Figure 1.--The Germans after securing Poland began to expel large numbers of Poles from the annexed areas of Western Poland. We do not know precisely where this photograph was taken, but it looks like the winter. Here we see a mother and child. We do not know about the father.

The SS expulsions of the Poles in the annexed areas, as might be expected, were hardly civilized operations. They were military operations, commonly involving the use of force and executed without warning. German soldiers would move into a village or area at night. They would then proceed to burst into homes with weapons drawn. Orders were yell out in German. People who did not move fast enough were beaten. Any one who resistee was shot. Some Poles were loaded into trucks to be driven away. Ohers were forced to walk to rail heads under military guard where they could be transported to the Government General. The soldiers often robed the families of their valuables before the property was turned over to German families. Franz Jagemann, a German soldier serving as an interpreter on these actions testified, "The worst thing for me was to see an elderly couple; they were over 70 and clearly did not understand what was going on. They were beaten up and thrown on a truck." The railway ststem in the affected areas was reserved for the resettlement process (November 1939). Whole trainloads of these unfortunate people were moved east to the Government General in winter weather with no provision as to caring for them. Large numbers perished of exposure or starvation. NAZI head of the General Government, Hans Frank, publically decalred, "What a pleasure, finally to be able to tackle the Jewish race physically. The more that die, the better." [Rhodes]

Sources

Rhodes, Richard. Masters of Death (Knopf, 2002).

Created: 10:34 PM 5/16/2008
Last updated: 10:34 PM 5/16/2008