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Landscapes of Revanchism: Building and the Contestation of Space in an Industrial Polish-German Borderland, 1922–1945

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 September 2012

Peter Polak-Springer
Peter Polak-Springer*
Affiliation:
Qatar University, Doha
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Extract

On March 28, 1926, government officials and borderland activists staged a massive rally to protest the border with Poland in Oppeln (Opole), the capital of the German part of the Upper Silesian borderland. The Social Democratic interior minister of the Prussian state, Carl Severing, took the occasion to articulate the terms of a rivalry with the Polish neighboring nation-state to which the disputed drawing of the border here in 1922 had given way. In his speech he noted that he was “not speaking about an arms race” but rather “a struggle” for “Germandom and Kultur” that “should be fought out with the weapons of the spirit”—rather than with actual arms. As part of the struggle, the whole of this border society was to demonstrate that they were “better than the eastern neighbor” in their everyday work. This promotion of good stewardship was meant not only to ensure that Germany would not lose another “single foot-long of soil,” but also foremost “to uphold the faith of the Upper Silesian masses in Polish Silesia's speedy return to Germany.” This last phrase was coined by Aleksander Szczepański, the Polish Consul in Beuthen (Bytom) on the German side of the border. Like other government officials, and also the media, he followed this rally and was startled by how—in his words—“tirelessly” “all of Germany” was calling for the border's revision. In turn, Szczepański warned the Polish government that “it is easy to imagine a sad outcome”—such as the revision of the border in Germany's favor—if Poland did not step up its efforts to counter such propaganda.

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Central European History , Volume 45 , Issue 3 , September 2012 , pp. 485 - 522
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Copyright © Conference Group for Central European History of the American Historical Association 2012

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References

1 Reichzentrale für Heimatdienst (hereafter Rz.f.H), Grenzbericht, July–Sept. 1928, Geheimes Staatsarchiv Preussischer Kulturbesitz (hereafter GStA PK), HA I, Rep. 77 (hereafter omitted), Tit. 856, Nr. 593, Bd. 2, 108ff. The translations from the German and Polish in this essay are the author's own.

2 Quoted from “Wielki Dzień Śląska,” Polska Zachodnia (hereafter PZ), May 6, 1929, 1–2.

3 With few exceptions, throughout the essay I state place names in the official state language of the part of the relevant region to which I am referring at the time period to which I am referring (e.g., in German in reference to the wartime Polish Upper Silesia). The first time I state each place name, I follow it by its translation into the other relevant language in parentheses.

4 Kultur refers to German high culture. “Abstimmungsfeier in Oppeln,” Oberschlesische Volksstimme (hereafter OSV) 75, March 29, 1926. Also quoted in Michałczyk, Andrzej, “Deutsche und polnische Nationalisierungspolitik in Oberschlesien zwischen den Weltkriegen. Ein Vergleich auf Makro und Mikroebene,” in Die Destruktion des Dialogs. Zur innenpolitischen Instrumentalisierung negativer Fremd- und Feindbilder in Polen, Tschechien, Deutschland und die Niederlande im Vergleich, 1900–2005, ed. Bingen, Dieter, Loew, Peter Oliver, and Wóycicki, Kazimierz (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, 2007), 69Google Scholar.

5 The term “good/superior stewardship” and its use in the context of contesting territories comes from a conference paper that I cite with the permission of its author. Eagle Glassheim, “Heimat's Long Shadow: Human and Natural Ecologies of the Czechoslovak Borderlands,” unpublished paper presented at the Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies (ASEEES) Annual Convention in 2010.

6 Konsulat Rzeczypospolitej Polski w Opolu (hereafter Kon. Op.), do Ministerstwa Spraw Zagranicznych (hereafter MSZ), March 30, 1926, Archiwum Akt Nowych (hereafter AAN) 482 (Konsulat Generalny RP w Opolu), 196, doc. 65ff.

