‘We Forgot All Jews and Poles’: German Women and the ‘Ethnic Struggle’ in Nazi-occupied Poland

2001 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 447-461
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Harvey
Keyword(s):  
Division Of Labour ◽  
Second World War ◽  
German Population ◽  
World War ◽  
Nazi Regime ◽  
Baltic States ◽  
Ethnic Germans ◽  
The Baltic ◽  
Second World ◽  
Jewish Populations

During the Second World War, the Nazi regime sent thousands of German women to occupied Poland to work with the ethnic German population, comprising native ethnic Germans and resettlers from the Baltic states, eastern Poland and Romania. They were to be trained to act as model colonisers for the newly conquered territories. Meanwhile the non-German population was subjugated and terrorised. This article examines what German women witnessed in Poland and how far they can be seen as complicit in acts of violence and injustice committed against Poles and Jews. To what extent did a gendered division of labour prevent women actively being involved in or witnessing acts committed against the Polish and Jewish populations? Did a construct of ‘womanly work’ help women to ‘look away’ from the evidence of oppression and persecution?

scholarly journals Polityka państw bałtyckich wobec Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej i III Rzeszy na przełomie marca i kwietnia 1939 roku w ocenie wileńskiej ekspozytury oddziału II Sztabu Głównego Wojska Polskiego

2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 359-367
Author(s):  
Tomasz Gajownik
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Second World War ◽  
World War ◽  
Baltic States ◽  
Military Intelligence ◽  
Field Station ◽  
The Republic ◽  
The Baltic ◽  
Second World

Polish military intelligence had prepared a lot of analysis about political and military situations in the countries around the Republic of Poland. It was a kind of belaying towards potential Polish-German conflict. The issues of the Baltic States were interested a military intelligence’s field station in Vilnius. A few months before the Second World War has begun, Vilnius’s station prepared some analysis of domestic and foreign policy of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. One of them had discussed most important consequences of occupation of Klaipeda by German’s Wehrmacht. Additionally, in these documents, one can be read about multilateral policy of the Baltic Entente.

scholarly journals The status and the future of Baltic States and Romania in the strategy of Western Allies in the early years of the Second World War: a comparative view

2010 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 93-109
Author(s):  
Ramojus Kraujelis
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
The United States ◽  
Second World War ◽  
Early Years ◽  
Eastern European ◽  
World War ◽  
Baltic States ◽  
Post War ◽  
The Baltic ◽  
Second World

The fate of Lithuania and Romania as well as future of the whole Central and Eastern European region was determined in the years of the Second World War. The common origin of their tragic and painful history was the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact – the secret deal between Soviet Union and Nazi Germany, which divided Central and Eastern Europe between two totalitarian regimes. In June 1940 the three Baltic States and a part of Romania were directly occupied and annexed by the Soviet Union. The main objective of this paper is to identify, analyze and compare the attitudes of the United States and Great Britain with respect to the annexation of the Baltic States and the Romania territory and discussed the post-war future reserved to them. During the early years of the Second Word War (1940-1942) few interesting international discussions about possible post-war arrangement plans existed. The analysis of the Western attitude would enable us to give answers to certain questions: What could have been done by the Western states for the benefit of Central and Eastern European region; what have they, in fact, done and what did they avoid doing? The year 1943 witnessed the consolidation of the Western attitude with regard to Soviet Union’s western borders, which resulted in the fundamental fact that Moscow did not intend to retract its interests in the Baltic States, Eastern Poland, North Bucovina and Bessarabia while the West did not intend to fight for these territories. Considering the fact that at the Teheran conference (1943) the Western states agreed upon turning the Baltic states into a Soviet interest sphere, the United States and Britain entered the Yalta conference (1945) with no illusions as to the fate of Central and Eastern Europe in general.

scholarly journals Attitudes of the Soviet Union and Germany Towards the Question of Vilnius Between the World Wars

2000 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 131-160
Author(s):  
Zenonas Butkus
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Second World War ◽  
World War ◽  
Baltic States ◽  
Extensive Experience ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
The First World War ◽  
The Baltic ◽  
Second World ◽  
First World

The aim of this article is to examine the attitudes of the Soviet Union and Germany towards the problem of Vilnius in the period between the First and Second World Wars. The article is based mainly on unpublished documents from Lithuanian, Latvian, Estonian, German and Soviet archives. The problem under review emerged after the First World War, when Poland occupied the capital of Lithuania, Vilnius, and kept it under its control almost until the Second World War. Lithuania refused to recognize the situation, and between the two countries there arose a conflict, which was instigated by the Soviet Union and Germany, as they did not want the Baltic States and Poland to create a defence union. The Soviet Union and Germany worked hand in hand in dealing with this conflict. In the process of its regulation they acquired quite an extensive experience in diplomatic co-operation, which they applied successfully in establishing the spheres of their influence in the Baltic States in 1939.

Epiphanic "The Third Wave Experience" - Ron Jones and students

2020 ◽  
Vol XI (1 (30)) ◽  
pp. 185-211
Author(s):  
Agata Marciniak
Keyword(s):  
Second World War ◽  
German Population ◽  
Third Wave ◽  
World War ◽  
Nazi Regime ◽  
The Third ◽  
School History ◽  
History Teacher ◽  
Second World ◽  
Experiment Analysis

The Third Wave Experience was an experiment created by California high school history teacher Ron Jones in 1967 to explain how the German population could accept the Nazi regime before the Second World War. The paper presents in detailes the course of this experiment, analysis and assessment of teacher's attitudes and activities as well as factors conditioning students involvement. Analyzes conducted in the paper indicate an epiphanic character of The Third Wave Experience.

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