The Persecution and Murder of the European Jews by Nazi Germany, 1933-1945. Volume 4 -- Poland September 1939 -- July 1941

Executive editor: Klaus-Peter Friedrich; English-language edition prepared by: Elizabeth Harvey, Russell Alt-Haaker, Johannes Gamm, Georg Felix Harsch, Dorothy Mas, and Caroline Pearce This volume, the first of three in the series focusing on the persecution and murder of the Jews in occupied Poland, documents the developments from the attack on Poland in September 1939 up to July 1941. It covers the territories of western and northern Poland annexed to the Reich as well as the General Government. With the attack on Poland, around two million Polish Jews came under German rule. Jews were immediately subjected to stigmatization and humiliation, exposed to arbitrary acts of violence, deprived of their livelihoods, subjected to forced labour and forcibly displaced. In July 1940, a report by representatives of Polish Jews on the situation in the annexed territories of Poland sent to the US embassy in Berlin described a 'downcast, stigmatized Jewish population', terrorized and powerless in face of displacement, expulsions and the increasing incarceration of the Jewish population in ghettos, and it predicted that 'the process of destruction is not yet complete'. The volume documents the drive by the occupiers systematically to confiscate the property of the Polish Jews, and the different, often chaotic and conflicting strategies for displacing Jews in the annexed territories and in the General Government. The volume shows a range of reactions by the non-Jewish population of Poland to the escalating persecution of the Polish Jews. It also shows the efforts by Jewish organizations to publicize their plight abroad, to withstand the onslaught on their communities and to manage daily life in the increasingly desperate conditions of the ghettos. Learn more about the PMJ on https://pmj-documents.org/ This landmark collection of primary sources provides unique first-hand insights into the persecution and murder of the Jews of Europe under Nazi rule. The documents, all translated from the language of the original source, range from the police orders and administrative decrees issued by the Nazi apparatus across Germany and occupied Europe to the diaries and letters of Jewish men, women, and children facing discrimination, impoverishment, violent assaults, incarceration, deportation, and death. The observations and reactions of bystanders not directly involved in the crimes - some shocked, some indifferent, some approving - also come across vividly. Substantial introductions, scholarly footnotes, and an extensive thematic index help guide the reader through the rich documentary material and add to the value of the series as a resource for teaching and learning about the Second World War and the Holocaust. Series edited on behalf of the German Federal Archives, the Institute for Contemporary History Munich-Berlin, and the Chair for Modern History at the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg. In cooperation with Yad Vashem.-- Provided by Publisher "This source edition on the persecution and murder of the European Jews by Nazi Germany presents in 16 volumes a thematically comprehensive selection of documents on the Holocaust. Volume 1 addresses the persecution of the German Jews between 1933 and 1937, revealing how the disenfranchisement and social isolation of the Jews was driven forward, and which role terror, state calculations, and the indifference of very many Germans played"-- Provided by publisher