7 Research on the cultural politics of the German-Polish struggle to appropriate Upper Silesia nationally includes the following works: Michałczyk, Andrzej, Heimat, Kirche und Nation. Deutsche und polnische Nationalisierungsprozesse im geteilten Oberschlesien (1922–1939) (Cologne: Böhlau Verlag, 2010)Google Scholar; Haubold-Stolle, Juliane, Mythos Oberschlesien. Der Kampf um die Erinnerung in Deutschland und Polen (Osnabrück: Fibre, 2008)Google Scholar; Peter Polak-Springer, “Making ‘Recoveries’: The Cultural Politics of Territorial Appropriation in a German-Polish Industrial Borderland, 1922–1971” (Ph.D. diss., Rutgers University, 2010). On other German-Polish borderlands, see Kossert, Andreas, Preußen, Deutsche oder Polen? Die Masuren im Spannungsfeld des ethnischen Nationalismus, 1870–1956 (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, 2001)Google Scholar; Traba, Robert, “Wschodniopruskość”: Tóżsamość regionalna i narodowa w kulturze politycznej Niemiec (Poznań: Wydawnictwo Poznańskiego Towarzystwa Przyjaciół Nauk, 2005)Google Scholar; Harvey, Elizabeth, Women and the Nazi East: Agents and Witnesses of Germanization (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2003)Google Scholar.

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15 On the KVP leader Father Carl Ulitzka's statement pertaining to this in March 1930, see Rz.f.H., Grenzbericht, Jan.–March 1930, GStA PK, Tit. 856, Nr. 593, Bd. 2, doc. 174ff. See also Hitze, Guido, “Oberschlesien im politischen Denken Karl Ulitzkas,” in Śląsk w myśli politicznej i działalności Polaków i Niemców w XX wieku, ed. Kisielewicz, Danuta and Rubisz, Lech (Opole: Uniwersytet Opolski, 2001), 171–194Google Scholar.

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21 Mikulski, A., ed., Przewodnik Po Ziemi Śląskiej (Warsaw: Polska Agencja Telegraficzna, 1935), 24Google Scholar.

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26 Szczypka-Gwiazda, “Reprezentacyjne,” 106.

27 “Wielki Dzień Śląska,” PZ, May 6, 1929, 1–2; and Polonia 164, May 6, 1929.

28 “Wielki Dzień Śląska,” PZ, May 6, 1929, 1–2.

29 Ibid., 1–2.

30 Ibid., 1–2.

31 Ibid., 1–2.

32 On the ChD, see Bjork, Neither German nor Pole, 269; Serafin, ed., Województwo, 157; Krzyżanowski, Lech, “Kościół katolicki a władza państwowa w województwie śląskim (1926–1939),” in Wieki Stare i Nowe, vol. 2, ed. Wanatowicz, Maria and Panica, Idzieg (Katowice: Wyd. Uniwersytetu Śląskiego, 2001), 180–1Google Scholar; Haubold-Stolle, Mythos Oberschlesien, 233–41.

33 “Akt Poświęcienia Gmachu UWŚl.,” May 1929, Archiwum Państwowe w Katowicach (hereafter APK), 27/I (Urząd Wojewódzki Śląski, Wydział Społeczno-Polityczny), 146, doc. 1.

34 Linek, Bernard, “Mit Ziem Odzyskanych w powojennej Polsce na przykładzie Górnego Śląska,” in Nationalismus und nationale Identität in Ostmitteleuropa im 19–20. Jahrhundert, ed. Linek, Bernard and Struve, Kai (Opole and Marburg: Verlag Herder-Institute, 2000), 229–56Google Scholar.

35 “Uroczyste posiedzenie Sejmu Śląskiego dla uczczenia 10-tej rocznicy Niepodległości Polski,” PZ, Nov. 11, 1928, 3. On the Silesian Museum, see Haubold-Stolle, Mythos Oberschlesien, 228–9.

36 Haubold-Stolle, Mythos Oberschlesien, 214.

37 “Wspaniały Przebieg Manifestacji 3. Majowej,” and “Echa wielkiego dnia,” PZ 112, May 4, 1931, 3; Związek Obrony Kresów Zachodnich (hereafter ZOKZ), Sprawozdanie Sytuacyjne za Maj 1931, APK 27/I, 54, doc. 84–85; Karl Sczodrok, an Nord und Ostdeutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (NOFG), May 6, 1936, Bundesarchiv Berlin-Lichterfelde (hereafter BArch) 153 (Publikationstelle Berlin-Dahlem), 1307, n.p.; Karl Sczodrok, (Tgb. Nr. 95), an NOFG, May 2, 1936, same file, n.p.

