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The Polish-German Reconciliation Foundation presents an internet platform dedicated to the commemoration of the victims and persecuted that were oppressed by the Third Reich during the Second World War – citizens of the Second Republic of Poland of all nationalities and religions. It will become one of the elements of the Deutsch-Polnisches Haus in the future, which is being built in Berlin as a place of remembrance, for educational meetings and information about the victims of terrorism during occupation times.
The Internet platform was developed as one of the components of the project “Fates of Poland 1939-1945. Remembrance locally & digitally”. It will provide information about all known and identifiable victims from Poland.
The digital platform is a “virtual memorial” for people who suffered under the repression of the Third Reich and, at the same time, a comprehensive source of information about them. The database will contribute to preserve, systematize and present the knowledge about the fate of millions of Polish citizens during the Second World War as well as popularize this knowledge on the basis of certain reports and testimonies.
The project is funded by the Federal Ministry of Finance (BMF) as part of Education Agenda NS-Injustice of the Foundation Remembrance, Responsibility and Future (EVZ) and is on cooperation with German Poland Institute in Darmstadt.The Institute organizes a competition for local initiatives of the Culture of Remembrance, which is related to the fate of Polish citizens during the Second World War.
On the basis of information available in this portal, training courses are being prepared in order to ensure that the memory of this difficult period of German-Polish history remains alive and to serve as a reminder for younger generations.

POWs in the Second World War

Around 66,000 Polish soldiers were killed in the fighting in September 1939 whilst 134000 were wounded and 420000 were captured.

Forced labour

One of the main political goals of the Third Reich was the incorporation of conquered territories into the economic system of Germany and to exploit them to the maximum possible

Concentration camps

The first concentration camp to be set up was Dachau in March 1933 and all future camps followed this model. Dachau was created on the basis of an order of Heinrich Himmler of 21 March 1933.

Prison camps and prisons

In occupied Poland, the Germans introduced the same legal procedures as existed in the Third Reich. This included the German legal code, Nuremburg laws and military law.

Ghettos

As soon as Hitler came to power in 1933, measures were taken to discriminate against those whom the Nazis considered to be ‘subhumans’. This included Jews, Gypsies and later Slavs.

Germanisation of Polish children

The German occupying authorities quickly concluded that it would not be sufficient just to expel the locals and introduce German settlers in areas annexed by the Third Reich.

Expulsion of Poles

The main objective of the policy of Germanisation was to expulse other races from the occupied territories and to settle Germans in their place.

Everyday life under occupatition

Poles began a new stage of their lives on 1 September 1939. The war and five years of occupation changed the lives of everyone. At the beginning they did not know what to expect.

Events

in the territories annexed to the Third Reich

1 IX 1939

Air raid on Wieluń (over a thousand casualties)

IX 1939 – IV 1940

"Intelligenzaktion" - Action of the physical destruction of the Polish intelligentsia and the Polish upper class in the territory of occupied Poland

IX-XII 1939

in the internment camp Karlshof (Karolewo) between 4 and 10 thousand people were murdered

IX 1939 - I 1940

Series of executions in Szpęgawsk Forest near Starogard Gdański (between 5 and 7 thousand people were murdered)

28 IX 1939

Zakroczym: murder of 500 POWs and 100 townspeople by the Wehrmacht

8 X 1939

Hitler's decree on the incorporation of the northern and western regions of Poland into the German Reich

X 1939 – IV 1940

Series of executions in the Piaśnica Forest near Wejherowo (12 to 14 thousand people were murdered) and in Mniszek near Świecie (10 thousand people were murdered)

X 1939 – III 1941

Relocation of 120 to 170 thousand persons of Polish and Jewish origin from Pomerania to the GG

XI 1939

the first executions in Lućmierz Forest near Zgierz (about 30 thousand people were murdered there)

XII 1939 – III 1941

Relocation of over 280 thousand people from Greater Poland to the GG

XII 1939

Beginning of the relocations from the administrative district of Litzmannstadt (by 1945 444 thousand persons of Polish nationality had been relocated)

II 1940

Beginning of the relocations from the administrative district of Zichenau (approx. 25 thousand people were relocated)

II 1940

Establishment of the ghetto in Łódź (Litzmannstadt)

