On September 1, 1939, at 4:40 am, the German invasion of Poland began. At 5:30 am, the families of Poznań officers and professional soldiers were informed about the evacuation, which was to take place on the same day in the afternoon. At 6:30 the message about the war was broadcast by Polish Radio. When the inhabitants of Poznań listened to President Mościcki's message at noon, bombing continued over the city.
37 German planes dropped bombs on the most militarily strategic areas of the city. The targets were, among others, the airport in Ławica, the main railway station and military barracks in Jeżyce. On that day, Poznań was bombed three more times.
The attacks were carried out by surprise. On that day alone, 244 people died, 200 of whom were civilians. As Przemysław Matusik writes in the third volume of his latest book "Historia Poznania":
The war hit Poznań only on September 1 , in the following days the raids did not repeat themselves any more, because the hostilities took place elsewhere.
The result of these events was the almost immediate internment of leading representatives of the German community. Anger at the Germans and suspicions of secret cooperation with the invaders in the face of the threat left such an imprint in the minds of the inhabitants that soon the city was subjected to a thorough search, and the enemies found were handed over to the authorities. It also happened that the crowd handed over very battered citizens to the army.
Mass evacuation
Pretty soon the city began to evacuate. Trains were stopped and the exit roads were filled with cars and carts. As Przemysław Matusik writes:
Sam Poznań was to be given up without a fight, which the inhabitants, but also the state administration and local authorities did not realize . The residents of Poznań looked at the army leaving the city, of which they were so proud, with helpless despair.
Poznań soldiers went into a bloody fight, first in the Battle of Bzura, where the "Poznań" Army led by General Tadeusz Kutrzeb (1886-1947) dealt serious losses to German forces , although she also bled heavily herself, losing, among others, the commander of the 14th Infantry Division in Poznań, Brig. Gen. Franciszek Włada (1888–1939), and then in defense of Warsaw.
The inhabitants of Poznań behaved so "civilized" that the Germans found it necessary to organize regular marches of troops so that the inhabitants would not forget that they were under occupation.
When on Sunday September 3, the information about the declaration of war on Germany by Great Britain was made public , crowds came to the streets of Poznań to celebrate. At the same time, the evacuation of the army and administration continued. The interned Germans were also led out of the city. For many of them it was the last march.
The city was left to itself. In this chaos, on September 4, the officials remaining in Poznań elected a new president. The next day, Cyril Ratajski started tidying up the city and restoring its structures.
German "liberation"
German troops occupied Poznań on September 10 between 10:00 and 12:30. As Przemysław Matusik writes:
Around 12:30, Major von Saher with his officers and representatives of Poznań's Germans entered the town hall and officially announced to Cyril Ratajski the city was taken over by Wermacht, though also the commander of the Civic Guard he had to guarantee the security of the German troops. The flag of the Third Reich was displayed in the town hall, Saher chaired prince Ratibor as the temporary commander of the city, and one of the leaders of the local Germans, Fritz Pfeiffer, was the deputy president, to whom Ratajski remained for four more days.
The text was created, among others based on the four-volume publication by Przemysław Matusik "Historia Poznania", which has just been released by the Posnania City Publishing House.
New rules of occupation were introduced extremely quickly. Polish officials had to remain on duty. If they wanted to leave their position - they would face death. People carrying weapons, ammunition or damaging telephone lines were to be shot immediately. The same threatened to those who would dare to raise their hand against a German soldier. Theaters and cinemas were closed, Polish newspapers ceased to be published, and alcohol sales were suspended. The residents had to hand over all radio receivers and racing pigeons. There is a curfew from 6:00 pm to 6:00 am.
More infantry and operational groups were coming to the city. Soon, a formal takeover of power took place in the town hall, and Cyryl Ratajski handed over the authority over the city to the Germans. The city was announced on behalf of Adolf Hitler and "the liberation of the Germans from Polish captivity".
Germanization of the city
Very soon after the takeover, efforts were made to bring the city back to life. The electrical network was repaired, work resumed in the factories, and trams were launched in the streets. The inhabitants of Poznań behaved so "civilized" that the Germans found it necessary to organize regular marches of troops so that the inhabitants would not forget that they were under occupation.
The city was immediately arranged to become fully German. "As Alojzy Andrzej Łuczak wrote » I did not even notice when everything around me became German « . The makeshift plates with German inscriptions appeared in September, and they were more solid in the next month, "we read in" Historia Poznania ". - “On October 2, on the birthday of Field Marshal Hindenburg, a plaque in his honor was officially unveiled in his family house at Podgórna Street. At the same time, the demolition of Polish monuments was taking place - retaliation for April 4, 1919, with a particularly triumphal character in the second half of October, the demolition of the Gratitude Monument in the square then called Schlossfreiheit, which was a carbon copy of the name of a square in Berlin.
During the first NSDAP rally, which took place on September 21, Arthur Greiser uttered words that clearly set the course for further proceedings against the residents. "We, the Germans, came as gentlemen, and the Poles are to be our servants from now on.
During the first NSDAP rally, which took place on September 21, Arthur Greiser uttered words that clearly set the course for further proceedings against the residents. "We, the Germans, came as gentlemen, and the Poles are to be our servants from now on" . The university was closed on the same day. Arrests and executions began on September 23. As Przemysław Matusik writes:
On the same day, the first Pole, Leszek Kwaczewski, a salesman living in the Old Market Square, was shot for breaking the gun ban. He informed the inhabitants of the city of the so-called a red poster, the first but not the last one, since an execution took place almost every day. As rightly noted by Anna Ziółkowska, during the occupation those red posters were the only official prints of the occupation authorities that were published in Polish.
The scale of the arrests of Poles and Jews was so great that soon the prisons ran out of space. On October 3, prisoners began to be placed in Fort VII, and 7 days later the security authorities established the first concentration camp in Poland here.
We can learn more about the occupation of the city in the latest book by Przemysław Matusik, "Historia Poznania", published in 4 volumes by the Posnania City Publishing House.
Literature:
- Kruszyński, "Poznań in September 1939", KMP 2009, No. 2, pp. 13-16.
- Łuczak, “Day after day in occupied Poznań. September 10, 1939 - February 23, 1945 ”, Poznań 1989.
- Matusik, "Historia Poznania", vol. III 1918-1945, Poznań 2021.