Poland decrees

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Facsimile of one of the Poland decrees of March 8, 1940: "Obligations of civil workers of the Polish people during their stay in the Reich"

With the decrees of the Reich Government of March 8, 1940, the so-called Poland Decrees , the National Socialist Reich Government created a special law by means of a police ordinance . In it were Polish forced laborers during World War II discriminatory provisions subject. The racially based notion of the inferiority of the forced laborers and prisoners of war from Poland called “ civil workers ” was a prominent feature of these orders.

The Poland decrees had been drawn up by the “work group” of the four-year plan authority and the Reich Security Main Office , which had set up its own department for “Poland issues”. They were published by the " Reichsführer SS and Chief of the German Police in the Reich Ministry of the Interior " Heinrich Himmler .

Content of the edicts

A “ Poland badge ” that every Polish
slave laborer in Germany had to wear due to the Poland decrees

The arrangements included e.g. B. the following regulations :

  • Labeling obligation for Polish forced laborers (a "P" had to be clearly visible attached to each item of clothing)
  • Lower wages than for German workers
  • Less and / or worse food than Germans
  • Leaving the place of residence was forbidden
  • Curfew from dusk
  • Possession of money or valuables, bicycles, cameras or lighters was prohibited
  • Visiting restaurants or dancing events was prohibited
  • The use of public transport was prohibited

Contact between Poles and Germans was strictly forbidden, even going to church together.

The criminal law provisions (→ Polish Criminal Law  Ordinance ) were sometimes interpreted quite broadly, so that so-called "indecent touches" could also be punished. Violators were punished with death by admission to a labor education camp or without further trial .

Persecution and punishment by the Gestapo

The secret state police were responsible for prosecuting and punishing violations. Contrary to the second Geneva Convention of 1929 , prisoners of war were persecuted, sent to labor education camps or even publicly hanged by employees of the Secret State Police .

"Eastern worker decrees"

Eastern worker badge for Soviet forced laborers

After the attack on the Soviet Union , the “Eastern Workers Decree” of February 20, 1942, based on the model of the Poland Decrees, added even stricter provisions for Soviet prisoners of war and civilian workers (so-called Eastern workers ) and deportees . Written orders were issued to the local administrative and police offices as well as the operators in relation to the decrees.

The "Eastern Workers Decrees" contained z. B. the following provisions:

  • Prohibition to leave the workplace
  • Prohibition of owning money and valuables
  • Prohibition of owning bicycles
  • Prohibition to purchase tickets
  • Prohibition of owning lighters
  • Labeling requirement: a strip of fabric with the inscription "East" had to be attached to each item of clothing in a clearly visible manner
  • The managers and foremen had the right to punish .
  • worse food than for Germans
  • less wages than Germans
  • Any contact with Germans was forbidden, even going to church together was forbidden.
  • Separate accommodation for Eastern workers, separated by sex
  • Failure to comply with work instructions or contradictions threatened to be sent to a labor education camp , the conditions in these camps were similar to those of a concentration camp .
  • Strict prohibition of sexual intercourse with Germans; on it was the mandatory death penalty .

This means that the “Eastern Workers Decrees” can be seen as a consistent implementation of the racist and anti-Semitic ideology of National Socialism on forced labor ( cf. Untermensch ).

Later, when the war fortunes of the Germans turned and the Soviet workers were needed more urgently, the previous designation "East" was changed and the workers from the East received different badges, for example with a St. Andrew's Cross , a St. George's Cross, etc. This was intended to illustrate a kind of social advancement. "The 'Untermensch' had been made a citizen!"

Despite everything, the racist hierarchy between (descending) Germans, Scandinavians, English and French, Italians, Poles, Russians and Jews was maintained until the end of the war .

"Foster homes for foreign children"

A chapter that has only been noticed for a few years is the fate of the children of forced laborers, especially the " Eastern workers ". According to Reichsführer SS Heinrich Himmler , pregnancies and births to " foreign workers " should be avoided as much as possible. There was also no maternity leave or welfare measures for “Eastern workers” , so that they had to continue working until shortly before giving birth . They had their own hospital barracks, maternity facilities, nursing homes and children's homes and delivery rooms, in which the conditions were often unsanitary. The forced laborers were forced to resume work soon after the delivery. The surviving children were often taken away from their mothers and taken to so-called foreign child foster homes (set up on Heinrich Himmler's orders) , the conditions of which were reminiscent of concentration camps . These “foreign children foster homes” had no other goal than to let the “unwanted” children wither away unnoticed by the public ( cf. youth concentration camps , history of euthanasia , education under National Socialism ).

Casualty numbers

According to a “Führerinformation des Reichsministerium der Justiz” in the context of the Polish Criminal Law Ordinance, a total of 1146 death sentences were pronounced in the first half of 1942 alone, 530 of which were passed against Poland. Are listed u. a. Offenses such as high treason, black slaughter, unauthorized possession of weapons or rebellion against German employers.

See also

Web links

Wikisource: Poland Decree  - Sources and full texts

Individual evidence

  1. Christa Tholander: Foreign workers 1939 to 1945. Foreign workers in the Zeppelin city of Friedrichshafen. Klartext, Essen 2001, ISBN 3-89861-017-9 , p. 51 (also: Konstanz, Univ., Diss., 2000).
  2. Karin Brandes: Forced Labor in Marburg 1939 to 1945. History, Compensation, Encounter (=  Marburg City Papers on History and Culture. Vol. 80). Rathaus-Verlag, Marburg 2005, ISBN 3-923820-80-1 , p. 40.
  3. ^ Source and quote from: Alexander Dallin : Deutsche Herrschaft in Russland 1941–1945. A Study of Occupation Policy. Droste, Düsseldorf 1958 (=  Athenaeum Droste paperbacks. History 7242. Unchanged reprint, Athenaeum Verlag, Königstein 1981, ISBN 3-7610-7242-2 ).
  4. Federal Minister d. Justiz , Gerhard Fieberg (Ed.): In the name of the German people. Justice and National Socialism. Catalog for the exhibition of the Federal Minister of Justice. 5th edition, Verlag Wissenschaft und Politik, Cologne 1998, ISBN 3-8046-8731-8 , p. 228.