Operation Tannenberg (german: Unternehmen Tannenberg) was a codename for one of the

anti-Polish Polonophobia, also referred to as anti-Polonism, ( pl, Antypolonizm), and anti-Polish sentiment are terms for negative attitudes, prejudices, and actions against Poles as an ethnic group, Poland as their country, and their culture. These incl ...

extermination actions by Nazi Germany that were directed at the

Poles Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, who share a common history, culture, the Polish language and are identified with the country of Poland in Ce ...

during the opening stages of World War II in Europe, as part of the '' Generalplan Ost'' for the German colonization of the East. The shootings were conducted with the use of a

proscription Proscription ( la, proscriptio) is, in current usage, a 'decree of condemnation to death or banishment' (''Oxford English Dictionary'') and can be used in a political context to refer to state-approved murder or banishment. The term originated ...

list ('' Sonderfahndungsbuch Polen''), compiled by the Gestapo in the span of two years before the 1939 invasion. The top secret lists identified more than 61,000 members of the Polish elite:

activist Activism (or Advocacy) consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived greater good. Forms of activism range fro ...

intelligentsia The intelligentsia is a status class composed of the university-educated people of a society who engage in the complex mental labours by which they critique, shape, and lead in the politics, policies, and culture of their society; as such, the in ...

, scholars, clergy, actors, former officers and others, who were to be interned or shot. Members of the German minority living in Poland assisted in preparing the lists.Unternehmen Tannenberg - August 1939: Wie der SD den Überfall auf Polen vorbereitete (III)
bei wissen.spiegel.d

that up to 20,000 Germans living in Poland belonged to organizations involved in various forms of subversion. Operation Tannenberg was followed by the '' Intelligenzaktion'', a second phase of the ''Unternehmen Tannenberg'' directed by Heydrich's ''Sonderreferat'' from Berlin, which lasted until January 1940. In Pomerania alone, 36,000–42,000 Poles, including children, were killed before the end of 1939.

Implementation

The plan was finalized in May 1939 by the Central Office II P (Poland). Following the orders of Adolf Hitler, a special unit dubbed ''Tannenberg'' was created within the

Reich Security Main Office The Reich Security Main Office (german: Reichssicherheitshauptamt or RSHA) was an organization under Heinrich Himmler in his dual capacity as ''Chef der Deutschen Polizei'' (Chief of German Police) and ''Reichsführer-SS'', the head of the Nazi ...

(''Reichssicherheitshauptamt''). It commanded a number of ''

Einsatzgruppen (, ; also ' task forces') were (SS) paramilitary death squads of Nazi Germany that were responsible for mass murder, primarily by shooting, during World War II (1939–1945) in German-occupied Europe. The had an integral role in the im ...

'' units formed with Gestapo, Kripo and '' Sicherheitsdienst'' (SD) officers and men who were theoretically to follow the '' Wehrmacht'' (armed forces) into occupied territories. Their task was to track down and arrest all the people listed on the proscription lists exactly as it had been compiled before the outbreak of war.Peter Longerich (2012)
War and Settlement in Poland.
''Heinrich Himmler: A Life.'' OUP Oxford, pp. 425–429. . The first phase of the action occurred in August 1939 when about 2,000 activists of Polish minority organisations in Germany were arrested and murdered. The second phase of the action began on September 1, 1939, and ended in October, resulting in at least 20,000 deaths in 760 mass executions by ''Einsatzgruppen'' special task units with help from regular ''Wehrmacht'' units. A special formation was created from the German minority living in Poland called '' Selbstschutz'', whose members had trained in Germany before the war in diversion and guerilla fighting (see: Deutscher Volksverband, the German People's Union in Poland). The formation was responsible for many massacres and due to its bad reputation was dissolved by Nazi authorities after the September Campaign with transfer to regular formations.

Massacres of hospital patients

During Operation Tannenberg patients from Polish hospitals were murdered in ''Wartheland'' ( Wielkopolska) by ''Einsatzgruppe'' VI men led by Herbert Lange, who was under the command of Erich Naumann. He was appointed commandant of the first Chełmno extermination camp soon thereafter. By mid-1940, Lange and his men were responsible for the murder of about 1100 patients in Owińska, 2750 patients at Kościan, 1558 patients and 300 Poles at Działdowo who were shot in the back of the neck; and hundreds of Poles at Fort VII where the mobile gas-chamber (''Einsatzwagen'') was first developed along with the first gassing bunker. According to the historian Peter Longerich, the hospital massacres were conducted on the initiative of ''Einsatzgruppen'', because they were not ordered by Himmler.Longerich 2012, p. 430. Lange's experience in the mass killing of Poles during Operation Tannenberg was the reason why

Ernst Damzog Ernst Damzog (30 October 1882 – 24 July 1945) was a German policeman, who was a member of the SS of Nazi Germany and served in the Gestapo. He was responsible for the mass murder of Poles and Jews committed in the territory of occupied Polan ...

, the Commander of

Sicherheitspolizei The ''Sicherheitspolizei'' ( en, Security Police), often abbreviated as SiPo, was a term used in Germany for security police. In the Nazi era, it referred to the state political and criminal investigation security agencies. It was made up by the ...

(Security Police) and SD stationed in occupied Poznań (Posen) placed him in charge of the '' SS-Sonderkommando Lange'' (special detachment) for the purpose of mass gassing operations which led to the eventual annihilation of the Łódź Ghetto.

Notes and references

Bibliography

* Verbatim transcript of Part I of the book
The German New Order in Poland
' published for the Polish Ministry of Information by Hutchinson & Co., London, in late 1941. The period covered by the book is September, 1939 to June, 1941. * * Alfred Spiess, Heiner Lichtenstein: ''Unternehmen Tannenberg. Der Anlass zum Zweiten Weltkrieg.'' Korrigierte und erweiterte Ausgabe. (Ullstein-Buch ; Nr. 33118 : Zeitgeschichte) Ullstein, Frankfurt/M ; Berlin 1989, .

External links

* * Jean Maridor

{{Authority control 1939 in Germany 1939 in Poland Einsatzgruppen Massacres in Poland Germany–Poland relations Invasion of Poland Nazi war crimes in Poland Mass murder in 1939 Mass murder in 1940 Persecution by Nazi Germany Persecution of Poles Persecution of Jews Persecution of intellectuals

Implementation

Massacres of hospital patients

See also

Notes and references

Bibliography

External links