By the late 1930s, the whole of Poland was covered by ethnic German organizations supported financially by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the
Third Reich. The
Deutscher Volksverband (DVV) membership grew to over 25,000 participants in 1937. with the aim of establishing the so-called
5th column among the
Volksdeutsche, as well as any willing colonists, including the Mennonites. By 1938, all local structures of the DVV were formed. Many members of the DVV became German partisans during the 1939
invasion of Poland according to research. They were treated as an integral part of the German foreign policy towards the Polish state. Just before the outbreak of war, in the
Powiśle neighbourhood of
Warsaw, a massive propaganda campaign was carried out by the members of
Deutscher Volksverband directed by German agent
Aleks Nipie, trying to convince young Poles to join the
Wehrmacht. The DVV community leaders were asked to register people into the
Deutsche Volksliste without proof of origin; all that they needed was a declaration, confirmed by a witness. The action was most successful among peasants, as educated Polish Germans did not want to be affiliated with
Adolf Hitler. The new
Volksdeutsche were trained to guide the
Luftwaffe aircraft towards a desired target with mirrors. In the city of
Toruń for example, during the first days of war about a dozen people were arrested and executed for signalling German
reconnaissance planes with mirrors and flags. The courses in sabotage were conducted with the promise of receiving property in Poland (as in
Gliwice), but also in
Wrocław,
Bielsko,
Katowice,
Zabrze and
Rybnik. It is estimated that up to 20,000 ethnic Germans living in Poland belonged to organizations involved in sabotage actions, including
Deutscher Volksbund in Silesia,
Deutscher Volksverbarid in Łódź area,
Deutsche Vereinigung in Pomerania and
Jungdeutsche Partei across the entire country. == See also ==