Volksdeutscher Selbstschutz
After the German Invasion of Poland in 1939, the area of the Bromberg district was annexed by Nazi Germany into Reichsgau Danzig-West Prussia and the Bromberg district was re-established. At the beginning of World War II, there were clashes between the German minority and Polish armed forces in the area, and several hundred people were killed on Bloody Sunday. After the invasion of the Wehrmacht, members of the German minority formed paramilitary units, called the Volksdeutscher Selbstschutz, led by the SS and Gestapo, and committed mass murder of the Polish population. According to Polish sources, around 5,000 Poles were killed at Fordon, and a total of 37,000 Polish residents of the city of Bydgoszcz lost their lives by the end of the war.