"Non-Germans" Under the Third Reich (179 page)

48.
Explanations of the legal situation in a note from the Reich Ministry of the Interior toward the end of 1939 (undated, no author) (BA R 81/461) and RMI circular dated June 8, 1940, with implementing instructions to the decree of December 21, 1939 (
RGBl.
I 2467, reproduced in
Amtsblatt Regierungspräsident Kattowitz
, 1940, Stück 30, no. 256, Warsaw University Library, Sign. 034693).

49.
RGBl.
I, 2467. In Danzig–West Prussia and the Wartheland these were the municipal districts of Danzig, Bromberg (Bydgoszcz), Gnesen (Gniezno), Posen, and Hohensalza (Reich Ministry of the Interior note dated October 31, 1939, BA R 18/1205).

50.
Reich Ministry of the Interior circular of June 8, 1940, with implementing instructions to the decree on the introduction of the German Municipal Code (DGO) in the Annexed Eastern Territories (
RGBl.
I 2467, reproduced in
Amtsblatt Regierungspräsident Kattowitz
, 1940, Stück 30, no. 256, Warsaw University Library, Sign. 034693); see also letter of January 7, 1941, from the Reich Ministry of the Interior to the
Oberpräsident
of East Prussia (BA R 18/1205).

51.
Decree of December 21, 1939, sec. 3 (
RGBl.
I, 2467); letter of December 8, 1943, from the
Reichsführer
-SS/RKF to the Reich Ministry of the Interior, and answer from the Reich Ministry of the Interior of December 22, 1943 (BA R 18/1208).

52.
This was the express policy of the Reich Ministry of the Interior. See the transcript of a discussion in the Reich Ministry of the Interior of December 31, 1939, on the preparation and introduction of the German municipal regulations in the Annexed Eastern Territories (BA R 18/1205) and a letter of October 13, 1941, from the Reich Ministry of the Interior to the
Oberpräsident
of Upper Silesia (BA R 18/1205).

53.
On this point the Reich Ministry of the Interior and the offices of the RFSS/RKF were in agreement; letter of December 8, 1943, from the RFSS/RKF to the Reich Ministry of the Interior and answer from the Reich Ministry of the Interior of December 22, 1943 (BA R 18/1208).

54.
Letter of November 18, 1940, from the Reich Ministry of the Interior to the Reich governor of Danzig and Posen; negative report of December 4, 1940, from the Reich governor of Danzig and of December 11, 1940, from the Reich governor of Posen. Note by the responsible official at the Reich Ministry of the Interior; the report of November 19. 1940, by the
Oberpräsident
of Breslau (Wrocław), announced granting of the right to the German municipal regulations (BA R 18/1205).

55.
Report by the
Oberpräsident
of Breslau (ibid.); see variously the announcement by the
Oberpräsident
of Breslau, September 1, 1940 (
Amtsblatt Regierungspräsident Kattowitz
, 1940, no. 260, Warsaw University Library, Sign. 034693), on the granting of the right to the German municipal regulations to several municipalities in the districts of Bendzin (B
dzin) (3 municipalities), Bielitz (Bielsko-Biała) (5 municipalities), Chrzanów (4 municipalities), Kattowitz (3 municipalities), Rybnik (81 municipalities), and Teschen (11 municipalities); also the letter of September 1, 1941, from the Reich Ministry of the Interior on the granting of the right to the German Municipal Code to the towns of Saybusch (8.5% German inhabitants), Sucha (3.9% German inhabitants), Ilken (9.2% German inhabitants) and Warthen (1.9% German inhabitants) (BA R 18/1205); see too the letter of July 21, 1941, from the
Oberpräsident
of Upper Silesia to the Reich Ministry of the Interior (BA R 18/1205), and the decision of March 28, 1943, by the
Oberpräsident
of Upper Silesia on granting German Municipal Code status to the municipality of Auschwitz, which had a common border to the north with the Concentration Camp District (
Amtsbezirk Konzentrationslager
) (as of January 1, 1945: District of Birkenau [Brzezinka]) (
Amtsblatt Regierungspräsident Kattowitz
, 1943, Stück 43, no. 163, Warsaw University Library, Sign. 034693).

56.
Letter of March 14, 1941, from the
Oberpräsident
of Königsberg to the Reich Ministry of the Interior regarding granting German Municipal Code status to the municipality of Pułtusk (6.3% German inhabitants), and letter of April 1, 1941, from the district president of Zichenau to the
Oberpräsident
of Königsberg with the request to grant the right to the German Municipal Code to the municipality of Ostrolenka (Ostroł
ka), since as a result of the settling of three thousand Lithuanians almost half of the inhabitants were German; letters of January 17 and September 16, 1941, from the
Oberpräsident
of Königsberg to the Reich Ministry of the Interior regarding granting German Municipal Code status to the municipalities of Plozk and Mlawa and that of Praschnitz (justification: existence of an airfield and army training camp); letter of April 1, 1941, from the district president of Zichenau to the
Oberpräsident
of Königsberg with the request to grant the right to the German Municipal Code to the municipality of Płonsk on account of the settlement of a number of German agencies (central customs office, post office, finance office, Reichsbank, etc.) (BA R 18/1205).

57.
Letters of July 31, 1941, from the Reich governor of Danzig to the Reich Ministry of the Interior on granting German Municipal Code status to the municipalities of Dirschau (Tczew) (33%), Stargard Szczeci
ski and Konitz (Chojnice) (27.7% each), and Neustadt (Prudnik) (20%); of September 30, 1941, on granting German Municipal Code status to the municipalities of Leipe (17%), Neumarkt (Nowy Targ) (16%), Rippin (25%) and Strasburg (31%); and of December 15, 1941, on granting German Municipal Code status to the municipality of Briesen (20%) (BA R 18/1205).

58.
Letter of March 17, 1941, from the Reich governor of Posen to the Reich Ministry of the Interior regarding granting German Municipal Code status to the towns of Kolmar (Colmar), Ostrowo (Ostrów Wielkopolski), Łód
, Kempen, and Lask (BA R 18/1205). After January 1, 1942, all towns were granted German Municipal Code status (letter of January 9, 1942, from the Reich governor to the Reich Ministry of the Interior, BA R 18/1205).

59.
Cf. German Municipal Code, sec. 32; with regard to the (advisory) function of the
Gemeinderäte
, see circular G 26/1941 from the Central Office for Community Policy, to which a circular of September 22, 1941, from the NSDAP Office for Community Policy, Kempen (State Archive Pozna
, Landratsamt Kempen 14/86), is attached. Under the terms of German Municipal Code sec. 118, the office of an “NSDAP delegate” was created (in municipalities,
Ortsgruppenleiter
; in districts,
Kreisleiter
) (more details in
Verfügungen
, 2:255 ff., and Bracher, Sauer, and Schulz,
Die nationalsozialistische Machtergreifung
[1962], 621), which gave rise to considerable friction between
Landrat
/Bürgermeister and
Kreisleiter/Ortsgruppenleiter
. Exceptionally, in the Wartheland it was not the
Kreisleiter
but the Gauleiter who represented the NSDAP (letter of February 17, 1941, from the district president of Łód
to the
Landrat
of Kempen, State Archive Pozna
, Landratsamt Kempen 14, sheet 75).