"Non-Germans" Under the Third Reich (168 page)

With regard to Security Service reports, cf., for example, the general report on the activity of the Administrative Department of the head of the civil administration for Posen, dated March 10, 1939 (State Archive Pozna
, head of the civil administration 53, sheet 45); reports by the SD Posen of October 31 and November 7 and 24, 1941 (Institute for Western Studies, Pozna
). The main source of information was the reports of the SIPO and SD chiefs (
Meldungen aus dem Reich
[News from the Reich], BA R 58/151 ff.).

106.
Greiser in his Kiel speech of June 10, 1942 (
Der Aufbau im Osten
, 8): “The Pole will remain tractable only as long as we treat him firmly and fairly. He will immediately become intractable, and bring out his cunning, underhand manner if he notices that we become soft and weak. The Pole also has a completely different approach to the things of daily life and European culture.” See also the report of October 10, 1941, on the meeting of the Reich Labor Executors for the Eastern Territories in Posen, October 9, 1941 (quoted in
Doc. Occ.
5:274 ff.), containing statements by state and Party officers (Reich Governor of Posen Greiser: “He … sees the Poland question as a real one. The Polish people should never again succeed in resurging here in the East, for here the battle between German and Polish nationhood would be a battle for existence. The nationhood policy is made here on the front, not in Berlin. We had to win the nationhood battle for existence and would have begun this by pushing the Poles up to the German standard of living, something they could never have achieved in the Polish period…. [The Pole] may never be in the right” [275 ff.]).

107.
See the Reich Ministry of Justice draft of an implementing order issued by the governors of “German East and Southwest Africa regarding legislation on natives in the German colonies,” in which (sec. 3) corporal punishment was stipulated for adults and youths (BA R 22/20977).

108.
See also agenda no. 21 of the BdO Posen, dated December 19, 1939, wherein a complaint is lodged that members of the SS and the police carried riding whips and publicly beat Poles with them. The BdO decreed the “strictest prohibition” against carrying riding whips (Institute for Western Studies, Pozna
). Cf. the transcript of an official discussion of September 26, 1941, with the gendarmerie chief of the Schrimm district, which contains the following text: “1.
Measures against Poles
. It is often necessary to intervene against Poles in matters for which no laws exist. In such cases action must be according to individual discretion. In the case of minor offenses, the Poles should be warned energetically. The Pole must, however, be aware why he has been warned” (State Archive Pozna
, Gendarmerie Schrimm 100, sheet 249). Further, the report of October 10, 1941, on the meeting of the Reich Labor Executors held in Posen on October 9, 1941 (sheet 280—see note 106), with reports on beatings in the different districts, and the circular of the commander of the Gendarmerie Posen of February 2, 1942, in which reprimands to “effectively teach” the Poles are prescribed at identity checks (Institute for Western Studies, Pozna
). A letter dated July 20, 1944, from the Wartheland Gauleiter (Greiser) to the NSDAP
Kreisleiter
in Scharnikau (quoted in
Doc. Occ.
10:229) shows that this practice was approved of at the highest level: “Since, however, my name has been falsely called upon to justify a basic prohibition of beating of Poles, perhaps even with reference to an alleged Führer’s order, … I feel it necessary to make the following clarification: 1. My previous Polish policy has not changed. Poles will be treated
firmly
and
fairly
as before. If a Pole is rebellious and insolent, he must receive an appropriate answer in an immediate reaction…. My
Kreisleiter
are responsible for the application of these principles. This letter is intended for you and you alone. I forbid written duplication of it.”

109.
Report of February 21, 1941, from the district president of Posen for the period January 16 to February 15 (State Archive Pozna
,
Reichsstatthalter
854, sheets 30–31).

110.
Report of February 10, 1942, from the NSDAP district director of Hohensalza for the month of January (State Archive Pozna
, NSDAP Gauleitung Wartheland 14, 78–79).

111.
Cf. report of July 8, 1941, by the district president of Hohensalza (State Archive Pozna
,
Reichsstatthalter
856, 8); progress report by the district director of Hermannsbad (administrative district Hohensalza) for the month of June 1941 (State Archive Pozna
, NSDAP Gauleitung Wartheland 13, 12); report dated February 21, 1941, by the district president of Posen (State Archive Pozna
,
Reichsstatthalter
854, sheet 1); Reich Propaganda Office Lissa (Leszno), September 20, 1942 (State Archive Pozna
, NSDAP district director for Lissa 46, 43); brief propaganda report of October 8, 1943, by the District Propaganda Office, Lissa (27). Cf. report dated June 19, 1941, on the behavior of Polish workers, the general situation in Poland, the state of nutrition, etc. (ZS, Poland, film 63, sheets 79 ff.); letter of April 25, 1941, from
Landrat
vom Zempelburg to the Gestapo Bromberg, according to which the mood of the Polish population was constantly getting worse (Institute for Western Studies, Pozna
); review of the present status of Polish policy in the letter of July 30, 1941, from the Gau Bureau for Nationhood Affairs of the NSDAP in the Warthegau, Dr. Coulon, to the
Reichsstatthalter
on the general mood and work and welfare conditions, with very negative results (Institute for Western Studies, Pozna
).