The German Occupation
Two Enemies —
Poland was the only Western Ally invaded and occupied by two enemies: Germany and the Soviet Union, which divided Poland between them.
The Germans formally incorporated the western part of Poland (including Auschwitz) into Germany, and created an area in the middle of the country (including Warsaw and Krakow) called the “General Gouvernement,” under German control. The Russians annexed the eastern part of Poland — later also occupied by the Germans when they invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941.
Reign of Terror —
During occupation, the Germans instituted a brutal reign of terror. They confiscated all radios, closed the schools, libraries and newspapers, replacing them with German-generated news sources peddling noxious propaganda. They tore down cultural and historical monuments, and looted Polish art and treasures. They banned Polish music, literature and theater, even destroying books in Polish libraries.
They imposed the death penalty for possession of a weapon, and for violation of numerous other new “laws” — including helping Jews, often executing entire families or villages if one person was found sheltering a Jew.
Life Among Ruins —
Large portions of Warsaw and other Polish cities lay in ruins from the September 1939 Blitzkrieg; bodies were buried along streets and in parks. Millions of Poles became homeless.
The Germans imposed strict rationing — to survive, people had to risk the forbidden black market.
Hunted —
Millions of innocent civilians, regardless of religion or ethnicity, were hunted, caught in random street roundups, exported as slave laborers, sent to concentration camps, tortured, shot, hung … often for no reason other than to instill terror.
The Polish intelligentsia — community leaders, lawyers, doctors, teachers and professors, priests, other professionals, basically anyone the Germans thought capable of leading resistance — were particularly targeted by the Germans, as were all Jewish Poles in every walk of life.
