Editing Volksdeutsche (section)

==='Volksdeutsche' in German-occupied western Poland===
In September 1939 in [[Occupation of Poland (1939–1945)|German occupied Poland]], an armed ethnic German militia called ''[[Selbstschutz]]'' (Self-Defence) was created. It organised the mass murder of Polish elites in [[Operation Tannenberg]]. At the beginning of 1940, the ''Selbstschutz'' organization was disbanded, and its members transferred to various units of the SS, Gestapo and the German police. Throughout the [[invasion of Poland]], some ethnic German minority groups assisted Nazi Germany in the war effort: they committed sabotage, diverted regular forces and committed numerous atrocities against civilian population.<ref>Maria Wardzyńska, ''Był rok 1939 Operacja niemieckiej policji bezpieczeństwa w Polsce. Intelligenzaktion'', IPN Instytut Pamięci Narodowej, 2009 {{ISBN|978-83-7629-063-8}}</ref><ref>Browning, Christopher R. ''The Origins of the Final Solution: The Evolution of Nazi Jewish Policy, September 1939–March 1942'', 2007 p. 33</ref>

After Germany occupied western Poland, it established a central registration bureau, called the German People's List (''[[Deutsche Volksliste]]'', DVL), whereby [[History of the Germans in Poland|Poles of German ethnicity]] were registered as {{Lang|de|Volksdeutsche}}. The German occupants encouraged such registration, in many cases forcing it or subjecting Poles of German ethnicity to terror assaults if they refused.<ref>''Historia Encyklopedia Szkolna'', Wydawnictwa Szkolne i, Warszawa" Pedagogiczne, 1993, pp. 357, 358</ref> Those who joined this group were given benefits including better food, as well as a better social status.

[[File:Nur fur deutsche.jpg|thumb|left|upright|''[[Nur für Deutsche|Nur für deutsche Fahrgäste]]'' (Eng. "Only for German passengers") on the tram number 8 in occupied [[Kraków]]]]

The [[Volksdeutsche Mittelstelle]] organised large-scale looting of property and redistributed goods to the Volksdeutsche. They were given apartments, workshops, farms, furniture, and clothing confiscated from Jews and Poles. In turn, hundreds of thousands of the Volksdeutsche joined the German forces, either willingly or under compulsion.

During [[World War II]], the Polish citizens of German ancestry that identified with the Polish nation faced the dilemma whether to register in the Deutsche Volksliste. Many families had lived in Poland for centuries and more-recent immigrants had arrived over 30 years before the war. They faced the choice of registering and being regarded as traitors by the Poles, or not signing and being treated by the Nazi occupation as traitors to the [[Germanic peoples|Germanic race]]. Polish Silesian Catholic Church authorities, led by bishop [[Stanisław Adamski]] and with agreement from the [[Polish Government in Exile]], advised Poles to sign up to the Volksliste in order to avoid atrocities and mass murder that happened in other parts of the country.<ref>Historia społeczno-polityczna Górnego Śląska i Śląska w latach 1918–1945 Maria Wanatowicz – 1994 Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Śląskiego, 1994, p. 180</ref>

In occupied Poland, ''Volksdeutscher'' enjoyed privileges and were subject to conscription, or draft, into the [[Wehrmacht|German army]]. In occupied [[Pomerania]], the [[Gauleiter]] of the [[Danzig-West Prussia]] region [[Albert Forster]] ordered a list of people considered of German ethnicity to be made in 1941. Due to insignificant voluntary registrations by February 1942, Forster made signing the ''Volksliste'' mandatory and empowered local authorities to use force and threats to implement the decree. Consequently, the number of signatories rose to almost a million, or about 55% of the 1944 population.<ref name=chrzan/>

[[File:Die 'großzügigste Umsiedlungsaktion' with Poland superimposed, 1939.jpg|300px|thumb|Origin of ethnic German colonisers, resettled into [[Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany|German-annexed and occupied Poland]] during "[[Heim ins Reich]]" action. Poster superimposed with the red outline of Poland missing from the original print.]]