38 “Śląski Maj 1921–2 Maj 1931,” PZ 111, May 2, 1931; “Echa wielkiego dnia,” PZ 112, May 4, 1931; “Polonia gegen rauschende 3. Mai Feier,” KZ 90, April 20, 1931, n.p.; “Schlesien und die polnische Aufstandsfeiern,” O/S [Oberschlesische] Zeitung 224, May 4, 1931, n.p.; ZOKZ, Sprawozdanie Sytuacyjne, doc. 84–85; “Das ‘Schlesische’ Volksfest,” KZ 102, May 4, 1931, n.p.; Polizeipräsident Landespolizeistelle, an Oberpräsidium der Provinz Oberschlesiens (hereafter OP), May 4, 1931, Archiwum Państwowe w Opolu (hereafter APO) 1 (OP)/181, doc. 35; “Polnisch Kritik an Grażyński,” OSV 124, May 6, 1931, from APO 1/181, doc. 39. See also Michałczyk, “Deutsche und polnische Nationalisierungspolitik,” 67–72.

39 For example, the leading ChD figure, Konstanty Wolny, announced the establishment of the Silesian Museum. “Uroczyste posiedzenie Sejmu Śląskiego dla uczczenia 10-tej rocznicy Niepodległości Polski,” PZ, Nov. 11, 1928, 3.

40 Bericht des Deutschen General Konsulats (Kattowitz), Betr. “den Besuch des Staatspräsidenten in Kattowitz,” May 7, 1929, GStA PK, Tit. 856, Nr. 733, doc. 129.

41 Odorowski, Architektura, 103–117; Sczypka-Gwiazda, Nieznane Oblicze Sztuki Polskiej, 7–31.

42 “Budownictwo stalowo-szkieletowe na Śląsku i w reszcie Polski,” PZ 118, May 10, 1931, 4; Odorowski, Architektura, 103–5; Chojecka, Ewa, Sztuka Górnego Śląska od średniowiecza do końca XX w. (Katowice: Muzeum Śląskie, 2004), 325–6, 329–36Google Scholar.

43 Odorowski, Waldemar, “Wieżowce Katowic i ich treści ideowo-propagandowe,” in O sztuce Górnego Śląska i przyległych ziem Małopolskich, ed. Chojecka, Ewa and Szaraniec, Lech (Katowice: Muzeum Śląskie, 1993), 268–71Google Scholar.

44 Kłębowski, Witold, “Pierwsze Drapacze Śląskie,” Architektura i Budownictwo, 6 (1932): 169Google Scholar. Also quoted in Odorowski, “Wieżowce,” 268.

45 “Budownictwo stalowo-szkieletowe na Śląsku i w reszcie Polski,” PZ 118, May 10, 1931, 4; Odorowski, “Wieżowce,” 277.

46 Szczypka-Gwiazda, Barbara, “Historia budowy katedry w Katowicach,” in O sztuce Górnego Śląska i Zagłębia Dąbrowskiego XV–XX w. Sztuka Śląska odkrywana na nowo, ed. Chojecka, Ewa (Katowice: Muzeum Slaskie, 1989), 86–104Google Scholar; Ewa Chojecka, Sztuka Górnego Śląska, 391–92.

47 “Wyniki Akcji Budowlanej Śląskiego Urzędu Wojewódzkiego,” PZ 105, April 17, 1936, 5; Ręgorowicz, Ludwik, “Dorobek rządów polskich w Województwie Śląskim, 1922–1930,” in Śląsk: Przeszłość i Terażniejszość, ed. Benisz, Adam (Katowice: Nakładem Okręgu Śląskiego, ZOKZ, 1931), 21–29Google Scholar; Dorota Glazek, “Kolonie Robotnicze w Autonomicznym Wojewodztwie Śląskim,” in O sztuce, ed. Chojecka, 113–17.

48 Ręgorowicz, “Dorobek,” 25.

49 d'Arma, Leon Dietz, “Nowe Gmachy Muzealne: Muzeum Śląskie w Katowicach,” in Architektura i Budownictwo 2 (1936): 66Google Scholar.

50 Karl Sczodrok, an NOFG, “Polnische Nachrichten,” Nr. 1460/36, July 21, 1936, BArch 153/1302, n.p.

51 “Monumentalbauten geben Kattowitz ein neues Gesicht,” Ostdeutsche Morgenpost (hereafter ODM), June 26, 1938, n.p. Emphasis in original. This article was critical about the costs of these buildings.

