History / Polish conscripts to German army [132]

Hello all,

In almost all cases severe force and terror, or simply being poor, led to conscription into the hated German army. An impossible choice, it meant treason to Poland.

It happened to millions in mainly eastern occupied territories, many died, the survivors never spoke out of shame or being afraid to be stigmatized. One of them was

my father who loved his Poland but was too afraid to return after the war, since Poland was under Russian rule. The rumor had gone up the Russians mistrusted all who

had been connected to Germany. As a DP in England he ended up in The Netherlands and had a simple life passing away at age 74 . Only then I found out he and his

brothers had fought in the Wehrmacht. Talking with eyewitnesses revealed the circumstances. Refusal simply meant the family of 11 children would be annihilated by forced labor, adoption to Germany, concentration camp, and / or execution as a deserter to the German Reich. We can't possibly imagine these facts let alone stigmatize what happened.

They trusted in God when they went, and so should we.

In my research I found a good documentary on this topic. Polish relatives, eyewitnesses, talk about family members who were conscripted and taken for forced labor in Germany.

Have a look at:



I myself hope to get this silenced history to the big screen. I completed a screenplay about wartime in Poland and Europe seen through the eyes of my father in the army of his enemy.

A thorny story of conflict with the Polish soul. The terrible role of sheer chance. The simple desire to survive. You can support my efforts by spreading the word and follow me on Twitter @fjwohlert. A website is coming soon.

Dziękuję.

History / Polish conscripts to German army [132]

Trelow is my writers alias. But to satisfy you. My grandfather was indeed of German ancestors, he fought for the Kaiser in WWI. When with the Versailles Treaty the Polish State was created in 1918 he married his Polish wife and became Polish citizen. More or less forced maybe, because the new Polish State had a policy of Polonization. Germans were "urged" to leave or become Pole. Anyway, my father was born in 1923 and raised with the Polish soul. Maybe my grandfather just thought the Germans would never come back. But they did just that 19 years later. After the Germans occupied Poland they introduced Germanization and collected all with German ancestry, later in the war even Poles without. Signing Volksdeutsche was mandatory. those who refused were considered "traitors to the German Reich." with all consequences. Getting expelled with the Poles was not an option as in those times of tension the Poles mistrusted everyone with German ancestry. A Gordian Knot don't you think. hope this answers your question.

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History / Polish conscripts to German army [132]

I would recommend to see the documentary youtu.be/aaLJfwCJhZc

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  In war the strangest things happen.
  

History / Polish conscripts to German army [132]

True, I know the story.

History / Polish conscripts to German army [132]

I never felt that as a lecture. Any story can be contradicted by other stories. But that's another story.

History / Polish conscripts to German army [132]

No sorry I have no details. In Axis History forum someone named Somosierra mentioned it without a source.

You say my grandmother must have been a strong woman. Yes she was in many ways. But I want to say this goes for many families and both genders of her generation in those troubled years. The ethnic divide surfaced not only with WWII. After WWI the Germans were not wanted in the new Polish State and Polonization was executed. Germans lost their jobs, German schools closed, many emigrated, and the others adapted. But I think the people in the interwar years had other basic worries. The war and great epidemic flu had cost many lives, the harvests, a daily meal, building the Polish state, were more important than neighboring ethnics. From 1930 to 1936 the Great Polish Depression brought lots of misery and poverty. A potato is a potato one can eat, regardless where it comes from. When Hitler began to focus on Poland for "Anschluss Danzig" and "Lebensraum" both the German and Polish propaganda machines unleashed the old hatred. We have seen this so many times in history and still today. Before any war starts, tensions and hate for "the enemy" are fed by each side. Nobody goes to war without an enemy.