"Non-Germans" Under the Third Reich (184 page)

37.
MinbliV
(1942): 1309; see also the circular of December 28, 1942, by the RFSSuChddtPol on the creation of punishment camps, issued by way of a
police order
against Poles and Jews (S II C 3 no. 55 20/42, 273, 2 allg., State Archive Pozna
).

38.
Letter of August 1, 1942, from the
Landrat
, Kempen, to the Bürgermeister and commissars of his district (State Archive Pozna
, Landratsamt Kempen 16, sheet 81): “Now that the above-mentioned circular has given the police the possibility of combating Polish disobedience by substantial fines and restriction of freedom, I request that such fines and compulsory payments be established against Poles.” Cf., in contrast, the RFSSuChddtPol circular of December 21, 1942 (Institute for Western Studies, Pozna
): fines against Polish farmers should be kept low, as otherwise the working capital would be completely lost.

39.
State Archive Pozna
,
Reichsstatthalter
802, sheet 142.

40.
Decree of August 23, 1941, Reich governor of Posen (ibid., sheet 128), repeated in the RFSSuChddtPol circular of June 15, 1942, relating to Gestapo and criminal police decisions (
MinbliV
[1942]: 1309).

41.
Führer’s directive of October 8, 1939, sec. 3, par. 2 (
RGBl.
I 2042); under the terms of sec. 1 of the Second Implementing Order of November 2, 1939, from the Reich Ministry of the Interior (
RGBl.
I 2133), the office of the Reich governor was organized as follows: Dept. 1, General Internal and Financial Affairs; Dept. 2, Health and Nationhood; Dept. 3, Education, Culture, and Community; Dept. 4, Agriculture, Settlement, Relocation, and Water; Dept. 5, Economy and Labor; Dept. 6, Forestry, Timber, and Hunting; Dept. 7, Construction.

Part One. Section 2. C. I. The Social. Political. and Cultural Sector

1.
Note in the files of the office of the Reich governor, Referat I/50, dated April 2, 1943 (State Archive Pozna
,
Reichsstatthalter
1174, sheets 139 f.). See also letter of January 10, 1944, from the
Gau
Bureau of Nationhood Affairs (sheets 162 f.).

2.
Sick pay was included in the payment. For Poles employed in the armament and mining industries, sick pay was increased to RM 1.50 per day in the Annexed Eastern Territories as of 1943, on the proposal of the district president of Kattowitz (Katowice) (NSDAP
Gauleitung
Wartheland to the Party Chancellery, December 23, 1943 [no objection to the proposal], with letter of January 4, 1943, to the Reich governor of Posen [both in State Archive Pozna
,
Reichsstatthalter
828, sheet 38]).

3.
Secret (unsigned) note dated November 24, 1939, from the office of the Reich governor (State Archive Pozna
,
Reichsstatthalter
835, sheet 4), which clearly indicates the profit-seeking policy of the government:

(1) The welfare legislation must be completely aligned with the national policy principles in the former Poland. An interest in the Polish population exists only insofar as working people are concerned. The intelligentsia, especially former officials, should be deported to the Government district without exception. The portion of the population remaining, which will be used as work slaves, so to speak, should, however, be paid and compensated adequately. (2) For this reason … it follows that pensions previously paid by the Polish state are out of the question for Polish officials. If they are capable of working, they should be sent to the labor exchange, otherwise to public welfare…. (6)
Development of the legislation:
The welfare carrier must be the same for Poles and Germans. Autonomy of Polish welfare, as, for example, for Jews in the Reich, is out of the question. A distinction must be made, however, between Germans and Poles with respect to the type and quantity of payments—perhaps for Germans a higher, and for Poles a more general, welfare system. The technical difference between the treatment of Germans and Poles should not be anchored in the legislation but regulated through internal instructions. To the exterior we might present a higher welfare system for special cases, without expressly stating, however, that it applies only to Germans.

As was the case with the Jews, the welfare funds were to be obtained from the wealthy classes and taken over by the public authorities after their deportation to the General Government; see report by the district president of Posen dated December 23, 1939, for the period December 1–15 (State Archive Pozna
,
Reichsstatthalter
853, p. 6). Thus the conditions for support and the amount paid depended solely upon the discretion of the authorities: the support amounted to only half of the basic tariffs for Germans (circular of December 5, 1939, from the head of the Main Trustee Office East [HTO], quoted in a Main Trustee Office East decision of May 4, 1940,
Mitteilungsblatt HTO
1940, no. 6, p. 215;
Doc. Occ.
5:237 f.). The conditions were tightened still further later, in that Poles and Jews received support only if their fortunes had been confiscated and the support was covered by their active assets (decision by the head of the Main Trustee Office East of May 4, 1940 [
Mitteilungsblatt HTO
1940, no. 6, p. 215;
Doc. Occ.
5:237 f.]).
Poles incapable of working
, however, did not obtain support from the revenue of their confiscated assets (Main Trustee Office East decision of December 17, 1940,
Mitteilungsblatt HTO
1941, no. 2, p. 113, quoted in
Doc. Occ.
5:237).

4.
See the notification of September 11, 1939, by the Schenkendorff group, forbidding the printing and sale of all press products on pain of prison or death (State Archive Pozna
, Abt. Plakate 15); the assets of publishing houses and printing works “hostile to Germans” were confiscated (head of the Civil Administration Posen decree of October 1, 1939, with Implementing Decree of October 10, 1939 [
VOBl. Posen
1939, p. 30, in
Doc. Occ.
5:66]); see also the decree by the head of the Civil Administration Kattowitz of September 15, 1939, regarding newspapers and periodicals (
VOBl. Grenzschutz
39, p. 63, in
Doc. Occ.
5:69 f.).