Hitler and Murders in Poland 1939-1940

[michael mills]

Further to my previous post:

In October 1939 (I cannot remember the exact date; about the 12th or so), Hitler appointed Himmler to the post of Reichskommissar für die Festigung deutschen Volkstums (= Reich Commissioner for the Consolidation of German Ethnicity).

In that post, Himmler was given two authorisations by Hitler:

1. To undertake all measures to promote the settlement of ethnic Germans in the newly conquered areas; and

2. To undertake all necessary measures against any population group that constituted a danger to the German people.

It is clear that the second authorisation was all that was necessary for Himmler to instruct the SS and police under his command to carry out acts of violence against the Polish ruling class, particularly those elements of it that were hostile to Germany. There was no need for Hitler to issue any further specific orders.

Steve asked:

The theory that the killings took place because of the agreement with Stalin is certainly a radical new interpretation of these events and I look forward eagerly to further elaboration of this.

Here is a passage from the essay by Michael Foedrowitz "Auf der Suche nach einer besatzungspolitischen Konzeption: Der Behehlshaber der Sicherheitspolizei u7nd des SD im Generalgouvernement", in the book edited by Gerhard Paul and Klaus-Michael Mallmann, "Die Gestapo im Zweiten Weiltkrieg: 'Heimatfront' und besetztes Europa" (2000).

Page 350:

Ob es zwischen NKWD und Gestapo zu einer konkreten Zusammenarbeit hinsichtlich der Bekämpfung der polnischen Widerstandsbewegung gekommen ist, muß die Forschung erst noch beantworten. Zwar war man vertraglich übereingekommen, keine nationalistischen Regungen der Polen zu dulden und sich gegenseitige Amtshilfe bezüglich eines Informationsaustausches bei der Bekämpfung des Untergrundes zu gewähren, konkrete Vorgänge sind allerdings bis heute nicht bekannt geworden. Dabei scheint sich eine deutsch-russische Absprache bzw. Koordinierung bei der Ermordung der führenden polnischen Klasse im April/Mai 1940 geradezu aufzudrängen: bei den Massenmorden des NKWD in Katyn und bei der AB-Aktion im Generalgouvernement. Es wäre eine seltene Parallelität der Geschichte, wenn die beiden in Intention und Durchführung identischen Maßnahmen dem Zufall entsprungen sein sollten.

My translation:

It remains to be answered by research whether a concrete cooperation between NKVD and Gestapo in regard to the combatting of the Polish resistance movement ever came about. To be sure, they had made a contractual agreeement not to tolerate any nationalist stirring among the Poles, and to provide each other with organisational assistance with regard to an exchange of information in the combatting of the Underground, but concrete actions have not become known even today. Even so, we seem to be positively compelled to accept a German-Russian discussion and/or coordination in the murder of the Polish ruling class in April/May 1940; in the case of the mass murders by the NKVD at Katyn and in the case of the AB-Aktion in the Generalgouvernement. It would be a very rare parallelism of history if the two measures, identical in intention and execution, turned out to have arisen from coincidence.

Note that Foedrowitz backs me up in my assertion that the AB-Aktion was one of the measures undertaken in accordance with the agreement between Germany and the Soviet Union made on 26 September 1939.

[bf109 emil]

Michael -- You said:

I personally do not think that the personality and character of Hitler are really all that important. In any case, it is a question that could only be answered by a trained personality analyst; any other attempts are simply amateur psychology.

All right. I don't think an answer to that question ("On the basis of these assumed facts and without raising further questions, what can you tell us about the personality and character of Adolf Hitler?") requires a trained personality analyst -- we've all seen people who wanted to do something malignantly vicious or criminal to others without having to take the blame, or risk the well-deserved punishment. Let's set that question aside and move on to what you see as the main point:

Of far more importance is an analysis of the context in which the actions directed against specific parts of the Polish population were perpetrated.

I agree. However, my point involved personal responsibility rather than some generalized speculations about ethnic or policy motives, or comparisons with Stalinist crimes. That's why I asked these three questions, which Erik could not or would not answer in a straightforward manner:

(1) Why would Hitler make his amnesty of the SS men involved in the murders secret?

