The Gestapo and German Society: Enforcing Racial Policy 1933-1945 (41 page)

The arrival of Polish workers has been described by Wendelgard von Staden We von Neurath), who as a young woman lived on a large farm to the north of Stuttgart. What she has to say no doubt applies to other rural areas such as Lower Franconia. The first experience of the Poles which the family had was the dozen prisoners of war sent to them at the conclusion of the Polish campaign in 1939. Only some of these (Josef and Szigmund) stayed on. Because everyone in the village fit enough to serve in the military was drafted, even fields which the von Neuraths had leased out were returned to them, and there was insufficient local labour to cultivate all the land that was available. Even before mass conscription this area had witnessed extreme labour shortages on the land, as many had left for the better prospects offered by industry."
In 194o and into 1941 'trainloads of forced female labourers from Poland' arrived."
In time the relatives of some of the Poles also came'that was possible if you knew how to get along with the officials'.''
After the winter of 1941-2, she went on,

trainloads of forced workers were sent from the occupied Russian territories. Whoever needed workers-and that was everyone, farmers and businessmen, craftsmen and factory owners alike-could go to the railway station and collect them as the trains came in. Since we had more and more vegetable fields under cultivation and could not possibly get the work done by ourselves, we went with Szigmund on the tractor to the Stuttgart station.

Trains from the east were rolling into the huge concourse. It was evening. Guards were standing on the platform. With white billows of steam, large locomotives still crusted with snow came puffing to a halt on the tracks. Out of the boxcars poured hundreds of women. 'A slave market'. muttered my mother. Holding themselves erect, the women cautiously stepped down from the cars; they wore long skirts and heavy padded jackets over loose blouses. Bundles were balanced on their heads.

The guards allotted us ten workers, all young girls. We learned from their documents that they came from a village in the Ukraine called Vilika Vovnianka. We settled the girls in the house by the nursery. They had a large room with beds and washbasins on one side and benches and tables where they could eat on the other. At first mother worried about them because of the great numbers of Polish and Russian male workers in the area. But the girls did not let anyone near them, at least not until Josef was admitted after Michalina's death. The girls from Vilika Vovnianka stayed with us until the end of the war."

The SD's first report of any significance concerning the reception of the Poles, in early December 1940, sounded a note that would be struck many times in the next years: It is reported unanimously from all parts of the Reich to which Polish prisoners of war or Polish farm-workers have been sent that the simple people have yet to adopt the appropriate attitude that will be necessary in the future.' There was a case reported from a village near Breslau (i.e. Wroclaw) where Poles, along with all the farmers of the area, turned out for the Saturday-night dance. As if that was not 'alarming' enough, the Poles were encouraged to dance with German women."

According to the SD report, this friendliness towards the Poles (Polen- freundlichkeit) 'especially in rural areas finds crucial support from Catholic clerics'. In Erlangen sympathy for the Poles reached such proportions that the Church took up collections of books, food, money, and clothes to be sent to Poland."
Early Labour Front accounts from Bavaria showed that it conformed to the national trend; in fact, because of the large Catholic population there was even more solidarity with the Poles!°
The usual note struck in local Bavarian reports was that the work of the Polish labourers and prisoners of war was 'satisfactory', but that, in the words of a report of December 1939 from Gauleiter Hellmuth's office in Wurzburg,

the attitude of the population leaves much to be desired. Apparently rural districts have been offering Sunday clothes for church-going. One priest gave out 3 marks to the guard, to pick up cigarettes for the prisoners. According to the record, the guard, who shares guilt in the affair, has been strenuously set straight by his headquarters. The proceedings against the priest are being followed up by the Secret State Police."

