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Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Introduction
- The German Policy of Extermination and Germanization of Polish Children during World War II
- A Crime without Punishment: The Extermination of Polish Children during the Period of German Occupation from 1939 to 1945
- Polish Children and Youth in Auschwitz
- Suffering of Children in Auschwitz – Biological and Mental Extermination
- When There Were No More Tears Left to Cry: The Tragic Fate of the Polish Children Displaced from the Zamość Region in 1942–1943
- Children of the Zamość Region in the Majdanek Camp (in Selected Archive Files and Personal Accounts)
- The German Camp for Juvenile Poles in Łódź at Przemysłowa Street
- The Role of Gaukinderheim Kalisch in Germanization during World War II
- The Germanization of Polish Children and Youth in Gdańsk Pomerania and the Role of the Stutthof Concentration Camp
- Children’s Experiences in the German Displacement and Forced Labor Camp in Potulice and Smukała – Memories of Female Prisoners
- The Fate of the Children of Białystok under Soviet and German Totalitarianism during World War II
- Extermination of Juvenile Scouts in the Lands of Poland during the German Occupation of 1939–1945
- The Fate of Polish Children in Allied-occupied Germany in the Years 1945–1950
- The Returns of Polish Children from German Lands and Scouting Activity at the Transitional Center in Munich. The Polish West State Banner Established by Władysław Śmiałek and Its Role in Simplifying the Fate of Polish War Orphans
The Fate of Polish Children in Allied-occupied Germany in the Years 1945–1950
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 November 2021
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Introduction
- The German Policy of Extermination and Germanization of Polish Children during World War II
- A Crime without Punishment: The Extermination of Polish Children during the Period of German Occupation from 1939 to 1945
- Polish Children and Youth in Auschwitz
- Suffering of Children in Auschwitz – Biological and Mental Extermination
- When There Were No More Tears Left to Cry: The Tragic Fate of the Polish Children Displaced from the Zamość Region in 1942–1943
- Children of the Zamość Region in the Majdanek Camp (in Selected Archive Files and Personal Accounts)
- The German Camp for Juvenile Poles in Łódź at Przemysłowa Street
- The Role of Gaukinderheim Kalisch in Germanization during World War II
- The Germanization of Polish Children and Youth in Gdańsk Pomerania and the Role of the Stutthof Concentration Camp
- Children’s Experiences in the German Displacement and Forced Labor Camp in Potulice and Smukała – Memories of Female Prisoners
- The Fate of the Children of Białystok under Soviet and German Totalitarianism during World War II
- Extermination of Juvenile Scouts in the Lands of Poland during the German Occupation of 1939–1945
- The Fate of Polish Children in Allied-occupied Germany in the Years 1945–1950
- The Returns of Polish Children from German Lands and Scouting Activity at the Transitional Center in Munich. The Polish West State Banner Established by Władysław Śmiałek and Its Role in Simplifying the Fate of Polish War Orphans
Summary
Abstract: The Second World War brought not only material destruction, but also and perhaps foremost a spiritual and moral ruin. This was felt very painfully by the Polish nation, towards which the Nazi Germany had prepared a policy of total annihilation. This program had severe repercussions for Polish children, who became hostages to a false idea of the greatness and exceptionalism of the German nation, of the superiority of the Master Race. This chapter gives an outline of the basic problems faced by both the Polish state and Polish families during their attempts to repatriate kidnapped and deported children who remained in the Allied occupation zones after 1945.
Keywords: Polish child war victims, children in Allied occupation zones, the fate of Polish children in the Second World War
During World War II, as a result of the deliberate and planned extermination of the Polish nation, more than 2.5 million of Polish citizens were sent to the territories of the German Third Reich. Among them were about 200 thousand children aged 12 and less (Wnuk, 1982, p. 425). The Nazi authorities issued several resolutions and regulations (Helbing, 2017, pp. 19–22) which “organized” these criminal practices (Wnuk, 1982, p. 425). Among them “the decree of Heinrich Himmler as the SS Reichsfuhrer and the Commissioner for the Consolidation of German Nationhood on Screening and Selecting the Population in the Annexed Territories (…) stated that against those who refuse re-Germanisation, Security Police measures are to be taken and that their children “who cannot be held responsible for their parents’ behavior” are to be taken to proper German institutions” (Hrabar, Tokarz, Wilczur, 1979, p. 111).
The “Drive to the East” (Drang nach Osten) policy, the Lebensraum concept of creating a new living space for the German nation (Eberhardt, 2008, pp. 175–198), the racist-fascist ideology set out in, for example, Hitler's Mein Kampf and the so called Nuremberg Laws of September 15th, 1935 on Reich citizenship, protection of German Blood and German Honor and the Healthy Heritage of the German Nation became the grounds for persecutions against the Polish people, which included the physical, psychological and spiritual extermination of children and youth (Madajczyk, 1969, pp. 15–26).
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- Information
- Crime without PunishmentThe Extermination and Suffering of Polish Children during the German Occupation 1939–1945, pp. 247 - 256Publisher: Jagiellonian University PressPrint publication year: 2022