"Non-Germans" Under the Third Reich (232 page)

9.
Gollert,
Warschau unter deutscher Herrschaft
(1942), 134.

10.
The district chiefs issued corresponding central regulations, which went far beyond pure “residence restrictions”; cf., for example, directive issued by the Lublin District governor on September 22, 1941 (
Amtsbl. des Distrikt Lublin
, 1941, nos. 8–9, transcript in the Main Commission Warsaw, Archive, Government of the GG, Central Department of Internal Administration, II/347), which banned Jews from even temporarily leaving their locality or using any public or private transport; it also prohibited anyone from providing any kind of support for Jews who violated this ban (
News from the Reich
, June 20, 1940, BA R 58/151); but when it was proved that such rash measures were impossible to carry out, a closed ghetto was set up; cf. directive of the
Stadthauptmann
of October 22, 1940, banning Jews from moving outside the town boundaries (except where such journeys were compulsory, i.e., deportation, forced labor) (
Amtl. Anzeiger
1940, October 26, 1940, quoted from
Doc. Occ.
6:543). For the Radom District, cf. corresponding directives issued in July 1941 (543 n. 7), which banned Jews generally from using all main streets and thoroughfares in the district. A further directive of the governor (Department of Internal Administration), December 11, 1941 (ZS, Polen 257, Bl. 96–98; copy), followed the example of Lublin in that all Jews were banned from even temporarily leaving the town (except for labor service, for reasons of public interest, or to carry out instructions of the German authorities) or from using vehicles outside their localities and even then—
without
any basis in formal law—the directive carried the threat that anyone leaving the ghetto would be shot. In Warsaw Jews were banned from entering public places from August 1940; from September of that year, only limited access was allowed to trams; in October 1940 a general ban on entering public streets was imposed; there were also strict regulations concerning the curfew (
Mitteilungsbl. der Stadt Warschau
, August 1, September 26, November 30, and October 10, 1940;
Amtsbl
. of the Warsaw District chief, November 11, 1940, no. 10; Institute for Western Studies, Pozna
).

11.
Sec. 4a of the Decree on Residence Restrictions in the General Government, April 29, 1941 (
VBl.GG
1941, 74), in conjunction with the Decree on Administrative Penalty Procedures, September 13, 1940 (
VBl.GG
1 [1940]: 300 f.). Where such penalties were insufficient, the case could be sent to the Special Court, which had powers to impose prison sentences and/or fines up to 10,000 złoty, and in serious cases even penitential sentences.

12.
VBl.GG
(1941): 595 (also ZS, Ordner 94, Bl. 359 f.; copy); concerning the preparation, drafting, and interpretation of the decree, cf. correspondence between the relevant departments in the government of the General Government (ZS, Polen 257, Bl. 85–87, 118–25, 136–38, 155, 157; Polen, film 63, 169 ff. [correspondence 1940–42]; Ordner 103 and 104).

13.
Cf. the numerous examples of such punishments, in Bartoszewski and Lewin,
Righteous among Nations
(1969). These regulations were the result of an internal agreement within the government of the General Government; cf. correspondence quoted in note 12.

14.
For Lublin, cf. “Anordnung über Aufenthaltsbeschränkungen im Bereich der Stadt Lublin,” December 9, 1941 (
Amtblatt
of the Lublin District chief, 1941, no. 12, quoted from transcript, Main Commission Warsaw, Archive, Government of the GG, Central Department of Internal Administration, II/347). For Radom, cf. directive of the Radom District governor, December 11, 1941 (ZS, Polen 257, Bl. 96–98; copy).

15.
The Special Courts had pronounced against the imposition of the death penalty, since the actual facts often justified a milder sentence. Basically, such cases should have been the responsibility of the Security Police. Efforts were also made to give the decree of October 15, 1941, a strict interpretation; cf. monthly report of the
Kreishauptmann
of Tomaschow (Tomaszów Mazowiecki) for March 1941, April 8, 1942 (ZS, Polen, 348, 826 ff.; also Polen, film 5, Bl. 468).

16.
According to the report by the SIPO commander, October 7, 1943, about Galicia (Institute for Western Studies, Pozna
, doc. I-7; excerpts in
Doc. Occ.
6:542 n. 10), following an order issued by the chief of the uniformed police in Kraków, the police took matters into their own hands. Cf. also monthly report from the
Kreishauptmann
of Tomaszow (ZS, Polen 348, 826 ff.; also Polen, film 5, Bl. 468), according to which 50 Jews who had left the ghetto had been shot by the police; for more details see his monthly report for March 1942 (468).

