Protestant Deaconess Hospital of Posen and
in the German Military Field Hospital and Municipal Hospital in
Bromberg, and is open to any further investigation. Only a selection
of the copious photographic material is used in this book. All the
documents and proofs used in this collection of material are filed in
the respective central offices in Berlin.
This book deals exclusively with acts of violence committed by Poles
on minority Germans. Further evidence of the Polish breaches of
International and Military Law, in so far as it concerns the treatment
of German prisoners of war and Germans killed in action, has been
placed in safety elsewhere and has not been included in this book, as
well as that of numerous acts of atrocity committed on minority
Germans before the outbreak of war.
Statement
THE GERMAN-POLISH SITUATION UP TO THE OUTBREAK OF WAR
Europe was relieved to hear of the German-Polish agreement on Jan. 26,
1934. The realistic peace determination of Adolf Hitler, together with
the true sense of statesmanship of Marshal Pilsudski, had found common
ground in the mutual desire to establish a new state of political
relationship by direct contact between Germany and Poland, the basic
idea being to ensure the maintenance and security of a lasting peace
between the two countries. It was realised by all those who saw in the
latent tension between Germany and Poland an immediate danger to the
peace of Europe that such a constructive cooperation of the two
statesmen must be of interest to the whole of Europe. It was the most
earnest desire of Germany and Poland to follow up the first
declaration of a 10-years pact by the development of sincere friendly
relations. Such a friendship based on peaceful development would have
left the door open for a friendly and acceptable settlement of all
outstanding questions between the two neighbouring countries. There
was no doubt that problems, as yet unsettled, did exist between the
two countries. It was quite clear that the conditions and boundaries
imposed on Germany by the Treaty of Versailles were for any length of
time impossible and unacceptable. It depended on the honesty of
purpose of Poland as to how far an arrangement of a closer
understanding between the two countries could fulfil the sincere hopes
of Germany and all peace-loving friends. At that time already, certain
definite forces abroad were actively trying to disturb the work of
conciliation between Germany and Poland. The opponents of the Third
Reich were not in the least interested in a relaxation of the tension
between Germany and Poland; in fact they were secretly and openly
fanning the ever-glowing fires of propaganda in Poland and directed
against Germany and everything German. The change of course in policy
both in Berlin and Warsaw in no way suited their plans. Apart from
this, a reconciliation of Poland with her neighbour did not represent
the aims of the supporters of the Treaty of Versailles, who intended
that Poland should remain in a state of permanent opposition to
Germany, and that she should remain as an active instrument in the
encirclement policy against the Reich. As a result the enemies of
friendly advances between Germany and Poland tried to stifle from the
very beginning any reasonable political arrangement and any attempt at
a reconciliation between Germany and Poland, by resuscitating the old
differences and suspicions. With the help of extremist Polish
societies and the Press, already controlled by Jewish elements, the
saboteurs of conciliatory measures very soon gained the upper-hand.
The intensified campaign of anti-German propaganda had an increasing
influence on public opinion and incited it against Germany and the
German minority in Poland. The anti-German activity found ready
response amongst Polish officials and military circles. The continued
efforts of the Government of the Reich, with a view to persuading
those in Warsaw responsible for the creation of public opinion to act
in accord with the German-Polish Press agreement of Feb. 24, 1934, and
to arrive at an effective moral disarmament within the spirit and
general lines of the agreement of understanding remained unsuccessful.
Since the days of Versailles, the political situation between Germany
and Poland had never calmed down. On the contrary the systematic
deprival of the right of the German element long established in former
Prussian provinces remained such a dead weight on German-Polish
relations that the greater part of the world's opinion was always
sceptical of the success of the German-Polish agreement of
understanding. In German opinion the strong personality of Pilsudski
offered in itself guarantee enough that, in the development of the
idea of an understanding, an alteration in sentiment would take place,
together with a change in the hostile attitude of wide circles of
influence in Poland against German minority groups. The Führer held
the firm opinion that, in spite of all obstructive circumstances, the
German-Polish work of cooperation must be attempted and developed
until the desired results had been attained. He held that despite the
disappointment of the German Government caused by the unscrupulous
Polish methods within the sphere of minority policy, as well as by the
continuous anti-German press campaign, these must not be allowed to
interfere with his hopes for the success of the final issue.
