Außerordentliche Befriedungsaktion
Encyclopedia
AB-Aktion , was a Nazi German
campaign during World War II
aimed to eliminate the intellectuals and the upper classes of the Polish people and of Polish nationhood. In the spring and summer of 1940, more than 30,000 Poles were arrested by the Nazi authorities in German-occupied Poland
. About 7,000 leaders and professors, teachers and priests (labeled as suspected of criminal activities) were subsequently massacred at various locations including at the Palmiry
Forest. The others were sent to German concentration camps.
The mass murder of Polish leaders, politicians, artists, aristocrats, the intelligentsia
, and people suspected of potential anti-Nazi activity was seen as a pre-emptive measure to keep the Polish resistance scattered and to prevent the Poles from revolting during the planned German invasion of France
. The anti-Polish campaign was prepared by Hans Frank
, the commander of the General Government
, and was also discussed with Soviet
officials during a series of secretive Gestapo-NKVD Conferences
.
The first elimination of Polish intelligentsia took place soon after the German invasion of Poland, lasting from autumn 1939 until spring 1940. Operation Intelligenzaktion
was a plan to eliminate the Polish intelligentsia, Poland's leadership class, realized by Einsatzgruppen
and Selbstschutz
. As the result of this operation 60,000 Polish nobles
, teachers, entrepreneurs, social workers, priests, judges and political activists were killed in 10 regional actions. The Intelligenzaktion was continued by the German AB-Aktion operation in Poland. People were arrested according to an "enemies of the Reich list" - Sonderfahndungsbuch Polen
prepared before the war by members of the German minority in Poland
in cooperation with German Intelligence.
Prior to the action, in late 1939 and early 1940, most Polish university professors, intellectuals, writers, politicians, teachers and other members of the elite of Polish society were briefly arrested by the Gestapo
and had their names registered. Frank
finally accepted and approved the Ausserordentliche Befriedungsaktion on May 16, 1940. In the following weeks, the German police, the Gestapo
, the SD (Sicherheitsdienst
) and units of 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 by Nazi officials. After time spent in the prisons of Warsaw, Kraków, Radom
, Kielce
, Nowy Sącz
, Tarnów
, Lublin or Wiśnicz
, the arrested Poles were transferred to German concentration camps, most notably to the newly-created camp of Auschwitz, as well as Sachsenhausen
and Mauthausen. Approximately 3,500 members of the Polish intelligentsia were executed at the mass murder sites in Palmiry
near Warsaw, Firlej
, Wincentynów near Radom
, and in the Bliżyn
forest near Skarżysko-Kamienna
.
Among those killed were Maciej Rataj
, Stefan Bryła, Tadeusz Tański
, Mieczysław Niedziałkowski and Janusz Kusociński
. Actions were started on a similar scale in other Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany
. According to many historians, including Norman Davies
, the action against Polish leaders was coordinated with the authorities of the Soviet Union
, who at the same time perpetrated the mass murder of 22,000 Polish military officers
at Katyń
and other places.
The active persecution of Polish intellectuals was continued until the end of the war. The direct continuation of the AB Action was a German campaign in the east started after the German invasion of the USSR
. Among the most notable mass executions of Polish professors was the massacre of Lwów professors
, in which approximately 45 professors of the university in Lwów were murdered together with their families and guests. Among those killed in the massacre were Tadeusz Boy-Żeleński
, former Polish prime minister Kazimierz Bartel
, Włodzimierz Stożek, and Stanisław Ruziewicz. Thousands more perished in the Ponary massacre
, in German concentration camps, and in ghettos.
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
campaign during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
aimed to eliminate the intellectuals and the upper classes of the Polish people and of Polish nationhood. In the spring and summer of 1940, more than 30,000 Poles were arrested by the Nazi authorities in German-occupied Poland
General Government
The General Government was an area of Second Republic of Poland under Nazi German rule during World War II; designated as a separate region of the Third Reich between 1939–1945...
. About 7,000 leaders and professors, teachers and priests (labeled as suspected of criminal activities) were subsequently massacred at various locations including at the Palmiry
Palmiry
Palmiry During World War II, between 1939 and 1943, the village and the surrounding forest was one of the sites of German mass executions of Jews, Polish intelligentsia, politicians and athletes, killed during the AB Action. Most of the victims were first arrested and tortured in the Pawiak prison...
Forest. The others were sent to German concentration camps.
History
Intelligentsia
The intelligentsia is a social class of people engaged in complex, mental and creative labor directed to the development and dissemination of culture, encompassing intellectuals and social groups close to them...
