MODEL NAZI This page intentionally left blank MODEL NAZI ARTHUR GREISER AND THE OCCUPATION OF WESTERN POLAND CATHERINE EPSTEIN 1 1 GreatClarendonStreet,Oxfordox26dp OxfordUniversityPressisadepartmentoftheUniversityofOxford. ItfurtherstheUniversity’sobjectiveofexcellenceinresearch,scholarship, andeducationbypublishingworldwidein Oxford NewYork Auckland CapeTown DaresSalaam HongKong Karachi KualaLumpur Madrid Melbourne MexicoCity Nairobi NewDelhi Shanghai Taipei Toronto Withofficesin Argentina Austria Brazil Chile CzechRepublic France Greece Guatemala Hungary Italy Japan Poland Portugal Singapore SouthKorea Switzerland Thailand Turkey Ukraine Vietnam OxfordisaregisteredtrademarkofOxfordUniversityPress intheUKandincertainothercountries PublishedintheUnitedStates byOxfordUniversityPressInc.,NewYork ©CatherineEpstein2010 Themoralrightsoftheauthorhavebeenasserted DatabaserightOxfordUniversityPress(maker) Firstpublished2010 Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthispublicationmaybereproduced, storedinaretrievalsystem,ortransmitted,inanyformorbyanymeans, withoutthepriorpermissioninwritingofOxfordUniversityPress, orasexpresslypermittedbylaw,orundertermsagreedwiththeappropriate reprographicsrightsorganization.Enquiriesconcerningreproduction outsidethescopeoftheaboveshouldbesenttotheRightsDepartment, OxfordUniversityPress,attheaddressabove Youmustnotcirculatethisbookinanyotherbindingorcover andyoumustimposethesameconditiononanyacquirer BritishLibraryCataloguinginPublicationData Dataavailable LibraryofCongressCataloginginPublicationData Dataavailable TypesetbyLaserwordsPrivateLimited,Chennai,India PrintedinGreatBritain onacid-freepaperby ClaysLtd.,StIvesplc ISBN978–0–19–954641–1 1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2 For Daniel and our children, Nathan, Dora, and Stella This page intentionally left blank Contents List of Illustrations ix List of Maps and Tables xi List of Abbreviations xiii Note on Place Namesand Terminology xv Introduction 1 1. ‘Child of the East:’ Posen Province, World War I, Danzig 15 2. ‘Little Maria:’ Striving for Strength and Power in Danzig 49 3. ‘The Nicest Time of My Life:’ Senate President 85 4. The ‘Model Gau:’ The Warthegau 124 5. ‘A Blonde Province:’ Resettlement, Deportation, Murder 160 6. ‘The German is the Master:’ Segregation in the Warthegau 193 7. ‘The Most Modern Streets:’ Exploiting Poles and Jews to Make the Gau German 231 8. ‘Feudal Duke:’ Rule and Loss 268 9. ‘Two Souls in My Breast:’ Trial and Execution 305 Afterword 342 Notes 345 Selected Bibliography 430 Acknowledgments 439 Index 443 This page intentionally left blank List of Illustrations 1 IdaGreiser,Arthur’smother(undated)(AntjeCordier) 2 GustavGreiser(seated),withhisthreesons,Wilhelm,Otto,andArthur, 1917(RotrautFu¨lleborn) 3 RuthTriplerandArthurGreiser,1918(RotrautFu¨lleborn) 4 Ruth and Arthur Greiser, with children Erhardt, Rotraut (baby), and Ingrid,1931(RotrautFu¨lleborn) 5 MariaandArthurGreiserontheirweddingday,9April1935.Heinrich HimmlerspeakstoGreiser(Bundesarchiv,Bild183-2009-0804-500) 6 ArthurandMariaGreiser,1936(Bundesarchiv,Bild183-S19543) 7 Arthur Greiser (left) with Ignacy Mo´scicki in Spała, 8 January 1935 (Su¨ddeutscheZeitungPhoto) 8 ArthurGreiser(left)andAlbertForster,10August1939(Bundesarchiv, Bild183-E09706) 9 ArthurGreiser,1October1939(Bundesarchiv,Bild183-E11711) 10 WalterPetzel,WilhelmFrick,andArthurGreiserinspectarmyandpolice unitsinthecourtyardofPosenCastle,3November1939(Bundesarchiv, Bild183-E12078) 11 Wilhelm Koppe (left), Arthur Greiser, and Adolf Hu¨hnlein (leader of the National Socialist Motor Corps) in Posen, 21 October 1939 (Bundesarchiv,Bild183-E11714) 12 Arthur Greiser (far left) with Adolf Hitler (far right) in Rastenburg on 18 July 1941. Martin Bormann stands to the left of Greiser. This is one of only two known pictures showing Greiser with Hitler (Bayerische StaatsbibliothekMu¨nchen/Hoffmann) 13 Arthur Greiser shakes hands with the farmer designated the millionth German in the Warthegau, Litzmannstadt, 17 March 1944. Heinz Reinefarth stands between the two men (Bundesarchiv, Bild 183- J09397/Fotograf:Hoffmann)