Even during Pilsudski's lifetime it had been clearly shown that the
authority of the Marshal himself was not sufficient to make the
subordinate Polish officials adhere to a just treatment of the German
minority. The exaggerated Polish patriotic feeling still appeared in a
more moderate way, but it had not been eliminated. For the time being
suppressive measures were not so brutal, but more cunning. The
political system based on the old watchword of sworn principle to
exterminate everything of German origin, continued unhampered; full
responsibility for this must be ascribed to the Polish Government.
After the death of Marshal Pilsudski the mask was completely dropped.
A campaign of aggressive activity, based on the desire for annexation
and such aims was very soon developed in speech and in print.
The continuous efforts of Germany to bring about tolerable relations
between the German minority and the Polish population were of no
avail. Her efforts were completely frustrated by the sterile attitude
of the Polish Government. Poland's absolutely negative attitude,
marked by an unbroken chain of violations of the spirit of the
German-Polish pact, and also by a continual breach of the fundamental
principles governing the protection of minorities, agreed to and
signed by Poland in the reciprocal minority agreement of Nov. 5, 1937
became manifestly clear when the respective representatives of the
central administrative offices of both countries met in Berlin on Feb.
27, 1939, to discuss all outstanding questions, pertaining to
minorities. These unsuccessful discussions showed that Poland had no
intentions of carrying on Marshal Pilsudski's clearly defined policy
of peace and harmony with his German neighbour. The specific desire of
the Führer for a definite settlement of the Danzig question, and that
of a territorial link between East Prussia and the Reich were
repeatedly placed before the Polish Government in the friendliest
manner. The evasive attitude, however, of Colonel Beck, Minister for
Foreign Affairs, made it clearer from month to month that the Polish
authorities were methodically turning their backs on any intention of
agreement [p. 15] with Germany. Poland's increased resistance to any
kind of reparation or even alleviation of the injustice of Versailles
as regards Germany's Eastern boundary, corresponded with the
stiffening of the Polish policy towards the members of the German
minority and with an intensified Chauvinistic activity of the Polish
press, tantamount to a direct challenge to the Reich.
Even in the spring of 1939 it became quite clear that the change in
Poland's foreign policy was being definitely advanced and guided by
two forces. Polish public opinion, influenced by the Government's
toleration of anti-German propaganda, was imbued with an unparalleled
feeling of hatred against everything German. Any statement or
expression pertaining to the daily life of the German minority was
considered as an hostile act against the Polish State and in
consequence the extermination of everything of German origin was put
forward as a national duty. It was evident that the restraint of the
German Government towards this degeneration of hatred towards minority
Germans was regarded by the Polish authorities as an expression of
weakness. This fateful error was the underlying motive for the
vehement attacks on Germany which expressed themselves in impassioned
demands for the annexation of German territory, and reached their
climax in the ridiculous display of megalomania, as displayed in a
demand for the River Elbe as a boundary necessary to Polish national
requirements. The Polish Government gave a free hand to the
perpetrators of such bellicose demonstration of annexation, as well as
to the miscreants of acts of violence against the German minority in
the Western provinces, who were in their turn aided and abetted by the
provincial authorities. The responsibility for this feverish
atmosphere was hereby placed on the shoulders of the Polish
Government. This finally resulted in moral chaos in towns and in the
country, accompanied by indiscriminate murders of thousands of
defenceless and innocent minority Germans by Polish soldiers and armed
civilians.
