World War Two really started shortly after the end of the First World War, when Polish militias attacked German units in East Germany in an attempt to create facts of Polish territorial gains before the imminent referendums. The battles between Polish and German militias over these territories continued into 1921, when Germany, under the pressure of the Allied victors, finally gave up and let Poland have its spoils. But the territories conquered and at the end seceded to Poland were inhabited to no small degree by Germans, in some areas by a vast majority of them, as numerous ignored referendum results have proved. Hence, this ethnic conflict kept on festering, until it finally resurged in the late 1930s, when Poland implemented a policy of “ethnic pressure” to drive all ethnic Germans out of its conquered western territories. This policy escalated at the dawn of WWII into a violent ethnic cleansing.
By Alfred M. De Zayas ∙ January 1, 1989
First report of three judges from the military court at Prague, Hans Boetticher, Georg Hurtig, and Horst Reger. The report dated 29 September 1939 describes their work in the province of Posen between 18 and 28 September: “Witness depositions were not limited to ethnic Germans but also extended to Polish persons. Polish soldiers, especially the…
By Else Loeser ∙ January 1, 1983
Dedicated to the memory of the ethnic researcher Dr. Kurt Lueck, Posen, in gratitude for his scientific research into the German ethnic national areas of Poland. Foreword When I was asked about a year and a half ago whether or not I would consider giving a talk on the subject of Poland — in view…
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