The New Order in Poland (1942).pdf

THE

NEW ORDER IN

POLAND

SIMON SEGAL

With an Introduction by

RAYMOND LESLIE BUELL

1942

ALFRED A. KNOPF

NEW YORK

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pllrt of this book milY be reproduced ;, t111Y form without permis-

sion ;, 'Writing from the publisher, except by a revie'Wtf' who ma1

quote briq pii.Ssages ;, a review to be printed in a 11111gazme or

newspaper. Mt171ufactured in the United States of America. Pub-

lished simultaneously in Cf11111da by The Ryerson Press.

FIRST EDITION

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INTRODUCTION

THIS is the first book to describe in scientific detail

Nazi rule in Poland. A study of this question is im-

portant in itself. It is also important because Poland

is serving as a laboratory for experiments which the

Nazis will extend to the whole of Europe and the world

if they win this war.

The thesis of this book is that Germany is attempt-

ing to carve a colonial empire out of the heart of Eu-

rope. The thesis is correct in many respects. In the an-

nexed areas of Poland, the Nazis have not attempted to

revive Bismarck's policy of Germanizing the Poles. In-

stead they are ruthlessly deporting and exterminating

them, so as to make a new living space for German colo-

nists. In the Government-General proper, Nazi policy

is aimed at creating a serf-state beholden to the German

master.

Although the Germans are thus trying to convert

Poland into a colony, one would have to go back to the

Congo Free State or to the early " culture system '' in

the Dutch East Indies to find even a degree of the ruth-

less brutality which characterizes Nazi methods. Nazi

111

INTRODUCTION

policy is more akin to the medieval manhunts of the

Teutonic knights than to the excesses of European im-

perialism overseas.

During the past two years at least 82,ooo Poles have

been executed by the Germans or perished in concen-

tration camps. In addition the Nazis are making a sys-

tematic effort to root out the Polish intellectual class.

All Polish universities and secondary schools remain

closed. Although the primary schools in the Govern-

ment-General are now open, Polish children have lost

a year's schooling; and their education is now intended

to prepare them to become servants for the Nazi rulers.

Gennan rule in Poland has proved both inefficient and

corrupt. Only " scientific looting " is being applied

with Germanic thoroughness. The Nazis have confis-

cated all important industrial concerns, administering

large enterprises and Polish farms over a cenain size

through German trustees. " Over 3 5 ,ooo Polish and

Jewish enterprises, including 70 banks, 3,500 textile

factories and shops, 8oo very large concerns, soo

wholesale enterprises, and 8,soo retail shops, have been

confiscated in Lodz and its district alone." The Polish

forests are being cut to the ground; compulsory labor

has been introduced; agricultural exports have been

increased, less by improved methods of production

than by cutting down the food ration of the Polish

people.

The Nazis at one time tried to beguile Western lib-

erals with the argument that they would unify Conti-

nental Europe, destroying artificial trade barriers and

increasing the production of the Continent for the

benefit of all European peoples. Yet this book demon-

INTRODUCTION

strates that Nazi policy is aimed at creating a German

industrial monopoly compelling the rest of the Conti-

nent to buy German products at excessive prices, while

selling raw materials at prices dictated by Berlin. The

policy has provided loot for the Nazi politicians, and

thro\vn a great nation of 35 ,ooo,ooo people into abject

misery; but it has failed in really increasing production,

while destroying any basis for future growth.

After the death of Pilsudski, the Polish Republic

moved increasingly in the direction of anti-Semitism.

But its acts were as nothing in comparison with Nazi

anti-Semitism, which first attempted to dump the Jews

of Central Europe into the Lublin reservation and

which created ghettos in the four district capitals of the

Government-General. Todav the Polish Jew may be

, .

suffering more than the Polish gentile; yet events dem-

onstrate that the anti-Semitism of Germany is simply

the beginning of a policy which the Nazis intend to

apply to all non-Germans and, as this account sho,vs,

with particular thoroughness, to the Catholic Church.

In contrast, the Polish Government in Exile issued the

Declaration of June 1 z, 1941, which, as the book

points out, is the first time that any Polish regime has

officially condemned anti-Semitism as against the in-

terests of the Polish cause.

Dr. Simon Segal is well qualified for the authorship

of this book. Of Polish origin, he took a degree at the

University of Paris, and came to the United States in

1935. Here he published a book entitled New Poland

and the Jews, and he was an invaluable assistant to me

in preparing Poland, Key to Europe. One docs not have

to agree with all of the author's judgments to appreciate

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