scholarly journals Forced labor of Jews in the Szydłowiec ghetto during World War II - The nature of the work performed, its dimension and social aspects

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marlena Bodo
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Third Reich ◽  
Research Area ◽  
Forced Labor ◽  
World War ◽  
Slave Labor ◽  
General Government ◽  
Inductive Methods ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Third Reich

Purpose of the study: The article contains information on the forced labor performed by Jews for the benefit of Germans during the Second World War. The research area was narrowed down to the area of the Szydłowiec ghetto and its vicinity (the Radom district in the General Government. The text presents the types of work performed by Jews, forms of forcing them to take up forced labor, and their attempts to bypass German restrictions. Methodology: This article is based on a comparative-historical method, the aim of which is to enable the researcher to identify Jews as a separate social group that was used by the Germans for forced labor. The use of this method is aimed at learning about the historical processes and mechanisms of functioning of selected Nazi restrictions in Poland. In addition, prosopographic and inductive methods as well as a method based on the grounded theory will be used. Moreover, due to the nature of the subject of the work, the research conducted in this field also requires the use of oral history. Main Findings: Extremely burdensome, in many aspects, compulsion for Jews was the almost slave labor they performed for the benefit of the Germans. Every Jew had to work at least one day a week for the Third Reich. Jews were used for various types of work, including snow removal from roads. Slave labor for the benefit of the Nazis was one of the causes of the increasing poverty of Jews. Application: The results of the research make a significant contribution to the knowledge of the history of Jews from Szydłowiec. This research not only broadens the knowledge about the history of the functioning of the Jewish community in Szydłowiec during World War II, but also broadens the knowledge about the history of the Holocaust and the mechanisms of crimes. These studies can be used to further analyze the situation of Jews during the German occupation in the territory of the Radom district, or more broadly, in the territory of the General Government. Novelty/Originality of the study: For the first time in this study, many fragments of Jewish diaries from the Memorial Book of Szydłowiec were used (some of the memoirs were published only in Yiddish). The article is the basis for further research on the history of Jews during World War II in the area of the Radom district.

Kina warszawskie: wrzesień–grudzień 1939 roku

2017 ◽  
Vol 61 (0) ◽  
pp. 0-0
Author(s):  
Karol Szymański
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Third Reich ◽  
World War ◽  
German Occupation ◽  
General Government ◽  
History Of ◽  
Fire Victims ◽  
The Third Reich ◽  
To Come ◽  
The City

Karol Szymański depicts the history of the Warsaw cinemas and analyzes the cinema repertoire in the particular time from September to December 1939 (that is from the outbreak of World War II, through the defense and the siege of Warsaw, until the first months of the German occupation) taking into account a wider context of living conditions in the capital as well as a changing front and political situation. The author draws attention, among other things, to the rapid decrease in the cinema audience in the first week of September. As a consequence cinemas ceased to work, which made them unable to fulfill their informational or propaganda role and provide the inhabitants of the fighting city with the escapist or uplifting entertainment. During the siege of Warsaw some cinemas changed their functions and became a shelter for several thousand fire victims and refugees, while others were irretrievably destroyed in bombings and fires. In turn, after the capitulation and takeover of the city by the Germans, some of the most representative cinemas which survived (they were entirely expropriated by the administration of the General Government) began to gradually resume their activity from the beginning of November. By the end of 1939 there were already eight reactivated cinemas in Warsaw, including one (Helgoland, former Palladium) intended only for the Germans. These cinemas showed only German films – they were entertaining productions which were well-executed, devoid of explicit propaganda or ideological elements, with the greatest stars of the Third Reich cinema. However, December 1939 brought also the first action of the Polish resistance against German cinemas and cinema audience in Warsaw, which in the years to come developed and became an important element of the civilian fight against the occupant.

Building Hitler's Europe: Forced Labor in the Danish Construction Business during World War II

2010 ◽  
Vol 84 (3) ◽  
pp. 479-499 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joachim Lund
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Forced Labor ◽  
New Order ◽  
World War ◽  
Slave Labor ◽  
General Government ◽  
Economic Collaboration ◽  
New Evidence ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Second World

This article examines how Danish cement factories and building contractors, in particular F. L. Smidth & Co. A/S and its business partner Højgaard & Schultz A/S, used forced and slave labor in Estonia, the Polish General Government, and Serbia as they worked for the German authorities during the Second World War. The article presents new evidence on the use of forced and slave labor inside the European “New Order” and emphasizes the willingness of the companies to expand and engage in morally questionable behavior. The findings illuminate the close connection between political and economic collaboration and contribute to the discussion about the relationship between business and politics during dictatorship, war, and occupation.