Other acts of Christian charity were reported from neighbouring Cronheim, near Gunzenhausen, similarly resulting in intervention of the Gestapo.`''

3. GESTAPO CASE-FILES AND 'FRIENDLINESS TOWARDS THE POLES'

Across Germany the Gestapo took immediate steps to police the foreign workers, and soon it had to devote an increasing share of its resources to that effort. Between May and August 1942, the Gestapo made 107,960 arrests, 79,821 of which dealt with foreigners; in addition there were 4,962
cases where Germans were caught in forbidden relations.
Both represented approximately 300 per cent increases from the same period the year before. The figures for July to September 1943 indicate that the overall trend continued upwards-of the 146,217 arrests. 105,262 concerned foreigners. The biggest offence was the ill-defined category of refusal to work or shirking. There were, in addition, 4,637 arrests of Germans for breaking regulations by socializing with foreign workers
.64 These statistics suggest a dramatic change of orientation in the Gestapo's enforcement undertakings, the vast majority of which were now directed at the foreigners-keeping them at work and racially segregated. As indicated below, these figures probably underestimate the involvement of the Gestapo, because in 1944 and 1945, as the war was brought to Germany, not all dealings with these workers were registered.

Already in the early spring of 1940 numerous instances were brought to the Wurzburg Gestapo's attention. Even before Himmler's regulations were formulated, an anonymous letter of denunciation to the SD in Aschaffenburg on 15 January 1940 claimed that the owner of a pub stopped two men from drinking beer together; because one of the men was a Pole, it was brought to the attention of the Gestapo. Both were duly warned."
This complaint pertained to two males, so there really was no question of any racial mixing or 'race defilement'. But the accusation, like many others, named the Poles as the new `untouchables', permanent outsiders present only to be exploited.

A native farm-worker who bought schnapps for two male Polish colleagues in early May 1940 was denounced and eventually fined; the instructions issued by Himmler in March had criminalized such behaviour. Drinking the schnapps with the two Poles compounded the 'crime' because it showed friendship."
Another early incident came to light when gendarme Wilhelm Noller from Mainbernheim reported to the local magistrate that he and the local Nazi peasants' leader Hans Pfeuffer had witnessed a crime on 3 March 1940. They noticed the birthday celebrations going on in the next room in the pub; though someone kept trying to close the connecting door they saw that a Polish male was there as well. This 'raised the ire' of both Noller and Pfeuffer who made the illegality of this fraternization quite clear to those assembled. Someone was bold enough to suggest that if drinking with Poles was not allowed, perhaps the Poles would not be so interested in working in Germany. If the peasants had to work in the fields how could Germany win the war: More arguments followed. This complaint was passed on to the
Gestapo, and warnings were subsequently issued.`
7 Another tip was relayed to the police in July 1940. Frank Schnitzler, from Fri hstockheim, near Kitzingen, invited Jan Kurzawa to a birthday party, which was against the law; he claimed later that he did not know that 'social relations with Poles were forbidden and punishable'. He and another celebrant had to be taught otherwise, as was Kurzawa."
There was also a case where the police were informed when Poles loitered 'suspiciously' near the house of someone who was not their employer."

Not all Party members felt about the Poles as did Herr Pfeuffer. For example, the village peasant-leader Karl Jooss, from Westheim, gave Poles permission to dance at a birthday party in a closed-off room in a local pub. This was reported to the local magistrate at the end of March 1941. Whoever passed on the information quoted Jooss as saying, 'Come on! After all it's the end of carnival and the Poles should be allowed to dance as well; they want to have some fun too.''"
Apprised of this behaviour, the local magistrate passed the information on to the Gestapo, with the comment that he was already investigating this 'politically irresponsible and inappropriate' behaviour of Herr Jooss and the pub-owner who went along with it. More than one publican was turned in for allowing Poles in his establishment when it had not been specifically designated for that purpose.71
Joachim von Munster was the Ortsbauernfiihrer in Pfandhausen. In mid-June 1940 he 'took his Polish farm-worker with him to see a film presentation'. The Pfandhausen Nazi Party cell-leader who was in attendance took umbrage, and told von Munster that such a thing was forbidden. The latter left the room immediately 'with his Pole', and soon after called for his two German farm-workers to follow. The cell-leader felt compelled to inform the Gestapo, and von Munster was given a 'sharp warning'.72