The special case of [[Pomeranian Voivodeship (1919–1939)|Polish Pomerania]], where terror against civilians was particularly intense, and where, unlike in rest of occupied Poland, signing of the list was mandatory for many people, was recognised by the [[Polish Underground State]] and other anti-Nazi resistance movements, which tried to explain the situation to other Poles in underground publications.<ref name=chrzan>Chrzanowski, B., Gasiorowski, A., and Steyer, K. ''Polska Podziemna na Pomorzu w Latach 1939–1945'' (Underground Polish State in Pomerania in the years 1939–1945), Oskar, Gdansk, 2005, pp. 59–60</ref>

The Deutsche Volksliste categorised non-Jewish Poles of German ethnicity into one of four categories:<ref>Georg Hansen, ''Ethnische Schulpolitik im besetzten Polen: Der Mustergau Wartheland,'' Waxmann Verlag, 1995, pp. 30ff, {{ISBN|3-89325-300-9}} [https://books.google.com/books?id=tfd4Cl8uMI8C&dq=volksliste+kategorie&pg=PA27]</ref><ref>Bruno Wasser, ''Himmlers Raumplanung im Osten: Der Generalplan Ost in Polen, 1940–1944'', Birkhäuser, 1993, pp. 109ff, {{ISBN|3-7643-2852-5}} [https://books.google.com/books?id=NlP60sinKcoC&dq=volksliste+kategorie&pg=PA110]</ref>

* Category I: Persons of German descent committed to the Reich before 1939.
* Category II: Persons of German descent who had remained passive.
* Category III: Persons of German descent who had become partly "Polonised", e.g., through marrying a Polish partner or through working relationships (especially [[Silesia]]ns and [[Kashubians]]).
* Category IV: Persons of German ancestry who had become "Polonised" but were supportive of "Germanisation".

Volksdeutsche of statuses 1 and 2 in the Polish areas annexed by Germany numbered 1 million, and Nos. 3 and 4 numbered 1.7 million. In the [[General Government]] there were 120,000 Volksdeutsche. Volksdeutsche of Polish ethnic origins were treated by the Poles with special contempt.

{|class=wikitable
|- style="background:#E8E8E8;"
|rowspan="2"|'''[[Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany|Annexed area]]'''
| colspan="4" style="text-align:center;"|'''Deutsche Volksliste, early 1944'''
|- style="background:#F0F0F0;"
|'''Cat. I'''
|'''Cat. II'''
|'''Cat. III'''
|'''Cat. IV'''
|-
|[[Warthegau]]
|230,000
|190,000
|65,000
|25,000
|-
|[[Reichsgau Danzig-West Prussia]]<br /><small>Note: In Polish Pomerania, unlike in the rest of occupied Poland, signing<br /> of the list was mandatory for a good portion of the population</small>.<ref name=chrzan/>
|115,000
|95,000
|725,000
|2,000
|-
|East Upper Silesia
|130,000
|210,000
|875,000
|55,000
|-
|South East Prussia
|9,000
|22,000
|13,000
|1,000
|-
| rowspan="2" |'''Total'''
|484,000
|517,000
|1,678,000
|83,000
|-
| colspan="4" style="text-align:center;"|Total 2.75 million on Volkslisten plus non-German population (Polish) of 6.015 million – Grand Total 8.765 million in annexed territories.
|-
|colspan="5"|<small>'''Source:''' [[Wilhelm Deist]], Bernhard R Kroener, Germany (Federal Republic). Militärgeschichtliches Forschungsamt, ''Germany and the Second World War'', Oxford University Press, 2003, pp.&nbsp;132, 133, {{ISBN|0-19-820873-1}}, citing Broszat, ''Nationalsozialistische Polenpolitik'', p.&nbsp;134</small>
|}

Because of actions by some {{Lang|de|Volksdeutsche}} and particularly the atrocities committed by [[Nazi Germany]], after the end of the war, the Polish authorities tried many {{Lang|de|Volksdeutsche}} for high treason. In the postwar period, many other ethnic Germans were expelled to the west and forced to leave everything. In post-war Poland, the word {{Lang|de|Volksdeutsche}} is regarded as an insult, synonymous with "traitor".

In some cases, individuals consulted the Polish resistance first, before signing the Volksliste. There were {{Lang|de|Volksdeutsche}} who played important roles in intelligence activities of the Polish resistance, and were at times the primary source of information for the [[Allies of World War II|Allies]]. Particularly in Polish Pomerania and Polish Silesia, many of the people who were forced to sign the Volksliste played crucial roles in the anti-Nazi underground, which was noted in a memo to the [[Polish Government in Exile]] which stated ''"In [[Wielkopolska]] there's bitter hatred of the {{Lang|de|Volksdeutsche|italic=no}} while in Silesia and Polish Pomerania it's the opposite, the secret organization depends in large measure on the {{Lang|de|Volksdeutsche|italic=no}}"'' (the memo referred to those of Category III, not I and II).<ref name=chrzan/> In the turmoil of the postwar years, the [[Communist]] government did not consider this sufficient mitigation. It prosecuted many double-agent {{Lang|de|Volksdeutsche}} and sentenced some to death.