Every day life for an ethnic Pole between 1933-39

[George L Gregory]

Did any laws enacted by the Nazis affect the Polish minority living in Germany before WW2?

I have yet to find any material from the Nazis during the 1920s and 1930s against the Poles who lived in Germany.

Did the Nuremberg Laws affect the Poles?

Were the Poles allowed to vote in elections?

Were the Poles considered to be Reich citizens?

Were the Poles allowed to marry ethnic Germans?

[wm]

Did any laws enacted by the Nazis affect the Polish minority living in Germany before WW2?

Yes, but it wasn't a huge problem.

Did the Nuremberg Laws affect the Poles?

No.

Were the Poles allowed to vote in elections?

Yes.

Were the Poles considered to be Reich citizens?

Yes.

Were the Poles allowed to marry ethnic Germans?

Yes.

[henryk]

Poles living in the Third Reich before the war
viewtopic.php?t=226664
The link is broken:
https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-18420105.html

[George L Gregory]

Were ethnic Poles allowed to be Reich citizens?

[wm]

Yes, although the Nazis made it harder to acquire.

Section 8
[Discretionary naturalization]

(1) A foreigner who is legally ordinarily resident in Germany may be naturalized upon application if his or identity and nationality have been established and he or she
1. possesses legal capacity as defined in Section 37 (1) sentence 1 or has a legal representative,
2. has not been sentenced for an unlawful act and is not subject to any court order imposing a measure of reform and prevention due to a lack of criminal capacity,
3. has found a dwelling of his or her own or accommodation and
4. is able to support himself or herself and his or her dependants and it is guaranteed that he or she accepts German social norms.
(2) The requirements stipulated in subsection 1 sentence 1 nos. 2 and 4 may be waived on grounds of public interest or in order to avoid special hardship.
Nationality Act of 22 July 1913

[George L Gregory]

Yes, although the Nazis made it harder to acquire.

Section 8
[Discretionary naturalization]

(1) A foreigner who is legally ordinarily resident in Germany may be naturalized upon application if his or identity and nationality have been established and he or she
1. possesses legal capacity as defined in Section 37 (1) sentence 1 or has a legal representative,
2. has not been sentenced for an unlawful act and is not subject to any court order imposing a measure of reform and prevention due to a lack of criminal capacity,
3. has found a dwelling of his or her own or accommodation and
4. is able to support himself or herself and his or her dependants and it is guaranteed that he or she accepts German social norms.
(2) The requirements stipulated in subsection 1 sentence 1 nos. 2 and 4 may be waived on grounds of public interest or in order to avoid special hardship.
Nationality Act of 22 July 1913

I don’t mean Germans of Polish descent, but actual Poles from Poland. Was a Pole allowed to move from Poland to Germany between 1933-39 and be a Reich citizen and have the same equal rights as Germans?

[wm]

Well, Section 8 begins with "A foreigner."

[George L Gregory]

Hitler wrote in Mein Kampf:

“In most cases nowadays a person acquires civic rights by being born within the frontiers of a State. The race or nationality to which he may belong plays no role whatsoever. The child of a Negro who once lived in one of the German protectorates and now takes up his residence in Germany automatically becomes a 'German Citizen' in the eyes of the world. In the same way the child of any Jew, Pole, African or Asian may automatically become a German Citizen.”

And:

“Not only in Austria, however, but also in the REICH, these so-called national circles were, and still are, under the influence of similar erroneous ideas. Unfortunately, a policy towards Poland, whereby the East was to be Germanized, was demanded by many and was based on the same false reasoning. Here again it was believed that the Polish people could be Germanized by being compelled to use the German language. The result would have been fatal. A people of foreign race would have had to use the German language to express modes of thought that were foreign to the German, thus compromising by its own inferiority the dignity and nobility of our nation.”

Why would Hitler have allowed people he regarded as racially inferior to be Reich citizens?

[wm]

The Nazis didn't say publicly such things pre-war.
They tried once (claiming the Turks weren't Aryans) and it led to a serious diplomatic incident. There was no doubt Poland would react violently too in such a case.

Discretionary naturalization required the person was of good racial stock and belonged to German culture (accepts German social norms). It wasn't like everybody was accepted.

[wm]

12 May 1942
Gauleiter Forster quoted the problems raised by numerous special cases. He quoted the case of a Polish workman employed in the theater at Graudenz, who wished to become a German national and stated in support of his claim that he had a German grandmother. Should an application of this kind be rejected out of hand?

At this point the Führer spoke again:
It is not possible to generalize on the extent to which the Slav races are susceptible to the Germanic imprint.
...
Turning to the Croats, I must say I think it is highly desirable, from the ethnical point of view, that they should be Germanized. There are, however, political reasons which completely preclude any such measures.

There is one cardinal principle.
This question of the Germanization of certain peoples must not be examined in the light of abstract ideas and theory. We must examine each particular case.
The only problem is to make sure whether the offspring of any race will mingle well with the German population and will improve it, or whether, on the contrary ... negative results will arise.

Hitler's Table Talk, 1941-1944: His Private Conversations

[George L Gregory]

The Nazis didn't say publicly such things pre-war.
They tried once (claiming the Turks weren't Aryans) and it led to a serious diplomatic incident. There was no doubt Poland would react violently too in such a case.

Discretionary naturalization required the person was of good racial stock and belonged to German culture (accepts German social norms). It wasn't like everybody was accepted.

That’s because like many things between 1933-39, the Nazis hid their true intentions and plans. As soon as WW2 began the Nazis expressed their true thoughts about the Poles and the future of Poland.

After the Nazis invaded Poland, the Poles did not become Reich citizens despite being considered to be of ‘related blood’ to the Germans.

As far as the real thoughts of the Nazis, Joseph Goebbels wrote in his diary on 10 October 1939:

“The Fuhrer’s verdict on the Poles is damning. More like animals than human beings, completely primitive, stupid, and amorphous. And a ruling class that is an unsatisfactory result of a mingling between the lower orders and an Aryan master race. The Poles’ dirtiness is unimaginable. Their capacity for intelligent judgment is absolutely nil.”

Goebbels issued a directive on 24 October 1939 which instructed Nazi propagandists to equate the Poles as subhumans like Jews and Gypsies:

“It must become clear to everybody in Germany, even to the last milkmaid, that Polishness is equal to subhumanity. Poles, Jews and Gypsies are on the same inferior level. This must be clearly outlined [...] until every citizen of Germany has it encoded in his subconsciousness that every Pole, whether a worker or intellectual, should be treated like vermin".”

Polish workers were hanged without any trial for having any sexual relations with German women.

German historian Diemut Majer in “Non-Germans” under the Third Reich” wrote:

“In the period that followed, the Blood Protection Law underwent further expansion. Thus, the second implementing regulation to the Blood Protection Law broadened its prohibitions to cover those former Polish citizens who had acquired German citizenship—which affected primarily the so-called ethnic Germans—whereas the prohibition against race mixing did not apply to the great mass of Poles (persons with so-called protected status, or politically reliable foreigners). However, the Blood Protection Law was not aimed solely at Jews but also at other "undesirable" "non-Germans." Hence the call for racial purity, upon which the "inner unity" of a people was said to rest, targeted only superficially the neutralizing of the Jews; it actually took aim at "aliens" of all kinds. Thus the prohibition on marriage, as already noted in the introduction, applied not only to marriages contracted between Jews (including Jewish Mischlinge) and "persons of German blood" and between Jews and Mischlinge of the second degree but was also interpreted beyond the wording of the law as being a desideratum (de facto a requirement) for all marriages between "citizens of German or racially related blood" in cases in which "offspring that would endanger the preservation of the purity of German blood could expected to result." Such a threat was assumed to be latent in all liaisons between Germans and "inferior" "non-Germans," including Gypsies, blacks and their descendants, and later the peoples of Eastern Europe. In order to prove that this threat did not exist in liaisons between "partners of different races," it was necessary to obtain a "certificate of fitness for marriage" from the Public Health Office. Poles, too, although in principle deemed to be among the Aryans, were included in the prohibition on race mixing. There was a de facto prohibition against marriage of (stateless) Poles and Germans as well as marriages of Poles who had acquired Germans citizenship and all other "non-Germans." There was no law enunciating such a prohibition. However, it was put into practice all the same by the tried-and-true method of internal administrative guidelines, which dictated that registry officials simply should not record such marriages, in order (and this was of particular significance in the Annexed Eastern Territories) "to achieve a complete separation . . . [of the German citizens] from their Polish surroundings.”

Pages 102-103.

“As early as March 1930, Himmler informed the office of the Führer’s deputy that in the event of sexual intercourse or "other immoral acts” between Germans and Polish workers, he had ordered the immediate arrest of the responsible Germans. Poles who had sexual relations with German women were either executed (“special treatment”) or, it they proved to be capable of Germanization, committed to preventive detention, depending on the personal decision of the Reichsführer-SS and chief of the police. If a Polish woman was involved, she was sent to a brother.”

Page 180.

“ As early as November 7, 1939, Reichsstatthalter Greiser had summarily stated in an order of the day that marriages between Poles and marriages between Jews were provisionally banned, that marriages between ethnic Germans must "comply with the Nuremberg Race Laws," and that "if it all possible," there should be no marriages between Germans and Poles.”

Page 247.

“One high point of such innovative legal interpretation was the tendency to punish Poles for behavior that was legally irrelevant according to the German-imposed Polish criminal statutes. Thus, it was generally agreed that sexual intercourse between Germans and Poles, even in cases where no criminal enticement was involved (sec. 176, no. 3, Penal Code), constituted a criminal act analogous to "race defilement," one that was punishable as "anti-German behavior" where the implicated Polish man was concerned (clause 1, par. 3, Decree on Penal Law for Poles). The interpretation of this clause took on truly grotesque features in ruling by special courts that sexual intercourse with Germans was “anti-German” because it represented an “attack on the honor of German womanhood” and thus was “an action detrimental to the sovereignty of the German Reich and the good name of the German people.” The courts generally presumed the existence of such an “attack” even when the sexual intercourse was consensual or indeed even initiated by the German woman.”

Page 333.

And, the real thoughts about Poles were expressed by Egon Leuschner in Nationalsozialistische Fremdvolkpolitik in 1942:

“Das uns stammesfremde, uns zahlenmäßig am stärksten berührende polnische Volk ist rassisch stark gemischt. Ostische und ostbaltische Rassenmerkmale treten am häufigsten in Erscheinung, daneben sind aber sowohl nordische Rassenbestandteile als auch vereinzelt asiatische Einschläge festzustellen. Die Entwicklung der letzten 20 Jahre, in denen das polnische Volk alle Bewegungsfreiheit für die Entfaltung etwa vorhandener völkisch-rassischer Kräfte besaß, hat das Unschöpferische und den Leistungsmangel dieses Volkes vor aller Welt offenbart. Die polnische "Kultur", die nur in einem Nachäffen westlicher kultureller Einrichtungen und westlichen Kulturlebens bestand, zeigt den Tiefstand völkisch-eigener Kultur. Die Wesensart, die Gesittung, der Charakter und die kriecherische Gesinnung des polnischen Volkes sprechen für die abgrundtiefe Verschiedenheit des polnischen und des deutschen Volkes eine beredtere Sprache, als alle rassenwissenschaftlichen Untersuchungen darzulegen vermögen. Der überwiegende Teil des polnischen Volkes ist nicht umvolkbar. Sein Eindringen in den deutschen Blutskörper würde eine Entnordung des deutschen Volkes und eine Verlagerung seiner rassischen Substanz nach der ostischen und ostbaltischen Seite zur Folge haben. Das Fernziel rassenpolitisch ausgerichteter Fremdvolkpolitik kann nur die restlose Entfernung des größten Teiles der Polen aus dem Reiche sein. Da aber heute noch nicht zu übersehen ist, wann dieser Zeitpunkt gekommen erscheint, muß energisch aller Assimilationsgefahr entgegengesteuert werden. Aber nicht nur vom rassischen, sondern auch vom volkspolitischen Standpunkt her ist die säuberliche Trennung aus politischem Interesse und aus nationaler Würde notwendig. Der Pole, der neiderfüllt aus dem dumpfen Gefühl seiner rassischen Unterlegenheit keinen anderen Menschen mehr haßt als den deutschen, ist unser Feind, zu dem wir niemals mehr in ein freundschaftliches Verhältnis treten werden. Die tierische Ermordung von nahezu 60.000 Volksdeutschen hat endgültig den letzten Trennungsstrich gezogen.”