52 “Ludności Górnośląskiej ku uwadze,” Głos Górnego Śląska (hereafter GGŚl.), 26, July 1, 1930, 1; “Zamiast dbać o chorych i okaleczonych,” GGŚl. 27, July 2–8, 1930, 2; “Zakusy Cieszyniaków na Górnym Śląsku,” GGŚl. 15, April 7–13, 1926, 1. On the ZOG, see Dorbrowolski, Piotr, Ugrupowania i Kierunki Separystyczne na Górnym Śląsku i w Ceszyńskiem w latach 1918–1939 (Warsaw: Państwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe, 1972)Google Scholar.

53 W. K., “Polacy i Niemcy w Granicach: Wojwewództwa Śląskiego,” and Ręgorowicz, “Dorobek,” both in Śląsk, ed. Benisz, 21–29 and 31–33.

54 About 51,000 of these refugees stayed in the Province O/S. See Heffner, Krystian and Lesiuk, Wiesław, “Ekonomiczne i Społeczne skutki podziału Górnego Śląska w 1922,” in Podział Śląska w 1922 roku, ed. Brożka, Andrzej and Kulak, Teresa (Wrocław: Uniwersytet Wrocławski, 1996), 148Google Scholar.

55 Masurczyk, Joachim, “Wohnungsbau in Oberschlesien,” and Roland Lesniak, “Verkehrswesen und Bauten des Verkehrs,” in Die Architektur der Weimarer Republik. Ein Blick auf unbeachtete Bauwerke, ed. Gussone, Nikolaus (Ratingen-Hösel: Oberschlesisches Landesmuseum, Stiftung Haus O/S, 1992), 29–43, 67–82Google Scholar; Szczypka-Gwiazda, Barbara, Pomiędzy praktyką a utopią: Trójmiasto Bytom-Zabrze-Gliwice jako przykład koncepcji miasta przemysłowego czasów Republiki Weimarskiej (Katowice: Wyd. Uniwersystetu Śląskiego, 2003), 133, 137Google Scholar.

56 On the “Tri-City Project,” see Szczypka-Gwiazda, Pomiędzy; Szczypka-Gwiazda, Barbara, “Trójmiasto Bytom-Zabrze-Gliwice jako przykład nowej koncepcji urbanistycznej,” in Sztuka Górnego Śląska na przecięciu dróg europejskich i regionalnych, ed. Chojecka, Ewa (Katowice: Muzeum Śląskie, 1999), 267–79Google Scholar; Hoffmann, Stephanie, “Stadtplanung in O/S [Oberschlesien] am Beispiel der Städte Beuthen, Gleiwitz, und Hindenburg,” in Die Architektur der Weimarer Republik, ed. Gussone, 10–28Google Scholar.

57 Szczypka-Gwiazda, Pomiędzy, 43.

58 Ibid., 150.

59 “Wie O/S [Oberschlesien] die Abstimmung gedenkt,” and “Grüsse aus dem Reich,” both in Oberschlesische Wanderer (hereafter OSW) 68, March 22, 1931, n.p.; “Herr, mach uns einig und frei,” OSW 69, March 24, 1931, n.p.; “Innenminister Severing bei der Hindenburger Kundgebung,” OSW 70, March 25, 1931, n.p.

60 Both quotations from the statement by Dr. Freiherr von Richthofen of the University of Hamburg, taken from “Oberschlesien ist urdeutsches Land,” ODM, Oct. 25, 1932, in AAN 482, 183, doc. 32.

61 Dietz d'Arma, “Nowe Gmachy Muzealne,” 66–68.

62 Falęcki, Tomasz, “Nazwy miejscowe Katowic jako obraz przemian politycznych i kulturalnych,” in Katowice w 138. rocznice uzyskania praw miejskich, ed. Barciak, Antoni (Katowice: Muzeum Historii Katowic, 2004), 22–9Google Scholar.

63 Konsulat RP w Bytomiu., do MSZ, March 20, 1934, AAN 482, 30, doc. 52. See also Haubold-Stolle, Mythos Oberschlesien, 268ff.

64 “Gauleiter Wagner weihte den Ratiborer Grenzturm,” ODM, May 22, 1938, n.p.

