"Non-Germans" Under the Third Reich (170 page)

6.
All orders of a fundamental nature from Party and state services dealing with the treatment of Poles and Jews were to be submitted before publication to the head of the
Gau
Bureau of Nationhood Affairs of the NSDAP for comments and approval (decree of June 3, 1943, by the Reich governor of Posen, State Archive Pozna
,
Reichsstatthalter
11, Bl. 93/94, repeated in fundamental order no. 13/44 of June 17, 1944, from the Reich governor of Posen, State Archive Pozna
,
Reichsstatthalter
1174, Bl. 276). Proclamations to the population of the Warthegau, whatever form they took, were to be submitted to the
Gau
Press Office of the NSDAP, which passed them on to the press (instruction by the head of the
Gau
Press Office, January 5, 1940, State Archive Pozna
, NSDAP Gauleitung 41). As the brief biographies in the NSDAP official
Gau
bulletins showed, the heads of the Party offices mentioned were all deserving “old soldiers,” some of them with high SA or SS positions, who had many years of experience in the “nationhood struggle”; most of them were from Danzig (Gda
sk). But the influence of the Party stretched far beyond the field of administration: landed property was assigned (at least in the Warthegau) to ethnic German settlers at the insistence of the Party (progress report,
Landrat
Alexandro for the period July 15, 1942, to March 1, 1943, State Archive Pozna
,
Reichsstatthalter
857, Bl. 110); distribution of food ration cards was sometimes also undertaken by NSDAP block leaders (report by the district president of Posen for the period January 16 to February 15, 1941, State Archive Pozna
,
Reichsstatthalter
854, Bl. 34). The influence of the NSDAP was also strongly felt in the field of justice: the Party endeavored to prevent publication of convictions of its members whenever possible, as this was felt to be detrimental to the reputation of the Party among the Poles (political report of the NSDAP district director, Hohensalza [Inowrocław], for February-March 1944, State Archive Pozna
, NSDAP Gauleitung Wartheland 14, Bl. 132). In the event of private acts of vengeance (“self-aid”) on the part of Germans against Poles, caused by the “state of war and the attacks and atrocity acts of the Poles,” the Party attempted to obtain indemnity for the culprit if he had supported Germanness during the Polish period (statements by the
Gau
inspector in the
Gauamtsblatt der NSDAP Gau Wartheland
, May 1, 1940, Bl. 4).

7.
From a review of Party careers prepared by the author comprising 29
Landräte
, vice-
Landräte
and Bürgermeister of the Warthegau in 1939 and 1940 based on documents in the State Archive Pozna
(
Reichsstatthalter
1024 [1939–40], Bl. 2, 5, 7, 8, 17, 19, 34, 45, 63, 66, 69, 114, 138; 1066 [1939], Bl. 38–40, 43, 58; 1066 [1940], Bl. 112, 113, 232), at least 9 of them (31%) were “old soldiers” (that is, Party members before the seizure of power), 5 had been Party members since April 1 or May 1, 1933 (17%), 6 since May 1, 1937 (removal of the limitation of Party membership) (20.7%), 3 were applicants for Party membership (10.3%); in the case of 4 of them, only the fact of Party membership and the Party number is indicated (13.7%); 2 were not members of the Party but did belong to various associated organizations (National Socialist Motor Corps, NSRB, Reich Air Defense League, NSV, Reichsbund deutscher Beamter [RDB]); the Party members for the most part were also at the same time members of such associations or Party sections (SS, SA), where they held quite high positions (storm-troop leaders, SA
Oberführer
, political leaders).

8.
Regarding the position of the Reich governor and the
Oberpräsident
, see Hasche,
Der Reichsstatthalter
(1938); Broszat,
Der Staat Hitlers
, 140 ff.; Diehl-Thiele,
Partei und Staat im Dritten Reich
(1969), 49, 53.

9.
The Polish population should not learn that “there are conflicts of authority between the various ministries” or that “undeniable tensions exist between Party and state”; letter of October 11, 1939, from the staff of the deputy Führer (signed Sommer) to State Secretary Stuckart/Reich Ministry of the Interior, quoted by Diehl-Thiele,
Partei und Staat im Dritten Reich
, 125 f. n. 41.

10.
RFSSuChddtPol circular of November 7, 1939, on the organization of the Secret State Police in the Eastern Territories (
Minbliv
[1939]: 2291).

11.
Thus the officer for nationhood policy (SS-
Sturmbannführer
Höppner in Department 1 of the office of the Reich governor of Posen, I/50) was at the same time head of the Bureau of Nationhood Affairs of the
Gauleitung
of the NSDAP (decree of June 3, 1943, by the Reich governor of Posen, State Archive Pozna
,
Reichsstatthalter
11, Bl. 193–94) (he was also head of the SD-
Leitabschnitt
, Posen). The head of Department 1, Internal Administration (SS-
Oberführer
Mehlhorn), was also head of the
Gau
Legislation Office of the NSDAP (note in
Gauamtsblatt der NSDAP Gau Wartheland
, May 1, 1940, Bl. 1).

12.
RFSSuChddtPol decree, November 7, 1939 (
MinbliV
[1939]: 2291).