(2) What is the significance of the fact that no written order from Hitler on this subject was ever found?

(3) Do you think, on the basis of those assumed facts, that Hitler ordered or ratified the killings of those Polish people in 1939-1940?

Can you improve on Erik's answers?

It almost seems as if the blame all falls upon the SS and the Wehrmacht have been given a sense of a free pass, or one to which they can wash their hands of...

Wehrmacht units killed thousands of Polish civilians during the 1939 September campaign through executions and terror bombing of cities. After the end of hostilities, during the Wehrmacht's administration of Poland, which went on until October 25, 1939, 531 towns and villages were burned, and the Wehrmacht carried out 714 mass executions, alongside mass incidents of plunder, banditry and murder. Altogether, it is estimated that 16,376 Polish (including many Jews) fell victim to those atrocities. Approximately 60% of these crimes were committed by the Wehrmacht.[1] Wehrmacht soldiers frequently engaged in massacres of Jews on their own rather than just assist in rounding up Jews for the SS[2].

[edit] Mass rapes

Rapes were comitted by Wehrmacht[2] forces on Jewish women and girls by German soldiers during Invasion of Poland[2]. Rapes were also committed against Polish women and girls during mass executions carried out primarily by Selbstschutz, which were accompanied by Wehrmacht soldiers and on territory under the administration of the German military; the rapes were done before shooting female captives[1]. Thousands of Soviet female nurses, doctors and field medics fell victim to rape when captured during the war, and often they were murdered afterwards[3]. The Wehrmacht also ran brothels where women were forced to work[2]. Ruth Seifert in War and Rape. Analytical Approaches writes In the Eastern territories the Wehrmacht used to brand the bodies of captured partisan women - and other women as well - with the words "Whore for Hitler's troops" and to use them accordingly.

Numerous atrocities where committed by the 6th army and Wehrmacht soldiers in the summer and fall of '42 while heading to Stalingrad.
...Maybe someone can help me here, for i have read a number of times, German soldiers whom committed war-crimes or looting,rape, etc. early in the War, and mostly from Polish actions did face a court, or come to justice, but these cases and punishment they faced, where not carried forthwith for they where deemed (if i can recall) incidents of war, and charges dropped???
Hitlers intentions/focus as to his leadership is perhaps the best source is Mein Kampf, as this is a blueprint, more so then trying to find a written order as to his intentions/thoughts/guidance as to his intentions...Stalin for one is perhaps the person whom failed to act upon this warning and was caught un-prepared and should have hailed the warnings within Mein Kampf of Hitlers intentions towards Communism and the Slav people

[David Thompson]

bf109 emil -- You asked:

Numerous atrocities where committed by the 6th army and Wehrmacht soldiers in the summer and fall of '42 while heading to Stalingrad.
...Maybe someone can help me here, for i have read a number of times, German soldiers whom committed war-crimes or looting,rape, etc. early in the War, and mostly from Polish actions did face a court, or come to justice, but these cases and punishment they faced, where not carried forthwith for they where deemed (if i can recall) incidents of war, and charges dropped???

It's my understanding that the German armed forces punished individual criminal offenders in Poland in 1939 and on the western front. At the time of the invasion of the USSR, the OKW changed its policies about prosecuting crimes by the Wehrmacht against the civilian population on the eastern front, and issued an order to that effect. It's usually called the Barbarossa jurisdiction order, and it provided:

II. "Treatment of crimes committed against inhabitants by members of the Wehrmacht and its auxiliaries

"1. With regard to offenses committed against enemy civilians by members of the Wehrmacht or by its auxiliaries prosecution is not obligatory, even where the deed is at the same time a military crime or misdemeanor.

"2. When judging such offenses, it will be taken into consideration in any type of procedure that the collapse of Germany in 1918, the subsequent sufferings of the German people and the fight against national socialism which cost the blood of innumerable followers of the movement were caused primarily by Bolshevist influence and that no German has forgotten this fact.

