Polish collaboration in World War II

German politics in the territory of the governor general was characterized by a denial of Polish national identity. Poles were considered either as “racially full-fledged,” or even as descendants of the Germans who, for many historical reasons, spoke the Slavic language in the case of their loyalty and cooperation with the occupation authorities, or as a harmful element to be destroyed in case of any opposition to the occupation policy. A number of ethnic groups in Poland - such as the Kashubians and Polish Protestants - were seen as privileged groups equal to full Aryans.

After the end of hostilities in Poland in the autumn of 1939, the German authorities began to create an administrative apparatus for managing the occupied Polish territories .

• Polish citizens ( Volksdeutsche , Poles and representatives of other nationalities) worked in the bodies of the civil administration of the “ Governor-General ”.
• business representatives, business owners actively cooperated with Germany (in particular, they carried out German orders, including orders from the German occupation administration and orders for the German army and military industry);

• As of April 1, 1941, 271 enterprises on the territory of the “Governor-General” were fulfilling orders of the Wehrmacht with a total value of 263,250 thousand marks ^[1]
• As of January 1, 1942, 316 enterprises on the territory of the “Governor-General” were fulfilling orders of the Wehrmacht with a total value of 352 310 thousand marks ^[2] .
• in 1943, the volume of deliveries by orders of the German occupation authorities amounted to 3 billion zlotys - three quarters of the total marketable products of the “governor general” ^[3]
• in general, according to official statistics of the Third Reich, only up to March 31, 1944, the contribution of the “governor general” to the military industry and economy of the Third Reich amounted to 5,015 billion Reichsmarks ^[4]

• On September 10, 1939, the Self-Defense Union ( Selbschutz Vereine ) was created, into the armed forces of which it was accepted ethnic Germans living in Poland, the Volksdeutsche from 17 to 45 years old. These units were officially disbanded on November 30, 1939 (although they operated in the Lublin Voivodeship until the spring of 1940), a total of 45 thousand Volksdeutsche served in them. In May 1940, on the basis of the personnel of these units, paramilitary groups “Sonderdienst” were created, which took male “Volksdeutsche” between the ages of 18 and 40 ^[5]
• in October 1939, the formation of the armed units of the Polish Police of the Governor-General (also known as the “blue police” or “blue police” - by the color of the uniform) began on the territory of the “Governor-General”. The Polish police were subordinate to the German police, its main functions were carrying out security and guard and patrol services, maintaining order on the territory of Poland, countering criminal crime, and fulfilling the orders of the occupation authorities. The police participated in the struggle against the Resistance movement, the protection of Jewish ghettos , etc. The Blue Police was disbanded on August 27, 1944 by the Polish Committee for National Liberation ^{[6] [7]} .
• Poles were involved in service in other armed, security, police and paramilitary formations of the Third Reich, including:

• in the Wehrmacht (according to incomplete data, only Soviet troops captured 60,272 Wehrmacht soldiers - Poles by nationality ^[8] ; in a message to the British Parliament, it was noted that among the Wehrmacht soldiers whom the British troops captured in northwestern Europe, 68 693 were Poles ^[9] );
• in the militarized schutzmanshaft- battalions of the auxiliary police . So, in 1943, the 107th schutzmanshafts battalion (Polish) (450 people) was created in Vladimir-Volynsky , which was used on the territory of Volyn and Podillia. Also, in 1943, the 202nd Polish battalion Schutzmannschaft (360 men) was transferred to Volyn.
• in the railway guard under the “General Directorate of Railways” ( Generaldirektion der Ostbahn ) of the “Governor General”;
• in the "factory protection" ( Werkdienst )
• in the military-construction organization "Todt" , they had the status of "legionnaires" (" OT - Polnische Legionari ") ^[10] . They had the right to carry firearms. In the spring of 1944 they were equated with Wehrmacht soldiers (later Germans, who were equated with Wehrmacht soldiers from November 1942) ^[11]
• according to Professor Ryszard Kaczmarek, director of the Institute of History of the University of Silesia, author of the book “Poles in the Wehrmacht”, about half a million Poles from Upper Silesia and Pomerania passed through the German army. ^[12]

• a significant number of Polish citizens collaborated with German intelligence services and carried out their instructions as informants, agents, spies, saboteurs and terrorists ^[13] (at the same time, some of the German informants were criminal elements) ^[14] .
• A number of intellectuals, including journalists and publishers of print publications in Poland, participated in Nazi propaganda.
• from Polish citizens of Jewish nationality, civil administration bodies and units of the " Jewish order service " were formed in Jewish ghettos in Poland, acting in the interests of the German occupation authorities.

