Poles in the Wehrmacht

[StefanM]

A new find two photos of a Pole who was in the the Wehrmacht at one point and later in Polish forces.



Does anyone have any similar or sets of documents of men with both German and Polish service?

[dastier]

I believe someone had posted such photos in a different thread. Perhaps somebody else remembers which one?

If I get a chance I'll try to go look for them.

Do you have any info on the fellow in the ones you posted? Name, rank, unit, possible actions...

[Danmark]

Surely such a find would only be because the individual was proud of his conscripted or volunteer service in the Wehrmacht for the images to have survived at all? Links like this must be thin on the ground ........ nice however!
Dan

[StefanM]

I believe someone had posted such photos in a different thread. Perhaps somebody else remembers which one?

If I get a chance I'll try to go look for them.

Do you have any info on the fellow in the ones you posted? Name, rank, unit, possible actions...

Sadly no information came with them.

Surely such a find would only be because the individual was proud of his conscripted or volunteer service in the Wehrmacht for the images to have survived at all? Links like this must be thin on the ground ........ nice however!
Dan

I tend to agree otherwise why the Wehrmacht studio portrait?

I would also imagine living in Poland after the war it is not something he would openly have bragged about.

[ze-pole]

Hello,
Here is a french link about this :

https://sites.google.com/site/armeep...-nous-polonais

and this one :

W znienawidzonym mundurze. Losy Polakw przymusowo wcielonych do wojska niemieckiego w okresie II wojny wiatowej

Friendly.
ZP

[Gunny Hartmann]

Hmmm, according to the Polish site hundreds of thousands of Poles were basically press ganged into the Wehrmacht. only a tiny number volunteered.

[StefanM]

Hmmm, according to the Polish site hundreds of thousands of Poles were basically press ganged into the Wehrmacht. only a tiny number volunteered.

The number of volunteers will always be a matter of uncertainty.

Only those on The Deutsche Volksliste (German People's List) or who were Category I - Volksdeutsche (ethnic Germans—people of German ancestry living outside Germany) were liable to compulsory service in the German Armed Forces.

The Deutsche Volksliste categorised Poles into one of four categories:

Category I: Volksdeutsche—Persons of German descent who had engaged themselves in favour of the Reich before 1939.
Category II: Deutschstämmige—Persons of German descent who had remained passive.
Category III: Eingedeutschte—indigenous persons considered by the Nazis as partly Polonized (mainly Silesians and Kashubs); refusal to join this list often lead to deportation to a concentration camp
Category IV: Rückgedeutschte—Persons of Polish nationality considered "racially valuable", but who resisted Germanisation.
(Volksdeutsche: wikipeadia)

In occupied Poland, the status of Volksdeutscher conferred many privileges, but also meant conscription into the German Armed Forces. The German occupation authorities encouraged Poles to register with the Volksliste—in many cases compelling them to do so with threats of sending them and/or their families to concentration camps.

According to Stefan Korboński (a Polish statesman and a leader of the underground resistance against the Germans in World War II) in 1942 all Poles of military age in the Polish western territories that had been incorporated into the Reich were rounded up and placed on the Volksliste and once on the Volksliste automatically drafted into the German Army. 90,000 of these essentially press-ganged Wehrmacht Polish conscripts later served with the Polish Forces.

Such was the scale of Gualiter Forster's registration policy for all Poles in his jurisdiction of Reichsgau Danzig-West Prussia that Gauleiter Arthur Greiser of Reichsgau Wartheland complained to Himmler that Forster was indiscriminately allowing Poles with no claim to German ethnicity onto the Volksliste! Greiser was an ardent racist so was concerned about racial purity however Forster just went for the simplest solution to Germanise Reichsgau Danzig-West Prussia as fast as possible—a task which every Gualiter was responsible for actioning in their respective territories.

By end of WWII there were 400,000 Poles conscripted into German Army and Organisation Todt (a technical paramilitary organisation).

[StefanM]

The photos do actually have captions on the reverse... can anyone help translate the handwriting



It looks like the first medal ribbon on the left might be the Polish Monte Cassino Cross looking at the narrow stripes...the rest I cannot make out?

The dark shoulder boards and lanyard might help identify Franz's unit? Three stripes of a Corporal?

The Polish forces photo is dated 1946.

[dastier]

The ribbon closest to the centre line should be the Polish medal. I'm assuming the next two would be British, possibly the middle one being the 1939-1945 Star, and the Italy Star at the shoulder (assuming it is a Monte Cassino Cross nearest to the centre line).

Three stripes for a plutonowy or senior corporal/master corporal rank.

Interesting that his Wehrmacht photo is dated April 1941. I wonder if he saw action with the Germans. Who is familiar with Wehrmacht rank structure, and can anyone guess as to what colour his piping might be and what insignia or number is on his left epaulette?

[andrzejku98]

Hi All,

The photograph shows the Black epaulette denoting 1st Armoured Division, Plutowny (Lance Sergeant), the Medal Ribbons seem to be the British Military Medal, 1939-1945 Star, plus the France and Germany Star.

Best wishes

Andrzejku