17.
VBl.GG
1 [1940]: 288.

18.
VBl.GG
[1939]: 5.

19.
Police meeting on May 30, 1940, in Kraków (“Diensttagebuch”).

20.
Police orders on the creation of Jewish
Wohnbezirke
in Warsaw and Lublin, October 28, 1942 (
VBl.GG
[1942]: 665 f.; also ZS, Versch. 94, 407 f.), and November 10, 1942, for the Radom, Kraków, and Galicia Districts (
VBl.GG
[1942]: 683 f.).

21.
But not the Warsaw ghetto, for which legislative powers were vested in the district chiefs only “within the framework of the general directives of the government of the General Government”; sec. 1 of the Decree on Commerce in the Warsaw Ghetto, April 19, 1941 (quoted from “Diensttagebuch,” 1941, 11:1, 301 ff., 312).

22.
Police powers for the Jewish
Wohnbezirke
(“quarters”) were vested in the
Ordnungspolizei
(commander of the
Schutzpolizei
), who was also responsible for the boundaries of the ghetto. However, since May 1941 there had also been a commissar for the Jewish Quarter in the Warsaw ghetto; this was the executive organ of the district chief, as well as having certain police powers (control of the wearing of armbands, residence regulations, etc.); for further details, see ZS, Polen 349, 247 ff. Concerning the activities of this commissar (Heinz Auerswald), who worked conscientiously as the administrative organ of the extermination policy, cf. the material collected in ZS, Ordner 365 ff.; for more details, see also his report, “Zwei Jahre Aufbauarbeit im Distrikt Warschau—Die Juden im Distrikt Warschau,” November 1941, in which he affirms how necessary and useful the establishment of the ghetto was (ZS, Polen 349, 275 ff.); concerning the division of political responsibilities in the ghetto, cf. also the following note.

23.
Initially, the administration (district governors) prevailed; the civil administration knew local conditions best and was therefore in the best position—working through the
Kreishauptleute
and
Stadthauptleute
—to organize Jewish labor (meeting on police matters between CSSD Bruno Streckenbach and the district governors held in Kraków, May 30, 1940, “Diensttagebuch,” 1940). In Warsaw, however, as in all other ghettos, the Security Police (SIPO) were in the ascendance; as early as fall 1941, there was talk of placing the Jewish
Ordnungsdienst
(responsible for public order) under the authority of the SIPO (letter from district SS and police leader, Warsaw, to the commissar for the Jewish Quarter, November 18, 1941, ZS, Polen 346, 1057). Entry to the ghetto was overseen by the SS guard posts. From 1942, even members of the administration of the General Government needed permission from the Security Service of the SS to gain entry to the ghetto (report, H. Heinrich: “Bevölkerungswesen und Fürsorge im GG,” August 27, 1958, BA Ostdok. 13 GG I/K 1, with appendixes). Complete usurpation of control of the Jewish ghettos, beginning with the takeover of guard duties, was finalized in 1942 when the police assumed responsibility for
all
regulations concerning Jewish labor, ostensibly on the grounds of security. A decree of the General Government, June 25, 1942, stipulated that the Jewish
Arbeitseinsatz
(forced labor) had, in all cases, to be organized
in consultation
with the police (ZS, UdSSR, Bd. 431, copy). This initiative corresponded exactly to the plans of the district SS and police leaders, realized at a later stage, which saw the ghettos as vast production plants, run formally along the same lines as concentration camps, in which the Jews worked under the exclusive control of the police or were placed by them at the disposal of German factories.

24.
Organizational plan of the government of the General Government, March 10, 1940 (ZS), in conjunction with the organizational plan of Dept. 4, Population Affairs and Welfare (no date); cf. also “Report on the Development of the General Government,” July 1, 1940, Bl. 191, BA R 52 II/247. Corresponding to the regulations issued by the central administration, “Jewish Desks” (
Judenreferate
) were also established in the district offices (cf. for example the half-yearly report of the Jewish Desk of the Warsaw District, May 14, 1940; ZS, Polen, film 62, 391 ff.).