Wiosna 1940

"Intelligenzaktion" Silesia - Murder of approx. 2 thousand Poles in Silesia

27 IV 1940

Decision on the establishment of the Auschwitz Concentration Camp

14 VI 1940

the first transport of prisoners to the Auschwitz concentration camp

22 IX 1940 – 12 XII 1940

Aktion Saybusch - resettlement of 50 thousand Poles from the Żywiec region

III 1941

Introduction of the German National List

VIII 1941

the first killings with the use of Zyklon B in Auschwitz

X 1941

Murder of about 3 thousand Jews from the area of Konin

7 XII 1941

Establishment of the extermination camp in Kulmhof (about 320 thousand Jews were murdered there)

III 1942

the first transports of Jews from France to the Auschwitz concentration camp

Lato 1942

Establishment of a network of about 30 "Polish camps" for Poles resettled from Silesia

1 XII 1942

Establishment of the Concentration Camp for Polish Children in Łódź (Litzmannstadt)

X-XI 1943

Transport of Jews from Italy to Auschwitz Concentration Camp

18 I 1945

Beginning of the "death march" of the prisoners of the Auschwitz concentration camp

General Government

V-VII 1940

Implementation of the "AB Action" by the Germans, during which 6,500 Poles were murdered - among them about 3,500 representatives of the Polish political and intellectual elites and about 3,000 criminals

14 VIII 1940

the first transport of Warsaw citizens to Auschwitz

2 X 1940

Establishment of the Warsaw Ghetto

1 XII 1940

Convening of labor battalions (Baudienst)

IV 1941

the number of persons imprisoned in the Warsaw ghetto reached the highest level - 450.000

Wiosna 1942

Beginning of "Aktion Reinhardt" - Mass deportations of Jews to extermination camps (murder of about 2 million people)

17 III 1942

Establishment of the extermination camp in Belzec

IV 1942

Establishment of the extermination camp in Sobibor

13 VII 1942

Murder of about 1800 Jews in Józefów near Biłgoraj

23 VII 1942

Establishment of the extermination camp in Treblinka (about 870 thousand Jews were murdered there)

XI 1942–VIII 1943

Resettlement action in the Zamość region (over 100 thousand people were affected, including 30 thousand children)

Jesień 1942–wiosna 1943

Intensification of street raids and deportations for forced labour

19 IV 1943

Outbreak of the uprising in the Ghetto of Warsaw

VI 1943–VIII 1943

"Pacification" action in the Zamość region

14 X 1943

Prisoner uprising in the Sobibor extermination camp

2 II 1944

"Pacification" of the village Borów by the Germans (about 1200 people were murdered)

22 VII 1944

Murder of approx. 200 prisoners of Lublin Castle by the Germans

1 VIII 1944

Outbreak of the Warsaw Uprising

VIII 1944

Murder of approximately 10 thousand inhabitants of Warsaw’s Ochota district and more than 40 thousand inhabitants of Warsaw’s Wola district by the Germans and their allies

VIII-X 1944

Relocation of approx. 500 thousand inhabitants of Warsaw and approx. 100 thousand inhabitants of localities in the vicinity of Warsaw

9 X 1944

Beginning of planned destruction of Warsaw by the Germans

Victims of the war and occupation 1939-1945

They died on February 22nd

They died on February 22nd

They died on February 22nd

They died on February 22nd

They died on February 22nd

They died on February 22nd

They died on February 22nd

They died on February 22nd

They died on February 22nd

They died on February 22nd

They died on February 22nd

They died on February 22nd

Fates from Poland 1939-1945

Events

1 IX 1939

IX 1939 – IV 1940

IX-XII 1939

IX 1939 - I 1940

28 IX 1939

8 X 1939

X 1939 – IV 1940

X 1939 – III 1941

XI 1939

XII 1939 – III 1941

XII 1939

II 1940

II 1940

Wiosna 1940

27 IV 1940

14 VI 1940

22 IX 1940 – 12 XII 1940

III 1941

VIII 1941

X 1941

7 XII 1941

III 1942

Lato 1942

1 XII 1942

X-XI 1943

18 I 1945

V-VII 1940

14 VIII 1940

2 X 1940

1 XII 1940

IV 1941

Wiosna 1942

17 III 1942

IV 1942

13 VII 1942

23 VII 1942

XI 1942–VIII 1943

Jesień 1942–wiosna 1943

19 IV 1943

VI 1943–VIII 1943

14 X 1943

2 II 1944

22 VII 1944

1 VIII 1944

VIII 1944

VIII-X 1944

9 X 1944

Documents