marion kanawha 4 | 128
22 Mar 2026 #1
Making my way through Phillip T. Rutherford's PRELUDE TO THE FINAL SOLUTION. When Poland fell to the Nazis the country was carved up/ Part was absorbed into the Reich; part was created as a dumping ground called the General Government. A third part became the new eastern province of the Reich called the Warthegau.
Ideally the Nazis were going to displace all the Poles and replace them with immigrant Germans, the Volksdeutshen. Reality changed that plan quickly. Labor, for production and agriculture, and especially the need for food became primary. It's late 1940, the beginning of 1941. Poles aren't being deported. They're way too valuable.
So, the Nazis come up with a Deutsche VolksListe (DVL). Poles are categorized as DVL 1, 2, 3, 4. DVL 1 & 2 were considered Volksdeutschen. DVL 3 and 4 had to be "re-Germanized". This didn't happen; no time for such fanciful programs.
"Hundreds of thousands of individuals, even though they were self-consciously Polish and had only the most tenuous connection to German Volksturm were simply turned into probationary Germans via the DVL particularly via the third, fairly lenient category of the system. Such racial hocus-pocus increased the German population of annexed Poland with relative ease..."
"...it secured manpower not only for the Reich economy but also for the German military. Since those who received the designation DVL 1 through DVL 3 qualified for service in the Wehrmacht." (P. 209)
Category DVL 3 became a "catch-all". If he spoke Polish, if his cultural and religious background was Polish, if his worldview was Polish, if he ate Polish food, if he was an excellent worker then he must be German. 60% to 70% of Poles classified as DVL 3 became German. This is millions of people.
My question is were these Poles in the German army at Normandy, in southern France, at the hedgerows, at Market Garden, at the Falaise Pocket, etc.?
Ideally the Nazis were going to displace all the Poles and replace them with immigrant Germans, the Volksdeutshen. Reality changed that plan quickly. Labor, for production and agriculture, and especially the need for food became primary. It's late 1940, the beginning of 1941. Poles aren't being deported. They're way too valuable.
So, the Nazis come up with a Deutsche VolksListe (DVL). Poles are categorized as DVL 1, 2, 3, 4. DVL 1 & 2 were considered Volksdeutschen. DVL 3 and 4 had to be "re-Germanized". This didn't happen; no time for such fanciful programs.
"Hundreds of thousands of individuals, even though they were self-consciously Polish and had only the most tenuous connection to German Volksturm were simply turned into probationary Germans via the DVL particularly via the third, fairly lenient category of the system. Such racial hocus-pocus increased the German population of annexed Poland with relative ease..."
"...it secured manpower not only for the Reich economy but also for the German military. Since those who received the designation DVL 1 through DVL 3 qualified for service in the Wehrmacht." (P. 209)
Category DVL 3 became a "catch-all". If he spoke Polish, if his cultural and religious background was Polish, if his worldview was Polish, if he ate Polish food, if he was an excellent worker then he must be German. 60% to 70% of Poles classified as DVL 3 became German. This is millions of people.
My question is were these Poles in the German army at Normandy, in southern France, at the hedgerows, at Market Garden, at the Falaise Pocket, etc.?