In particular, he sought to remove the shackles of Versailles which had restricted Germany’s access to the Baltic Sea, in favor of the “Polish Corridor,” a narrow strip of land which gave the Poles direct access to the Baltic Sea and separated East Prussia from the rest of Germany. This infuriated Hitler, who was intent on reacquiring this land mass as soon as possible, even though he knew that this would cause war between Poland and Germany.
Hitler asked for the rights to build highways across the corridor from one part of Germany to the next, but Poland refused and secured British and French assurances against German aggression. Hitler knew that military action to secure the corridor would bring on another war, which was precisely what occurred. Anticipating the conflict, he secretly formed a pact with Russia to divide Poland, with the eastern portion going to Russia, and the western to Germany. He knew full well that his next target after Poland was Russia itself; this would serve the dual purpose of putting an end to Communism forever, while at the same time expanding his “Lebensraum.” Stalin was not beguiled. He understood the pact would delay the almost certain war with Germany, but the good news was that it would give him more time to prepare for it.
Dear Al:
Hope you are well. As you can see from this letter, I have arrived in Bialystok and have started working as a general and traumatic surgeon in their university hospital. But that is not really why I’m here, as I said before. I am here because the world is aware that what is coming is all out war. Germany will attack Poland, as everyone knows, and when they do, I and many other Jewish contacts I have made here will flee to the forests and do everything in our power to assist in destroying the German war machine.
I do this for my wife and daughter of blessed memory. As I emphasize again, that is now the meaning of my existence; my true life’s work, and as long as I can strike a blow and impede Hitler’s progress, my life has meaning. My new single-minded purpose in life will direct me through to my ultimate goal which is the destruction of the poisonous philosophy of Nazism.
I will try to remain in touch, but it may not be possible. Just remember, you have been and will always be my best friend and I worry about you and your family living in Warsaw.
Sam…
Hitler was ready to attack and the world knew it, but the Nazis decided to fake a border incident between Poland and Germany to make it appear as if Germany had been attacked by Poland and was retaliating. The ideal location had to be an isolated post on the German-Polish border. German planners found the perfect place for the “Polish aggressors” to attack— a radio station and other outposts in the town of Gleiwitz. They devised an intricate plot: German troops dressed as border guards would be attacked by the “Polish Army” who would lose some soldiers during the assault. These soldiers were actually concentration camp inmates, killed, redressed as Polish military aggressors and left behind as evidence, or “canned goods” as they were called. For years this farcical account of the Polish invasion of Germany persisted until the Nuremburg trial after World War II, where its true nature was, at long last, revealed.
Although Hitler always knew that he would eventually attack Poland, he formulated plots to hide his true intentions. In 1934 he signed a nonaggression pact with Poland, mostly to deceive the Polish and French into not forming a military alliance before Germany’s rearmament plans were in place. Following this subterfuge were the appeasement policies of Great Britain and France making limited concessions to Germany in the name of “peace in our time.” These appeasements included an agreement allowing Germany to rearm itself and the Rhineland, and also allowing the annexation of Austria and the Czech border region of the Sudetenland. In spite of British and French guarantees for what was left of Czechoslovakia, Hitler took over the rest of the country after assuring the Czech president that unless Germany was ceded the rest of the country, Prague would be destroyed from above by a massive bombing assault. The president of Czechoslovakia had no choice but to accept Hitler’s demands. The British and French appeasement policy had succeeded only in emboldening Hitler.
On September 1, 1939 Germany invaded Poland with a massive assault including 2,000 tanks and over 2,000 aircraft heading right for Warsaw, which was mercilessly bombed and shelled until Poland surrendered on September 27, 1939. In the meantime, the Russian army, in accordance with its pact made with Germany, conquered Eastern Poland a few weeks after Hitler’s invasion in Western Poland.
In October, 1939, Germany took control of the former Polish territory along Germany’s border which had been ceded to Poland after World War I. This included the Baltic Sea corridor, the west area of Prussia, the city of Poznan, Upper Silesia and the Free City of Danzig
Western Poland was now fully under German control. Russia controlled eastern Poland.
The Warsaw bombing killed many civilians including the wife and daughter of Albert Tepper.
Dear Sam:
I have joined you in the agony you have experienced. My wife and daughter were killed in the massive air assault Hitler levied against Warsaw. I hope I can have the same resolve you have demonstrated in your agony. We were born seven years to the day after Adolph Hitler and we share a birthday with this madman, but my goal in what life I have left will be to see to it that he no longer will be able to impact the world in the negative way he has chosen. No Jew or non-Jew can be safe in this world as long as this madman keeps drawing breaths. From this time on, I pledge my life to fight Hitler at your side. I almost feel that God has given us a powerful message through our sacrifice. You are in the Russian zone of Poland (how long will that last, I ask) and together, regardless of the price we pay, we will make a contribution to Hitler’s destruction. I will join you there shortly.
Thank you, my best friend.
Al…
CHAPTER 19
Poland ceases to exist
The German invasion of Poland with massive force introduced a new kind of warfare. “Blitzkrieg” or lightening war was just as its name implied; an initial, unexpected and sudden massive air attack meant to destroy airfields, planes on the ground, rail capacity, munitions, and communication lines followed by an overwhelming rapid invasion by troops fortified by amphetamines, artillery, and tanks. The Germans had perfected this new type of warfare against which the Polish Army relying on horse cavalry was no match. Since the Poles as well as the rest of the world were completely unaware of the German-Russian pact, no help was forthcoming from the Russians. Germany and Russia sold out Poland for short-lived expediency, temporarily gaining time for their own nefarious plots.
It was a short war with the Germans reigning supreme and fully prepared to unleash terror against their enemies: the Jews and Polish citizens. Now was also the time to carry out the policies, described in detail in Mein Kampf, but mostly ignored by the world. The policy of Lebensraum, or territorial expansion for the resettlement of German “colonists,” was for the purpose of replacing “inferiors” and start their thousand year Reich.
To make certain these plans would be implemented, Hitler gave strict orders to kill “without pity or mercy, all men, women, and children of Polish descent or language.” Another German official, Reinhard Heydrich stated that all Polish nobles, clergy and Jews were also to be killed. Himmler added, “All Polish specialists will be exploited in our military-industrial complex. Later, all Poles will disappear from this world. It is imperative that the great German nation considers the elimination of all Polish people as its chief task.” Hitler punctuated all these remarks by insisting on the liquidation of “all leading elements in Poland.” The world was unprepared for this reign of death and destruction. Hitler would concentrate on government officials, clergy, other Polish intellectuals, property, and landowners. He needed them out of the way quickly to suppress any opposition and to eliminate the concept of Poland as an organized country. In the first three months of the invasion, 60,000 prominent citizens met their fate at the hands of the invader…
including Sylvan Nocek from a small town about ten miles from Bialystok in the German zone of defeated Poland. Sylvan, a prominent businessman and the mayor of the town, was the patriarch of his family and grandfather