The question arose as to how the Polish Government could allow such a
dangerous sentiment to develop in the country and to such an extent as
to permit her own citizens of German origin to be surrendered to the
lowest class of Polish degenerates, whose very lust for murder made
them ignore constitution, law, morality and humaneness. Furthermore
how could responsible Polish rulers allow themselves to be manoeuvred
deeper and deeper into a condition of irreparable tension with
Germany, without accounting to State or people for the inevitable
consequences of an armed conflict with Germany? The answer to this
leads to the second force which influenced Poland from outside and
allowed Poland to believe that all further consideration towards the
German minority or the Reich could be dropped. This force was England,
was the guarantee of assistance given by the British Government to
Poland, and the British active influence to use Poland as a pawn to
stimulate the British encirclement policy so thoroughly as to kindle
the fires of war -- a war which had been prepared long beforehand, and
was intentional, and which actually broke out in connection with
Danzig and the Corridor. As England was guaranteeing this diabolical
scheme, Warsaw was of the opinion that no moderation or consideration
of action as to avoiding overdoing anything was necessary. England had
guaranteed the integrity of Poland! The British promise of assistance
to Poland had provided the latter with the role of a political
battering ram. Since then, and conscious of this, Poland had permitted
herself to challenge the Reich in every conceivable way and, in her
delusions, even dreamt of a "victorious battle before the gates of
Berlin." Had the British war clique not continually urged Poland into
an obstinate resistance towards the Reich, and had it not been for
Britain's promises, of which she felt perfectly sure, it is very
doubtful whether Poland would ever have allowed things to go so far,
as to make the signal for the removal of Germans in the eyes of Polish
military and civilians equivalent to a signal for the murder and
bestial butchery of German people (1).
(1) The British Government must have known, having due regard to the
temperamental national character and inclination to extremes of
political megalomania, of the likewise anti-German propaganda carried
on in the Press for years and worked up against Germany and the German
minorities some months before the War to a definite state of
aggressive bloodthirstiness. She must have known that her active
interest in the warlike policy of Poland, backed up by the pact of
assistance, would of necessity be the cause of national hatred,
spreading like an epidemic and resulting in the most unbelievable and
bloody outrages on German citizens. If the British Government had not
realised the delirious effect on Poland of the pact of assistance
which was responsible for the ghastly consequences, then it would
appear that the extent of the bestiality of the Polish atrocities on
Germans must prove England to be even more guilty of the bloodshed.
Only he who moved amongst Poles during those decisive weeks could
really measure the direct destructive effect of Chamberlain's
guarantee of assistance on the Polish mentality and psychology.
Without the blank cheque given by Great Britain to Poland the latter
would never have so frivolously rejected the unique offer for
compromise made by the Führer, as was made public in his speech in the
Reichstag on April 28, 1939, or would Poland ever have started her war
machinery or opened the doors to the Provincial governors' policy of
extermination of the German minority. The German minority in Poland
had long since been gagged and deprived of all rights (2).
(2) The terrific losses caused to German interests in Poland during
the Polish domination can be given in figures under the heading of
emigration, expropriation, closing of German schools, as follows: up
to the middle of 1939, 1.4 million Germans under the pressure of
Polish officials had emigrated from Posen-West Prussia and from Upper
Silesia. German settlers had lost 1,263,288 acres of land and of these
265,288 acres due to the one-sided Agrarian Reforms unilaterally
applied against Germans, 998,000 acres due to cancellation and
liquidation. Of the 657 public German minority schools in existence in
1925 (in 1927 only 498), only 185 were left at the beginning of the
school year 1938/1939 (of these 150 in Posen-West Prussia and 35 in
Upper Silesia).
Thousands of German enterprises and independent German businesses had
been systematically destroyed by cancellation of orders, boycott, by
taxes rigorously calculated and even more vigorously applied,
withdrawal of concessions, confiscation, and the refusal of permits
for the purchase of land. Innumerable German workmen and employees,
for the greater part old and trusted hands, were made victims of mass
dismissals, based on political race discrimination, and were driven
from their normal areas of work and reduced to a condition of absolute
penury with no further means of existence. The one-sided application
of the Agrarian Reform Laws and the regulations governing frontier
zones forced old established German settlers to emigrate. German
church services were disturbed, German newspapers were seized one
after the other; and the use of the German language was made
impossible either in the street, in shops or restaurants. Germans were
attacked in the open country, in their homes and on their farms. From
May 1939 onwards prohibition orders and punishments literally hailed
down upon them. The closing down of schools, kindergartens, libraries
and German clubs, the elimination of cooperatives, cultural and
charitable societies, and the personal threat to each individual,
increased to an unimaginable degree, quite contrary to the rights of
the German minority as guaranteed by the Constitution.
