"Non-Germans" Under the Third Reich (231 page)

8.
Report, F. Siebert, Central Department of Internal Administration, November 11, 1959 (BA Ostdok. 13 GG No. 1b/5; ZS, Versch. 104, 769 ff.).

9.
Cf. the collection of anti-Semitic posters in Institute for Western Studies, Pozna
.

10.
Statement, Dr. Biberstein, January 20, 1948 (ZS, Ordner 21).

11.
Remarks at a meeting of department heads on April 12, 1940 (“Diensttagebuch,” 1:142), to the effect that only 1,000 typhus cases were recorded between January 1 and April 1, 1940. Although the number of cases increased subsequently, especially in the Jewish population, this was specifically due to food shortages, which had pushed the Jews to the brink of starvation (cf. “Diensttagebuch,” vol. 1, September 6, October 16, 1940; September 9 and 12, June 17, July 21, 1941), so there can be no question of epidemic typhus being spread by Jews. In this context, see also expert report by Prof. Jan Olbrycht presented to the Bühler trial in 1948 (ZS, Versch. 17, Bl. 310–13).

12.
For details cf. expert report by Dr. Biberstein (ZS, Ordner 21).

13.
Minutes of the proceedings and results of the conference, in ZS, Ordner Versch. 19, Bl. 54–265. At this point, the minutes record “applause.”

Part One. Section 3. C. VIII. Freedom of Movement and Personal Liberty

1.
Government decrees issued January 7, 1941, and June 1, 1941 (establishment of ghettos) (ZS, Polen 256, Bl. 205 ff., 250); decree issued by Governor General Frank to all district chiefs, May 25, 1940, concerning resettlement of all Jews from Kraków; see letter from Department of Internal Administration in the Governor General’s Office to the Warsaw District chief, July 26, 1940 (Institute for Western Studies, Pozna
); instruction issued by RFSS to HSSPF Kraków, July 19, 1942, according to which the “evacuation” of all Jews (i.e., their deportation to death camps) had to be completed by December 31, 1942 (Institute for Western Studies, Pozna
, doc. I-744). Concerning the deportations from Warsaw, see directives issued by the head of the Department of Resettlement in the Warsaw District, July 22, 1942 (ZS, Ordner 365 c, 58–61), according to which the victims were given no time to prepare themselves; the deportations began the day the directives were issued (11
A.M
.). The Jewish Council was responsible, on pain of death, for rounding up a daily “contingent” of 6,000 Jews for deportation. If the orders of the administration were not carried out “one hundred percent,” the threat was to shoot a corresponding number of hostages. Any “disturbance” of the smooth running of the deportations or transgression of any kind was punishable by death by shooting. As a result, the use of firearms was part of the daily routine of “resettlement”; cf. report by the chairman of the Jewish Council to the “commissar for the Jewish Quarter,” January 1, 1942–March 18, 1943 (ZS, Ordner 305 e/0544 f.), which—though not directly criticizing the actions of the German authorities—gave clear indications of the real conditions (e.g., “fatal accident on the street”; “90 accidents due to bullet wounds,” etc.); fatalities were given as “gunshot wounds.” Regarding the economic side of “resettlement” (known as Aktion Reinhardt), from which the German administration made huge profits, see report, HSSPF Kraków to RFSS, November 4, 1943, describing how, on completion of the action on October 19, 1943, all Jewish assets (machines, raw materials) to a value of 6.3 million reichsmarks—with further assets worth 7–8 million reichsmarks still outstanding—were transferred to “Aryan ownership”; Jews were forced to sign over accounts at home and abroad to the German trustee company “Ost” (which in reality was a form of state plundering of Jewish property). Real estate was transferred to the state
Liegenschaftsverwaltung
(property management) (ZS, Ordner 246, 114 ff.).

2.
First Implementing Regulation of December 11, 1939 (
VBl.GG
[1939]: 231;
Doc. Occ.
6 (S): 560 ff.), to the Decree on Forced Labor for Jews of October 26, 1939 (
VBl.GG
[1939]: 6).

3.
Sec. 4 of the First Implementing Regulation of December 11, 1939 (
VBl.GG
[1939]: 231;
Doc. Occ.
6 [S]: 560 ff.).

4.
Sec. 2 of the First Decree on Residence Restrictions in the General Government, September 13, 1940 (
VBl.GG
1 [1940]: 288).

5.
The fact that the decree of September 13, 1940 (
VBl.GG
1 [1940]: 288), had this purpose is underlined by the editor of the official collection, A. Weh,
Übersicht über das Recht des Generalgouvernements
(1943) (note 3 to sec. 2 of the decree of September 13, 1940, B 430). Concerning the term
Wohnbezirk
(residential district), see letter of the Radom district governor to the government of the General Government, December 19, 1941 (ZS, Polen 257, 95).