65 Documents of “Grenzfahrten” from 1937–39 are in the files of the Bund des Deutschen Osten (hereafter BDO), Landesgruppe Schlesien, in Archiwum Państowe we Wrocłąwiu (hereafter APWr.), 170/0 (Provinzionelle Ausschuss von Schlesien), 901, 902, and 984. On rallying the unemployed, see Magistrat Ratibor, an den Magistrat Hindenburg O/S, June 10, 1933, APK-Oddział Gliwice (APK-Gl), 35 (Akta Miasta Zabrza), 694, doc. 2. On the politicization of tourism in the Third Reich, see Koshar, Rudy, German Travel Cultures (Oxford: Berg, 2000)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

66 Ratibor, die Stadt an zwei Grenzen. Der Grenzlandturm (n.p., May 1938).

67 OSV 141, May 23, 1931, from GStA PK, Tit. 856, Nr. 390, doc. 124.

68 Haubold-Stolle, Juliane, “Góra świętej Anny w niemieckiej i polskiej tradycji policyznej,” in Imaginiertes Oberschlesien. Mythen, Symbole und Helden in den nationalen Diskursen, ed. Linek, Bernard and Haubold-Stolle, Juliane (Opole and Marburg: Instytut Śląski and Herder Institute, 2005), 193–5Google Scholar.

69 The site was also called the Feierstätte und Freikorpsehrenmal am Annaberg. Works on it include Haubold-Stolle, Mythos Oberschlesien; Haubold-Stolle, “Góra świętej Anny w niemieckiej i polskiej tradycji policyznej,” and Haubold-Stolle, Juliane, “Der Gipfel der Symbolik. Der Sankt Annaberg als Verkörperung Oberschlesiens,” in Wiedergewonnene Geschichte. Zur Aneignung von Vergangenheit in den Zwischenräumen Mitteleuropas, ed. Pletzing, Christian, Serrier, Tomas, and Loew, Peter Oliver (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, 2006), 347–62Google Scholar; Bjork, James and Gerwarth, Robert, “The Annaberg as a German-Polish ‘Lieu de mémoire,’” German History 25, no. 3 (2007): 373–400CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Brands, Gunnar, “From World War I Cemetaries to the Nazi ‘Fortresses of the Dead’: Architecture, Heroic Landscape, and the Quest for National Identity in Germany,” in Places of Commemoration: Search for Identity and Landscape Design, ed. Wolschke-Bulmahn, Joachim (Washington, D.C.: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, 2001), 215–56Google Scholar; Dobesz, Janusz, “Góra św. Anny: symbol uniwersalny,” in Sztuka, ed. Chojecka, 203–226Google Scholar.

70 Haubold-Stolle, Mythos Oberschlesien, 268–75.

71 Brands, “From World War I Cemetaries,” 241–2.

72 Regierungspräsident, an MdI Berlin, Sept. 17, 1935, Politisches Archiv des Auswärtigen Amtes (PA-AA), Warschau 81, n.p.

73 Brands, “From World War I Cemetaries,” 242.

74 Bjork and Gerwarth, “The Annaberg,” 388–9; Haubold-Stolle, Mythos Oberschlesien, 274.

75 Dobesz, “Góra,” 203–226.

76 Kon. Op., dot., “Obchody niemiecke na Śląsku Opolskim,” AAN 474 (Ambasada RP w Berlinie), 841, doc. 111.

77 Lagebericht, April-June 1939, APO, 1191 (Rejencja Opolska), 1937, doc. 562; and Bjork and Gerwarth, “The Annaberg,” 388.

78 Policja Województwa Śląskiego, situational report, June 15, 1939, APK 38 (Policja Województwa Śląskiego), 176, doc. 36.

79 Kon. Op., do Ambasady RP w Berlinie, July 4, 1938, AAN 482, 59, doc. 61ff; Kon. Op., do Ambasady, Nov. 9, 1938, (same file), doc. 65, and Gestapo, Lagebericht, October–December 1938, APO 1191, 1936, doc. 351.

80 Konsulat Kattowitz, an Auswärtigen Amt (AA), March 24, 1936, PA-AA, Kattowitz, 46, Bd. 3, n.p.; Deutsche Bottschaft Warschau, an AA, April 24, 1936, (same file), n.p.