Germany in World War II

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Panikos Panayi
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Third Reich ◽  
The United States ◽  
Local History ◽  
World War ◽  
The Third ◽  
History Of ◽  
Anglo American ◽  
The Third Reich ◽  
German Cities

In Germany, World War II does not usually form a distinct and compact period, as it does in other states, such as Great Britain, the United States, or Russia. The most recognized phases in the history of 20th-century Germany are the Kaiserreich (1890–1919), the Weimar Republic (1919–1933), the Third Reich (1933–1945), divided Germany (1945–1989), and reunified Germany (after 1989). World War II usually receives attention as part of the history of the Third Reich. On the other hand, historians of the war often approach the conflict from a German-centered perspective. Some differences exist between German and Anglo-American historians, with the former, especially those who work on local history, more likely to examine World War II as a distinct period, although some recent major works have begun to buck this trend in Anglo-American scholarship. In recent years, the multivolume Clarendon history Germany and the Second World War, translated from the German Das Deutsche Reich und der Zweite Weltkrieg, has helped to unify the Anglo-American and German perspectives. Some of the publications included in this article, however, view the war in Germany as part of the wider history of the Third Reich. From the outset, Nazi Germany, and World War II within it, has given rise to a vast literature, which began as the Nazis rose to power and has continued unabated until the present. This article can therefore only provide the briefest of introductions to this enormous historiography by outlining the key publications in these areas: General Overviews; Push to War; Invasion of Eastern Europe; Bombing of German Cities; Economic Mobilization; Genocide; Foreign Workers and Prisoners of War; Local History; Women; Children; Repression and Resistance; Religion; Propaganda; and Defeat.

A war hero or a Hitler soldier?

2019 ◽  
pp. 50-57
Author(s):  
Pavel Gotovetsky
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
World War Ii ◽  
Interwar Period ◽  
Military Service ◽  
Third Reich ◽  
National Committee ◽  
World War ◽  
The Third ◽  
The World ◽  
The Third Reich

The article is devoted to the biography of General Pavlo Shandruk, an Ukrainian officer who served as a Polish contract officer in the interwar period and at the beginning of the World War II, and in 1945 became the organizer and commander of the Ukrainian National Army fighting alongside the Third Reich in the last months of the war. The author focuses on the symbolic event of 1961, which was the decoration of General Shandruk with the highest Polish (émigré) military decoration – the Virtuti Militari order, for his heroic military service in 1939. By describing the controversy and emotions among Poles and Ukrainians, which accompanied the award of the former Hitler's soldier, the author tries to answer the question of how the General Shandruk’s activities should be assessed in the perspective of the uneasy Twentieth-Century Polish-Ukrainian relations. Keywords: Pavlo Shandruk, Władysław Anders, Virtuti Militari, Ukrainian National Army, Ukrainian National Committee, contract officer.

scholarly journals Powstanie kawalerii SS Totenkopf i jej rola w niemieckiej polityce okupacyjnej na ziemiach polskich w latach 1939–1941

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 72-88
Author(s):  
Jarosław Dybek ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Third Reich ◽  
Popular Science ◽  
Science Literature ◽  
German Occupation ◽  
The Third ◽  
General Government ◽  
History Of ◽  
Polish Language ◽  
False Image ◽  
The Third Reich

The topic of the article is one of the German SS regiments stationed in occupied Poland and its role in The German occupation policy. While the history of the SS formation is very well known in both academic and popular science literature, its cavalry has not been elaborated in great detail thus far. Although this topic seems interesting, it has not yet been discussed in any book in the Polish language. Most of the literature related to this topic was published in German and English. The 1st SS Death’s Head Cavalry Regiment operated primarily in the General Government and was under the Higher SS and Police Command. Some of its squadrons also operated in areas annexed to the Reich, i.e. the Warta Voievodship (Reichsgau Wartheland). From this article we will learn about the formation of the SS Death’s Head cavalry and its gradual inclusion in the brutal occupation policy of the Third Reich in Poland. In the case of its formation, we are dealing with tasks such as combating the early partisan units, searching for weapons, participating in the creation of ghettos, or helping to eliminate Polish levels of the intelligentsia. Noteworthy is the participation of this unit in the production of the propaganda film “Kampfgeschwader Lützow”, in which Polish cavalrymen were presented attacking German tanks with sabres. This false image was reproduced after the war in some movies or books, and contributed to the distorted presentation of Polish soldiers in the defensive battles of 1939.

