The Gestapo and German Society: Enforcing Racial Policy 1933-1945 (42 page)

One form of 'friendly' relations which came in for special surveillance by local authorities and their amateur helpers concerned the generosity of Germans to the Poles. The sight of a Pole riding about the countryside on a bicycle, even if he had been given permission to do so, was thought intolerable by some citizens.7'
Attention was devoted to making sure that guide-lines regulating food, clothing, and other provisions for the Polish workers were not exceeded. (It has to be remembered that Germans themselves were subject to rationing and complained bitterly about cut-backs as they were introduced.71)
Exactly what the Poles were allowed was vague, and the rules were constantly changing; this very uncertainty worked as a deterrent to generosity precisely because any open-handedness was potentially 'criminal'
in that it might indicate 'friendliness'. If a German woman was involved and the Poles were male, the possibility of sexual relations was also checked."0

Similar strictures were in place with regard to other workers from the east; not only were their rations intentionally kept shorter than those of Germans, but they were prevented from purchasing supplementary food and clothing not on the rationed lists. While some people were prepared to risk being informed upon, others showed willingness to inform and to express 'legitimate' outrage at the very idea of a German giving a Pole an extra drink of alcohol, or an extra portion of food. Local officials could also demonstrate their 'commitment' to the cause by zealously following up the complaint. An impression of how far things could go may be gathered from the following illustrations."'

Michael Linz, owner of a wholesale fruit and gardening business in Wi rzburg, upon visiting a restaurant on a Sunday evening in early August 1 1941 with his nephew and family, asked for cigarettes but was told by the waitress, Else Mores (born 1888), that there were none to be had. Satisfied momentarily by this answer, Linz saw soon enough that this was not the case. 'After about ten minutes two Polish farm-workers from the Keesburg estate came into the pub. Not enough that these scoundrels got beer, but the waitress took a packet of Eckstein cigarettes out of her pocket and offered them to the Poles. Shortly before a German had been told that there wasn't one in the place. That has to be wiped out, the spot blown to pieces, and the whole bunch sent to a concentration camp.' This outraged citizen sent his complaint to the Wurzburg Kreisleitung, who passed it to the Gestapo. Frau Mores was fined ro marks. In her defence she insisted that she did not know the Poles, and that as she never had enough cigarettes to go around, she tried to give them out to her customers as fairly as possible. For Linz, and the Gestapo, it appeared criminal that Poles should get the cigarettes while Germans went without.12

In early 1941 someone told the magistrate in Obernburg that Titus Schumacher (born 1879), a butcher and restaurant-owner in Eschau, had given an excessive amount of alcohol to Jaros Mynarek, a Polish civilian, `around the turn of the year in 1941'. The Pole not only got drunk, but Schumacher, it was alleged, permitted him to stay the night. An investigation showed that Schumacher had earlier sent this same man, who turned out to be an exemployee, used clothes and also cigars or cigarettes, a piece of Wurst, and a small number of baked goods'. While nothing could be proven in regard to the alcohol, and a reasonable explanation was found for Mynarek's spending
the night, the generosity was condemned as 'un-German behaviour', and Schumacher was warned."3

The village gendarme in Thungen was keen to do his duty. At the end of January 1942 it was observed that in the last few days' Poles had been seen (by persons not named in his letter) sending more packages than usual to Poland.

This gave rise to a suspicion that either stolen goods or bought goods that were subject to the war measures' ordinances were being sent to Poland. On that basis I stopped a Pole I met in the street, who was on the way to the post office with a package under his arm, and brought him to the gendarmerie post in order to investigate the contents. In this way I was able to determine that the package contained 4 pounds of wheat flour.

The Pole Andryszak' said he had been able to make the purchase because 'an old lady' had given him the necessary ration coupon, but the gendarme was having none of it. He tracked down the crime to the baker's shop. Indeed, it was the baker-a member of the Nazi Party 'in good standing and with a good reputation'-who had given Andryszak the flour in lieu of wages for unloading a wagon."4
The assumption that when Poles shipped something home it must have been stolen or acquired illegally can be seen in other cases, and reinforces the impression of the lowly existence they faced inside Germany."
Such cases also show that local village policemen knew what was expected and did the bidding of the Gestapo without having to be prompted.

