The Reichsgau was very heterogenous, like the territory, which comprised territory of the pre-war Danzig (completely), of Germany (West Prussia Government Region) and of Poland (roughly the Pomeranian Voivodeship), the population amounted to 2,179,000 altogether, with 1,494,000 Polish citizens of mostly Polish ethnicity, 408,000 Danzig citizens of mostly German ethnicity and 277,000 German citizens of mostly German ethnicity. The German occupiers considered the Danzig and Polish citizenships as naught, due to the de facto abolition of these two states. Christian Danzigers and Christian Poles of German ethnicity were granted German citizenship, Jewish Danzigers, and Jewish Poles of which ethnicity so ever were denied the German citizenship. As to Christian Danzigers and Christian Poles of Polish ethnicity the acceptance as citizens was mostly denied, but under certain circumstances granted.
Extermination and expulsion of ethnic Poles and Jews by Nazi Germany of
Gdynia, September 1939
Nazi German policy aimed at extermination of Jewish and Polish population. Mass-murder sites in the region include: •
Stutthof concentration camp, where over 85,000 died (mostly Poles); •
Piaśnica, where some 12,000 local
Polish-
Kashub intelligentsia and others were murdered.
Nazi policy to exterminate the Polish and Jewish populations was conducted in several phases; the first stage occurred in September 1939. The main Nazi responsible for genocide conducted in the Pomeranian Voivodeship was
Gauleiter Albert Forster, who was involved in the
mass murder and
ethnic cleansing of Jews and ethnic Poles and enlisted to his program, often under threat of violence, Polish citizens—descendants of Germanic settlers—whom the Nazis saw as Germans. Forster declared that Poles must be eradicated: "We must exterminate this nation, starting from the cradle." The Reichsgau was the site of the
Stutthof concentration camp and its sub camps where over 85,000 people were executed or died of illness, starvation or mistreatment. Of the 52,000 Jews who were sent to the camp only around 3,000 would survive. During the Winter of 1939/40 between 12,000 and 16,000 people were
murdered at Piaśnica by
Einsatzkommando 16, units of the 36th Regiment of SS, and members of the
Selbstschutz, a militia force made up of Poles of German ethnicity. The local Selbstschutz, under the command of
Ludolf von Alvensleben, numbered 17,667 and before their disbandment in October 1939 had killed 4,247 people. Commander of the
Selbstschutz Ludolf von Alvensleben told his men on 16 October 1939: Jews did not figure prominently among the victims in West Prussia, as the area's Jewish population was small and most had fled before the Germans arrived. However, in places where they were present, they were expelled and murdered in what was classified as "other measures" which simply meant murder. In areas where Jewish families or individuals remained, a "shameful situation" was proclaimed, and Nazi authorities expected the Selbstschutz to remedy it through "direct action". In August 1943 around 500 Jews from a camp in the Pomeranian Voivodeship were sent to Auschwitz, out of which 434 were immediately killed upon arrival. It is estimated that, by war's end, up to 60,000 people had been murdered in the region, and up to 170,000 expelled. though other estimates place the figure at around 35,000. Forster himself reported that, by February 1940, 87,000 people had been "evacuated" from the region. ) and districts (
Kreis), 1944 ==Administration==