Ethnic German Genocide: Neutral Sources Document Why Germany Invaded Poland

      Most historians state that Germany’s invasion of Poland was an unprovoked act of aggression designed to open up Lebensraum and take control of Europe. According to conventional historians, Hitler hated the Poles and wanted to destroy them as his first step on the road to world conquest.[1]

      British historian Andrew Roberts, for example, writes:

“The Polish Corridor, which had been intended by the framers of the Versailles Treaty of 1919 to cut off East Prussia from the rest of Germany, had long been presented as a casus belli by the Nazis, as had the ethnically German Baltic port of Danzig, but as Hitler had told a conference of generals in May 1939, ‘Danzig is not the real issue; the real point is for us to open up our Lebensraum to the east and ensure our supplies of foodstuffs.’ ”[2]

      British historian Richard J. Evans writes:

“In 1934, when Hitler had concluded a 10-year non-aggression pact with the Poles, it had seemed possible that Poland might become a satellite state in a future European order dominated by Germany. But by 1939 it had become a serious obstacle to the eastward expansion of the Third Reich. It therefore had to be wiped from the map, and ruthlessly exploited to finance preparations for the coming war in the west.”[3]

      This article uses non-German sources to document that, contrary to what most historians claim, Germany’s invasion of Poland was provoked by the Polish government’s acts of violence against its ethnic German minority. 

Here lie 18 bodies found on the bank of the Bromberg Canal, among them the bodies of 2 children. With the exception of one, all the dead had their hands tied together behind their backs.
Survey map of most important places of ethnic German mass murder in former Poland.

Historical Background

      Polish Foreign Minister Józef Beck accepted an offer from Great Britain on March 30, 1939, that gave an unconditional unilateral guarantee of Poland’s independence. The British Empire agreed to go to war as an ally of Poland if the Poles decided that war was necessary. In words drafted by British Foreign Secretary Lord Halifax, Neville Chamberlain spoke in the House of Commons on March 31, 1939, declaring:

      I now have to inform the House…that in the event of any action which clearly threatened Polish independence and which the Polish Government accordingly considered it vital to resist with their national forces, His Majesty’s Government would feel themselves bound at once to lend the Polish Government all support in their power. They have given the Polish Government an assurance to that effect.[4]

      Great Britain’s unprecedented “blank check” to Poland led to increasing violence against the German minority in Poland. The book Polish Acts of Atrocity against the German Minority in Poland answers the question why the Polish government allowed such atrocities to happen:

      The guarantee of assistance given Poland by the British Government was the agent which lent impetus to Britain’s policy of encirclement. It was designed to exploit the problem of Danzig and the Corridor to begin a war, desired and long-prepared by England, for the annihilation of Greater Germany. In Warsaw moderation was no longer considered necessary, and the opinion held was that matters could be safely brought to a head. England was backing this diabolical game, having guaranteed the “integrity” of the Polish state. The British assurance of assistance meant that Poland was to be the battering ram of Germany’s enemies. Henceforth Poland neglected no form of provocation of Germany and, in its blindness, dreamt of “victorious battle at Berlin’s gates.” Had it not been for the encouragement of the English war clique, which was stiffening Poland’s attitude toward the Reich and whose promises led Warsaw to feel safe, the Polish Government would hardly have let matters develop to the point where Polish soldiers and civilians would eventually interpret the slogan to extirpate all German influence as an incitement to the murder and bestial mutilation of human beings.”[5]   

      Most of the outside world dismissed this book as nothing more than Nazi propaganda used to justify Hitler’s invasion of Poland. However, as we will see in this article, the violence against  Poland’s ethnic Germans that led to Hitler’s invasion of Poland has been well-documented by numerous non-German sources.        

Radler, Arthur, 42 years, belonging to the Radler family murder case. The bullet entered the body on the left at the cervix and left it at the nape of the neck, also on the left. The victim lived for over 7 hours after this non-fatal injury. His wife and [14]-year-old daughter were forcibly prevented from rendering assistance to the wounded man. Death was caused by a shot through the head. Two sons, 17 and [19] years old, had been murdered previously.
(Autopsy No. Br. 46 [OKW. H. S. In.])

