. NMT04-T0856
Volume IV · Page 856
| General. The complaints lodged up to now were
only directed against the fact that in the evacuation accomplished up to now,
the designated figures were not complied with but were exceeded. Since
[Section] Referat IV D 4 has been organized for the central regulation of all
evacuation measures, the objections voiced do not hold any more. It is of the utmost importance that 40,000 Jews and Poles be deported from the Warthegau into the General Government in order to make space for Baltic Germans. The order of the Reich Leader SS, namely, that no people of German extraction are to be deported, regardless of their past behavior, will serve as a guiding principle for the selection. After this operation is finished, an additional, improvised evacuation is to be carried out for the benefit of the Volhynia Germans who are to be settled in the eastern provinces [Ostgaue]. On the assumption that the Volhynia German families have 6 to 7 children on an average, we have a figure of about 20,000 families to be settled. The number of the Poles to be evacuated for this purpose is to be set for the time being at 120,000; a certain decrease in this figure can be expected, since some of the evacuated Polish landowners will be used as farm laborers either in the eastern Gaue themselves or in Germany proper. In this connection, congress Poles are to be used as far as possible. Using this number as a basis, the General Government should state before 15 February 1940, what distribution to the various unloading terminals is contemplated. The actual time when this operation is to start will be designated later and all agencies involved will be informed in time. The Warthegau, West Prussia-Danzig, Zichenau and eastern Upper Silesia have to determine the number of the Volhynia Germans to be resettled and the number of Polish landowners whose evacuation is thereby necessitated and submit them to Referat IV D 4 by the same time (15 February 1940). Referat IV D 4 has to collect this statistical material and to formulate the evacuation plans. Whereas the persons to be evacuated on account of the resettlement of the Volhynia Germans consist almost exclusively of rural population, those persons evacuated on account of the Baltic Germans are almost exclusively city dwellers. SS Major General Koppe states that the evacuation to be carried out for the benefit of the Volhynia Germans must be accomplished in such a manner that the operation of the farms is not interrupted. The Volhynia Germans are to be brought by truck to the selected places of settlement and are to be exchanged against the previous Polish owners. The Poles are to be collected |
