Tuesday, February 07, 2017

Hans Frank Diaries: 3) "the Jews had been liquidated..."

On June 18, 1943, Frank noted at a meeting:
The same is true for the resettlement, which of all things had been carried out after the Jews had been liquidated, partly so that the Poles, starting with the child to the oldest woman, were witnesses of this evacuation of the Jews.

The full German paragraph from which this has been translated reads as follows:
Daß die illegale Propaganda eine viel leichtere Arbeit habe als die deutsche, sei am besten durch die Argumente bewiesen, die die Vorredner in den verschiedenen Referaten gebracht hätten. Das gelte zunächst von der Arbeitererfassung. Hier bestehe der Mißstand, daß die Angehörigen der ins Reich vermittelten Arbeiter insofern in schwierigen Verhältnissen zurückgelassen würden, als sie nicht die nötige Verbindung mit den Arbeitern im Reich hätten, keine ausreichenden Geldzuweisungen erhielten usw. Dazu kämen die Maßnahmen, die im Rahmen der Arbeitererfas­sung durchgeführt worden seien, daß man Kinos umstellt und Leute aus ihnen zum Arbeitseinsatz herausgeholt habe, daß teilweise sogar Kirchen umstellt worden seien. Daß alle solche Dinge der deutschen Propaganda den Boden entzögen, liege auf der Hand. Es sei eben unmöglich, mit einer rein geistigen Propaganda diese praktischen Begebenheiten aus der Welt zu schaffen. Genau so sei es mit der Erzeugungsschlacht, die ja nicht im polnischen, sondern im deutschen Interesse durchgeführt werde. Das gleiche gelte von der Umsiedlung, die ausgerechnet durchgeführt worden sei, nachdem man die Juden liquidiert hatte, teilweise so, daß die Polen angefangen beim Kind bis zur ältesten Greisin Augenzeugen dieser Judenevakuation waren.
Hans has helped me translate this as:
That the illegal propaganda has a much easier job than the German one is best shown by the arguments put forward in the various presentations of the previous speakers. First of all, this is the case for the acquisition of the workers. There exists the grievance that the relatives of the workers transferred to the Reich are left behind in difficult circumstances, inasmuch as they do not have the necessary connection to the workers in the Reich, do not receive sufficient money allocations, etc. The measures taken in the context of the acquisition of the workers: that cinemas were surrounded and that people were taken out for labour deployment, that even some churches had been surrounded. It is obvious that all such things undermine German propaganda. It is impossible to eliminate these practical occurrences by purely psychological propaganda. This is precisely the case with the battle for production, which is carried out not in the Polish but in the German interest. The same is true for the resettlement, which of all things had been carried out after the Jews had been liquidated, partly so that the Poles, starting with the child to the oldest woman, were witnesses of this evacuation of the Jews.
A scan of this passage is below:
Figure 1: Arbeitstagung der Distriktverwaltung, 18.6.43. Vol. 27; Tagebuch 1943 From 1-30 June 1943, p.516, image 97. Record Group 238: National Archives Collection of World War II War Crimes Records, Diary of Hans Frank, 1939-1945. National Archives (U.S.). Archives Unbound. Web. 8 Feb. 2017.

 

2 comments:

  1. When Frank talks about 'the resettlement' , is he referring to resettlement of Germans, or Poles ? For if he is talking about Jewish resettlement ( which obviously didn't happen anyway) then it doesn't make sense if it occurs "after liquidation" !

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  2. I believe Frank is referring to this episode discussed on 25/1/43, whereby Poles who were being resettled were worried that they would be "liquidated like the Jews"

    Warsaw, 25 January 1943

    Present: Dr. Hans FRANK and others

    [Page 16]

    State Secretary Krueger: When we settled about the first 4,000 in Kreis Zamosc shortly before Christmas I had an opportunity to speak to these people.

    (State Secretary Krueger) It is understandable that in resettling this area we did not make friends of the Poles.

    [Page 17]

    (State Secretary Krueger) In colonizing this territory with racial Germans, we are forced to chase out the Poles.

    (State Secretary Krueger) We are removing those who constitute a burden in this new colonization territory. Actually, they are the asocial and inferior elements. They are being deported, first brought to a concentration camp, and then sent as labor to the Reich. From a Polish propaganda standpoint this entire first action has had an unfavorable effect. For the Poles say: After the Jews have been destroyed then they will employ the same methods to get the Poles out of this territory and liquidate them just like the Jews.

    [Page 19]

    (State Secretary Krueger) As I have mentioned a great deal of unrest in Polish territory has resulted because of this resettlement.

    Dr. Frank: We will discuss each individual case of resettlement in the future exactly in the same manner as in the case of Zamosc, so that you will, Mr. State Secretary, appear before me and render a report.

    http://avalon.law.yale.edu/imt/2233-ps.asp

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