THE POLISH POLICY OF ATROCITY
During the twenty years of Polish domination, Germans in Poland had
become used to injury and want. Devoid of every right and protection
they were also prepared for their position to become more threatening
and subject to more intolerable pressure as the German-Polish
relations aggravated. During the last weeks before the outbreak of
war, they were under such pressure and their private life so
continually watched by Polish spies, that they already scented the
danger that was being brought about by the work of agitation,
emanating from secret and public Polish sources. Not even the worst
pessimist had ever visualized that the wide-spread menaces, attacks,
and acts of violence would increase and reach the point of the
massacre of men, women, and children, or that these murders would ever
reach the gruesome total of over 58,000. One could feel the abysmal
hatred that the Poles had for anything German; hatred that was being
engendered by an anti-German press, radio and pulpit propaganda. The
Warsaw rulers gave proofs daily of their hostile attitude towards any
sincere understanding. This manifested itself even down to the
subordinate official positions, where a white-hot fanaticism
culminated in treating all Germans as spies and suspected enemies of
the State. It was known that the Association of the West, rebels, and
rifle corps were planning evil, and that Polish Youth organisations,
above all the boy scouts, were being systematically trained under
military supervision in the use of firearms. Outbursts of racial
propaganda could be read in the Polish press; in just the same way the
poisoned atmosphere emanating from the excessive provocation of public
agitators could be felt more and more every week as it spread and
penetrated deeper and deeper amongst the Polish population. The result
was that even the more reasonable Polish elements were dragged into
the vortex, which swept away any sensible thought or moral feeling
towards minority Germans already pursued and tortured. It was
apolitical psychosis which enabled every Pole to feel that he might
commit any kind of deed, even the most terrible against minority
Germans, and without the slightest restraint.
During the last days of August 1939, Germans were openly menaced in
villages with the expressions: "Slaughter them off" (1).
(1) Murder of Sieg (Sd. Is. Bromberg 819/39).
In the towns Germans were the victims of insane incitement, leading to
a state of boycott, terror, and direct danger to life, which the
Warsaw Government tolerated and encouraged. This outbreak of
concentrated fury and Polish national passion directed against
everything German and invoked by the Polish officials, seemed to be
the unavoidable solution for putting an end to the intolerable tension
between Germany and Poland. When, therefore, on Sept. 1, 1939 the ever
increasing avalanche of defence measures against the Polish
provocations and attacks, which led to open raids by Polish soldiery
into German territory, culminated in the entry of German troops into
Poland, the last pillars of State discipline collapsed with the flight
of the Polish authorities. A deluge of ghastly acts of bloodshed, like
an unparalleled storm burst over the heads of German men and women.
These, although conscious of their defenceless state (2)
(2) "A perpetual state of anxiety reigned as no one was any longer
sure of his life . . . The whole night they slunk round the house, and
this furtive slinking, the proximity of a permanent danger was very
difficult to endure" -- this is how the Rector's wife, Frau Lassahn of
Bromberg-Schwedenhöhe, characterizes the heavily laden atmosphere of
ill-boding, just prior to the "Blood Sunday" in Bromberg. (Eye-witness
report of Frau L.). The 32-year old minority German Gerhard Grieger
expresses himself similarly, shortly before he was bestially murdered:
-- "I have a terrible feeling, I feel as though I am being perpetually
watched, and think it would be the best thing to clear out". Then
again the witness Judge (retired) Klabun of Bromberg confirms that
"everywhere they slunk around us and watched us". . . (Criminal
proceedings against Nowitzki and others, Sd. K. Ls. Posen 28/39).
were by no means faint-hearted, for they were comforted in their firm
belief in their impending liberation. A few had indeed been able to
save themselves in time by flight to safety (3)
(3) How tragic is the case of Vicar Reder of Mogilno, who at the time
of his order for internment was on holiday in Zoppot, so that he had
ample opportunity for flight. In spite of this he obeyed the order, so
as to be together with the members of his parish and his co-internees
during the days of trouble. He was shot down with a pistol by the
Commandant of the railway station of Glodno and after receiving
several blows with the butt of a rifle he was given the "coup de
grâce" by Polish Military guard (OKW. HS. Ins. Br. 80).