81 Reichsministerium des Innerns, Berlin, an OP, Abschrift, May 19, 1936, PA-AA, Warschau, 81, n.p.

82 Deutsche Generalkonsulat Kattowitz, an die Deutsche Botschaft Warschau, Dec. 30, 1935, PA-AA, Warschau 81, n.p.

83 Landesgruppenleiter, an BDO, June 6, 1939, APWr. 170/0, 838, doc. 167.

84 On the architecture of the museum building, see Dietz d'Arma, “Nowe Gmachy Muzealne,” 66–8; Glazek, Dorota, “Budynek Muzeum Śląskiego na tle architektury europejskiej lat trzydziestych XX wieku,” Roczniki Katowic (1980): 113–21Google Scholar; Barbara Szczypka-Gwiazda, Nieznane Oblicze Sztuki Polskiej, 30–1; Chojecka, Sztuka, 332–334.

85 See Spatz, Otto H., Wiedergewonnenes deutsches Land (Munich and Berlin: J. F. Lehmann, 1941), 3, 47–211Google Scholar.

86 See Epstein, Catherine, Model Nazi: Arthur Greiser and the Occupation of Western Poland (New York: Oxford University Press, 2010), 250CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

87 Hannes Peuckert, “‘Es gibt nur ein Schlesien!’ Gauleiter Wagner beim ‘Tag der Freiheit’ in Kattowitz,” ODM, October 16, 1939, 2ff.

88 “Grossdeutschland nahm uns auf,” KZ, October 16, 1939, cover page.

89 Peuckert, “‘Es gibt nur ein Schlesien!’”

90 On “Umvolkung,” see Götz Aly and Heim, Susanne, Architects of Annihilation: Auschwitz and the Logic of Destruction (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2002)Google Scholar, esp. 87 and chap. 12; Rainer Schulze, “‘Der Führer Ruft!’ Zur Rückholung der Volksdeutschen aus dem Osten,” and Heinemann, Isabel, “‘Deutsches Blut’: Die Raseexperten der SS und die Volksdeutschen,” both in Die “Volksdeutschen” in Polen, Frankreich, Ungarn und die Tschechoslowakei. Mythos und Realität, ed. Kochanowski, Jerzy and Sach, Maike (Osnabrück: Fibre, 2006), 163–204Google Scholar; Haar, Ingo, “Inklusion und Genozid. Raum- und Bevölkerungspolitik im besetzten Polen 1939 bis 1944,” in Deutschsein als Grenzerfahrung. Minderheitenpolitik in Europa zwischen 1914 und 1950, ed. Beyrau, Dietrich, Beer, Mathias, and Rauh, Cornelia (Essen: Klartext Verlag, 2009), 35–60Google Scholar; Wolschke-Bulmahn, Joachim, “Violence as the Basis of National Socialist Landscape Planning in the ‘Annexed Eastern Areas,’” in How Green Were the Nazis? Nature, Environment, and Nation in the Third Reich, ed. Brüggemeier, Franz-Joseph, Cioc, Mark, and Zeller, Thomas (Athens, OH: Ohio University Press, 2005), 242–256Google Scholar; Kaczmarek, Ryszard, Górny Śląsk podczas II wojny światowej: między utopią niemieckiej wspólnoty narodowej a rzeczywistością okupacji na terenach wcielonych do Trzeciej Rzeszy (Katowice: Wyd. Uniwersytetu Śląskiego, 2006)Google Scholar; Rutherford, Phillip T., Prelude to the Final Solution: The Nazi Program for Deporting Ethnic Poles, 1939–41 (Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas, 2007)Google Scholar; Epstein, Model Nazi.

91 On the OHB, Kaczmarek, Górny, 348. The Deutsche Volksliste (DVL) was a rubric by which the Nazis classified Upper Silesians and other borderland inhabitants into four degrees of German nationality as a means of making them—either immediately or eventually—into German citizens and integrating them into the “Volksgemeinschaft” (Nazi-German national community). Those in category one (DVL 1) were considered to be “German” enough to be worthy of citizenship, and those in category four (DVL 4) were regarded to be renegades who had taken up arms or voice against Germany but who were nevertheless still potentially “Germanizable” with time on account of their “German blood.” Those in the remaining categories were somewhere in between these extremes. More recent studies dealing with the DVL and Nazi citizenship policy in the annexed and overtaken territories include Ehrlich, “Between Germany and Poland”; Kaczmarek, Górny, 175–215; Haar, “Inklusion und Genozid. Raum- und Bevölkerungspolitik,” 41–6, 56–9; Aly and Heim, Architects, 82–7, 103–104; Epstein, Model Nazi, chap. 6; Bryant, Chad, “Either German or Czech: Fixing Nationality in Bohemia and Moravia, 1939-1946,” Slavic Review 61, no. 4 (Winter 2002): 683–706CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

92 “Was will der O/S Heimatbund (OHB)?,” August 1941, APK 117 (Oberpräsidium Kattowitz), 413, doc. 9–11.