"3. Therefore the judiciary will decide in such case whether disciplinary punishment will be appropriate, or whether prosecution in court is necessary. In the case of offenses against indigenous inhabitants the judiciary will order a prosecution before the military courts only if the maintenance of discipline or the security of the forces call for such a measure. This applies for instance to serious deeds due to lack of self-control in sexual matters, which originate from a criminal disposition and which indicates that the discipline of the troops is threatening to deteriorate seriously. Crimes which have resulted in senseless destruction of billets or stores or any other kind of captured material, to the disadvantage of our forces will be judged, as a rule, not less severely.

"The order to start investigation procedure requires in every single case the signature of the judicial authority.

"4. Extreme caution is required in judging the credibility of statements made by enemy civilians.

http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic. ... 19#p502919

You can see the full text of the order here:

The Barbarossa Jurisdiction Order (Text)
http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?t=56057

the debate over it here:

The Barbarossa jurisdiction order 1941
http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?t=62192

and some of the results here:

Nazi atrocities against the Russians
http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?t=3037
German soldier's guilt-filled diary
http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?t=29905

[bf109 emil]

thank you for the additional sources, or sites, clarifying this..

[michael mills]

Note in particular this part of the Kriegsgerichtbarkeitserlaß Barbarossa:

In the case of offenses against indigenous inhabitants the judiciary will order a prosecution before the military courts only if the maintenance of discipline or the security of the forces call for such a measure. This applies for instance to serious deeds due to lack of self-control in sexual matters, which originate from a criminal disposition and which indicates that the discipline of the troops is threatening to deteriorate seriously.

That shows that German troops were not given carte blanche to rape captured female Soviet personnel, such as partisans, nurses, doctors etc. In fact, the order mandates prosecution in such cases, so German soldiers committing such offences could be punished, if their commanders enforced the orders they had been given.

One reason why official Wehrmacht brothels were instituted was to prevent German soldiers having uncontrolled sexual intercourse with women in occupied territories, whether consensual or forced; such uncontrolled sexual activity was seen as a danger both because of the spread of venereal disease which incapacitated soldiers for months, and because it could lead to a deterioration in discipline.

Himmler apparently was moved to approve the creation of brothels because of rumours of an orgy involving 40 SS officers and 37 Jewish women at the Hotel Bristol in Warsaw on 7 October 1939.

However, I would regard claims that captured partisan women were branded with the words "whore for Hitler" as almost certainly a myth.

[David Thompson]

Michael -- We had this discussion five years ago, in the "Red Army rape row" thread, beginning with your post at: http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic. ... 33#p304533

Let's not duplicate it here, where it's off-topic. Instead, let's return to the subject of this thread -- Hitler and murders in Poland.

[Rob - wssob2]

On 14 Sept 1939, two SS men herded 50 Jews into a synagogue in Poland and shot them. The SS men were arrested and held for trial by military authorities. (Genocide 61)

this is what I have for the incident, (which I have BTW dated Sept 9, 1939):

Sept 9:
LAH transferred from the XIII Corps to 4th Panzer Division, XVI Corps in part due to poor combat performance.

At Goworowo, east of Rózan, a Reich Labor Service member is shot by gunfire coming from a “Jewish” house. Members of the SS artillery battalion spontaneously retaliate. SS troops plus members of the Heer Geheim Feldpolizei (Secret Field Police) massacre 50 Jews while herding a crowd of terrified Jewish civilians into the town synagogue. A survivor, Rachel Weiser-Nagel, described the scene:

“…As we entered the building I could see many Jews lying on the ground in the courtyard bleeding from severe wounds…Some had been shot in the faces, blinded and gored with broken skulls, past recognition…When all the Jews were inside, the Germans sprayed the synagogue with kerosene and set it on fire. That very moment a car drew up and stopped. A shortish, rather fat officer stepped out and asked “What’s the matter here?” Lower ranked soldiers – his subordinates – explained “Here we can destroy all the Jews in one stroke.” He interrupted them in a quiet, determined way [and] told them “This is too much.” He gave the order to open the doors and shouted 'Out!'" (See Hitler Strikes Poland, p.105, footnote 91)

Other accounts say the officer said “Throw the Jews out. It’s too soon yet… they’ll be slaughtered anyway. But not now, not yet.” (Ibid. footnote 92)