over the frontiers of the Reich and to Danzig; in spite of repeated
Polish statements to the effect that in case of war all Germans would
be murdered and all German farms would be burnt down, most of the
Germans stuck to their homes and possessions, part of which had been
acquired or inherited from former settlements or by honest purchase,
hundreds of years ago, because they themselves could not believe that
the menaces of murder would ever be carried out. What was the reason
for all classes of Poles participating in the excesses committed
against Germans? Why did that portion of the Polish population which
for years had lived in harmony with their German neighbours in town
and country hardly lift a hand to protect Germans exposed to
lawlessness? Why did Poles, without the slightest reason, attack the
one or other German -- known or unknown to them --, why were they
willing to take part in these indescribable atrocities? The answer to
all this is that all action against Germans had been carefully planned
beforehand; it had been definitely ordered. The question arises: could
not Christian and religious principles in such a devoutly Catholic
country have proved sufficient to ensure a moral and disciplinary
bulwark against such wanton excesses? On the contrary, the massacre of
Protestant clergy, the destruction of Protestant rectories, the
burning and pillaging of Protestant churches (4)
(4) Protestant churches and parish halls were destroyed and burnt in
Bromberg-Schwedenhöhe, in Hopfengarten near Bromberg, in Gr. Leistenau
near Graudenz, in Kl. Katz near Gotenhafen. The number of vicarages
robbed and pillaged has not been ascertained. A "house search" in the
Protestant Consistory in Posen is further evidence of wanton
destruction. In the Parish Church of Bromberg and in St. Peter's
Church in Posen, altars were defiled and the altar lights destroyed,
bibles and altar cloths were torn to rags. (Periodical "Junge Kirche",
dated Nov. 4, 1939).
show clearly that the old adage of Protestant-German, Catholic-Pole,
made the distinction of creed the instrument and tool of political
murder.
In many cases it was enough to be German and Protestant to be arrested
(1).
(1) The witness Kube, Bromberg, 13 Bergkolonie, deposed on oath that a
soldier, who had forcibly entered her apartment, questioned her nephew
Karl Braun, who was on a visit, as to his name and religion (!) On
Braun's truthful declaration as to who he was and that he was a
Protestant he was arrested and carried off. Since then no trace of him
has been found and it would appear that he had been shot (Sd. K. Ls.
Bromberg 32/39).
Sympathy for Germany or German connections were sufficient: even
Catholic Germans were relentlessly pursued and killed, and Catholic
priests themselves were ill-treated because of their sympathy towards
the German element. Even the reproach to a German that he sent his
child to a German school and that during the 20 years of Polish
domination he had not learnt to master the Polish language, was
sufficient to have him killed (2).
(2) Eye-witnesses' statements on the murder case Kala/Keller in
Kardorf (Sd. Is. Posen 42/39) criminal proceedings against Jan
Lewandowski (Sd. K. Ls. Bromberg 85/39).
He who was master of the Polish language and able to make himself
understood in the Polish language or even he who stated he was a Pole,
was spared (3).
(3) The minority German Ferdinand Reumann in Schulitz saved himself
from being carried off and killed by maintaining that he was Polish
and by speaking in Polish to the soldiers; he was the only survivor of
13 Germans (Sd. K. Ls. Bromberg 31/39).
This is proof that only German lives and property were envisaged.
Further proof of this is shown by the fact that the hordes whether in
company of Polish soldiers or alone, only searched homes, attics and
cellars of Germans. They were brought out into the street and where no
Germans were present, the locality was left without disturbing a
single hair of any Pole (4).
(4) Statement by the Polish witnesses Maria Szczepaniak and Luzia
Spirka of Bromberg, who were hidden in an air raid cellar together
with Germans (Sd. K: Ls. Bromberg 12/39).
Germans were murdered indiscriminately and regardless of age, creed or
sex, whether peasant, farmer, teacher, clergyman, doctor, merchant,
workman or factory-owner, no class or rank was spared. The victims
were shot without trial -- there was never any legal reason for the
massacre of Germans. They were shot, tortured to death, beaten and
stabbed without any reason at all (5),
(5) "Never before have I seen faces so distorted with fury or bestial
expression -- they had certainly ceased to be human beings --" stated
the eye-witness Paul Zembol of Pless (WR I).
and most of them, furthermore, were maimed in the most bestial way.