[George L Gregory]

12 May 1942
Gauleiter Forster quoted the problems raised by numerous special cases. He quoted the case of a Polish workman employed in the theater at Graudenz, who wished to become a German national and stated in support of his claim that he had a German grandmother. Should an application of this kind be rejected out of hand?

At this point the Führer spoke again:
It is not possible to generalize on the extent to which the Slav races are susceptible to the Germanic imprint.
...
Turning to the Croats, I must say I think it is highly desirable, from the ethnical point of view, that they should be Germanized. There are, however, political reasons which completely preclude any such measures.

There is one cardinal principle.
This question of the Germanization of certain peoples must not be examined in the light of abstract ideas and theory. We must examine each particular case.
The only problem is to make sure whether the offspring of any race will mingle well with the German population and will improve it, or whether, on the contrary ... negative results will arise.

Hitler's Table Talk, 1941-1944: His Private Conversations

You quoted Hitler’s Table Talk so I’ll do the same:

“It's very important for the future that the Germans don't
mingle with the Poles, so that the new Germanic blood may not be transmitted to the Polish ruling class. Himmler is right when he says that the Polish generals who genuinely put up a serious resistance in 1939 were, so to speak, exclusively of German descent. It's an accepted fact that it's precisely the best elements of our race who, as they lose awareness of their origin, add themselves to the ruling class ofthe country that has welcomed them. As for the elements of less value, they retain the characteristics of their ethnic group and remain faithful to their Germanic origin.”

The “Poles”, “Czechs” and other peoples in the annexed territories who deemed to be capable of Germanization weren’t considered to be Poles, Czechs or others by the Nazis but rather people of Germanic descent.

[George L Gregory]

I tend to agree with the historian George L. Mosse that the only logical explanation as to why Poles were used as examples of a minority group who were considered to be of related blood in the 1930s was because:

“This puzzling edict—the Danes were Nordics, but the Poles were despised Slavs—may be explained by political opportunism: there was a large Polish population in Prussia and the time to deal with it had not yet come. Morever, the treaty of friendship between Hitler and the Polish dictator, Marshl Piłsudski, played a role in this instance of racial inconsistency.”

Nazi Culture: Intellectual, Cultural and Social Life in the Third Reich", pages 320-321.

[wm]

Morever, the treaty of friendship between Hitler and the Polish dictator, Marshl Piłsudski, played a role in this instance of racial inconsistency.”

The treaty of friendship? There was no such thing. The historian doesn't know his trade.

You quoted Hitler’s Table Talk so I’ll do the same:

It doesn't contradict "We must examine each particular case."

[George L Gregory]

Morever, the treaty of friendship between Hitler and the Polish dictator, Marshl Piłsudski, played a role in this instance of racial inconsistency.”

The treaty of friendship? There was no such thing. The historian doesn't know his trade.

LOL, what??? The Germans signed a non-aggression pact with the Poles in 1934.

That is clearly what he was referring to so stop playing games. And, instead of refuting his valid argument you personally attacked his qualification as a ‘historian’ which states a lot about you.

You quoted Hitler’s Table Talk so I’ll do the same:

It doesn't contradict "We must examine each particular case."

The people considered to be eligible for Germanization were not considered to be ethnic Poles, ethnic Czechs, etc. Hitler since the 1920s (Mein Kampf) made it clear that ethnic Poles and ethnic Germans should not mix.