Third Army Commander General von Küchler hears of the incident, contacts SS-Division Kempf (sic? - probably means LAH) and orders the arrest and courts martial of the perpetrators. Werner Kempf, the division CO, recalled the incident in postwar testimony as follows:

“…I remember the incident very well, during the occupation of a village near Rózan. Supply troops in the rear area of my division had murdered Jews. The incorrect viewpoint was prevalent in SS formations at the time that Polish Jews were participating in the fight against us and presented a danger to the troops. I fought against this viewpoint from the very first days and later forbade the arrest and herding together of Jews. In my opinion, it was never fully established how the horrible massacre came about. embers of the SS artillery regiment of my division began it, however, members of the Army also participated. If I remember correctly, the intervening officers arrested five participants (four SS and one Army soldier). The highest-ranking man arrested was a sergeant from the SS artillery regiment. I only learned of the event the next morning. I reported it immediately to my superior officer [General Wodrig] and requested that the matter be investigated without delay. At midday on this day, the overall commander of the Army, General von Küchler, arrived at divisional headquarters to speak with all of the SS commanders of units under my command. General von Küchler denounced the terrible deeds in the harshest terms." (Hitler Strikes Poland, see footnote 94)

A courts martial convenes to try the accused. It is unclear if the men are tried in separate proceedings according to their military branch of service; accounts of the incident mention the SS trooper was tried by an SS court, although this may have been a tribunal convened by his SS commanding officers . At any rate, the Secret Field Police soldier receives a nine-year jail sentence. The SS court finds one SS private guilty and sentences him to three years in jail. The SS man is sentenced to three years imprisonment. The prosecuting attorney, seeking the death penalty for the SS soldier, appeals the sentence, but the higher court upholds the original sentence, citing that "...As an SS man, he was particuarly sensitive to the sight of Jews...and thus acted quite unpremeditatedly in a spirit of youthful enthusiasm."

(For abovementioned the "youthful enthusiasm" quote, see Ailsby, "The Waffen-SS" pg. 211. See also Stein, "The Waffen-SS" pp. 30 and 271, plus Nuremburg Document D-421. )

Angered by what he perceived as Heer meddling in SS affairs, the incident prompted Himmler to pursuade Hitler to remove the Waffen-SS from Wehrmacht legal juristiction. Henceforth from Oct 1939, SS troops would only be tried in SS courts for violations of the SS penal code. The SS private is eventually acquitted.

For Hitler's separate jurisdiction order of Oct 4, 1939, see Hitler Strikes Poland, p.107 & footnotes 99 &100. George Stein also mentions the separate jurisdiction order on p.30 of "The Waffen-SS," specifically citing Reichsgesetzblatt 1939, Part I, p.2107 and Reichsgesetzblatt 1940, Part I, p.659. (FYI "Reichsgesetzblatt" = German Law Gazette) The decrees were also submitted as evidence during the Nuremburg IMT (documents 2946-PS and 2947-PS)

a couple of points:

1. In addition to the LAH massacre of Jewish civilians at Goworowo, there is an additional, separate shooting incident in which LAH SS-Obermusikmeister Müller-John ordered 50 Polish Jewish civilians shot at Blonie on Sept 18. Tenth Army Commander General Reichenau informs Army Group South that he has ordered Müller-John arrested and incarcerated.

2. Hitler's October 4th, 1939 order not only placed W-SS troops under separate SS juridiction but it also declared a general amnesty for all German troops accused of commanders of mistreating Polish civilians during the campaign. This order threw out the sentences against the LAH men for actions at Goworowo and stopped the investigation against SS-Obermusikmeister Müller-John.

3. I don't know how "secret" the Oct 4th order was. It WAS published in the German Law Gazette, and certainly it was no secret to the command and legal arms of the SS and Heer. Most German civilians (with the possibly exception of those in the legal profession) weren't probably aware of it, but that is understandable, as there wasn't a "Forth Estate" free press in WWII Germany to report about it.

[David Thompson]

Thanks, Rob, for that detailed information.

[Boby]

For readers interested, here is an article about Hitler and the murders in Poland.