These murders were intentional, and for the greater part, committed by
Polish soldiers, police and gendarmes, but also by armed civilians,
schoolboys and apprentices (P.W.O.N.) (6).
(6) P. W. = Przysposobienie Wojskowe, i. e. an organization for the
pre-military training of youths under military supervision. O. N. =
Obrona Narodowa, i. e. Reservists mobilized at a later date.
Rebels in uniform, members of the West Marches Society, rifle corps,
railwaymen, and released convicts were in the motley crowd that took
part in these murders (7).
(7) At a few places, convicts also took part in the atrocities against
the Germans; but the statement coming from a Polish quarter that the
escaped or liberated criminals were the main perpetrators, and that
the atrocities against Germans, for example, in and near Bromberg are
to be ascribed principally to the criminals who escaped in
Crone-on-the-Brahe -- or that similar atrocities against Germans in
the neighbourhood of Thorn were due to criminals who broke out in
Fordon -- is refuted by the fact that in those places hardly any
pillaging or thefts occurred, and further by the identification by
name of the perpetrators and accomplices, verified in the
investigations and criminal proceedings by statements of reliable
witnesses, The erroneous and tendentious Polish statement that
convicts and similar rabble had incited the soldiers and civilians to
acts of violence is absolutely contradicted by the results of the
juridical proceedings.
Everywhere a definite method governed the procedure, from it could be
[p. 20] deduced that a centralized system of murder was being
practised (1).
(1) The declaration of the 17 year-old Pole, Bernhard Kokoczynski,
interrogated and condemned for serious breach of the peace by the
special court of Bromberg, on September 27, 1939 (Sd. K. Ls. Bromberg,
24/39), that he was ordered to hunt up minority Germans repeats itself
several times in the attempts at justification made by the Poles
convicted of murder or complicity. The murderers or accomplices relied
therefore on instructions. This establishment of fact is parallel with
the attitude of nearly all the murderers and the accomplices, who
based their action firmly and decisively on the grounds that the
Germans had started shooting, and that that was why measures had been
taken against them. For this assertion no proof was brought forward in
any single case. The unanimity of this assertion points conclusively
to the fact that it must have been issued by a central office as a
definite basis of action.
That these unheard-of cruel individual and mass-murders were carried
on in such a way is explained by the mentality of the Pole, and his
habit to incline to cruelty and torture. The proverbial courage of the
Pole corresponds with his equally proverbial cunning and deceit.
Innumerable Polish murderers present themselves to our eyes as crafty
and bloodthirsty creatures. Denunciation and treachery are expressions
of the Polish national character, from which elements the brutal
mentality and lust for murder emanate. All that occured in and around
Bromberg, Posen and Pless, in the days of September 1939, is nothing
but a repetition of the bloodshed that occurred in Upper Silesia
during the Polish riots in 1920/21, which, at the time, shocked public
opinion throughout the civilized world.
The hunt for minority Germans in the towns and villages was carried
out more or less according to the following system; following the
command Nr. 59 (2)
(2) The broadcast of the Polish Government of Sept. 1, belongs to one
of the most important pieces of evidence proving that acts of violence
against Germans bore the character of a campaign, centrally organized
and under official control: Frau Weise, the wife of the senior
physician of the Posen Protestant Deaconess Hospital together with Dr
Reimann of the same place, give the text of the broadcast heard by
them on the morning of Sept. 1, as follows: - "Hullo! Hullo! Germans,
Czechs and Bohemians! Carry out Command No . . . . . . . . at once."
The two witnesses were no longer certain of the actual number. In a
verbal statement, Konrad Kopiera, director of the Schicht Trust of
Warsaw, definitely remembers the number as 59. Frau Klusseck of Posen,
24, Hohenzollern Straße, heard the following on the afternoon of Sept.