On November 23, 1939, a political activist and publicist, an active supporter of Polish-German cooperation, Władysław Studnicki sent an open letter to the German authorities ( Memoriał w sprawie odtworzenia Armii Polskiej iw sprawie nadchodzącej wojny nowieckckieieckieckieckieckieckieckieckieckieckieckieckieckieckieckieckieckieckieckieckieckieckieckieckieckieckieckieckieckieckiecki had to fight with the USSR together with the Wehrmacht.

In May-June 1944, at the direction of the SS Reichsfuhrer G. Himmler, the RSHA , a special body was created to prepare and conduct reconnaissance and sabotage and terrorist activities in the interests of the Third Reich in the rear of the Soviet troops - " SS-Jagdverband Fighter Connection" "Ost" "). For operations on the territory of Poland, the SS-Jagdeinsatz Polen task force was formed, which was subordinate to the “Vostok SS Fighter Connection”.

On October 23, 1944, it was decided to create Polish units as part of the Wehrmacht ( Polnische Wehrmacht ), later, in Radom, the formation of the “White Eagle Legion ” ( Legion Orła Białego ) began from the Pole volunteers, which guaranteed monetary and other allowance by supply standards of the Wehrmacht soldiers. Later, in the fall of 1944, recruitment centers were opened on the territory of the “Governor-General” for recording in the Legion.

It is also known about the cooperation with the Third Reich of participants in a number of Polish underground organizations.

Sword and Plow

Representatives of the Sword and Plow organization ( Miecz i Pług ) established contacts with the Radom Gestapo in 1941. In May 1943, the head of the organization Anatol Słowikowski (" Andrzej Nieznany ") Anatol Slovikovsky, he (" Andrzej Neznany ") sent a letter to A. Hitler with a proposal to create Polish armed units, which were to fight against Bolshevism and partisans together with German troops . The organization was destroyed by the NKVD agent Boguslav Grynkevich.

The Musketeers

In December 1941, the leadership of the organization " Musketeers " advocated cooperation with the Third Reich and regarded the USSR as "enemy No. 1". The organization’s leadership sent an emissary to Germany with a proposal to General V. Anders to begin military operations against the USSR ^[15] . After the dissolution of the organization in August 1942, most of the activists transferred to the Krai Army. The leader, captain S. Vitkovsky, was sentenced to death.

Krai Army

The leadership of the anti-fascist AK, on ​​whose shoulders lay the main battle against the Germans in Poland, did not recognize the legitimacy of the actions of other Polish military-political organizations and sought to subordinate the activities of the anti-fascist resistance movement. At the same time, unlike the Guard Ludova, the AK leadership advocated a policy of anticipating the mutual exhaustion of the forces of Germany and the USSR and limiting combat and sabotage activities against German forces in Poland (and a decrease in the activity of partisans was in line with German interests).

Already in 1943, the AK leadership intensified contacts with the leadership of the organization “ People’s Forces Zbrojne ”, uniting Polish nationalists and representatives of the extreme right-wing forces. At the same time, by the end of 1943, relations between the AK and the Lyudova Guard began to deteriorate. In October 1943, AK fighters began to kill partisans of the Guard Ludova and representatives of other left anti-fascist forces:

• So, on October 7, 1943, in the Włoszczócz county of Kielce Voivodeship, the Orel squad killed six PPR activists, seven fighters of the Guard Lyudova, one activist of the Battalions of Cotton, and three AK soldiers who “collaborated with the communists” ...

In 1943, there were cases of combat clashes between AK and Soviet partisans on the territory of Western Belarus and Western Ukraine. Documents about this from the Moscow archive, the historian Bernhard Chiari published in the journal Ostoyropa ^[16] .

• In December 1943, A. Pilch, the commander of the Stolbtsov’s Unification of the Crai Army (“ Gora ”), concluded an agreement with the Germans on cooperation in the fight against Soviet partisans in exchange for providing him with weapons.
• On December 22, 1943, in Lida, an agreement with the Germans was concluded by the commander of the Nadnemansky unit AK Yu. Svid (“ Lyakh ”), who received five consignments of weapons from the Germans during January-March 1944.
• On February 7, 1944, AK Commander of the Vilensky District AK Colonel Alexander Kryzhanovsky ( Vilk ) made a deal with the Germans on cooperation in the Vilna region: the Germans supplied the Poles with weapons, medicines, treated the wounded, and the Poles expressed their willingness to provide long-term assistance to Hitler in the war against the USSR , having allocated 18 infantry battalions for this purpose. For this, they demanded an end to German terror and recognition of the Polish borders as of 1939. For the "test of the strength of German-Polish cooperation," the Craiova Army subordinated to the German command the "3rd Polish partisan brigade." Having received cards and intelligence from the Germans, the brigade, on the orders of the German command, attacked the Belarusian partisans ^[16] .