American Sources

      American historian David Hoggan wrote that German-Polish relationships became strained by the increasing harshness with which the Polish authorities handled its German minority. More than 1 million ethnic Germans resided in Poland, and these Germans were the principal victims of the German-Polish crisis in the coming weeks. The Germans in Poland were subjected to increasing doses of violence from the dominant Poles. Ultimately, many thousands of Germans in Poland paid for this crisis with their lives. They were among the first victims of Britain’s war policy against Germany.[6]

      On August 14, 1939, the Polish authorities in East Upper Silesia launched a campaign of mass arrests against the German minority. The Poles then proceeded to close and confiscate the remaining German businesses, clubs and welfare installations. The arrested Germans were forced to march toward the interior of Poland in prisoner columns. The various German groups in Poland were frantic by this time, and they feared that the Poles would attempt the total extermination of the German minority in the event of war. Thousands of Germans were seeking to escape arrest by crossing the border into Germany. Some of the worst recent Polish atrocities included the mutilation of several Germans. The Poles were warned not to regard their German minority as helpless hostages who could be butchered with impunity.[7]

German farmer’s wife from Langenau, near Bromberg. Her right foot was cut off and then her leg was separated, butcher-fashion, from the thigh.
Gertrud Rohde, the 18-year-old daughter of the peasant Rohde, of Langenau, had two fingers of her right hand chopped off so that her rings might be stolen.
German peasant near Langenau.

      William Lindsay White, an American journalist, recalled that there was no doubt among well-informed people that by August 1939 horrible atrocities were being inflicted every day on the ethnic German minority of Poland. White said that a letter from the Polish government claiming that no persecution of the Germans in Poland was taking place had about as much validity as the civil liberties guaranteed by the 1936 constitution of the Soviet Union.[8]

      Donald Day, a Chicago Tribune correspondent, reported on the atrocious treatment the Poles had meted out to the ethnic Germans in Poland:

      …I traveled up to the Polish corridor where the German authorities permitted me to interview the German refugees from many Polish cities and towns. The story was the same. Mass arrests and long marches along roads toward the interior of Poland. The railroads were crowded with troop movements. Those who fell by the wayside were shot. The Polish authorities seemed to have gone mad. I have been questioning people all my life and I think I know how to make deductions from the exaggerated stories told by people who have passed through harrowing personal experiences. But even with generous allowance, the situation was plenty bad. To me the war seemed only a question of hours.[9]

      David Hoggan wrote that the leaders of the German minority in Poland repeatedly appealed to the Polish government for mercy during this period, but to no avail. More than 80,000 German refugees had been forced to leave Poland by August 20, 1939, and virtually all other ethnic Germans in Poland were clamoring to leave to escape Polish atrocities.[10]

      British Ambassador Nevile Henderson in Berlin was concentrating on obtaining recognition from Halifax of the cruel fate of the German minority in Poland. Henderson emphatically warned Halifax on August 24, 1939, that German complaints about the treatment of the German minority in Poland were fully supported by the facts. Henderson knew that the Germans were prepared to negotiate, and he stated to Halifax that war between Poland and Germany was inevitable unless negotiations were resumed between the two countries. Henderson pleaded with Halifax that it would be contrary to Polish interests to attempt a full military occupation of Danzig, and he added a scathingly effective denunciation of Polish policy. What Henderson failed to realize is that Halifax was pursuing war for its own sake as an instrument of policy. Halifax desired the complete destruction of Germany.[11]                     

      On August 25, 1939, Ambassador Henderson reported to Halifax the latest Polish atrocity at Bielitz, Upper Silesia. Henderson never relied on official German statements concerning these incidents, but instead based his reports on information he had received from neutral sources. The Poles continued to forcibly deport the Germans of that area, and compelled them to march into the interior of Poland. Eight Germans were murdered and many more were injured during one of these actions. Henderson deplored the failure of the British government to exercise restraint over the Polish authorities.[12]

      Hoggan wrote that Hitler was faced with a terrible dilemma. If Hitler did nothing, the Germans of Poland and Danzig would be abandoned to the cruelty and violence of a hostile Poland. If Hitler took effective action against the Poles, the British and French might declare war against Germany. Henderson feared that the Bielitz atrocity would be the final straw to prompt Hitler to invade Poland. Henderson, who strongly desired peace with Germany, deplored the failure of the British government to exercise restraint over the Polish authorities.[13]