6.
Corresponding instructions had existed since February 1940, evidently varying from one
Kreis
district to another; cf. monthly report,
Kreishauptmann
of Krasnystaw, Lublin District, for August 1940 (ZS, Polen 347, Bl. 174 f.); from November 1940 such measures were allowed only with the permission of the appropriate district chief “because of the repercussions on general plans for resettlement” (of the Jews) (letter from the government of the General Government, Central Department of Internal Administration, to the district chiefs,
Kreishauptleute
, and
Stadthauptleute
, November 21, 1940 [Polen film 64, Bl. 138–41]); cf. public notice issued by the mayor of Kielce on April 7, 1941 (poster calling for dwellings vacated by Jews after the establishment of the ghetto to be registered with the authorities; Institute for Western Studies, Pozna
, doc. I-519); cf. letter from the Radom district governor to all
Kreishauptleute
and
Stadthauptleute
of the district, December 11, 1941, with the recommendation to set up ghettos and instructions, where necessary, to provide appropriate markings and warn Jews that the penalty for leaving the ghetto was death. However, mass “resettlements” should not be undertaken (ZS, Polen 257, 99 f.).

7.
For Warsaw, cf. proclamation by the district chief’s commissioner about the setting up of a Jewish district, October 16, 1940 (reproduced in
Doc. Occ.
6:544). An announcement to this effect had already been made on August 9, 1940 (
Mitteilungsblatt der Stadt Warschau
, August 9, 1940). The decisive instructions were not issued by the Warsaw District chief until October 20 and 31, 1940 (
Amstblatt Distrikt Warschau
, 1940, 145); a corresponding instruction was issued by the Kraków District chief on March 3, 1941. For Lublin, cf. proclamation of the district governor, March 24, 1941, quoted from instruction of the governor, December 9, 1941 (Main Commission Warsaw, Government of the GG, Central Department of Internal Administration II/347, copy). For the Radom District, cf. instruction of district governor, July 1941 (
Amstblatt des Distrikt
, July 15, 1941 [not preserved], Bl. 132 ff., quoted from transcript, ibid.). For a Nazi view of the conditions in the ghetto, cf. von Medeazza, “Die jüdischen Wohnbezirke im GG” (1941), 1441: “It can be stated that Jewish life in the
Wohnbezirk
is proceeding in orderly fashion…. How the Jews organize themselves economically … within their own
Wohnbezirke
, now that they are prevented from playing their usual trade of exploiting the non-Jewish population, is entirely their own business.” Concerning the dire living conditions, even in the smaller ghettos, cf. monthly report,
Kreishauptmann
of Busko, Radom District, for February 1941 (ZS, Polen 347, Bl. 394): “In the Jewish district there are about ‘20 people’ to a room.” Conditions in the Warsaw Ghetto were even worse—see note 8. In connection with the creation of Jewish districts and control of Jewish businesses inside and outside the ghetto, further regulations were issued, in particular for the Warsaw ghetto; see, for example, instructions of the Warsaw District chief, January 1 and December 6, 1940 (Institute for Western Studies, Pozna
); cf. also lecture by the head of the Department of Resettlement (
Reichsamtsleiter
Schön) on January 20, 1941, in Warsaw (ZS, Polen, film 14/792–816) and letter from the Central Department of Internal Administration to Dr. Brandl, a
Regierungsrat
in the Governor General’s Office, August 6, 1941, on the plan to move only the worst Jewish businesses (those “we must sift out for liquidation”) into the ghetto (with note from State Secretary Bühler, “Proposal agreed, August 11—B.”). For details of the borders between the Warsaw ghetto and the Aryan district, movement of goods into the ghetto (license requirement, prohibition on providing Jews with goods outside the ghetto), and pass regulations, cf.
Mitteilungsblatt der Stadt Warschau
, January 28, November 3, February 25, and March 28, 1941.

8.
Concerning conditions generally, cf. weekly report of the Central Department of Propaganda, April 7, 1942 (ZS, Ordner 62, 84 f., 86–89); Hirzfeld, “Die Stadt des Todes,” excerpts in Poliakov and Wulf,
Das Dritte Reich und die Juden
(1956), 273 ff.; and the detailed diary entries of Landau,
Kronika lat wojny i okupacji
(1962). A detailed account is given in the expert report by Dr. H. von Crannhals, with a chronology of the most significant events and instructions (ZS, 211 AR-Z 373/59); see also the material in ZS, Ordner 365 ff., Auerswald files; on the catastrophic economic situation in the Warsaw ghetto (which was completely cut off from the outside world—for example, all telephone, traffic, and other communications were cut and all business and movement of goods were conducted through a so-called transfer office [which worked completely uneconomically]), cf. report on the economic situation (no date, ZS, Polen, film 62, 16–22) and remarks by the Central Department of Industry head, Emmerich, at a meeting in Kraków on April 19, 1941 (“Diensttagebuch”), and minutes of a meeting of tax inspectors of the General Government, held in Krynica on March 14, 1941 (BA R 2/5071, Bl. 122); also progress report 39/45 of the deputy head of the Department of Industry in the Warsaw District, February 1945 (no date, BA Ostdok. 13 GG IX a/5). Regarding internal matters in the ghetto, cf. the illuminating report (also without date) in ZS, Polen, film 62, Bl. 55–62.