1. "Hullo! Hullo! To all courts, prosecuting attorneys and other
authorities. Circular No. . . . . . . concerning . . . . . ." after
which followed an example of some kind of secret code message which
Frau Klusseck could not remember, but it ran more or less like this:
-- 824,358 X 5 + 9/4 -- "has to be carried out immediately!" Further
investigation is being under taken as regards the number of the
circular as well as the code text.
repeatedly broadcast by the Warsaw Government on Sept. 1, a modus
operandi which must have been agreed upon beforehand with provincial
authorities, the provincial governments instructed the local police
immediately to enforce the orders of arrest already drawn up and
provided with consecutive numbers, against the minority Germans. These
warrants did not include the new arrivals within the last few weeks,
proof in itself that the orders had been prepared long before (3).
(3) There were 3 kinds of warrants of arrest -- Red: for arrest and
house search, Pink: Internment (supposed to have been applicable
particularly to German nationals), Yellow: evacuation from a place of
residence with travel permit to definite location in Central or East
Poland, as prescribed by the Mayor. As a rule all these colours were
treated with the same severity, i. e. those distinguished by the mild
"yellow evacuation warrants" were treated in the same way as those
abducted in batches under police control (Photographic copies of the
warrants of arrest in the archives RKPA 1486/8. 39).
In accordance with these orders, the minority Germans were arrested
without reason being given, and carried off to the police-station in
the shortest possible time. Some were questioned (others were not)
with the intention of trying to force a confession to the effect that
they had been actively engaged as spies or enemies of the State. They
were either thrown into prison or sent home under the impression that
they were free mere. Often, all their papers of identification were
taken away by the police; they were liberated without these papers
being returned, with instructions to call for them later. This "later"
was destined to become "never". Either they never got so far, or, if
they did, they never came back; they were murdered in the meantime
(1).
(1) The murder case of the brothers Lemke in Bromberg, Nakeler Strasse
(Sd. K. Ls. Bromberg 33/39).
They were severely ill-treated on their way to or from the police
station and in the prison cells. They were kicked, beaten with rifle
butts, spat on, and subjected to the mast awful words of abuse. Those
who had not been arrested, interned or abducted, were, in accordance
with exact lists, fetched out of their homes and either beaten to
death or shot down by soldiers, police, or armed civilians, chiefly
led by men of unsavoury reputation, wholly anti-German (2).
(2) The lists played a very important part in the preparation of
Polish atrocities. According to Gertrud Becker, servant, of
Bromberg-Jägerhof and witness in the murder case of Schröder and Köhke
(WR I) "the names of all persons who were in the cellar were called
out from a list." The commanders of local rebel organizations had
drawn up "Death lists" which served as preliminaries for the massacre
of Germans. The sworn statement of the innkeeper Litwa at Landsberg,
district of Rybnik, shows that the rebel Kwiotek had drawn up a list
of 150 minority Germans "who were to be killed at a convenient moment"
(SG. in Kattowitz 19/39). The witness Frau Emvira Diesner in
Ciechocinek (WR II) deposed that "the whole Town Council took part in
drawing up the black list." Witness Paul Rakette, Pastor of Schokken
(WR II) declared that the preparation of the lists was in the hands of
all the local administrative authorities. A Polish police sergeant of
Rogasen told the witness, Innkeeper Ewald Thou, that the "black-list"
had been drawn up "by someone in a high position (WR II). The witness
Erwin Boy, a master-tailor of Ostburg is of the opinion that the
Polish village elder was responsible for the drawing up of the lists:
without such lists "it would have been impossible for the soldiers to
use a piece of paper for calling out our names."
The entries of "Suspicious" in the military passports of minority
Germans liable to military service, or in the discharge certificates
were similar in importance. In all these cases the holders of such
papers, with one exception (Eugen Hoffmann), were murdered in Bromberg
on Sept. 4. It has been established that all entries of "Suspicious,"
as well as the discharge papers, constituted an order to the Polish
authorities to have the holders of such papers shot (for details see
documents RKPA 1488/22. 39 and 1486/24. 39).
The facts which established that the Polish action against minority
Germans was prepared by the officials, according to plan, completely
contradict the statement of Polish emigrants who maintain that all
these acts of atrocity were a form of "reprisal," and that in their
flight before the German troops the Poles had carried off minority
Germans and, as the position in general became worse and worse "they
killed them out of sheer exasperation." In reality all minority
Germans were interned, abducted, ill-treated and murdered in
accordance with well-thought-out plans. It was not a spontaneous
action resulting from the shock of the entry of German troops into
Poland.