, and people suspected of potential anti-Nazi activity was seen as a pre-emptive measure to keep the Polish resistance scattered and to prevent the Poles from revolting during the planned German invasion of France
Battle of France
In the Second World War, the Battle of France was the German invasion of France and the Low Countries, beginning on 10 May 1940, which ended the Phoney War. The battle consisted of two main operations. In the first, Fall Gelb , German armoured units pushed through the Ardennes, to cut off and...
. The anti-Polish campaign was prepared by Hans Frank
Hans Frank
Hans Michael Frank was a German lawyer who worked for the Nazi party during the 1920s and 1930s and later became a high-ranking official in Nazi Germany...
, the commander of the General Government
General Government
The General Government was an area of Second Republic of Poland under Nazi German rule during World War II; designated as a separate region of the Third Reich between 1939–1945...
, and was also discussed with Soviet
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
officials during a series of secretive Gestapo-NKVD Conferences
Gestapo-NKVD Conferences
The Gestapo–NKVD conferences were a series of meetings organized in late 1939 and early 1940, whose purpose was the mutual cooperation between Nazi Germany and Soviet Union...
.
The first elimination of Polish intelligentsia took place soon after the German invasion of Poland, lasting from autumn 1939 until spring 1940. Operation Intelligenzaktion
Intelligenzaktion
Intelligenzaktion was a genocidal action of Nazi Germany targeting Polish elites as part of elimination of potentially dangerous elements. It was an early measure of the Generalplan Ost. About 60,000 people were killed as the result of this operation...
was a plan to eliminate the Polish intelligentsia, Poland's leadership class, realized by Einsatzgruppen
Einsatzgruppen
Einsatzgruppen were SS paramilitary death squads that were responsible for mass killings, typically by shooting, of Jews in particular, but also significant numbers of other population groups and political categories...
and Selbstschutz
Selbstschutz
Selbstschutz stands for two organisations:# A name used by a number of paramilitary organisations created by ethnic Germans in Central and Eastern Europe# A name for self-defence measures and units in ethnic German, Austrian, and Swiss civil defence....
. As the result of this operation 60,000 Polish nobles
Szlachta
The szlachta was a legally privileged noble class with origins in the Kingdom of Poland. It gained considerable institutional privileges during the 1333-1370 reign of Casimir the Great. In 1413, following a series of tentative personal unions between the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Kingdom of...
, teachers, entrepreneurs, social workers, priests, judges and political activists were killed in 10 regional actions. The Intelligenzaktion was continued by the German AB-Aktion operation in Poland. People were arrested according to an "enemies of the Reich list" - Sonderfahndungsbuch Polen
Sonderfahndungsbuch Polen
Sonderfahndungsbuch Polen – was the proscription list prepared by Germans, before the war, that identified more than 61,000 members of Polish elites: activists, intelligentsia, scholars, actors, former officers, and others, who were to be interned or...
prepared before the war by members of the German minority in Poland
German minority in Poland
The registered German minority in Poland consists of 152,900 people, according to a 2002 census.The German language is used in certain areas in Opole Voivodeship , where most of the minority resides...
in cooperation with German Intelligence.
Prior to the action, in late 1939 and early 1940, most Polish university professors, intellectuals, writers, politicians, teachers and other members of the elite of Polish society were briefly arrested by the Gestapo
Gestapo
The Gestapo was the official secret police of Nazi Germany. Beginning on 20 April 1934, it was under the administration of the SS leader Heinrich Himmler in his position as Chief of German Police...
and had their names registered. Frank
Hans Frank
Hans Michael Frank was a German lawyer who worked for the Nazi party during the 1920s and 1930s and later became a high-ranking official in Nazi Germany...
finally accepted and approved the Ausserordentliche Befriedungsaktion on May 16, 1940. In the following weeks, the German police, the Gestapo
Gestapo
The Gestapo was the official secret police of Nazi Germany. Beginning on 20 April 1934, it was under the administration of the SS leader Heinrich Himmler in his position as Chief of German Police...
, the SD (Sicherheitsdienst
Sicherheitsdienst
Sicherheitsdienst , full title Sicherheitsdienst des Reichsführers-SS, or SD, was the intelligence agency of the SS and the Nazi Party in Nazi Germany. The organization was the first Nazi Party intelligence organization to be established and was often considered a "sister organization" with the...
) and units of the Wehrmacht
Wehrmacht
The Wehrmacht – from , to defend and , the might/power) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the Heer , the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe .-Origin and use of the term:...
arrested roughly 30,000 Poles in major Polish cities, including Warsaw
Warsaw
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...
, Łódź, Lublin
Lublin
Lublin is the ninth largest city in Poland. It is the capital of Lublin Voivodeship with a population of 350,392 . Lublin is also the largest Polish city east of the Vistula river...
and Kraków
Kraków
Kraków also Krakow, or Cracow , is the second largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in the Lesser Poland region, the city dates back to the 7th century. Kraków has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Polish academic, cultural, and artistic life...