93 “Bericht über die erste öffentliche Arbeitstagung des OHB,” August 9, 1941, APK-Gl, 1 (Akta Miasta Gliwic), 5746, doc. 8ff. On the head of this bureau, Gerhard Ziegler, see Aly and Heim, Architects, 105–6.

94 “Was will der O/S Heimatbund (OHB)?,” August 1941, APK 117 (Oberpräsidium Kattowitz), 413, doc. 9–11. On the discourse of “Polish management,” see Orlowski, Hubert, “Polnische Wirtschaft.” Zum deutschen Polendiskurs der Neuzeit (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1996)Google Scholar; and Blackbourn, David, The Conquest of Nature: Water, Landscape, and the Making of Modern Germany (London: Jonathan Cape, 2006)Google Scholar, 247, 279.

95 Quoted from Liulevicius, Vejas Gabriel, The German Myth of the East: 1800 to Present (New York: Oxford University Press, 2009), 131CrossRefGoogle Scholar. On Nazi concepts of modernity, see Herf, Jeffrey, Reactionary Modernism: Technology, Culture, and Politics in Weimar and the Third Reich (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1984), esp. 224Google Scholar.

96 These notions of “Americanism” also pertained to the comparisons that officials made to the American colonialization of “the Wild West.” For an equation of “Polnische Wirtschaft” and “American” landscape development, see Ziegler, Gerhard, “Landschaftsgestaltung in Oberschlesien,” in Schönere Heimat, ed. Förster, Wolfgang and Stumpe, Friedrich (Breslau: Schlesienverlag, circa 1941), esp. 9ffGoogle Scholar. For an extensive treatment of this discourse and its political application, see Blackbourn, The Conquest, 280–96.

97 Examples of such labels of Katowice's cityscape are found in “Bericht der Oberbürgermeister der Baupolizei,” March 13, 1941, APK 119 (Regierung Kattowitz), 10608, doc. 1–2; Alfred Perret, “Vom guten und schlechten Bauen,” Der Oberschlesien, Heft 1 (January/March 1942): 4–6; “Kattowitz im deutschen Aufbau,” Deutsche Bergzeitung, December 10, 1940, in APK 119, 1175, doc. 71; Heinz Weber, “Als Pan Grazynski [sic!] hier ‘fröhlich schuff,’” Heimatkalender Kattowitz (1942), 83ff. On Nazi anti-Jewish propaganda during the war, see Herf, Jeffrey, The Jewish Enemy: Nazi Propaganda during World War II and the Holocaust (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2006)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

98 Erwin W. Schramm, “Die Entschandelung und Verschönerung des Stadt- und Dorfbildes im Rahmen der gemeindlichen Kulturarbeit,” Der Oberschlesien Heft 2 (December 1941): 5.

99 See, for example, official tour guides, such as Führer durch die Stadt Kattowitz (Kattowitz: Fremdverkehrsverband, 1940)Google Scholar, esp. 9 and 11; Gauhauptstadt Kattowitz, O/S. Die politische, wirtschaftliche und kulturelle Mittelpunkt der neuen Gaues O/S (unknown publisher and place, circa 1941); almanacs, such as Heimatkalender des Kreis Kattowitz und der Städte Kattowitz und Königshütte 1941 (Kattowitz: Gauverlag O/S, 1940)Google Scholar, illustrations between pages 31 and 33; and one of several articles promoting “Deutschlands jüngsten Gau” (Gau O/S): “Die Gauhauptstadt auf der Kohle,” Münchener Neuesten Nachrichten 54, February 23, 1941, from BArch N.S. 5 VI (Deutsche Arbeitsfront), 5943, n.p.

100 These numbers were likely to have been overestimates given by the press. See Peuckert, “‘Es gibt nur ein Schlesien!,’” and “Dieser Boden wird von nun an deutsch bleiben,” Oberschlesische Kurier 242, Sept. 2, 1940, cover.