Anyone asking what was the reason for such persecution, or why his
arrest had been made, was answered with a shot in the neck, blows from
the butt of a rifle, or stabs with a bayonet. As a rule, when people
were fetched by force and ill-treated, these acts were accompanied by
house searches for weapons, secret wireless transmitters, wireless
receiving sets and suspicious documents. No Germans had any weapons
because for years conditions had rendered this impossible. It was
sufficient to find a child's percussion-cap pistol to justify a murder
(1).
(1) Verbal statement by the witness Charlotte Korth (WR I).
It actually happened that an accusation was made that a weapon had
been found; actually this weapon had been concealed by the Poles on
the spot beforehand, or during the interrogation. As regards the
search for hidden ammunition, a cartridge was secretly laid on a
cupboard during the search; the discovery of this cartridge was then
brought forward as proof of guilt (2).
(2) Statements of the witnesses Herbert Schlicht in Bromberg and Anna
Krüger in Jägerhof (WR I).
Again a minority German's notebook was taken away, drawings of an
incriminating nature were secretly made inside; this was then used as
a corpus delicti. We have evidence of a case in which Polish infantry
asserted that a hand-grenade had been found in a house. Finally
however, a Polish soldier intervened and honestly declared that he had
seen another Polish soldier put it there. This saved the minority
German's life (3).
(3) Statements of witness Friedrich Weiss, butcher in Wonorce, and
Willi Bombicki in Gratz (WR II).
In towns, a systematic signal for concerted action against Germans was
usually the sudden explosion of a shot in the midst of the seething
crowds (4),
(4) In many cases no shot had ever been fired, some Pole simply made a
false statement, trying to indicate that from the house of some German
a slot had been fired.
instantaneously cries echoed from the streets: "The Germans have
started shooting! Catch them! Kill the Germans, the Huns, the Swine,
the Spies!" In spite of knowledge to the contrary and without the
slightest justification, Germans were accused of shooting. This gave
the Polish soldiers sufficient excuse for shooting Germans in
pursuance of the object aimed at by the bandits and indicated by the
agitators, namely, the complete extermination of all Germans (5).
(5) This signal for action was spread by the press, wireless and
chauvinistic associations. It was even proclaimed from the pulpit on
that "Blood Sunday" itself in Bromberg (statement of Wladyslaw
Dejewski [Sd. K. Ls. Bromberg 16/39] accused and convicted of three
murders of minority Germans.) Dejewski's statement about the
devastating work of anti-German propaganda by the Polish
intelligentsia and the clergy, including various other credible
statements of his, brings up and touches on a moss serious subject:
The abuse of the Pulpit and its connection with the political campaign
for the extermination of everything German (cf. Document No. 23)
Dejewski declares: "had the clergy exhorted us to calm and
circumspection, it would never have come to such bloodshed." Here he
referred to definite sermons inciting the population made by Canon
Sch. in Bromberg shortly before the German troops occupied that town.
In these sermons the canon incites the inhabitants "to resist the
Germans to the last drop of blood and to destroy everything German."
In his statement before the Special Court at Posen, the Pole Henryk
Pawlowski declared: "the population was incited by the clergy" (Murder
case Grieger-John, Sd. Ls. Posen 28/39, cf. document No. 50).
Thereupon the howling and enraged mob blindly attacked and overwhelmed
civilians of both sexes. Often women in a frenzy of fanaticism
indicated to soldiers, who were strangers to the locality, where
Germans lived. The soldiers forced their way in and stabbed or shot
the Germans. For the most part, male Germans of every age, including
children, down to infants of 2½ months, were murdered (1).
(1) According to definite proof, the oldest man murdered was the
86-year-old Peter Rieriast of Ciechocinek and the youngest victim the
two and a half month old infant Gisela Rosenau of Lochowo, who died of
hunger on the breast of her murdered mother. The greatest number by
far of the Minority Germans who were beaten to death or shot is
represented by the members of the German Association (which was
approved according to statute by the Polish Government) as well as by
members of the Young German Party. In the case of the inclusion of
victims in the "lists" it was principally the most esteemed citizens
of German descent who were subject to acts of violence, but
smallholders who were absolutely harmless