      Hitler invaded Poland to end the atrocities against the German minority in Poland. American historian Harry Elmer Barnes agreed with Hoggan’s analysis. Barnes wrote:

“The primary responsibility for the outbreak of the German-Polish War was that of Poland and Britain, while for the transformation of the German-Polish conflict into a European War, Britain, guided by Halifax, was almost exclusively responsible.”[14]

      Barnes further stated:

“It has now been irrefutably established on a documentary basis that Hitler was no more responsible for war in 1939 than the Kaiser was in 1914, if indeed as responsible…Hitler’s responsibility in 1939 was far less than that of Beck in Poland, Halifax in England, or even Daladier in France.”[15]             

Other Sources

      Dutch historian Louis de Jong wrote that on March 25, 1939, windows were smashed in the houses of many ethnic Germans in Posen and Kraków, and in those of the German embassy in Warsaw. German agricultural co-operatives in Poland were later dissolved and many German schools were closed down, while ethnic Germans who were active in the cultural sphere were taken into custody. Around the middle of May 1939, in one small town where 3,000 ethnic Germans lived, many household effects in houses and shops were smashed to bits. The remaining German club-buildings were closed down in the middle of June.[16]

German farmsteads at Langenau and Otterau near Bromberg burned down by Polish hordes.
After the search. The home of Herr Symosek in Gnesen, manager of the farmers’ Co-operative Society, which was devastated and plundered by 20 Polish soldiers. Symosek was carried off together with his two daughters, Eva aged 19, and Dora aged 16. The soldiers stole a large sum of money from the desk and all of Symosek’s suits, including clothes laid away for the winter. The Iron Crosses (1st and 2nd class) and other of Symosek’s war decorations were thrown into large washbasins, the latter then being used by the soldiers
for relieving themselves.

      De Jong wrote that by mid-August 1939, the Poles proceeded to arrest hundreds of ethnic Germans. German printing shops and trade-union offices were closed, and numerous house-to-house searches took place. Eight ethnic Germans who had been arrested in Upper Silesia were shot to death on August 24 during their transport to an internment camp.[17]   

Eight murdered Germans in one place, of whom 2 were found lying separately and 2 others lying apart, in Glinke, near Bromberg.
Heller, Willi, 19 years, also belonging to the group of Jesuitersee murders. 33 stabs from dagger or thrusts of bayonet, of which the one marked with arrow, through cervical spinal cord, proved fatal. (Autopsy No. Br. 23 [OKW. H. S. In])

      On August 7, 1939, the Polish censors permitted the newspaper Illustrowany Kuryer Codzienny in Kraków to feature an article of unprecedented recklessness. The article stated that Polish units were constantly crossing the German frontier to destroy German military installations, and to carry confiscated German military equipment into Poland. The Polish government allowed this newspaper, with one of the largest circulations in Poland, to tell the world that Poland was instigating a series of violations of her frontier with Germany.[18]  The Polish newspaper Kurier Polski also declared in banner headlines that “Germany Must Be Destroyed!”, while negotiations with Hitler were still in progress during August 1939.[19]

      Polish Ambassador Jerzy Potocki unsuccessfully attempted to persuade Józef Beck to seek an agreement with Germany. Potocki later succinctly explained the situation in Poland by stating “Poland prefers Danzig to peace.”[20] Polish armed forces commander-in-chief Edward Rydz-Smigly also declared that his country was prepared to fight even without allies if Germany touched Danzig. He declared that every Polish man and woman of whatever age would be a soldier in the event of war.[21]

      British Royal Navy Capt. Russell Grenfell was highly critical of Britain’s unilateral unconditional guarantee of Poland’s independence. He said that, in general, special territorial guarantees were a means by which a great Power could turn its challengers into world criminals. Grenfell wrote: “This would have worked out very awkwardly for Britain in the days when she was the challenging power; as, for example, against Spain in the sixteenth century, Holland in the seventeenth, and Spain and France in the eighteenth.”[22]

      Grenfell was also critical of Britain’s guarantee of Poland’s independence because a guarantee is itself a challenge. He wrote that a guarantee “publicly dares a rival to ignore the guarantee and take the consequences; after which it is hardly possible for that rival to endeavor to seek a peaceful solution of its dispute with the guaranteed country without appearing to be submitting to blackmail.” Grenfell said that a guarantee may therefore act as an incitement to the very major conflict which it is presumably meant to prevent.[23] This is exactly what happened in the case of Britain’s guarantee of Poland’s independence.