. The interned were held in a number of prisons, including the infamous Pawiak
Pawiak
Pawiak was a prison built in 1835 in Warsaw, Poland.During the January 1863 Uprising, it served as a transfer camp for Poles sentenced by Imperial Russia to deportation to Siberia....
, where they were subject to brutal interrogations by Nazi officials. After time spent in the prisons of Warsaw, Kraków, Radom
Radom
Radom is a city in central Poland with 223,397 inhabitants . It is located on the Mleczna River in the Masovian Voivodeship , having previously been the capital of Radom Voivodeship ; 100 km south of Poland's capital, Warsaw.It is home to the biennial Radom Air Show, the largest and...
, Kielce
Kielce
Kielce ) is a city in central Poland with 204,891 inhabitants . It is also the capital city of the Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship since 1999, previously in Kielce Voivodeship...
, Nowy Sącz
Nowy Sacz
Nowy Sącz is a town in the Lesser Poland Voivodeship in southern Poland. It is the district capital of Nowy Sącz County, but is not included within the powiat.-Names:...
, Tarnów
Tarnów
Tarnów is a city in southeastern Poland with 115,341 inhabitants as of June 2009. The city has been situated in the Lesser Poland Voivodeship since 1999, but from 1975 to 1998 it was the capital of the Tarnów Voivodeship. It is a major rail junction, located on the strategic east-west connection...
, Lublin or Wiśnicz
Wisnicz
Wiśnicz is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Małogoszcz, within Jędrzejów County, Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship, in south-central Poland. It lies approximately west of Małogoszcz, north-west of Jędrzejów, and west of the regional capital Kielce.The village has a population of...
, the arrested Poles were transferred to German concentration camps, most notably to the newly-created camp of Auschwitz, as well as Sachsenhausen
Sachsenhausen concentration camp
Sachsenhausen or Sachsenhausen-Oranienburg was a Nazi concentration camp in Oranienburg, Germany, used primarily for political prisoners from 1936 to the end of the Third Reich in May, 1945. After World War II, when Oranienburg was in the Soviet Occupation Zone, the structure was used as an NKVD...
and Mauthausen. Approximately 3,500 members of the Polish intelligentsia were executed at the mass murder sites in Palmiry
Palmiry
Palmiry During World War II, between 1939 and 1943, the village and the surrounding forest was one of the sites of German mass executions of Jews, Polish intelligentsia, politicians and athletes, killed during the AB Action. Most of the victims were first arrested and tortured in the Pawiak prison...
near Warsaw, Firlej
Firlej
Firlej is a village in Lubartów County, Lublin Voivodeship, in eastern Poland. It is the seat of the gmina called Gmina Firlej. It lies approximately north-west of Lubartów and north of the regional capital Lublin...
, Wincentynów near Radom
Radom
Radom is a city in central Poland with 223,397 inhabitants . It is located on the Mleczna River in the Masovian Voivodeship , having previously been the capital of Radom Voivodeship ; 100 km south of Poland's capital, Warsaw.It is home to the biennial Radom Air Show, the largest and...
, and in the Bliżyn
Blizyn
Bliżyn is a village in Skarżysko County, Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship, in south-central Poland. It is the seat of the gmina called Gmina Bliżyn. It lies on the Kamienna river and Bliżyn Reservoir, approximately west of Skarżysko-Kamienna and north of the regional capital Kielce...
forest near Skarżysko-Kamienna
Skarzysko-Kamienna
Skarżysko-Kamienna is a town in northern Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship in Poland by Kamienna river, to the north of Świętokrzyskie Mountains; one of the voivodship's major towns...
.
Among those killed were Maciej Rataj
Maciej Rataj
Maciej Rataj was a Polish politician, socialist activist and writer.Born in the village of Chłopy near Lwów on 19 February 1884, he attended a gymnasium in Lwów and studied classical linguistics at the University of Lwów...
, Stefan Bryła, Tadeusz Tański
Tadeusz Tanski
Tadeusz Tański was a Polish automobile engineer and the designer of, among others, the first Polish serially-built automobile, the CWS T-1.He was born in Janów Podlaski to Czesław Tański, one of pioneers of Polish aviation...
, Mieczysław Niedziałkowski and Janusz Kusociński
Janusz Kusocinski
Janusz Tadeusz Kusociński was a Polish athlete, winner in the 10000 m event at the 1932 Summer Olympics....
