karl
Just born
Posts: 2
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Post by karl on Jul 16, 2011 19:24:18 GMT 1
My partner's father was Polish. Following the German invasion in 1939 the family was forced to change their surname from the Polish Szmid to the German Schmidt. Does anyone know if this was common in German occupied Poland?
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Post by valpomike on Jul 16, 2011 19:53:26 GMT 1
You can do some research on the internet, I am sure. I have not heard of anyone having to change there name, during the German invasion. Why would this be, to have others think they are German? Or so the Germans would give them better treatment? What do you think?
Mike
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Post by Bonobo on Jul 16, 2011 22:14:23 GMT 1
My partner's father was Polish. Following the German invasion in 1939 the family was forced to change their surname from the Polish Szmid to the German Schmidt. Does anyone know if this was common in German occupied Poland? Yes, many Polish families with real or imaginary German roots were offered a choice: become German citizens and avoid repression (but be drafted into Wehrmacht etc) or remain Poles and face multiple dangers, including concentration camp or even execution. Under Generalplan Ost, a percentage of Slavs in the conquered territories were to be Germanised. Those unfit for Germanisation were to be expelled from the areas marked out for German settlement. In considering the fate of the individual nations, the architects of the Plan decided that it would be possible to Germanise about 50 percent of the Czechs, 35 percent of the Ukrainians and 25 percent of the Belorussians.
The assignment of Pomerelian Kashubians onto the Deutsche Volksliste, as they were considered capable of assimilation into the German population (several high-ranking Nazis deemed them to be descended from ancient Gothic peoples).en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germanisation#Settlement_and_Germanisation |
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Post by valpomike on Jul 17, 2011 1:24:58 GMT 1
Would you give up Poland, in a case like this? I know, I would not. I would keep and be proud of my last name, and take whatever the others were getting. But that's just the way I think.
Mike
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Post by Bonobo on Jul 17, 2011 7:55:34 GMT 1
Would you give up Poland, in a case like this? I know, I would not. I would keep and be proud of my last name, and take whatever the others were getting. But that's just the way I think. Mike Come on, it is easy to say so, sitting in a comfy armchair. You have no idea what dilemmas people had in occupied Poland. A lot refused to sign the German nationality list, indeed and lost their lives in result and their children were adopted by German families. If you had known your kids could face such a fate, what would you do? en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VolkslisteThe Deutsche Volksliste (German People's List) was a Nazi institution whose purpose was the classification of inhabitants of German occupied territories into categories of desirability according to criteria systematized by Heinrich Himmler. The institution was first established in occupied western Poland.
Volksdeutsche (ethnic Germans) were people of German ancestry living outside Germany. Though Volksdeutsche did not hold German or Austrian citizenship, the strengthening and development of their communities throughout east-central Europe was an integral part of the Nazi vision for the creation of Greater Germany (Großdeutschland).
The aim of the German People's List was that those people who were of German descent and of German ethnic descent were to be ascertained and were to be Germanized.[1]
When Germany invaded Poland in 1939, they annexed the western part of the country (basically the Gaus of Danzig/West Prussia, the Wartheland, and Silesia), and placed the rest of the country under the administration of the General Government.
The plan for Poland, as set forth in Generalplan Ost, was to "purify" the newly annexed regions to create a Germanized buffer against Polish and Slavic influence. This entailed deporting Poles from these areas to those under General Government control, and bringing in ethnic Germans from various places along with Germans from Germany proper to settle the area.[2]
To further its objective of Germanization, Nazi Germany endeavoured to increase the number of Volksdeutsche in the conquered territories by a policy of Germanising certain classes of the conquered people, mainly those among the Czechs, Poles, and Slovenes who had German ancestors. Thus, the Nazis encouraged the Polish offspring of Germans, or Poles who had family connections with Germans, to join the Volksdeutsche, often applying pressure to compel registration. Those who joined enjoyed a privileged status and received special benefits. Registrants were given better food, apartments, farms, workshops, furniture, and clothing—much of it having been confiscated from Jews and Poles who were deported or sent to Nazi concentration camps.
