London : I.B. Tauris & Co., 2015.

©2015

xi, 306 pages, [8] pages of plates : illustrations ; 23 cm

text

still image

unmediated

volume

Includes bibliographical references (pages 276-288) and index.

Introduction: 'The Wild East' -- 'The Devil's work' : origins -- 'Gangster Gau' : the regime -- 'Gentlemen, we are not murderers' : early measures -- 'Something big is coming' : Barbarossa -- 'The second war' : everyday life -- 'That accursed year ': Aktion Reinhard -- 'The crying of the children' : ethnic cleansing -- 'The blood of fighting Poland' : resistance -- 'Herr Roosevelt's list' : collapse -- Epilogue: 'A study of human madness.'

After the German and Soviet attack on Poland in 1939, vast swathes of Polish territory, including Warsaw and Krakow, fell under Nazi occupation in an administration which became known as the 'General Government'. The region was not directly incorporated into the Reich but was ruled by a German regime, headed by the brutal and corrupt Governor General Hans Frank. This was indeed the dark heart of Hitler's empire. As the principal 'racial laboratory' of the Third Reich, it was the site of Aktion Reinhard, the largest killing operation of the Holocaust, and of a campaign of terror and ethnic cleansing against Poles which was intended to be a template for the rest of eastern Europe. This book provides a thorough history of the General Government and the experiences of the Poles, Jews and others trapped in its clutches. Employing previously underused sources, Martin Winstone provides a unique insight into the occupation regime which dominated much of Poland during World War II.

World War, 1939-1945 -- Poland.

World War, 1939-1945 -- Atrocities -- Poland.

Poland -- History -- Occupation, 1939-1945.

Nazi rule in Poland under the General Government

9781780764771

1780764774