1939 targeted killings of Poles and Jews by Germany
Between September and December 1939, Nazi German occupiers in Poland instigated a series of mass executions against the civilian population of Bydgoszcz, targeting those of Polish and Jewish origin.
Mass arrests and executions of Bydgoszcz residents, carried out primarily by "Wehrmacht" soldiers and "Einsatzgruppen" officers, initially took place in an atmosphere of chaos and were a retaliation for the events of the so-called "Bloody Sunday" in Bydgoszcz (3–4 September 1939) and for the resistance offered by the local Civic Guard to the advancing "Wehrmacht" units. The ad hoc reprisals later turned into an organized extermination campaign, aimed at the liquidation of the Polish political and intellectual elite in Bydgoszcz, with the main executor being the paramilitary "Selbstschutz". During the first four months of the occupation, the Germans murdered up to 5000 residents of Bydgoszcz and the Bydgoszcz County in secret or public executions, of which probably between 1500 and 1900 victims were from Bydgoszcz itself.
Origins.
In the first months of the German occupation, Pomerania was the region of Poland where Nazi terror took the most brutal form. Polish historians estimate that between September 1939 and spring 1940, the occupiers murdered between 36,000 and 50,000 Poles and Jews in Pomerania. Meanwhile, German historian Dieter Schenk calculated that between 1939 and 1945, the Nazis murdered between 52,794 and 60,750 people in direct executions in these areas. With the exception of a few hundred, almost all of these individuals lost their lives in the first months after the German troops entered. Even against this backdrop, German retribution against the people of Bydgoszcz took on exceptional proportions, making the city one of the symbols of German atrocities committed in occupied Poland. The human losses suffered by the population of Bydgoszcz during World War II are currently estimated at 10,000.
Several reasons can be distinguished for why German terror took such a brutal form in Bydgoszcz. The Nazis found their propagandistic justification for dealing with the people of Bydgoszcz primarily in the events of the so-called "Bloody Sunday" in Bydgoszcz () on 3–4 September 1939. In Polish historiography, these events are described as the bloody suppression by the Polish military of a German diversionary action in the city, while in German historiography, they are portrayed as a pogrom against local "Volksdeutsche". Goebbels' propaganda made great efforts to portray the events in Bydgoszcz in a stirring manner and to provide a propagandistic justification for the German policy of extermination conducted in Polish territories (especially in Pomerania).
In the first days of the occupation, German reprisals were also provoked by the resistance offered by the local Civic Guard to the advancing "Wehrmacht" units, which the Germans, in violation of international humanitarian law, regarded as a guerrilla formation. Later, both of these events became a pretext for the occupiers to carry out the extermination of the Polish political and intellectual elite in Bydgoszcz, as well as to deal with the Jewish population. The reprisals in Bydgoszcz were part of a broader extermination campaign carried out throughout Pomerania as part of the so-called "Intelligenzaktion".
In German repression policy aimed at the population of Bydgoszcz, Professor Włodzimierz Jastrzębski distinguished three phases:
Crimes committed in the first days of the occupation.
The "Wehrmacht" units entered Bydgoszcz on Tuesday, 5 September 1939. On the same day, a detachment of the "Schutzstaffel" ("Einsatzkommando" 1/IV) led by "SS-Sturmbannführer" Helmut Bischoff also appeared in the city. Bischoff's unit was part of "Einsatzgruppe" IV (commanded by "SS-Brigadeführer" Lothar Beutel) – a special operational group ("Einsatzgruppen") of the security police and "Sicherheitsdienst", following in the wake of the units of the German 4th Army.
At that time, the regular Polish army soldiers had already withdrawn from Bydgoszcz. However, the Germans encountered fierce resistance from members of the Bydgoszcz Civic Guard. Particularly intense fighting broke out in the working-class district of Szwederowo, where railway workers belonging to the Railway Military Training under the command of Franciszek Marchlewski were active. Two German soldiers were killed in the fighting, and a major officer was captured. The Bydgoszcz Civic Guard only surrendered their weapons after receiving assurance from General Eccard von Gablenz (commander of the "Netze" battle group) that their rights, as due to regular troops, would be respected. However, the Germans did not keep their promises. The captured members of the Civic Guard were handed over to the officers of "Einsatzgruppe" IV. Some prisoners (about 40 in number) were beaten to death with metal rods by "Schutzstaffel" men. The rest, including both leaders of the Civic Guard – Konrad Fiedler and Marian Maczuga – were shot on the Bielawki hills in Bydgoszcz.
In the first few days after the Germans occupied the city, chaos prevailed in Bydgoszcz. Concurrently with taking control of various districts of Bydgoszcz, the occupiers carried out mass arrests of civilians. The victims were primarily workers, railway employees, small craftsmen, lower-ranking officials, and high school students – as members of the Civic Guard mainly came from these social groups. In the ad hoc executions carried out by "Einsatzgruppe" IV and the "Wehrmacht" (especially soldiers from the 1st Signal Regiment), hundreds of residents of the city were killed. General Walter Braemer estimated that between September 5 and 8, at least 400 people were shot in Bydgoszcz. Meanwhile, Werner Kampe calculated the number of killed residents of the city during this time to be between 200 and 300 people. The first executions were quite spontaneous and chaotic. Polish civilians were shot at various locations in the city during this time: in the barracks of the 16th Greater Poland Uhlan Regiment on Szubińska Street, in the barracks of the 15th Greater Poland Light Artillery Regiment on Gdańska Street, at the city stadium on Mościckiego Avenue (now Sportowa Street), at the airport on Jagiellońska Street, near the wall of the prison on Wały Jagiellońskie Street, and in the vicinity of the municipal hospital on Bielawki. The brutality of the Germans was fueled by the belief that Bydgoszcz was engulfed in a "Polish uprising". This was evidenced by the occasional shots fired by "partisans" in the city. However, it is difficult to assess how many times German soldiers were actually attacked by Poles and how many times these incidents were simply the result of uncontrolled gunfire, caused by inexperienced and "partisan psychosis"-ridden German recruits.
