Operation Tannenberg
Operation Tannenberg (German: Unternehmen Tannenberg; Polish: Operacja Tannenberg) was one of the first anti-Polish mass murders by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland from September 1939 to January 1940.[4] The operation was conducted based on the Special Prosecution Book – Poland (German: Sonderfahndungsbuch Polen), a list with the names of over 61,000 Poles chosen for execution.[5][6]
| Operation Tannenberg Unternehmen Tannenberg | |
|---|---|
 The mass murder of Polish townsmen in Reichsgau Wartheland (western Poland) during Operation Tannenberg on October 20, 1939. | |
| Location | Nazi-occupied Poland |
| Date | September 1939–January 1940 |
| Attack type | Mass shooting, summary execution and genocidal massacres |
| Weapon(s) | Firearms Gas vans |
| Deaths | 20,000 deaths in 760 mass executions by SS Einsatzgruppen in the first phase;[1][2] 100,000 deaths in the second phase[3] |
| Perpetrator(s) |  Nazi Germany
|
 Sonderfahndungsbuch Polen. symbols | |
 Sonderfahndungsbuch Polen. Page with names under the letter "G" with abbreviations. EK
stands for Einsatzkommando and EG represents an escaped prisoner. |
Events
About 20,000 Poles were killed in the first phase of Operation Tannenberg,[7] which involved the shooting and gassing of hospital patients and disabled people as part of the operation Aktion T4.[7]
The second phase of Operation Tannenberg saw the mass murder of 36,000–42,000 in Pomerania by the end of 1939 under the codename Intelligenzaktion ("Actions against the Intelligentsia").[7] The victims included children, doctors, priests etc.[7][3] The Intelligenzaktion is estimated to have ultimately killed 100,000 Poles.[3]
Mass murder of hospital patients
The mass murder of hospital patients was led by the SS commander Herbert Lange,[12] who was later appointed as Chełmno extermination camp's commandment.[12] By mid-1940, Lange was responsible for the death of at least 1,100 patients in Owińska,[13] 2,750 patients at Kościan,[13] 1,558 patients at Działdowo,[13] and hundreds of Poles at Fort VII where the mobile gas chamber (Einsatzwagen) was made along with the first gassing bunker.[13]
Operation Tannenberg Media
Remaining building of former SS at Soldau concentration camp in Iłowo-Osada, location of first gas van experiments by SS-Sonderkommando Lange using Polish hospital patients
Related pages
References
- ↑ Lazar, Seth. Sparing Civilians (2015)Oxford University Press. p. 21. ISBN 9780198712985.
- ↑ Political Violence in Twentieth-Century Europe (10 March 2011)Cambridge University Press. p. 71. ISBN 9781107005037.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2
- Meier, Anna. Die Intelligenzaktion. Die Vernichtung der polnischen Oberschicht im Gau Danzig-Westpreußen (2008)VDM Verlag Dr. Müller. ISBN 978-36-3904-721-9.
- Maria Wardzyńska, "Intelligenzaktion" na Warmii, Mazurach oraz Północnym Mazowszu. Główna Komisja Ścigania Zbrodni Przeciwko Narodowi Polskiemu. Biuletyn Instytutu Pamięci Narodowej nr. 12/1, 2003/2004, ss. 38-42. ceeol.com
- Wardzyńska, Maria. Był rok 1939. Operacja niemieckiej policji bezpieczeństwa w Polsce. Intelligenzaktion (in Polish) (2009)Instytut Pamięci Narodowej (Institute of National Remembrance). ISBN 978-83-7629-063-8. Retrieved 16 November 2014.
- ↑ Brewing, Daniel. In the Shadow of Auschwitz German Massacres against Polish Civilians, 1939–1945 (2022)Berghahn Book. p. 141–142. ISBN 9781800730892.
- ↑ Stanisław Dąbrowa-Kostka, Hitlerowskie afisze śmierci (eng. "Nazi death posters"), KAW Warszawa 1983, p.339, (Polish),(German),(English)
- ↑ Piotr Semków, IPN Gdańsk. Kolebka (Cradle). IPN Bulletin No. 8–9 (67–68), 152 Pages (September 2006). Warsaw, Poland: Instytut Pamięci Narodowej (Institute of National Remembrance). Retrieved 8 November 2015.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 Semków, Piotr. Martyrologia Polaków z Pomorza Gdańskiego w latach II wojny światowej (in pl). IPN Bulletin (8–9) (2006)Instytut Pamięci Narodowej (Institute of National Remembrance). p. 46–48.
- ↑ Jerzy Ślaski, Polska walcząca, vol. 2, 3rd ed., augm., Warsaw, Oficyna Wydawnicza Rytm, 1999, p. 554. ISBN 8387893315.
- ↑ Janusz Kutta, "Rola Kościoła katolickiego w dziejach Bydgoszczy" (The Role of the Catholic Church in the History of Bydgoszcz), Kronika Bydgoska, vol. 19, ed. W. Jastrzębski, et al., Bydgoszcz, Towarzystwo Miłośników miasta Bydgoszczy, 1998, p. 14. ISSN 0454-5451.
- ↑ Ryszard Wojan, Bydgoszcz: niedziela 3 września 1939 r., Poznań, Wydawnictwo Poznańskie (Towarzystwo Rozwoju Ziem Zachodnich. Rada Okręgu Bydgoskiego w Toruniu), 1959, p. 68.
- ↑ Polish: Intelligenzaktion w Okręgu Rzeszy Gdańsk - Prusy Zachodnie (1939-1940).
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 Artur Hojan. Nazi Euthanasia Programme in Occupied Poland 1939-1945. Overview of the liquidation of the mentally ill during actions on the Polish territory (1939-1945) (2015)The Tiergartenstrasse 4 Association, international centre for the documentation, study and interpretation of Nazi crimes. Retrieved 2 July 2015.
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 13.3 Holocaust Research Project.org. Lange, Herbert; SS-Hauptsturmführer. Chelmno Death Camp Dramatis Personae (2007)Holocaust Education & Archive Research Team. Retrieved 2013-05-13.