In Search of a Father

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Klaus J. Arnold ◽  
Eve M. Duffy
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Third Reich ◽  
Prisoners Of War ◽  
General Question ◽  
World War ◽  
Adolf Hitler ◽  
The Third ◽  
Personal Level ◽  
The Third Reich

In this introductory chapter, the author narrates how he searched for his missing father, Konrad Jarausch, who had died in the USSR in January 1942. After providing a background on Jarausch's nationalism and involvement in Protestant pedagogy, the chapter discusses his experiences during World War II. It then explains how Jarausch grew increasingly critical of the Nazis after witnessing the mass deaths of Russian prisoners of war. It also considers how the author, and his family, tried to keep the memory of his father alive. The author concludes by reflecting on his father's troubled legacy and how his search for his father poses the general question of complicity with Nazism and the Third Reich on a more personal level, asking why a decent and educated Protestant would follow Adolf Hitler and support the war until he himself, his family, and the country were swallowed up by it.

Ostmark

2021 ◽  
pp. 268-287
Author(s):  
Helen Roche
Keyword(s):  
World War I ◽  
Third Reich ◽  
World War ◽  
Terrorist Activity ◽  
Religious Buildings ◽  
Security Services ◽  
The Third ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Third Reich

Following Austria’s annexation by the Third Reich, the NPEA authorities were eager to pursue every opportunity to found new Napolas in the freshly acquired territories of the ‘Ostmark’. In the first instance, the Inspectorate took over the existing state boarding schools (Bundeserziehungsanstalten/Staatserziehungsanstalten) at Wien-Breitensee, Wien-Boerhavegasse, Traiskirchen, and the Theresianum. Secondly, beyond Vienna, numerous Napolas were also founded in the buildings of monastic foundations which had been requisitioned and expropriated by the Nazi security services. These included the abbey complexes at Göttweig, Lambach, Seckau, Vorau, and St. Paul (Spanheim), as well as the Catholic seminary at St. Veit (present-day Ljubljana-Šentvid, Slovenia). This chapter begins by charting the chequered history of the former imperial and royal (k.u.k.) cadet schools in Vienna, which were refashioned into civilian Bundeserziehungsanstalten by the Austrian socialist educational reformer Otto Glöckel immediately after World War I. During the reign of Dollfuß and Schuschnigg’s Austrofascist state, the schools were threatened from within by the terrorist activity of illegal Hitler Youth cells, and the Anschluss was ultimately welcomed by many pupils, staff, and administrators. August Heißmeyer and Otto Calliebe’s subsequent efforts to reform the schools into Napolas led to their being incorporated into the NPEA system on 13 March 1939. The chapter then treats the Inspectorate’s foundation of further Napolas in expropriated religious buildings, focusing on NPEA St. Veit as a case study. In conclusion, it outlines the ways in which both of these forms of Napolisation conformed to broader patterns of Nazification policy in Austria after the Anschluss.

The two lives of neurologist Helmut J. Bauer (1914–2008)

Neurology ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 93 (3) ◽  
pp. 109-113 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mathias Schmidt ◽  
Jens Westemeier ◽  
Dominik Gross
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Third Reich ◽  
Second World War ◽  
Federal Republic Of Germany ◽  
World War ◽  
University Professor ◽  
Medical Career ◽  
The Third Reich ◽  
Nazi Past ◽  
Second World

In 2008, the internationally renowned neurologist and university professor Helmut Johannes Bauer died at the age of 93 years. In the numerous obituaries and tributes to him, the years between 1933 and 1945 are either omitted or simplified; the Nazi past of Helmut Bauer has hardly been explored. Based on original documents dating from the Third Reich and the early Federal Republic of Germany as well as relevant secondary writings, Bauer's life before 1945 was traced to gain knowledge of his exact activities and tasks during the Second World War. Bauer was actively involved in Nazi crimes. He was a member of the so-called Künsberg special command of the SS and also worked in a prominent position at the Institute for Microbiology as well as for the Foreign Department of the Reich Physicians' Chamber. After World War II, Bauer underwent denazification and, like many others, was able to pursue his further medical career undisturbed, building on the contacts he had already made during the Nazi period.

Epilogue

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Heins
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Mass Culture ◽  
Third Reich ◽  
Private Life ◽  
West Germany ◽  
Sexual Morality ◽  
World War ◽  
The Third ◽  
The 1950S ◽  
The Third Reich

This concluding chapter reflects on the development of German melodrama in the aftermath of World War II. It traces a sense of disillusionment with the Nazi “deployment of sexuality” in films and how it had prepared the ground for the renewed postwar cultivation of domesticity and feminine nurturance in West Germany. The return to private life and to puritanical mores in the postwar era was partly a response to the attack on “bourgeois” sexual morality that had been carried out by the mass culture of the Third Reich. Turning against nudity and licentiousness in the early 1950s could be represented and understood as a turn against Nazism. Thus, this “reprivatization” and newly conservative culture left its mark on West German melodramas of the 1950s.

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