4. POLICING SEXUAL RELATIONS WITH POLISH WORKERS

Sexual relations between Germans and Poles, as between 'Aryans' and Jews, was highest on the list of 'sins against the blood', as conceived by Hitler and other leaders in Nazi Germany. In August 1940 the RSHA wanted to apply the same measures against workers and prisoners of war from western Europe, but little came of that intention because of the fear of negative reactions from collaborationist governments, such as the one in Vichy France."
No such reservations affected the Gestapo when it came to taking steps at the slightest suggestion that Poles were misbehaving, or even that Germans were being too 'friendly' towards them. It was particularly keen when it came to charges of forbidden sexual relations. As was stated unequivocally in paragraph 7 of the regulations of 8 March 1940 concerning the behaviour of the Poles, this
would result in the execution of the man or woman who had such relations with a German person."

Instances such as one reported near Wiirzburg in July 1940 caused some modification in the regulations concerning the punishment of the woman. A 5 7-year-old farmer took advantage of his domestic servant, a Polish girl (aged 16) in his employ. It is unclear from the file how the word got out, but the testimony suggests sexual assault. His son, a soldier on leave, was actually charged with rape, but it seems that he was allowed to return to his troop. His father, in the meantime, apparently not well enough for a gaol term, was given a warning and told that he would not be trusted to employ foreign workers again."

Reinhard Heydrich wrote to the Gestapo posts on 3 September 1940 that some revisions to the guide-lines were necessary, especially when it came to sexual relations between a German man and Polish woman. The reports of such events showed, according to his letter, that the sexual contacts were often sought by the German and that

frequently the Polish women are in a condition of dependence on these German men. Often the farmers' sons, or immediate bosses, in some cases even the owners themselves, initiate the sexual relations. And it is precisely those Polish women who fulfil their duties at work, and who want to retain their place of work, who become readily inclined to bend to the demands of their employers. For these reasons, sexual relations between German men and women workers of Polish nationality are not to be dealt with by special handling."

'Special handling' in this context was the code-word for execution, which was now to be reserved for Polish men. According to the new policy, Polish women were to be arrested for up to three weeks, forced to change their place of work, and, in cases of recidivism, especially if they 'tempted' young men, sent to a concentration camp. The German was to be sent to a concentration camp for three months and, depending upon the seriousness of the case, further 'state police measures' might be taken."'
Yet, as another case from Lower Franconia in early 194 r indicates, the new regulations did not stop the sexual exploitation of young Polish women. A Nazi Party member and wholesale baker from the Aschaffenburg area had repeatedly forced his attentions on his i 5-year-old domestic. Even though the baker already had a criminal record, and notwithstanding the seriousness of the crime, he was not shipped to Dachau-as the guide-lines on the matter prescribed-but was
let off thanks to the intervention of the local mayor and district magistrate.9'

The SD in Wurzburg reported with consternation in November 1940 that German men, especially the farm-workers in rural areas, 'did not have the slightest sensitivity' when it came to sexual relations with their female Polish workmates, some of whom were getting pregnant and having to return to Poland. All the relevant authorities should be instructed, the report went on, to impress on the German workers that such behaviour was not acceptable. All cases in which contraventions have been established must be dealt with by draconian measures, because only thus will the necessary deterrent be achieved. Often more effective than a sentence are the measures of popular justice, with heads shaved and a marching about with placards in the village.'92

Polish women (and female eastern ('Ost') workers) who became pregnant were sent home; they could not stay beyond the sixth month of the pregnancy. On the one hand, there was the problem of the children: if permitted to remain in Germany, as the magistrate in Krumbach said (February 1943), 'the danger of their mixing with German children when they reached the age when they must attend school would become unavoidable'.93
Pregnant women were considered 'unusable' after the sixth month and were sent back along with the physically or mentally ill.94
One historian has suggested that, as the situation got increasingly tense in the course of the war, some women from eastern Europe used pregnancy as a method of getting out of Germany.`i5

