Germans From Baltic Attacked By Poles

Northern Advocate, 30 January 1940, Page 8

Germans From Baltic Attacked By Poles

Forty-eight thousand Baltic Germans from Latvia and 12,000 from Estonia, now settled in Poznan (Posen) .and Pomerania, the new “purely German country” in German Poland, are having great difficulty in establishing themselves. Middle-class Germans—professional men and women from Tallinn and Riga—who have been forced to become farm labourers, have to work under the protection of Storm Troops and secret police because of the persistent danger of attack by dispossessed Poles.

Germany was formerly' prepared to accept Polish co-operation, and she allowed some Poles to remain and retain their homes and farms; but because of their endless and active opposition, these Poles are now being' thrown out.

The Nazi Press continually refers to the struggle against Polish banditry, and reports from tribunal proceedings give significant details of killings—a Polish barber murdered the successor to his business, and a whole German family was wiped out by the previous owners of their farm.

In one instance, listeners on the wireless were requested to attend the obsequies of “15 German comrades, victims of Polish banditry." It is estimated that 200,000 people will be needed to colonise the country adequately. A total, of 20,405 members of the German minority in Russian-occupied Poland have arrived at camps near Lodz (in German Poland).