Model Nazi: Arthur Greiser and the Occupation of Western PolandModel Nazi tells the story of Arthur Greiser, the man who initiated the Final Solution in Nazi-occupied Poland. Between 1939 and 1945, Greiser was the territorial leader of the Warthegau, an area of western Poland annexed to Nazi Germany. In an effort to make the Warthegau 'German,' Greiser introduced numerous cruel policies. He spearheaded an influx of hundreds of thousands of ethnic Germans. He segregated Germans from Poles, and introduced wide-ranging discriminatory measures against the Polish population. He refashioned the urban and natural landscape to make it 'German.' And even more chillingly, the first and longest standing ghetto, the largest forced labour program, and the first mass gassings of Jews in Nazi-occupied Europe were all initiated under Greiser's jurisdiction. Who was the man behind these dreadful policies? Catherine Epstein gives us a compelling biographical portrait of Greiser the man: his birth in the German-Polish borderlands, his rise to Nazi prominence in Danzig, his actions as party leader in the Warthegau, and his trial and execution in postwar Poland. Drawing on a remarkable array of German and Polish sources, she shows how nationalist obsessions, political jealousies, and personal insecurities shaped the policies of a man who held remarkable power in his Nazi fiefdom. Throughout, Epstein confronts a burning question of our age: why do individuals imagine genocide and ethnic cleansing to be solutions to political problems? |
Contents
Introduction | 1 |
Posen Province World War I Danzig | 15 |
Striving for Strength and Power in Danzig | 49 |
Senate President | 85 |
The Warthegau | 124 |
Resettlement Deportation Murder | 160 |
Segregation in the Warthegau | 193 |
Exploiting Poles and Jews to Make the Gau German | 231 |
Rule and Loss | 268 |
Trial and Execution | 305 |
Afterword | 342 |
Notes | 345 |
430 | |
Acknowledgments | 439 |
443 | |
Other editions - View all
Model Nazi: Arthur Greiser and the Occupation of Western Poland Catherine Epstein Limited preview - 2010 |
Model Nazi: Arthur Greiser and the Occupation of Western Poland Catherine Epstein Limited preview - 2010 |
Model Nazi: Arthur Greiser and the Occupation of Western Poland Catherine Epstein No preview available - 2010 |
Common terms and phrases
Alberti annexed anti-Polish April Arthur Greiser August BA-Bayreuth Berlin Bormann Burckhardt camps Chełmno claimed crimes Czesław Łuczak December decree Deutsche deutschen East ethnic Germans February Former BDC Collection Forster Frick Führer Fülleborn Gau authorities Gau’s Gauleiter Gauleiter Greiser Gettoverwaltung Litzmannstadt ghetto Goebbels Göring Greiser declared Greiser to Gustav Greiser to Maria Greiser wrote Gustav and Ida Hans Lammers Harry Siegmund Heinrich Himmler Hitler Hitler's Free City Hohensalza Hohnfeldt Höppner Ida Greiser Ingrid insisted Jäger January Jewish Jews Juden July June Koppe later leader League letter Litzmannstadt ghetto Lodsch March Martin Bormann military murder National November NSDAP October Old Reich ordered Ostdeutscher Beobachter PA-AA party Poland Polen Poles policies Polish political Położenie population Posen Poznań Prussian Rauschning Reichsgau Wartheland Reichsstatthalter reported resettlers Rotraut Rückblick Ruth senate president SSO Files sub-district Uebelhoer University Press Verfolgung Vermerk Warsaw Warthegau Wilhelm Wilhelm Frick Wilhelm Koppe