On 8 September 1939, Major General Walter Braemer (commander of the 580th rear area army) was appointed as the military commander of Bydgoszcz. However, just two days later, actual power in the city was taken over by Werner Kampe – the head of the local Nazi Party cell (later, from the end of September, the Lord Mayor of Bydgoszcz). In the city and surrounding areas, the first structures of "Selbstschutz" – a paramilitary formation composed of representatives of the German national minority inhabiting the pre-war territory of the Second Polish Republic – began to be formed. Due to the chaos in the city and the alleged threat from "ubiquitous" Polish partisans, the command of the German 4th Army ordered Braemer (a pre-war active member of the "Schutzstaffel") to conduct a more organized "cleansing operation".
The general crackdown on the residents of Bydgoszcz began on September 8. Braemer issued an order on that day for the cleansing of the city from "criminal Polish elements". German soldiers and police officers cordoned off Polish-inhabited districts and systematically searched house by house, apartment by apartment. In case of finding weapons (which could include commemorative sabers, hunting rifles, or police batons), male occupants were shot on the spot. The remaining "suspects" were directed to a makeshift prison organized in the barracks of the 15th Light Artillery Regiment. By the morning of September 9, around 400–500 people were imprisoned, and by September 10, the number of detainees increased to 1,400. The purges primarily affected districts considered by the occupiers as the most dangerous, such as Szwederowo. On September 10, the command of the 580th rear area army evaluated in the war diary that: "[...] in the vilest district inhabited by the commies, about 120 people were shot, and another 900 were arrested". Excesses must have occurred during the "cleansing operation" because Braemer felt compelled to issue an order specifying that every person found with a weapon should be brought before the "Sondergericht", rather than immediately shot. Bischoff's orders went in a completely different direction; he ordered to shoot all persons who "in any way seem suspicious", declaring at the same time to his "Schutzstaffel" men that "in this action, everyone can prove themselves a true man".
On September 9, the first public execution took place in the Old Market Square in Bydgoszcz, where 20 people were killed. The Poles gathered in the square before the execution were beaten with rifle butts, forced to fall and rise, and stand for hours with their hands raised. When a German soldier was shot on the night of September 9 to 10, Braemer ordered that the next day, another 20 hostages be shot in the Bydgoszcz market square. On September 10, five other civilians were shot in the square – allegedly while attempting to escape. It was not uncommon for local "Volksdeutsche" to pass among the rows of detained Poles and Jews, pointing out supposed participants of the Bydgoszcz "Bloody Sunday" to the escort. These people were then separated from the rest of the prisoners, marked with a cross sign using white paint, and shot. In this way, among others, 20 Poles detained on Saperów Street perished.
In total, during Braemer's tenure (September 8–11, 1939), around 370 Poles were murdered in Bydgoszcz. Out of this group, about 120–150 people were ordered by "SS-Brigadeführer" Beutel (in agreement with Braemer) to be shot by "Einsatzgruppe" IV officers in the forests near Bydgoszcz.
On September 11, the German Supreme Command of the Army ("Oberkommando des Heeres") informed the 4th Army that Hitler, "due to the rebellious Polish population in Bydgoszcz, ordered the Reichsführer-SS to take 500 hostages and undertake the most severe measures (summary executions) until the city is pacified. The army is to be ordered not to interfere with the Reichsführer-SS authorities". The extermination action in Bydgoszcz then took a new course. Poles accused of participating in the "Bloody Sunday" and intelligentsia were now being liquidated. The main role in the repressive actions was played by "Selbstschutz", its formations, and "Ordnungspolizei". On September 18, "Einsatzgruppe" IV officers directed the first transport consisting of 62 people from Bydgoszcz to the Dachau concentration camp. At the same time, a secret order was issued to the Dachau commander to shoot all prisoners upon the arrival of the transport – except for Canon Józef Schulz. Large roundups continued in various districts. On the night of October 1 to 2, 2,000 Poles were temporarily arrested. On October 6, on the orders of the mayor Kampe, a large roundup was organized, during which anyone who did not have a certificate of employment issued by the Employment Office was detained.
In the first weeks of the occupation, the director of the city gardens in Bydgoszcz, Marian Gunzel, and other Polish employees of the Bydgoszcz city administration disappeared without a trace. On 24 September 1939, they were summoned by the "Kreisleiter" Kampe to a meeting at the town hall. They did not return home that day and remained unaccounted for throughout the entire period of the occupation. Only after the war, in German documents left in the courthouse in Bydgoszcz, was a document found (drawn up in April 1940 for the Ministry of Justice of the Reich), which informed that the "Kreisleiter" ordered the officials to be taken to the Gdańsk Forest and shot there. Kampe also ordered the murder of their closest relatives to "avoid creating martyrs".
The directives of the military and civilian authorities of the Nazi Germany regarding Bydgoszcz were exceptionally radical, and the actions taken on-site in the first days of the occupation were brutal and arbitrary. Officially, this was a reaction to the sporadic shots allegedly fired by partisans in the city. However, reality did not reflect these claims in any way. Between September 6 and 11 (after the Civic Guard had already laid down their arms), only 2 German soldiers were killed in Bydgoszcz, and 2 others were wounded. According to the German historian Hans Umbreit, "the decimation of certain social groups partially overlapped with the methods by which the military and police sought to restore internal order