The Deutsche Volksliste categorised Poles into one of four categories: [4],[5]
Category I: Volksdeutsche—Persons of German descent who had engaged themselves in favour of the Reich before 1939.[6]
Category II: Deutschstämmige—Persons of German descent who had remained passive.[7]
Category III: Eingedeutsche—indigenous persons considered by Nazis as partly Polonized (mainly Silesians and Kashubs); refusal to join this list often lead to deportation to a concentration camp[8]
Category IV: Rückgedeutsche—Persons of Polish nationality considered "racially valuable", but who resisted Germanization.[9]
Those members of the population rated in the highest category were tapped for citizenship and concomitant compulsory military service in the German Armed Forces.[10] At first, only Category I were considered for membership in the SS.[4] Similarly, women recruited for labor in Germany as nannies were required to be classified as Category I or II, because of their close contact with German children and the possibility of sexual exploitation, and so of children; Himmler praised it as a chance to win back blood and benefit the women as well.[11]
German blood was regarded as so valuable that any "German" person would necessarily be of value to other country; therefore, all Germans not supporting the Reich were a danger to it.[4] Persons who had been assigned to one of these categories but who denied their ties to Germany were dealt with very harshly, and ordered to concentration camps.[4] Men who had "a particularly bad political record" -- had supported persecutions or boycotts of ethnic Germans—were to be sent to concentration camps immediately; their children were to be removed for Germanization, and their wives either sent to the camps as well, if they had also supported the actions, or removed for Germanization.[4]
Persons of categories III and IV were sent to Germany as labourers and subject to conscription into the Wehrmacht.
Polish response
Polish response to the institution of the Deutsche Volksliste was mixed. Being accepted into Class III could mean keeping one's property, but it might also mean being sent to the Reich as a labourer or being conscripted into the Wehrmacht.
Polish citizens of German ancestry, who often identified themselves with the Polish nation, were confronted with the dilemma of whether to sign the Volksliste. This group included ethnic Germans whose families had lived in Poland proper for centuries, and Germans (who became citizens of Poland after 1920) from the part of Germany that had been transferred to Poland after World War I. Many such ethnic Germans had married Poles and remained defiant.[14] Often the choice was either to sign and be regarded as a traitor by the Polish, or not to sign and be treated by the German occupation as a traitor to the Germanic race. People who became Volksdeutsche were treated by Poles with special contempt, and the fact of them having signed the Volksliste constituted high treason according to the Polish underground law. Poles who preferred to stay with their friends and relatives sometimes resisted Nazi pressures to apply for the DVL, opting for deportation to the General Government over Germanization. Their children were often taken for Germanization while they were deported.[14]
Ethnic Poles from Silesia were also subject to pressure from Nazi authorities to sign category III or IV. In many cases people were imprisoned, tortured and their close ones threatened if they refused to sign; deportation to concentration camps was also common.
In some cases, individuals consulted with the Polish resistance first, before registering with the Volksliste. These Volksdeutsche played an important role in the intelligence activities of the Polish resistance, and were at times the primary source of information for the Allies. However, in the eyes of the postwar Communist government, having aided the non-Communist Polish resistance was not considered a mitigating factor; therefore, many of these double-agent Volksdeutsche were prosecuted after the war.
According to Robert Koehl, "By the introduction of the registration procedure known as the German National List (DVL) some 900,000 more 'Germans' were discovered, most of them semi-Polish minorities such as the Kassubians, the Masurians, and the local Upper Silesians whom the Germans called 'Wasserpolen'. A few thousand 're-Germanizeables' ...had also been shipped back to the Reich."[15]
The total number of registrants for the DVL are estimated to be approximately 2.7 million, with 1 million in classes I and II and the remaining 1.7 million in classes III and IV. In the General Government there were 120,000 Volksdeutsche
After the collapse of Nazi Germany, some Volksdeutsche were tried by the Polish authorities for high treason. Even now, in Poland the word Volksdeutsch is regarded as an insult, synonymous with traitor. |
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karl
Just born
Posts: 2
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Post by karl on Jul 17, 2011 20:17:40 GMT 1
Thanks to Bonobo for the information about this. I understand that many Poles who were drafted into the German Army and sent to fight then surrendered to the Allies and volunteered to fight for them. The Polish II Corps recruited many soilders in Italy in this way. I think that shows where their true loyalty lay.
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Post by Bonobo on Jul 17, 2011 20:27:30 GMT 1
I understand that many Poles who were drafted into the German Army and sent to fight then surrendered to the Allies and volunteered to fight for them. The Polish II Corps recruited many soilders in Italy in this way. I think that shows where their true loyalty lay. Exactly. After a standard check-up, Poles who surrendered as Wehrmacht soldiers, easily joined Polish Forces in the West and covered up the losses with a surplus. |
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