Helmuth Krausnick, "Hitler und die Morde in Polen. Ein Beitrag zum Konflikt zwischen Heer und SS um die Verwaltung
der besetzten Gebiete", VfZ 11, Nr. 2 (1963), pp. 196-209
http://www.ifz-muenchen.de/heftarchiv/1963_2.pdf

Best Regards
Boby,

[David Thompson]

Thanks, Boby.

[JariL]

In a biography of Leni Riefensthal written by Jürgen Trimborn there is a photo that according to its caption was taken on September 12, 1939 in Konskie. The photo shows the horror stricken face of Leni Riefensthal. Weather the picture is captured correct or not is not that important because Riefensthal did in fact witness a massacre perfromed by Germans at Konskie and unlike many others she also acted by protesting directly to Hitler in a letter. The result: Hitler ordered all women correspondents to be banned from the front due to their "weak nerves". So, Hitler did not even try to cover up what happened which he could easily have done for example by just letting Riefensthal know that the matter "will be investigated". This tells you much more about Hitlers personal attitude than any orders because in this case he had to face a person close to him.

Regards,

Jari

[epicure3]

I would like to make a few comments here. First of all, my upfront apologia. I don't pretend to have all the answers as most, if not all, the posters on this forum have immensely more knowledge of Nazi Germany than I will ever have. As a matter of fact, it is astounding how much information and knowledge I have garnered from this forum. I am truly appreciative.

In the matter of Hitler's personal responsibility for the killings in Poland....if you speak of "the buck stops here", then obviously he has personal responsibility for everything that happened. However, in the spirit of your question, I don't think we will know for sure since there are no records or smoking gun. Yes, there is strong circumstancial evidence that Hitler, it he didn't order the mass killings in Poland, certainly knew and approved of the actions. It is a fact that Hitler considered the Poles and Eastern Europeans as untermenschen, or sub-humans. It wouldn't be a major leap for Hitler to take. The racial indoctrination in Nazi Germany along with the many speeches by Hitler made it easy for Himmler and Heydrich to "interpret" their leaders' wishes. In turn, that made it easy for the likes of Forster, Greiser and Frank to carry out their orders.

Why were the acquittals of the killers kept quiet? I would have to agree with Michael. Hitler didn't want to let the public know since the public might react negatively. They did when the euthenasia operation was revealed. Why Hitler would care about that at this point, I don't know. Another reason might be that Hitler might not want to upset France and England any more than he had already. Hitler was very upset and shocked that those 2 countries had actually declared war on Germany....at least at the outset. Any further bad press about crimes and killings might have provoked a response from England and France. Remember, Germany was not quite ready to tackle France and England when he marched into Poland.

What is the significance of no records of Hitlers' order being found? Maybe he did put something in writing and they were detroyed before the Russians took Berlin. Who knows? If indeed there were no written orders issued....well, if you were going to commit a crime, would you put it down in writing?

[paolosilv]

Some evidence that Adolf knew about the Holocaust can be found in Ian Kershaw's biography, "Hitler".

"Himmler himself was to claim explicitly in an internal, top-secret, letter to SS Obergruppenhurer Gottlob Berger, Chief of the SS Main Office, on 28 July 1942, that he was operating explicitly under Hitler's authority: "The occupied Eastern territories are being made free of Jews. The Fuhrer has placed the implementation of this very difficult order on my shoulders." "p 715.


p 764, Goebbels' summary of Adolf Hitler's comments. May 12, 1943:
"From that results the Jewish danger. So there is nothing else open to modern peoples than to exterminate the Jews."

p 697," By the end of 1942, acc to the SS's own calculations, 4 million Jews were already dead."

p 695 "As regards the Jews, Hans Frank said, "I'll tell you quite openly: an end has to be made one way or another.' "
-----
Hitler said to Czechoslovakian Foreign Minister, Franzisek Chvalkovsky: " 21 Jan 1939, ' The Jews here will be annihilated,' he declared. "The Jews had not brought about 89 Nov 1918 for nothing This day will be avenged." [Vernichtung]. P. 468.

