Außerordentliche Befriedungsaktion: Encyclopedia II - Außerordentliche Befriedungsaktion - History

Außerordentliche Befriedungsaktion - History

The anti-Polish campaign was planned by Hans Frank, the commander of the General Government. The mass murder of Polish leaders, politicians, artists, intelligentsia and people suspected of anti-Nazi activity was seen as a pre-emptive measure to keep the Polish resistance scattered and prevent the Poles from revolting during the planned German invasion of France.

Prior to the action, in late 1939 and early 1940, most of the Polish university professors, intellectuals, writers, politicians, teachers and other members of the elite of the Polish society were briefly arrested by the Gestapo and their names registered. The Ausserordentliche Befriedungsaktion was finally accepted on May 16, 1940 by Hans Frank. In the following weeks, the German police, the Gestapo, SS and the Wehrmacht arrested roughly 30.000 Poles in major Polish cities, including Warsaw, Łódź, Lublin and Kraków. The interned were held in a number of prisons, including the infamous Pawiak, where they were subject to brutal interrogations. After some time in the prisons in Warsaw, Kraków, Radom, Kielce, Nowy Sącz, Tarnów, Lublin or Wiśnicz, the arrested Poles were either transfered to the German concentration camps, most notably to the newly-created camp of Auschwitz, Sachsenhausen and Mauthausen. Approximately 3.500 members of the Polish intelligentsia were executed in mass murder sites of Palmiry near Warsaw, Firlej, Wincentynów near Radom and in the Bliżyn forest near Skarżysko-Kamienna.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "History", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki