JULY 11 - DAILY CHRONICLES OF HISTORY

JULY 11

1920

East and West Prussia voted in a plebiscite to become part of Germany, though a section of West Prussia would be handed to Poland to provide a 'Polish Corridor':  The East Prussian plebiscite dealt with the issue of self-determination of the regions southern Warmia (Ermland), Masuria (Mazury, Masuren) and Powiśle, which had been in parts of the East Prussian Government Region of Allenstein and of West Prussian Government Region of Marienwerder, and was to be held in accordance with Articles 94 to 97 of the Treaty of Versailles. The German side engaged in mass persecution of Polish activists, their Masurian supporters, hunted them down and murdered them to influence the vote. Poles boycotted the preparations for the plebiscite, which was tampered with by the Germans in an effort to manipulate the results.. The German conducted plebiscite reported a majority of voters selected East Prussia over Poland (over 97% in the Allenstein Plebiscite Area (de) and 92% in the Marienwerder Plebiscite Area (de); most of the territories in question remained in the Free State of Prussia, ie, in Germany.

1939

In Jazłowiec, the 14th Regiment of Jazłowiec Uhlans celebrated its Day.  The Regiment was a cavalry unit of the Polish Army in the Second Polish Republic, and named after the village of Jazlowiec where in July 1919, they fought one of the battles of the Polish-Ukrainian War. They were stationed in Lwow in the interbellum period, and were a unit in the Polish Armed Forces in the West, and the Home Army during WW2.

1943

Bloody Sunday, the beginning of Massacres of Poles in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia: OUN-UPA death squads aided by the local Ukrainian peasants simultaneously attacked at least 99 Polish settlements within the Wołyń Voivodeship of the prewar Second Polish Republic under the German occupation. It was an orchestrated attack on people gathered for a Sunday mass at Catholic churches.The towns affected included Kisielin (Kisielin massacre), Poryck (Poryck Massacre), Chrynów (Chrynów massacre), Zabłoćce, Krymn, with dozens of other towns attacked at different dates with tens of churches and chapels burned to the ground. The Volhynian massacres spread over four prewar voivodeships including Wołyń with 60,000 victims, as well as Lwów, Stanisławów and Tarnopol in Lesser Poland with 70,000 Poles murdered for the total of 130,000 Polish victims of UPA terror. The Bloody Sunday of July 11, 1943, is not to be confused with the Stanisławów Ghetto Bloody Sunday massacre of 10,000 to 12,000 Polish Jews on October 12, 1941, before the Stanisławów Ghetto announcement.


Zagaje massacre:   Troops of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army group "Piwnicz", aided by Ukrainian peasants, massacred ethnic Poles - about 260 to 350 men, women, and children.  The village Zagaje was leveled out and does not exist anymore. It was located in the gmina Podberezie of the Horochów County in the Wołyń Voivodeship of the Second Polish Republic (now, Horokhiv Raion, Ukraine)


Gurów massacre:  The Ukrainian Insurgent Army death squad from Group "Piwnicz"and Ukrainian peasants launched a massacre of the Polish citizens in the town of Gurow. It took place during the Massacres of Poles in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia.  Gurów was located in Gmina Grzybowica, Powiat Włodzimierz in the Wołyń Voivodeship of the Second Polish Republic. The town no longer exists. Of the 480 Polish citizens of Gurów about 70 people managed to escape death by hiding from the attackers. Historians Władysław and Ewa Siemaszko have confirmed by name the 200 Poles and 2 Jews murdered in Gurow. The killing spread to other nearby towns -  Wygranka, Zdżary, Zabłoćce, Sądowa, Nowiny, Zagaje (see Zagaje massacre), Poryck (see: Poryck massacre), Oleń, Orzeszyn, Romanówka, Lachów, and Gucin.

1944

Wilhelm Koppe, an SS-Obergruppenführer and head of the Höhere SS und Polizei Führer,  was wounded on July 11, 1944 in Kraków in a plot code-named Operation Heads (Glowki). The Operation consisted of several Nazi officers targeted for assassination, and was carried out by members of the Polish Resistance.  Nazi German officers were sentenced to death by the Special Courts of the Polish Underground for crimes against Polish citizens during the World War II occupation of Poland. The name of the operation, "Operation Heads" was a sarcastic reference to the Totenkopf (Gr. 'skull') 'Death's Head' symbol of SS Nazi German uniforms and headgear.

Secret Polish Forces of WW2: The "Silent & Dark Ones" PART II: MISSIONS Operation Heads - Operacja Glowki

OPERATION HEADS - Operacja Glowki

During World War II Nazi-occupied Poland was a veritable hunting ground. German troops were constantly on the rampage, rounding up as many Polish civilians as possible. These daily arrests were referrred to by the Poles as lapanka. Hundreds of Polish men, women, and children were arrested and executed en masse. In Warsaw between 1942 and 1944 over 400 Poles fell victim to the lapanka on a daily basis. Many more perished throughout Poland. By the end of the war tens of thousands of Polish civilians had been murdered in mass executions, including an estimated 37,000 Polish inmates in Pawiak prison, run by the Gestapo. Thousands of Polish civilians and resistance fighters were murdered in the ruins of the Warsaw Ghetto. Many of the executions were made a public spectacle in an effort by the Germans at pacification. The Nazis published lists of names of Polish individuals marked for execution. In retaliation, the Polish Underground also published their own lists naming specific Nazi German officials for assassination, and proceeded to systematically carry out their threats.

Lapanka - German soldiers arresting Polish civilians

Polish Civilians Hanged at the Gallows by Nazi Germans

Operation Heads was the Polish answer to Nazi terror. The Polish Underground targeted key Nazi officials for assassination as recompense for the German crimes perpetrated against the Polish people. The assassinations were legally decreed by the Secret Polish Underground State, and by the Special Courts of the Polish Underground. They named the mission Operation Heads in sarcastic reference to the Totenkopf, which was the symbol prominently displayed on SS Nazi German uniforms and headgear.

Totenkopf

In response to Nazi brutality,  members of the Polish Home Army planned and carried out ambushes, killing 361 gendarmes in 1943, and another 584 in 1944. In Warsaw 10 Germans were killed on a daily basis. From August to December 1942, the Home Army carried out 87 attacks on the German administration and members of the terror regime.  By 1943 the frequency of attacks increased radically. During the first four months of 1943, the Home Army increased the attacks to 514. The Polish underground targeted key figures of the German administration, police, SS, SA, labor office and Gestapo. All were condemned to death by the Polish Underground Court for crimes against the Polish people. Even Poles who were caught collaborating with the Germans were sentenced to death. Retribution was swift and merciless. 

The following list of names are just a few of the Nazi officials that were targeted by the Armia Krajowa for execution. 

TARGETS FOR ASSASSINATION

Anton Hergel

a Nazi commissioner of printers who controlled press and publishers in General Government.  The Polish Resistance fighters wounded him twice,

 in two separate actions 1943.



Franz Bürkl

was an SS-Oberscharführer, Gestapo officer, and commandant of Pawiak.

He was killed in Operation Bürkl on September 7, 1943.


August Kretschmann

was an SS-Hauptscharfuhrer and commandant of prison camp Gesiowka.

He was executed September 24, 1943.



Stephan Klein SS-Scharfuhrer

member of Pawiak prison. He was killed on 1943 by Kedyw baon Battalion Parasol.



Franz Kutschera

was an SS-Brigadeführer and Generalmajor of Polizei, SS and Police Leader of the Warsaw District. He was killed in Operation Kutschera on February 1, 1944.



Ernst Weffels

was an SS-Sturmmann member of Nazi personnel of Pawiak. He was executed on October 1, 1943 for cruelty and executions in the Women's Prison in Pawiak.



Ludwig Fischer

was Governor of the Warsaw District during the occupation General Government. Shots were fired at his car in Operation Hunting in 1944, but he survived. After war, he was caught, sentenced to death, and executed by hanging in Poland.



Albrecht Eitner

was a secret agent working to Abwehr. He was executed on July 1, 1944.



Willi Lubbert

worked at the unemployment office and organizedł apanka (Polish euphemism for rounding up of non-combatants) of Poles to be sent to Nazi labor camps.

He was executed on July 1, 1944.



Wilhelm Koppe – Hohere SS und Polizei Fuhrer

HSSP, SS-Obergruppenfuhrer wounded in "Akcja Koppe" (Action Koppe)

 on 11 July 1944 in Krakow.



Ernst Durrfeld

had shots fired at his car on July 12, 1944, but he escaped.



Willy Leitgeber

was an officer of section Kripo assigned to fight with Polish underground.

He was wounded in one action and killed in second.



Michajlo Poholowko

was a Ukrainian Nazi collaborator from Komitet Ukrainski.

He was killed on March 31, 1944.



Walter Stamm

was an SS-Sturmbannführer, IV Department Gestapo, director in Warsaw Sicherheitsdienst. He escaped from Operation Stamm on May 5, 1944.



Eugen Bollodino

worked in the unemployment office and organized lapanka (Polish euphemism for rounding up on the streets of civilians) of Poles to be sent to Nazi labor camps.
 He was executed on 1944.



Karl Freudenthal Kreishauptmann

of powiat Garwolin responsible for murder of Jews and Poles, and for deportation of local Jewish population to the ghettos

NEXT:

PART II MISSIONS:  Operation Burkl