UNDER NAZI HEEL

Waikato Times, Volume 127, Issue 21159, 8 July 1940, Page 10

UNDER NAZI HEEL

CONDITIONS IN POLAND CONFISCATION OF PROPERTY POLICY OF SPOILATION It is seldom that one has opportunity to talk with a Pole direct from Danzig, but the source of the information in this article is a Polish woman whose family has for generations lived in that city. She herself was there until mid-January of tiiis year. Her husband was with the Polish Army, writes Ann Cardwell in the Christian Science Monitor, On the German occupation of the city all Polish homes, shops, and places of business were liable to confiscation. My informant's home, being one of the better class, was immediately visited by Gestapo agents, who in making their inspection took whatever pleased them. Not long alter the German occupation of the city, most of the Polish homes were requisitioned. What furniture and articles were not wanted by the new occupant, or were not removed, were thrown out and carted off as trash; among these all Polish books, which were first torn and trampled upon. The owner of the home was

not even permitted to take with her the family photographs or anything in the way of personal clothing. It is forbidden to rent rooms to Poles; hence those dispossessed—and they include all of any financial ability—live wherever they can find a corner. There are almost no men among the Danzig Poles, as those found there were on the first | morning of the war taken, some i from bed as it was early in the morning, to concentration camps in the vicinity of Danzig. All Activities Forbidden Here as elsewhere the young Nazis are in control. The Danzigers themselves have nothing to do with present affairs. In pre- | September days they had been friend- I ly to the Poles, saying they had no j cause to quarrel with them. But , when the war came the Danzigers j held aloof from their Polish friends, knowing what would be done to them i if they persisted in associating with { or helping Poles. All Polish organisations are for- ; bidden. No bank deposits have 1 ever been paid. There was no Red j Cross help for Poles. At first the • Poles were allowed food ration cards, [ but the Germans and Danzigers j were given preference, and later 1 cards were not issued to Poles. One aspect of the German occupation of i j the city attracted the attention of all | Danzig residents—that was the hun- i ' ger of the arrivals from the Reich, j

Danzig then had plenty of good food and these people ate as if they were starved. The situation of the Polish women and children in Danzig is desperate. They are not allowed legal residence yet cannot get permits to leave, as they must have visas to a country that will receive them. Some relative or friend I outside must help, guarantee that they will not be a burden, in most cases furnish travel money. But women who can get in touch with people who are able to arrange all this are very few. Family Ties Threatened The effort to make Polish women | divorce their absent husbands and ! declare themselves Germans is per- ! sistent. Propositions are made one i day and the next an agent appears I and asks, “How do you feel now?” that is, Polish or German. To which the reply is always the same, j Work of the most menial order is offered women of the intellectual j and upper social classes—scrubbing | floors, peeling potatoes, picking up j papers and trash. They were con- * stantly informed that this was the ' only kind of work Polish women were I fit for. Such offers were as regularly refused. The women preferred i starvation to being reduced to 1 slavery. And then certain of them j were compelled to perform these services, for which they were paid J 3A marks a week, a sum which is

nothing at all. Prisoners were forced to work in | the fields. The hours were from 5 J in the morning to 9 at night; the food a piece of black bread in the morning and evening, a bowl of , what the Germans were pleased to call potato soup at noon. The Polish language is forbidden. Everything Polish has been destroyed. The Poles are outcasts, j allowed neither to go nor stay, i When they ask what they may do, : they are told that a mass evacuation is being prepared, but whither the Germans have not yet said. But j the Poles do not need to be told the destination. Historic Buildings Gone To speak of the percentage of ! destroyed houses in Warsaw gives small idea of what the destruction has meant. Neither do statistics give any idea of the feelings of the 1 Poles when they sec their historic ; building? and palaces burned, their homes and churches damaged or . destroyed. Only with the beginning of December was communication established between the city and the residential suburbs. Up to that time people had been obliged to walk ; back and forth—the trip one way requires an hour and a half. To add to the hardship Poles were not ! permitted to be out after 8 p.m., j except when special permission was granted and they then ran the risk of being shot by the German police I

I before explanation could be made, j Letters have not been able to give any idea of the destruction which has taken place. No means of robbery is overlooked. For example, on a Sunday in November notices were posted on the walls of buildings ordering all merchants to report the amounts of supplies they j had on hand of coffee, tea, and cocoa, j Each shop was to be allowed to re- | tain about 220 pounds of coffee, and i Pounds of tea. Anything above these amounts was to be surrendered to the authorities “on deposit,” with jno date for return given. And this ; order had to be complied with on j the following day. Landmarks Demolished The Warsaw Polytechnic’s architectural department was visited by a German who had on more than one I occasion studied there in past years. ; On the basis of notes made then he dow ordered the transportation to i Germany ol the most valuable equip- ' ment. A German Commission visit- ; ed the laboratories and technical sections of the higher schools that had during the past 10 years given orders Leitza or Zeiss apparatus and ord- ; ered those “stolen” German gooda 1 to be at once returned; at the same time they collected apparatus from j all other sources. j The despoiling of the city mu- . seums and libraries was carried on under the direction of experts I brought from Germany.