Discharge Certificate as Death Warrant. Extract from the files of the Criminal Police Office of the Reich – Special commission in Bromberg – Ref. No. Tgb. V. (RKPA) 1486/24.39. On Sept. 2, 1939, the minority German Eugen Hofmann, merchant of Bromberg, was seized and put into the womens’ prison of Bromberg through the initiative of Isidor Berger, the Jewish Polish A. R. P. Commander of this area. On Sept. 4, he was released from imprisonment and a certificate of discharge, as shown by photostatic print herein, was handed to him. The same discharge certificate was received by all minority Germans released at the same time as Hofmann. Of these, all with the exception of Hofmann were murdered on Sept. 4. The curious certificate of discharge, of which the translated text is as follows: “Hofmann, Eugen, of this town discharged today in accordance with the decree of the President of the Republic. Bromberg, Sept 4, 1939. Seal: Police arrest L. dz. 4/9/1939. Two illegible signatures,” represents, according to previous findings, an order to the Polish authorities to kill the bearer of such a discharge certificate. Hofmann escaped the death destined for him only by the fact that he went to his relations in Bromberg and stayed there until the entry of the German troops, without his unforseen presence there being discovered.(Signed) Dr. Wehner, Criminal Commissar.
The 39 murdered minority Germans in Hopfengarten near Bromberg. The bodies, entirely mutilated, lay close together. Most of the victims were bound together in twos with rope.
Murdered and castrated. Body of a minority German found near Bromberg, not yet identified.

Aftermath of Invasion 

      The Germans in Poland continued to experience an atmosphere of terror in the early part of September 1939. Throughout the country the Germans had been told, “If war comes to Poland, you will all be hanged.” This prophecy was later fulfilled in many cases.[24]

      The famous bloody Sunday in Toruń on September 3, 1939, was accompanied by similar massacres elsewhere in Poland. These massacres brought a tragic end to the long suffering of many ethnic Germans. This catastrophe had been anticipated by the Germans before the outbreak of war, as reflected by the flight, or attempted escape, of large numbers of Germans from Poland. The feelings of these Germans were revealed by the desperate slogan, “Away from this hell, and back to the Reich!”[25]

Mass grave near Sompolno, of 45 murdered Germans, including 41 German farmers of the village of Sockelstein near Wreschen.

      American historian Dr. Alfred-Maurice de Zayas writes concerning the ethnic Germans in Poland:

      The first victims of the war were Volksdeutsche, ethnic German civilians, resident in and citizens of Poland. Using lists prepared years earlier, in part by lower administrative offices, Poland immediately deported 15,000 Germans to Eastern Poland. Fear and rage at the quick German victories led to hysteria. German “spies” were seen everywhere, suspected of forming a fifth column. More than 5,000 German civilians were murdered in the first days of the war. They were hostages and scapegoats at the same time. Gruesome scenes were played out in Bromberg on September 3, as well as in several other places throughout the province of Posen, in Pommerellen, wherever German minorities resided.[26]

      Hitler had planned to offer to restore sovereignty to the Czech state and to Western Poland as part of a peace proposal with Great Britain and France. German Minister of Foreign Affairs Joachim von Ribbentrop informed Soviet leaders of Hitler’s intention in a note on September 15, 1939. Josef Stalin and Vyacheslav Molotov, however, sought to stifle any action that might bring Germany and the Allies to the conference table. They told Ribbentrop that they did not approve of the resurrection of the Polish state. Aware of Germany’s dependency on Soviet trade, Hitler abandoned his plan to reestablish Polish statehood.[27]

Friedrich Beyer.
Kurt Beyer, 10 years old.
Heinz Beyer and Thiele.

Conclusion

      Hitler’s invasion of Poland was forced by the Polish government’s intolerable treatment of its German population. No other national leader would have allowed his fellow countrymen to similarly suffer and die just across the border in a neighboring country.[28] Germany did not invade Poland for Lebensraum or any other malicious reason.

