page_title: Expulsion of Poles by Germany
section_title: Expulsions from Polish territories annexed by Nazi Germany
hierarchical_section_title: Expulsion of Poles by Germany / World War II / Expulsions from Polish territories annexed by Nazi Germany
caption_attribution_description: Polski: Nakaz wysiedlenia z Sosnowca z 1942 roku wystawiony na nazwisko Antonine Hedwig Gawedzki.
context_page_description: The Expulsion of Poles by Germany was a prolonged anti-Polish campaign of ethnic cleansing by violent and terror-inspiring means lasting nearly half a century. It began with the concept of Pan-Germanism developed in the early 19th century and culminated in the racial policy of Nazi Germany that asserted the superiority of the Aryan race. The removal of Poles by Germany stemmed from historic ideas of expansionist nationalism. It was implemented at different levels and different stages by successive German governments. It ended with the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945.
  The partitions of Poland had ended the existence of a sovereign Polish state in the 18th century. With the rise of German nationalism in mid 19th century, Poles faced increasing discrimination on formerly Polish lands. The first mass deportation of 30,000 Poles from territories controlled by the German Empire took place in 1885.
context_section_description: The Nazi plan to ethnically cleanse the territories occupied by Germany in Eastern Europe during World War II, was called the Generalplan Ost (GPO). Germanisation began with the classification of people suitable as defined on the Nazi Volksliste.  About 1.7 million Poles were deemed Germanizable, including between one and two hundred thousand children who were taken from their parents.  For the rest, expulsion was carried out.
  These expulsions were carried out so abruptly that ethnic Germans being resettled there were given homes with half-eaten meals on tables and unmade beds where small children had been sleeping at the time of expulsion.  Members of Hitler Youth and the League of German Girls were assigned the task of overseeing such evictions to ensure that the Poles left behind most of their belongings for the use of the settlers. According to Czesław Łuczak, Germans expelled the following numbers of Poles from territories annexed to the Reich in the period of 1939–1944:
  Combined with "wild expulsions", in four years 923,000 Poles were ethnically cleansed from territories Germany annexed into the Reich.
caption: Expulsion Warrant from Sosnowiec 1942 with stamp Pole.
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