25.
Decree of January 26, 1940 (
VBl.GG
1 [1940]: 45); limited usage was not allowed until the decree of February 20, 1941 (
VBl.GG
[1941]: 69), which gave the police the authority to issue special permits in exceptional cases; cf. also circular decree of Central Department of Internal Administration, March 17, 1941 (Main Commission Warsaw, Archive, Government of the GG, Central Department of Internal Administration, II/374). Restrictions for Jews also applied to travel between the district of Galicia and the rest of the General Government (decree of September 4, 1941,
VBl.GG
[1941]: 511 f.).

26.
Jews granted such permits were allowed to travel by rail only in the lowest-class accommodation and were not permitted to use fast and express services (sec. 1 of the decree dated February 20, 1941,
VBl.GG
[1941]: 69), nor any other public transport; but see letter from Warsaw District chief, Department of Internal Administration, to the office of the governor general, Department of Internal Administration, March 4, 1940, which said, among other things: “Because certain Jews have evaded compulsory labor, we should consider whether or not to issue a general ban on Jews’ using postal bus services” (ZS, Polen 257, Bl. 9 f.). The purpose of suppressing applications and travel was already stipulated in the directives in the circular decree of the Central Department of Internal Administration, March 17, 1941 (Main Commission Warsaw, Archive, Government of the GG, Central Department of Internal Administration, II/374), issued before the decree of the Central Department of Finances on April 30, 1941 (see the next note).

27.
Decree of the Central Department of Finances, April 30, 1941 (BA R 2/5071, 108).

28.
See note 10 above.

29.
Decree circulated by Central Department of Internal Administration, March 17, 1941 (Main Commission Warsaw, Archive, Government of the GG, Central Department of Internal Administration, II/374).

30.
At least this was the case in Warsaw; instruction of the Warsaw District chief, November 25, 1940 (ZS).

31.
Letter from the Warsaw District chief, Department of Internal Administration, to the government of the General Government, Legislative Office, March 14, 1942 (ZS, Ordner 69, Bl. 313; copy). Decree of the government of the General Government, March 29, 1941 (ZS, Polen 256, Bl. 98–105, 192). Decree of the government of the General Government, July 9, 1941 (Bl. 154).

32.
Report, Dr. von Jordan, November 1956 (ZS, Ordner 47, Bl. 378 ff., 399). Dr. von Jordan worked at one time in the Central Department of Internal Administration of the office of the governor general.

33.
Decree on the Licensing of Motor Vehicles in the General Government, November 23, 1939 (
VBl.GG
[1939]: 205 f.), with the First and Second Implementing Orders, December 8, 1939, and February 5, 1940, respectively (
VBl.GG
[1939]: 213; 2 [1940]: 81) (termination of the licenses of all vehicles in use in the General Government; new licenses issued by
Kreishauptleute/ Stadthauptleute
). Decree on Licensing of Vehicles for Road Traffic, August 8, 1942 (
VBl.GG
[1942]: 577 ff.), which canceled the decree issued on November 23, 1939, and set out comprehensive prerequisites for licensing, based on the road traffic licensing requirements in force in the Reich; it made permits for the purchase of vehicles compulsory. For details, see Decree on Sales of Vehicles in the General Government, March 27, 1940 (
VBl.GG
1 [1940]: 153 f., with implementing order of March 28, 1940,
VBl.GG
2 [1940]: 227), replaced by decree of September 4, 1942 (
VBl.GG
[1942]: 499), with first directive of September 5, 1942 (
VBl.GG
[1942]: 501 f.). Decree of the government of the General Government, April 8, 1941 (ZS, Polen 256, Bl. 125–27); fifth directive of the Central Department of Internal Administration, August 20, 1943 (
VBl.GG
[1943]: 544 f.), to the decree of September 4, 1942 (ban on the use of vehicles for private purposes). Later, “non-Germans” were forbidden from driving vehicles licensed in Warsaw (i.e., including those for Polish employees of German administrative offices) under threat of the
death penalty
(police order on the use of private cars and motorcycles of February 2, 1944,
VBl.GG
[1944]: 45), probably a response to actions of the Polish resistance movement in Warsaw. German officials and employees also found it more difficult—or even impossible—to purchase and use vehicles (decree of the government of the General Government on the “winkling out” of all private cars belonging to officials and employees of the General Government, June 26, 1941, ZS, Polen 256, Bl. 187, 188). An auto lacking an official “
Winkel
” (angular-shaped) permit was not authorized to be driven.