Z poniższego tekstu opisującego inwazję na Polskę wynika, że głównym celem armii niemieckiej, głównym celem Hitlera była eksterminacja ludności polskiej, w pierwszej kolejności polskich liderów i inteligencji.
Do najbardziej krwawych, brutalnych i barbarzyńskich akcji zostały powołane specjalne jedno zadaniowe jednostki niemieckie. To one zajmowały się mordami popełnianymi na ludności cywilnej, wpierw wyłącznie na polskiej, a po agresji na Rosję sowiecką, ich celem stały się pogromy żydowskie.
Zanim doszło do niemieckiej agresji na Rosję, Żydzi byli w Polsce relatywnie bezpieczni, byli zgromadzeni w gettach większych miastach z łatwym dostępem do kolei i dopóki Hitler współpracował ze Stalinem, Żydzi byli pakowani do pociągów jadących do Rosji i tam eksportowani. To może tłumaczyć dlaczego później nie bali się wsiadać do pociągów jadących do Auschwitz. Oni się po prostu nie spodziewali, że Hitler każe ich zgładzić.
Execution of Poles in
Kórnik, 20 October 1939
Polish women led to mass execution in a forest near
Palmiry
In response to
Adolf Hitler's plan to
invade Poland on 1 September 1939, Heydrich re-formed the
Einsatzgruppen to travel in the wake of the German armies. Membership at this point was drawn from the SS, the
Sicherheitsdienst (Security Service; SD), the police, and the
Gestapo. Heydrich placed SS-
Obergruppenführer Werner Best in command, who assigned
Hans-Joachim Tesmer [de] to choose personnel for the task forces and their subgroups, called
Einsatzkommandos, from among educated people with military experience and a strong ideological commitment to Nazism. Some had previously been members of paramilitary groups such as the
Freikorps.Heydrich instructed Wagner in meetings in late July that the
Einsatzgruppen should undertake their operations in cooperation with the
Ordnungspolizei (Order Police; Orpo) and military commanders in the area. Army intelligence was in constant contact with
Einsatzgruppen to coordinate their activities with other units.
Initially numbering 2,700 men (and ultimately 4,250 in Poland), the
Einsatzgruppen's mission was to kill members of the Polish leadership most clearly identified with Polish national identity: the intelligentsia,
members of the clergy, teachers, and members of the nobility. As stated by Hitler: "... there must be no Polish leaders; where Polish leaders exist they must be killed, however harsh that sounds". SS-
Brigadeführer Lothar Beutel, commander of
Einsatzgruppe IV, later testified that Heydrich gave the order for these killings at a series of meetings in mid-August. The
Sonderfahndungsbuch Polen — lists of people to be killed — had been drawn up by the SS as early as May 1939, using dossiers collected by the SD from 1936 forward. The
Einsatzgruppen performed these murders with the support of the
Volksdeutscher Selbstschutz, a paramilitary group consisting of ethnic Germans living in Poland. Members of the SS, the
Wehrmacht, and the
Ordnungspolizei also shot civilians during the Polish campaign.Approximately 65,000 civilians were killed by the end of 1939. In addition to leaders of Polish society, they killed Jews, prostitutes,
Romani people, and the mentally ill. Psychiatric patients in Poland were initially killed by shooting, but by spring 1941
gas vans were widely used.
Seven Einsatzgruppen of battalion strength (around 500 men) operated in Poland. Each was subdivided into five Einsatzkommandos of company strength (around 100 men).
- Einsatzgruppe I, commanded by SS-Standartenführer Bruno Streckenbach, acted with 14th Army
- Einsatzgruppe II, SS-Obersturmbannführer Emanuel Schäfer, acted with 10th Army
- Einsatzgruppe III, SS-Obersturmbannführer und Regierungsrat Herbert Fischer, acted with 8th Army
- Einsatzgruppe IV, SS-Brigadeführer Lothar Beutel, acted with 4th Army
- Einsatzgruppe V, SS-Standartenfürer Ernst Damzog, acted with 3rd Army
- Einsatzgruppe VI, SS-Oberführer Erich Naumann, acted in Wielkopolska
- Einsatzgruppe VII, SS-Obergruppenführer Udo von Woyrsch and SS-Gruppenführer Otto Rasch, acted in Upper Silesia and Cieszyn Silesia
Though they were formally under the command of the army, the
Einsatzgruppen received their orders from Heydrich and for the most part acted independently of the army. Many senior army officers were only too glad to leave these genocidal actions to the task forces, as the killings violated the rules of warfare as set down in the
Geneva Conventions. However, Hitler had decreed that the army would have to tolerate and even offer logistical support to the
Einsatzgruppenwhen it was tactically possible to do so. Some army commanders complained about unauthorised shootings, looting, and rapes committed by members of the
Einsatzgruppen and the
Volksdeutscher Selbstschutz, to little effect. For example, when
Generaloberst Johannes Blaskowitz sent a memorandum of complaint to Hitler about the atrocities, Hitler dismissed his concerns as "childish", and Blaskowitz was relieved of his post in May 1940. He continued to serve in the army but never received promotion to
field marshal.
The final task of the
Einsatzgruppen in Poland was to round up the remaining Jews and concentrate them in
ghettos within major cities with good railway connections. The intention was to eventually remove all the Jews from Poland, but at this point their final destination had not yet been determined. Together, the Wehrmacht and the
Einsatzgruppen also drove tens of thousands of Jews eastward into
Soviet-controlled territory.
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