      However, even British leaders who had worked for peace later claimed that Hitler was solely responsible for starting World War II. British Ambassador Nevile Henderson, for example, said that the entire responsibility for starting the war was Hitler’s. Henderson wrote in his memoirs in 1940: “If Hitler wanted peace, he knew how to insure it; if he wanted war, he knew equally well what would bring it about. The choice lay with him, and in the end the entire responsibility for war was his.”[29] Henderson forgot in this passage that he had repeatedly warned Halifax that the Polish atrocities against the German minority in Poland were extreme. Hitler invaded Poland in order to end these atrocities.       

Masses of minority Germans from Warsaw, beaten to death or shot. They were found scattered over streets, fields and in woods and laid in one place to be identified.
German Pastors killed by Polish murderers. “Deutsche Rundschau” of October 18, 1939. Nothing was sacred.

   

A lucrative narrative.

Endnotes


[1] Roland, Marc, “Poland’s Censored Holocaust,” The Barnes Review in Review: 2008-2010, p. 131.

[2] Roberts, Andrew, The Storm of War: A New History of the Second World War, New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 2011, pp. 18-19.  

[3] Evans, Richard J., The Third Reich at War 1939-1945, London: Penguin Books Ltd., 2008, p. 11.

[4] Barnett, Correlli, The Collapse of British Power, New York: William Morrow, 1972, p. 560; see also Taylor, A.J.P., The Origins of the Second World War, New York: Simon & Schuster, 1961, p. 211.

[5] Shadewalt, Hans, Polish Acts of Atrocity Against the German Minority in Poland, Berlin and New York: German Library of Information, 2nd edition, 1940, pp. 75-76.

[6] Hoggan, David L., The Forced War: When Peaceful Revision Failed, Costa Mesa, Cal.: Institute for Historical Review, 1989, pp. 260-262, 387.

[7] Ibid., pp. 452-453.

[8] Ibid., p. 554.

[9] Day, Donald, Onward Christian Soldiers, Newport Beach, Cal.: The Noontide Press, 2002, p. 56.

[10] Hoggan, David L., The Forced War: When Peaceful Revision Failed, Costa Mesa, Cal.: Institute for Historical Review, 1989, pp. 358, 382, 388, 391-92, 479.

[11] Ibid., pp. 500-501, 550.

[12] Ibid., pp. 509-510.

[13] Ibid., p. 509

[14] Barnes, Harry Elmer, Barnes Against the Blackout, Costa Mesa, Cal.: The Institute for Historical Review, 1991, p. 222.

[15] Ibid., pp. 227, 249.

[16] Jong, Louis de, The German Fifth Column in the Second World War, New York: Howard Fertig, 1973, pp. 36-37.

[17] Ibid, p. 37.

[18] Hoggan, David L., The Forced War: When Peaceful Revision Failed, Costa Mesa, Cal.: Institute for Historical Review, 1989, p. 419.

[19] Irving, David, Goebbels: Mastermind of the Third Reich, London: Focal Point Publications, 1996, p. 304.

[20] Hoggan, David L., The Forced War: When Peaceful Revision Failed, Costa Mesa, Cal.: Institute for Historical Review, 1989, p. 419.

[21] Ibid., p. 396.

[22] Grenfell, Russell, Unconditional Hatred: German War Guilt and the Future of Europe, New York: The Devin-Adair Company, 1954, p. 86.

[23] Ibid., pp. 86-87.

[24] Hoggan, David L., The Forced War: When Peaceful Revision Failed, Costa Mesa, Cal.: Institute for Historical Review, 1989, p. 390.

[25] Ibid.

[26] De Zayas, Alfred-Maurice, A Terrible Revenge: The Ethnic Cleansing of the East European Germans, 2nd edition, New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006, p. 27.

[27] Tedor, Richard, Hitler’s Revolution, Chicago: 2013, pp. 160-161.

[28] Roland, Marc, “Poland’s Censored Holocaust,” The Barnes Review in Review: 2008-2010, p. 135.

[29] Henderson, Sir Nevile, Failure of a Mission, New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1940, p. 227.