Forbidden Forces People (NSZ)

The armed forces of the NSZ acted against the Polish anti-fascists. So, already in July 1943, some parts of the NAB entered into clashes with the Guard Lyudova .

On October 27, 1943, the Wielka Polska newspaper (the press organ of the Stronnitzto Narodo party, of which the NSZ detachments were armed) called on its supporters "to immediately begin a merciless struggle to destroy the communist organizations in Poland " ^[17]

The confrontation in Kielce Voivodeship was especially intense, where from December 1943 to February 1944, NSZ units from the Pine group (renamed Forest 1 and Forest 2) operated. Between November 1943 and March 1944, 40 PPR activists and Guards of Ludova, several activists of the "Battalions of Cotton" and several others were extradited by the Gestapo ^[18] , were killed by NSZ militants here.

After the defeat of German troops near Stalingrad, the NSZ leadership regarded the USSR as "enemy number 1". After the defeat of the German army in the battle of Kursk in the summer of 1943, the command of the NAF came to the conclusion that the USSR was the greatest threat to Poland, and the defeat of Germany was a matter of time. In the second half of 1943, some partisan detachments of the NAF began to conclude tactical agreements of local importance with the German authorities (police or military) (in particular, in the districts of Kielce and Lublin). As the Western Front line moved westward, contacts with the Germans intensified.

• Thus, strong ties were established with the SS Hauptsturmführer Paul Fuchs, Gestapo chief in the Radom region. The intermediary between him and the NSZ leadership was the Tom organization, which was led by Hubert Jura (Tom), the former NSZ Sosna detachment commander

After the Red Army entered Poland in the summer of 1944, contacts with the Germans became even more active.

In August 1944, the ентwiętokrzysk Brigade (“Holy Cross Brigade” ^[19] ) was formed on the basis of the 20th and 20th4th NSZ regiments, which became part of the SS troops. It was led by Colonel of the Polish cavalry Anthony Shatsky ( Antoni Szacki ).

In 1944, a brigade (820 people) in southern Poland fought against the German army and the Polish Army Ludova. In January 1945, near Krakow, she entered into battle with the Soviet army and soon entered into allied relations with the 59th Wehrmacht army corps.

Together with the German army, the Holy Cross brigade retreated to the territory of the Bohemian and Moravian protectorate, where its soldiers and officers received the status of SS volunteers (SS-Polnisch-Freiwillingen). They were partially dressed in SS uniforms, but with Polish insignia. Groups were formed from fighters of the brigade and were thrown into the rear of the Soviet army for sabotage activities. The composition of the brigade was replenished at the expense of Polish refugees.

In April 1945, a team (4,000 people) came forward to the front. In operational terms, it was subordinated to the Feldhernhalle tank corps, which was holding back the Soviet offensive. The brigade's tasks included fighting in the frontline zone with Czech partisans and Soviet reconnaissance groups.

On May 5, 1945, the Polish SS men (1,417 people) left their positions and retreated west to meet the US Army. During their march, they released prisoners (about 700 prisoners, including 167 Poles) of the Golyszow concentration camp. 200 guards were taken prisoner. The American command took control of the brigade, entrusted it with guarding the camps of German prisoners of war, and then allowed its soldiers and officers to take refuge in the American occupation zone.

In post-war Poland, soldiers and officers of the Holy Cross brigade were convicted in absentia.

• Gural SS Volunteer Legion
• Kozlovsky, Leon
• Syme, Igo

• Jerzy Kochanowski. Wyrwy w szeregu. Polacy do Wehrmachtu, czyli pomysły na kolaboracje // Polityka, No. 7, 2001
• Christian Gropper. “Beutekameraden. Polnische Soldaten in der Wehrmacht ”(Germany, 2003)
• Jarosław Gdański. Polacy po stronie Niemców. // "Inne Oblicza Historii", No. 2, 2005
• Ryszard Kaczmarek. Polacy w Wehrmachcie. Kraków, Wydawnictwo Literackie, 2010. ISBN 978-83-08-04488-9