. Actions were started on a similar scale in other Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany
Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany
At the beginning of World War II, nearly a quarter of the pre-war Polish areas were annexed by Nazi Germany and placed directly under German civil administration, while the rest of Nazi occupied Poland was named as General Government...
. According to many historians, including Norman Davies
Norman Davies
Professor Ivor Norman Richard Davies FBA, FRHistS is a leading English historian of Welsh descent, noted for his publications on the history of Europe, Poland, and the United Kingdom.- Academic career :...
, the action against Polish leaders was coordinated with the authorities of the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
, who at the same time perpetrated the mass murder of 22,000 Polish military officers
Katyn massacre
The Katyn massacre, also known as the Katyn Forest massacre , was a mass execution of Polish nationals carried out by the People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs , the Soviet secret police, in April and May 1940. The massacre was prompted by Lavrentiy Beria's proposal to execute all members of...
at Katyń
Katyn massacre
The Katyn massacre, also known as the Katyn Forest massacre , was a mass execution of Polish nationals carried out by the People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs , the Soviet secret police, in April and May 1940. The massacre was prompted by Lavrentiy Beria's proposal to execute all members of...
and other places.
The active persecution of Polish intellectuals was continued until the end of the war. The direct continuation of the AB Action was a German campaign in the east started after the German invasion of the USSR
Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa was the code name for Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II that began on 22 June 1941. Over 4.5 million troops of the Axis powers invaded the USSR along a front., the largest invasion in the history of warfare...
. Among the most notable mass executions of Polish professors was the massacre of Lwów professors
Massacre of Lwów professors
In July 1941, 25 Polish academics from the city of Lwów, Poland ; now in Ukraine) were killed by Nazi German occupation forces along with their families and guests...
, in which approximately 45 professors of the university in Lwów were murdered together with their families and guests. Among those killed in the massacre were Tadeusz Boy-Żeleński
Tadeusz Boy-Zelenski
Tadeusz Kamil Marcjan Żeleński was a Polish stage writer, poet, critic above all, and translator of over 100 French literary classics into Polish...
, former Polish prime minister Kazimierz Bartel
Kazimierz Bartel
Kazimierz Władysław Bartel was a Polish mathematician and politician who served as Prime Minister of Poland three times between 1926 and 1930....
, Włodzimierz Stożek, and Stanisław Ruziewicz. Thousands more perished in the Ponary massacre
Ponary massacre
The Ponary massacre was the mass-murder of 100,000 people, mostly Polish Jews, by German SD and SS and Lithuanian Nazi collaborators Sonderkommando collaborators...
, in German concentration camps, and in ghettos.
Aftermath
After the war, many people responsible for organizing the AB Action were tried before the Nuremberg Military Tribunals. However, the majority of responsible German commanders were either killed or vanished during the war before being held legally accountable for their crimes. The exact numbers of victims, and the dates of the executions, the causes of death of the Polish intelligentsia members in German captivity, are often contested by other European historians who dismiss a similarity with the Katyn massacres.See also
- Sonderaktion Krakau: a 1939 Nazi arrest of professors and academics of the Jagiellonian UniversitySonderaktion KrakauSonderaktion Krakau was the codename for a German operation against professors and academics from the University of Kraków and other Kraków universities at the beginning of World War II....
- World War II atrocities in PolandWorld War II atrocities in PolandApproximately six million Polish citizens, divided nearly equally between non-Jewish and Jewish, perished during World War II. Most were civilians killed by the actions of Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union and their allies. At the Nuremberg Tribunal, three categories were established. These categories...
- Pacification operations in German-occupied PolandPacification operations in German-occupied PolandThe pacification operations in German-occupied Poland was the use of military force and punitive measures conducted during World War II by Nazi Germany with the goal of suppressing any Polish resistance....
- Operation TannenbergOperation TannenbergOperation Tannenberg was the codename for one of the extermination actions directed at the Polish people during World War II, part of the Generalplan Ost...
- Generalplan OstGeneralplan OstGeneralplan Ost was a secret Nazi German plan for the colonization of Eastern Europe. Implementing it would have necessitated genocide and ethnic cleansing to be undertaken in the Eastern European territories occupied by Germany during World War II...
- Katyn massacreKatyn massacreThe Katyn massacre, also known as the Katyn Forest massacre , was a mass execution of Polish nationals carried out by the People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs , the Soviet secret police, in April and May 1940. The massacre was prompted by Lavrentiy Beria's proposal to execute all members of...
- Anti-Polonism
- History of Poland (1939-1945)
- IntelligenzaktionIntelligenzaktionIntelligenzaktion was a genocidal action of Nazi Germany targeting Polish elites as part of elimination of potentially dangerous elements. It was an early measure of the Generalplan Ost. About 60,000 people were killed as the result of this operation...