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9 Responses

  1. Smith says:

    You quote the words of Edward Rydz-Smigly and cite (note 21) ‘Daily Mail (London), vol. 22, nr. 174, August 6, 1939, p. 1.’ have you seen this Newspaper to confirm the quotation? Do you have a scan or copy you could post to verify? Where did you find the reference? I ask because I have attempted to verify it for myself by searching the British Newspaper Archives, but can find no such newspaper for this date, with this quote.

    • John Wear says:

      I attempted to find this newspaper quotation in the Daily Mail (London) without success. I decided to delete this sentence and corresponding footnote reference. I have replaced it with another Edward Rydz-Smigly statement from David Hoggan’s book
      “The Forced War.”

      I appreciate your calling this to my attention. Thanks for your help.

  2. RockaBoatus says:

    The more I read and study about WW2, the less I am persuaded of the Allies’ narrative regarding those same events. The establishment historians are desperate to portray Hitler and the National Socialists as stark raving mad with a sole burning desire to ‘conquer and enslave the world.’ The received ‘narrative’ must be maintained at all costs, and the Truth is no defense.

    Yet a fair reading of history reveals the complete opposite of what the court historians say. Conveniently ignored are the many times Hitler avoided conflict with Britain and America, including the peace officers he made to both Churchill and Roosevelt. He stated publicly that he admired the Brits and hoped there would be an alliance between Germany and Britian to resist the rising tide of Bolshevism. Yes, Hitler invaded Poland, but it was not to secure more land. Rather, it was to put an end to his countrymen who were suffering and being butchered by the Polish authorities.

  3. Kris says:

    All of these ‘revelations’ above are complete bogus! No such action on Polish side ever took place.

    In Bydgoszcz – that is the proper name of the city German propaganda called Bromberg it was not innocent civilians that were executed but a German fifth column – civilians who were shooting at the backs of Polish soldiers defending Poland since 1st of September 1939. These traitors were court martialled and executed in accordance to Geneva convention.

    No ‘massacres’ happened neither in Poland nor in Gdansk prior to WWII and they have not happened after the 1st of September as well.

    These pictures are pictures of Poles murdered by Wehrmacht and Luftwaffe. Thank you

    Explained it to you

  4. Linde says:

    These dreadful atrocities are virtually copies of the Red Brigade atrocities when they invaded Spain during the Spanish civil war – these were Jewish brigades. And they look a lot like the atrocities of the Communist Gooks during the Revolution the Soviets / PRC brought against the African continent. I refer to the over the top torture and savagery.

    I think it very likely that the ‘Poles’ who committed these atrocities on the Germans were a Jewish NKVD or Red Brigade. I say this because it is clear from the work of Prince Michel Sturdza that it was the Jewish Communist Revolutionary Assets in all European governments pulling the levers for a World War.

  5. Linde says:

    Notice how in the build-up to WW3 the atrocity propaganda against the Poles (WWII) mirrors the atrocity propaganda against the Ukrainians. In all of history these two Christian nations really do not have this ‘thing’ for bayoneting babies. Jewish Red Brigades, however, do – as they have demonstrated in many brutal Communist takeovers and attempted takeovers.

    Before WWII the Red Army had been prevented from sweeping into Europe by Poland – this was the Polish Soviet War of 1919-1922. They invaded Europe in force under the Third ComIntern. The Poles halted their advance at the Vistula.
    They couldn’t take down Poland – even though Poland had only very recently been reconstituted as an independent nation under the Treaty of Versailles.

    What to do? The Big Powers owned by the International Judenstaat through the financial arm of their banking cartel had to have a solution to the problem that was [and is] Poland. It couldn’t be taken down from the East. These are the Communist power of the Soviet Union and the Zionist power of the UK and US which were at the time WWII crypto communist powers. One Revolution – two branches.

    Both Germany and the Soviet Union invaded Poland but the West declared war only upon Germany.

    Both Germany

  6. Lawrence says:

    I take dispute to the accusation that Poland’s behavior towards Germany was the true incite for the German invasion of Poland. There are numerous documents and evidence on how the Nazi’s staged bogus raids against German boarders. One such of many raids involved the use of German criminals released from prison and dressed as German border guards and killed by Waffen SS groups dressed as Polish military.

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