101 “Kattowitz als Verkehrszentrum,” KZ, Feb. 20, 1941; Führer durch die Stadt Kattowitz, 10–11; Sappok, Gerhard, Papritz, Joh., and Weidhaas, Hermann, eds., Oberschlesiens Großstädte. Ein Führer und Handbuch für Fremde und Einheimische (Leipzig: Verlag S. Hirzel, 1943), 126Google Scholar.

102 Perret, “Vom guten und vom schlechten Baues,” 4; “Pflege und Verbesserung des Ortbildes im deutschen Osten,” BArch 8086 (Deutsche Heimatbund), 79, n.p. On Nazi aims to alter the landscape in occupied Poland, see Blackbourn, The Conquest, 252ff.

103 “Insurgenten-Überfall in Kattowitz. Schüsse aus der Synagogue auf vorbeifahrendes Militär,” KZ, Sept. 6, 1939, n.p.

104 The official name of this campaign was also the “Sonderaktion für die Entschandelung und Verschönerung des Stadt- und Dorfbildes.” Schramm,“Die Entschandelung und Verschönerung des Stadt- und Dorfbildes,” 4–6. For similar discourses and developments in the Warthegau, see Epstein, Model Nazi, chap. 7.

105 For the measures and goals of the campaign, see Erwin Schramm, “Gaukommunalamtsleiter. Verschönerung des Stadt- und Dorfbildes,” KZ, May 21, 1941, n.p.; “Anordnungen des Gauamtsleiters für Kommunalpolitik, Pg. Schramm. Verschönerung des Stadt- und Dorfbildes—Das Schöne Oberschlesien,” Der Oberschlesien Heft 2 (Dec. 1941): 25–6; Gauamtsleiter, an G. Kate und die Provinzialverwaltung, 1941, APK 118 (Provinzialverwaltung), 4712, doc. 28; “Richtlinien für die Pflege und Erhaltung des Dorfbildes,” 1941, APK 646 (Akta Miasta Chorzów), 2715, doc. 8–13; Regierungsbaurat, “Richtlinien für die Pflege und Erhaltung des Dorfbildes,” n.d., APK 117, 4713, doc. 1ff; NSDAP Kreisamtsleiter für Kommunalpolitik, Pg. Lubcyzk in Pless, May 22, 1941, APK-Oddz. Pszczyna 26 (Akta Miasta Pszczyna), 3449, doc. 3, 5ff., 28ff.; “Landkreis Kattowitz, Verschönerung des Ortsbildes,” KZ, April 27, 1940, n.p.

106 “Anordnungen des Gauamtsleiters,” 24–25.

107 “Entschandelung als Erziehungsaufgabe,” KZ 286, Oct. 17, 1941, n.p.; “Ein Aufruf und sein Erfolg,” KZ, Feb. 25, 1941, n.p; and also complaints in internal correspondence: Regierungspräsident Springorum, “Abschrift Betr. die Pflege und Verbesserung des Strassenbildes,” Dec. 17, 1940, APK 1485, 283, doc. 49; “Von dem Amt für Kommunalpolitik,” Sept. 9, 1941, APK 149, 174, doc. 40.

108 Examples of these conflicts can be found in NSDAP Kreisleitung (Krsl.) Königshütte, Stimmungsbericht August 1941, APK 149, 72, doc. 108; and Stimmungsbericht Juli 1941, same file, doc. 31-33; SS-Sicherheitdienst (SD), Aktenvermerk Betr. Aufbau der Herman Göring Werke im hiesigen Bereich, May 21, 1940, APK 140 (SD), 7, doc. 55ff.; Krsl. Kattowitz, Lagebericht, Feb. 1940, APK 148 (Krsl. Kattowitz), 1, doc. 12. For Nazi governing and policing policies, see Kaczmarek, Górny, esp. chap. 2.

109 “Wiederstandsbewegung der Volksdeutsche,” quoted from Landrat Kattowitz, Lagebericht Sept–Dec. 1942, Rossiskii Gosudarstvennyi Voennyi Arkhiv (RGVA), 1232 (Oberpräsident der Provinz O/S, Kattowitz), 26, doc. 61. On failures of Volksliste policy in Upper Silesia, see also Ehrlich, “Between Germany and Poland,” 90.