There were other 'dangerous' settings besides pubs and places of entertainment. One was the church. Bettina Kahn (aged 23), from Romershag, invited Teresa Stecko, a Polish domestic in her employ, to attend mass with her at the end of September 1940. This was forbidden, and Kahn was denounced to the Gestapo. Poles were not allowed to attend church with a German, and could go to mass only once a month in places set aside for them; the Polish language could not be used in public prayer or hymn-singing, not even in the confessional, nor could Germans serve as altar-boys at a Polish service. Any event which brought Catholics together-a christening, for example-could be an occasion for denunciation. In addition, Poles were not
to be buried between two Germans. In August 1942 the NSDAP Kreisleitung in Ochsenfurt complained that upon the death of a Pole wreaths had been sent by the German families for whom he and his mother had worked. This gesture was condemned as a 'base and insidious' act by people who were expressly forbidden by the Gestapo from attending the funeral.'
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Foreign workers could even give offence at the beauty salon. From Dettel- bach in late 1943 came a report that Polish women, as well as some from the Ukraine and the Soviet Union ('Ost' workers), got 'perms' at a local establishment. While it was true 'that no official prohibition existed' against this, the magistrate felt bound to point out that the Reich Beauticians' Guild considered such a practice 'undesirable': Only a hair-cut and hair-wash are acceptable, the latter, however, only if German customers are not inconvenienced by a long wait.' The hairdresser was 'instructed' by the police, and reminded of the Guild's guide-lines.74

A denunciation might simply come from an unknown passer-by in the street. In May 1940 18-year-old Heinz Knuter, who had been in the Hitler Youth since 1935, was seen walking with a Polish girl in Rieneck. He and the young woman were advised of the seriousness of the matter and given a warning. At this point (Spring 1940) there was still some leniency, and Knuter's behaviour was attributed to 'youthful rashness and ignorance'."

Information from the persons unknown to the Gestapo could be stimulated by the slightest incident. On a visit to a laundry in Wurzburg someone heard an employee, Wally Martschenko, from eastern Europe, calling her German colleague, the elderly Maria Precht, 'an idiot and old pig!' Such boldness was cause for suspicion, and a little digging produced some evidence. It seems that the employer, Frau Johanna Romm, had taken Martschenko to the cinema on one occasion, and even let her turn on the radio. This was a matter investigated in full by the Gestapo, with warnings issued all round. All Romm could say in her defence was that 'in agreement with the local labour office I exchanged two Polish women for Martschenko', but that when she did so, the labour office neglected to pass on a copy of the guide-lines about the treatment of eastern workers. This was now put right."

Like all tips to the Gestapo, the accusation of being 'friendly' to the Poles could be used for all the 'wrong' reasons. In July 1940 Albertshofen Party
member Paul Hellman turned in his neighbours, the Klostermanns- Christoph, another Party member (born 1899), and Babette (born 1903)for being 'particularly friendly' to 'their Pole', the domestic Janka. Not only did the Klostermanns let their house be used as a place where Poles of the area gathered, but, Hellman insisted, they let them rest inside at noon when it was hot, while their German workers continued to toil in the sun. Almost without exception, the neighbours were uncertain about the validity of the charges, but one after another they made potentially damning statements. Margarete Ludwig (born 1908), for example, was of the opinion that the Poles made many 'visits' to the Klostermanns 'purely for entertainment purposes'; some of these lasted until 1.00 a.m. 'The whole neighbourhood was upset by this.' Frau Ludwig had protested to the Klostermanns, but was told to mind her own business. The Gestapo, after a 'wide-ranging' investigation, concluded its case with the notation that 'hostile neighbourly relations' existed between Hellmann, the original complainant, and the Klostermanns. These were caused in part because of business competition (both were involved in market gardening), and because Hellmann simply felt that Babette Klostermann was something of 'a big mouth', who rubbed many people the wrong way. The only thing that could be established for certain was that on occasion (first recorded for 27 May 1940) the Klostermanns had permitted Poles to meet in their home, once until i o.oo p.m. The Klostermanns were warned that the next time they could expect to be sent to a concentration camp."

Being brought in for interrogation by the police or the Gestapo was, by late 1940, a prospect laden with anxiety and danger: the Gestapo had an evil reputation by that date, and there was always the possibility of arbitrary arrest and detention. An appearance in court could no longer be assumed and, regardless of a trial's outcome, the Gestapo could place whomever it wished in 'protective custody'.