German women in rural areas, often left to fend for themselves, established friendly and sometimes sexual relations with the foreign workers and prisoners of war. There was trouble even if a Frenchman or Italian were involved."
But a sexual liaison with a German woman was punishable by death if the foreigner came from eastern Europe. A German woman from the Ochsenfurt area, denounced by anonymous letter in mid-1943, was picked up and brought to Wurzburg, along with the Polish man; the latter hanged himself in his cell on the night of 27 August 1943•'

German women caught in a sexual relationship with a Polish civilian or prisoner of war, especially if they became pregnant, presented the racist regime with something of a dilemma when the man appeared 'suitable for Germanization'. Such cases were discussed in a special letter of 1o March
1942. from Muller in Berlin to all Gestapo posts. If, in an initial judgment, both parties were deemed 'racially acceptable', and if the 'racially foreign' man wanted to marry the woman, no further proceedings would be taken against her. The Pole would be placed in gaol and 'his potential for Germanization' assessed. In the event of a 'positive result', pictures were to be sent to the RSHA in Berlin, both persons were set free, and the case was dismissed; if it were negative, the 'usual special handling' was to be applied to the Polish male worker."

This was the fine print, and came too late to save Kasimer Jankovski and Eduard Koncik. Their troubles came to light when 15-year-old Cacilie Bauer was brought by her father (Richard) to St Josef hospital in Schweinfurt in mid-August 1941. His daughter's pregnancy of three months was confirmed by Dr Brasch, to whom it was confided that the father was a Pole. Upon hearing this, Brasch disregarded his doctor's oath of confidentiality and wrote a letter to the magistrate in town. As he put it, `I felt myself duty-bound to make this report in order to protect the remaining youth of the village'. The village in question was nearby Holzhausen. The Bauer family lived there, and for thirteen months, so had the Polish prisoners of war Jankovski (aged 26) and Koncik (aged 25). Jankovski had struck up a relationship with Cacilie Bauer during the first weekend of May 1941, in the company of her friend Elfriede Kort (also 15 years old), who, it seems, had relations with Koncik. All four were in serious trouble. Given their age, Cacilie Bauer and Elfriede Kort were arrested briefly, sent to Wurzburg, and released. Instead of dealing with the Poles on the spot with public hanging, as regulations permitted, the authorities sent Jankovski and Koncik to a concentration camp for execution: 'otherwise there can be no doubt that great agitation would have resulted among the Catholic population of Mainfranken'."

Jankovski and Koncik were among the first Poles in Bavaria to be executed for having sexual relations with German women, but they certainly were not the last. The exact number of the executed is not known. Anton Grossman hints that in Bavaria the number approached several dozen, but this figure is certainly much too low. An insufficient number of local reports of the SD and/or other Nazi organizations survive for historians to be able to establish the number of executions (whether carried out in public or behind prison walls) with any precision. However, the few records of public reactions that exist create the distinct impression that many more executions took place in Bavaria than Grossman suggests. Not only were the documents detailing such executions destroyed, but many cases were never written up in the files in the first place. According to one set of documents which were recently
discovered, more than goo executions (mostly of Poles) took place in Hamburg alone.'
00

The most detailed accounts of popular reactions to the various punishments meted out both to Poles and to the Germans involved were written by the SD as part of the continuing concern to monitor public opinion. The SD analysed the effects on public relations, and offered suggestions for improvements. What follows draws upon the few SD reports which survive in Wurzburg, and supplements these with an examination of others from surrounding districts.

One of the first instances when 'popular justice' was employed against a German woman occurred in distant Oschatz, near Leipzig. The detailed note from the SD in Oschatz to Berlin explained how on i 8 September 1940 Kreisleiter Albrecht saw to it that Frau Dora von Calbitz was publicly punished because she had 'sought and had sexual relations' with a Pole. Her punishment, it needs to be remembered, was inflicted on countless other German women (but no men) in the last years of the Third Reich.