page_title: Pacification actions in German-occupied Poland
section_title: German advance into Poland
hierarchical_section_title: Pacification actions in German-occupied Poland / Background / German advance into Poland
caption_attribution_description: English: Polish village Michniów burned by German gendarmerie. On 12-13 July 1943 German occupants completely destroyed Michniów and massacred 204 its inhabitants. Polski: Płonące domy w spacyfikowanej wsi Michniów. W dniach 12-13 lipca 1943 Niemcy doszczętnie spalili Michniów i zamordowali 204 jego mieszkańców.
context_page_description: The pacification actions in German-occupied Poland during World War II were one of many punitive measures designed to inflict terror on the civilian population of local villages and towns with the use of military and police force. They were an integral part of the war of aggression against the Polish nation waged by Nazi Germany since September 1, 1939. The projected goal of pacification operations was to prevent and suppress the Polish resistance movement in World War II nevertheless, among the victims were children as young as 1.5 year old, women, fathers attempting to save their families, farmers rushing to rescue livestock from burning buildings, patients, victims already wounded, and hostages of many ethnicities including Poles and Jews.
  War crimes committed during pacification actions in occupied Poland were probed by the West German Central Office of Justice in Ludwigsburg in September 1959 and, in accordance with the German Criminal Code, ultimately thrown out as already expired due to German statutes of limitations.
context_section_description: The first pacification action, conducted on the ground by the Wehrmacht officers and soldiers, took place in Złoczew on September 3 and 4, 1939, in which the German soldiers murdered some 200 Poles. According to historian Alexander B. Rossino, the atrocity was committed with the participation of the 1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler (LSSAH), which was also involved in the murder of 50 Polish Jews in Błonie near Warsaw, and the shooting actions in Bolesławiec, Torzeniec, Goworowo, Mława, and Włocławek. LSSAH torched villages along the road without military justification.
  The Polish Institute of National Remembrance has documented the use of military force with the goal of inflicting terror and suppressing Polish resistance. One example was a reprisal action by units of the 19th Panzer Corps Division taken  for the operations of the Suwalska Cavalry Brigade of the Polish Army. During the evening of 13 September 1939 thirteen people from Olszewo and ten people from the nearby village of Pietkowo were killed. The victims among the villagers include women and children who were murdered in several ways, such as stabbing by bayonets, shooting, being blown apart by grenades, and being burned alive in a barn.
  According to article by Witold Kulesza published in Komentarze Historyczne by the Institute of National Remembrance, German Regiment SS-Leibstandarte "Adolf Hitler" of the 17th Division arrived in Złoczew on September 3, 1939 on motorcycles and on bicycles.  The burning of the town and mass killings began the same night.  According to eye-witness Janina Modrzewska, who survived the pacification of Złoczew, the soldiers were killing everyone they saw.  Total casualties amounted to 200 dead victims.  From the air, Luftwaffe planes bombed the villages of Momoty Dolne, Momoty Górne, Pawłów, Tokary, Sochy and Klew.  Some places were subjected to multiple pacification operations.  In the town of Aleksandrów in Biłgoraj County between 1939 and 1944, German authorities murdered 290 civilians (444 according to WIEM), wounded 43, deported 434 to forced labour camps, and burned at least 113 households.
  The Białystok region fell under German occupation twice. Overrun by the Wehrmacht in 1939 it was the site of mass pacification actions even before it was ceded to the Soviets two weeks later in accordance with the Nazi-Soviet pact. It was invaded again in the course of Operation Barbarossa with similar results. At least 750 villages there had at least 10 inhabitants murdered, and at least 75 villages were destroyed completely (see: table for partial list of names of villages and the number of dead victims). Modern international law considers these types of actions against civilians to constitute genocide, whether conducted within national boundaries or in occupied territories.
caption: Pacification of Michniów, July 12–13, 1943; massacre of 204 inhabitants: 102 men, 54 women and 48 children.[18]
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