24 Nov, Der Schwarze Corps; 'The result would be the actual and final end of Jewry in Germany, its complete annihilation.' p 468 --9.

" This criminal race has the two million dead of the First World War on its conscience", he[ Adolf] went on, and 'now again hundreds of thousands. Don't anyone tell me we can't send them into the marshes! Who bothers, then, about our people? It's good when the horror precedss us that we are exterminating Jewry.' p. 692.

[michael mills]

" This criminal race has the two million dead of the First World War on its conscience", he[ Adolf] went on, and 'now again hundreds of thousands. Don't anyone tell me we can't send them into the marshes! Who bothers, then, about our people? It's good when the horror precedss us that we are exterminating Jewry.' p. 692.

Once again Paolosilv has posted a quotation without pausing to analyse what it really means.

Why did Hitler say, in a conversation with his closest collaborators in October 1941, in relation to the progress of the campaign in the Soviet Union:

"Es ist gut, wenn uns der Schrecken vorausgeht, dass wir das Judentum vernichten"?

What Hitler's word mean is that even before the Germans arrive at a particular locality in the Soviet Union, word has already reached the inhabitants, presumably by "bush telegraph", that the Germans are going to exterminate the Jews.

Why did Hitler think it a "good thing" that the Soviet population would hear news that the Germans were going to exterminate the Jews, even before the Germans arrived?

Surely Hitler would have wanted that sort of thing to be kept quiet, so that the Jews would not be forewarned.

The key is in his use of the word "Schrecken" = terror. Hitler obviously thought that the Jews would be terrified on hearing the news that they were going to be exterminated, and that they would run away, flee en masse to the east. Such a panic-stricken flight would achieve what Hitler wanted, namely the disappearance of the Jews from German-occupied territory, without the Germans themselves having to spend resources on removing them.

It was good because it provided a cheap solution to the Jewish Problem; the Jews would run away and become a problem for the a Slavs on the other side of the Urals.

[paolosilv]

http://stevenlehrer.com/Hitler_threat.htm
I found a speech where Hitler threatens the 'destruction of the Jews." "sondern die Vernichtung der jüdischen Rasse in Europa." Hitler, 1/30/39

Also:

"On September 3, I already announced in the German Reichstag (and I am careful not to make rash prophecies) that this war would not develop as the Jews imagine, namely that the European-Aryan peoples will be destroyed. Instead, the result of this war will be the destruction of Jewry."

Ich habe am 3. September im Deutschen Reichstag es schon ausgesprochen -- und ich hüte mich vor voreiligen Prophezeiungen -, daß dieser Krieg nicht so ausgehen wird, wie es sich die Juden vorstellen, nämlich daß die europäisch-arischen Völker ausgerottet werden, sondern daß das Ergebnis dieses Krieges die Vernichtung des Judentums ist.

Hitler, Sports Palast speech, 1/30/1942.


Vernichtung, means Destruction. I'm posting this because I saw in one thread there was an argument over the meaning of "ausrottung." However there can be no doubt about Hitler's knowledge of the Holocaust, as far as I can see.

1/30/42, Hitler, Sportspalast speech: "It is clear to us that the war can only end with the destruction of the Germanic peoples or the disappearance of Jewry from Europe." "Wir sind uns dabei im klaren darüber, daß der Krieg nur damit enden kann, daß entweder die germanische Völker ausgerottet werden, oder daß das Judentum aus Europa verschwindet."

"Continual reports on the work of the Einsatzgruppen in the East are to be presented to the Fuhrer."
Source: Ian Kershaw, "Hitler, the Germans and the Final Solution", p. 105.
Aug 1, 1941 Martin Bormann's office.

========
It may be that Hitler wanted to spread terror in advance of his armies, in October 1941. But I don't think he wanted a safe perpetual haven for them forever in the East. The evidence I present is that while the 'Transfer ' agreement of German Jews to Palestine was acceptable to Hitler prior to the war, by Nov 24, 1941, he had assured the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem that he would destroy the Jewish colony there. Hitler was a pragmatist in the sense of not getting ahead of himself when it came to the vernichtung of the Jews. In Oct 1941, he felt certain of victory over the Soviet Union.