"Non-Germans" Under the Third Reich (176 page)

See too daily instruction no. 79 of the HSSPF Posen of July 18, 1942 (State Archive Pozna
, Befehlshaber der Ordnungspolizei 5, Bl. 29): “It has been noted on several occasions that the obligation of Poles to salute has come under strong criticism. I request the subordinate police agencies to apply the rule without exception, using force if necessary…. I will make spot checks in the future. If a German service issues such an order in an area at present primarily inhabited by Poles, it is a matter of prestige for the whole of Germandom in this respect that the above order be strictly carried out. Signed, Koppe”; see also the report of the NSDAP
Kreisleitung
Hohensalza to the
Gauleitung
Wartheland for August 1941 (State Archive Pozna
, NSDAP
Gauleitung
Wartheland 14, 27): “Since of late the Poles are neglecting a respectful attitude toward Germans and virtually never any longer observe the obligation to salute, I have laid down a general instruction for the Hohensalza district in this regard. I trust that with this I will teach the Poles the necessary respect for Germans.”

16.
Cf. the decree of July 28, 1941, issued by the Reich governor of Wartheland (State Archive Pozna
, Gendarmerie Schrimm, 108, Bl. 388); instruction of July 18, 1942, by the HSSPF Posen; reports of August 18, September 18, and November 21, 1940; and October 20, 1941, by the district president of Hohensalza: Poles complied with mandatory saluting only “very reluctantly” (Posen University Library).

17.
Letter of October 1, 1942, from the SD-
Leitabschnitt
Posen to the deputy Gauleiter of Posen, in
Doc. Occ.
5:301 ff.; in the Gostingen district, for example, force was used.

18.
Ibid.; examples quoted are Samter (Poles rarely salute), Wreschen (Wrzesnia) (no insistence), Schrimm (no obligation to salute).

19.
Ibid., 304

20.
Letter of February 3, 1943, from the Party Chancellery to the NSDAP
Gauleitung
Wartheland (
Doc. Occ.
5:304 f.): “Experience tells that it would be extremely difficult to enforce the obligation to salute in the larger towns on account of insufficient police and surveillance forces, and thus the reputation of the Germans could only be damaged.”

21.
Cf. letter of November 27, 1939, from the Bürgermeister of Strzelno, in Łuczak,
Grabie
polskiego mienia
(1969), 14; letter of June 10, 1940, from the
Landrat
of Wollstein (Wolsztyn) (21). See also the instruction from the curator of the University of Posen dated December 4, 1941, to drop the “Mr.” when talking to Poles (diary no. H 6656/41, Institute for Western Studies, Pozna
, doc. I-675).

22.
The changing of Polish place names was begun spontaneously very early by local administrative and Party agencies; some of the changes were later reversed by the Reich Ministry of the Interior, a move that, the Party accused, “damaged the German reputation” (
Vertrauliche Information der Parteikanzlei
4/40 of January 14, 1942,
Verfügungen
, 2:255). In the Warthegau the Germanization of place names began with the Reich governor’s instruction that the original German name should be researched for each place, an enterprise that was often impossible on account of a shortage of staff (report of August 18, 1940, from the district president of Hohensalza, p. 6, regarding districts that had once belonged to Russia, Posen University Library). Under a decree of May 18, 1943, all place names were to be given in the German
and
Polish languages (
VOBl. Reichsstatthalter Wartheland
, 1943).

23.
Decree of September 23, 1939, issued by the head of the civil administration, Posen, regarding removal of Polish signs (
VOBl. Posen
, p. 9;
Doc. Occ.
5:64), and instruction of the same date by the municipal commissar of Posen, according to which all notices and signs on the street side of buildings had to be in German (
VOBl. Posen
, p. 12;
Doc. Occ.
5:64). Proclamation of April 17, 1940, by the Oberbürgermeister of Posen that in order to “restore the German appearance of the streets,” all property owners, commissary administrators, and lessees of Polish and Jewish houses, businesses, and workshops should remove all Polish signs, names of firms, etc. by May 15, 1940 (High Commission Archives Warsaw, poster collection XIV 103 t/1, photocopy).

24.
Letters of July 27 and September 4, 1940, from the district president of Posen to Reich governor Greiser, reproduced in Łuczak,
Dyskryminacja Polaków
, 311 ff., 331 ff.; a circular of February 23, 1943, issued by the Reich governor of Posen protested the practice of individual firms of punishing Poles if they spoke Polish. This was not the right thing to do: the Polish language should not be forbidden, and nobody should be forced to speak German; the Poles should not be Germanized (Institute for Western Studies, Pozna
). The use of the Polish language by Germans, on the other hand, was strongly opposed; cf. a report of the chief public prosecutor of Kattowitz dated May 3, 1942 (BA R 22/3372).

25.
Circular of February 23, 1943, by the Reich governor of Posen (Institute for Western Studies, Pozna
). SD reports,
Meldungen aus dem Reich
, of March 27, 1940 (BA R 58/149).

26.
Cf. the announcement of April 2, 1940, in the district gazette for Plozk (Płock) dated January 5, 1940, on language courses for ethnic Germans (Institute for Western Studies, Pozna
, doc. I-706); Plozk came under the control of the Zichenau District, which was incorporated into the province of East Prussia as so-called Southeast Prussia.

27.
Circular of December 7, 1943, to all
Kreisleiter
(Institute for Western Studies, Pozna
).