page_title: German retribution against Poles who helped Jews
section_title: German anti-Jewish policy in occupied Poland
hierarchical_section_title: German retribution against Poles who helped Jews / German anti-Jewish policy in occupied Poland
caption_attribution_description: Polski: Rozporządzenie niemieckiego prezydenta Warszawy o rejestracji żydowskiego majątkuEnglish: Regulation of the German mayor of Warsaw on the registration of Jewish property
context_page_description: German retribution against Poles who helped Jews were repressive measures taken by the German occupation authorities against non-Jewish Polish citizens who helped Jews persecuted by Nazi Germany during the Holocaust in Poland, 1939 to 1945.
  The orders of the occupation authorities, and in particular the ordinance of the general governor Hans Frank of October 15, 1941, provided for the death penalty for every Pole who would provide shelter for a Jew or help him in any other way. In practice, the range of penalties applied to those helping Jews was wide, including fines, confiscation of property, beatings, imprisonment, deportation to Nazi concentration camps and the death penalty. Due to the principle of collective responsibility applied by the Germans, families of those who helped Jews and sometimes entire local communities were subjects to retribution. The exact number of Poles executed by the Germans for helping Jews has not yet been precisely determined. The most cautious estimates give the number of around a few hundred people executed, and the high-end estimates, several thousand.
context_section_description: In the first years of the Second World War, German policy in relation to the "Jewish question" in occupied Poland was not coherent and consistent. Nevertheless, its fundamental aim was to isolate Jews, loot their property, exploit them through forced labour and, in the final stage, remove them completely from the land under the authority of the Third Reich. An initial plan for dealing with the Jewish population in Poland was adopted already on September 21, 1939, i. e. before the end of the September campaign. On that day, a meeting was held in Berlin led by SS-Gruppenführer Reinhard Heydrich, attended by the chief heads of the main departments of the General Security Police Office and commander of Einsatzgruppen operating in Poland. It was then established that all Jews living in the lands, which were to be incorporated into the Reich, would be resettled in central Poland. Mass deportations were to be preceded by removal of the Jewish population from rural areas and its concentration in larger urban centers. In the remaining occupied areas, it was also intended to forcibly resettle Jews to larger towns, especially to those located near railway lines. Moreover, during the meeting, a number of recommendations were adopted, including the creation of "Jewish Elder Councils", the establishment of a census of the Jewish population, as well as its marking and taking up forced labor.
  The need to isolate Jews from the rest of the inhabitants of occupied Poland was emphasized by the Memorial on the treatment of people in former Polish territories from a racial and political point of view, drawn up in November 1939 by the NSDAP Office of Racial Policy. Among other things, its authors wrote that "the task of the German administration will be to differentiate and win Poles and Jews against each other". Recommendations concerning the fuelling of antagonisms between Poles and Jews and other national minorities are also included in the Memorial on the legal position of German policy towards Poles from a national and political point of view, prepared in January 1940 for the Academy of German Law.
  From the first days of the occupation, the Germans treated the Jewish population in the spirit of the racist Nuremberg laws. From September 1939, the occupying authorities at various levels issued orders ordering Jews to wear special bands or identification marks, as well as to mark their apartments and businesses. On the territory of the General Government, this policy was sanctioned by the ordinance of Governor General Hans Frank of 23 November 1939, which required all Jews over ten years of age to wear Star of David armbands. The marking of Jews was also introduced on the territories incorporated into the Reich, but this was usually done on the basis of secret instructions, since the relevant law was introduced in Germany only in the autumn of 1941. Moreover,  in the first months of the occupation almost all towns of the General Government and the Warta Country introduced far-reaching restrictions on the freedom of movement of Jews. To this end, measures such as curfew, a ban on leaving the place of residence and a ban on using different means of transport were used. According to a decree by Hans Frank of 26 January 1940, Jews were prohibited from travelling by train. Over time, this ban has been extended to other means of transport. Strict criminal sanctions, up to and including capital punishment, were imposed on those who would violate these provisions.
  Germans also took actions aimed at the pauperization of Jews and their exclusion from the economic life of the occupied country. Industrial, trade and service enterprises owned by Jews were confiscated in large numbers. Extensive restrictions have also been introduced in the areas of handicraft production, small-scale trade, property management and money transfer. The legally sanctioned "aryanization" of Jewish property was accompanied by individual ("wild") looting. Contributions and special taxes were also imposed on Jews. Representatives of the Jewish intelligentsia were deprived of the
caption: Ordinance of the German President of Warsaw of December 18, 1939 ordering Jews to register their property.
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