Goralenvolk Goralenvolk was the name given by German Nazis in World War II to the population of Podhale region in the south of Poland near the Slovakian border . In an effort to divide the Polish nation during their occupation of Poland the Germans postulated a different ethnicity for people of that region . The term " Goralenvolk " was derived from the Polish word " Górale " ( the Highlanders ) commonly referring to the people living in the mountains . In order to make Gorals collaborate , the Nazis proclaimed that this group were part of the Greater Germanic Race and worthy of separate treatment from the rest of the Poles . < ref name = " podhale24 . pl / " > < / ref > Origin . Nazi ideology claimed that Gorals ( Górale ) were descended from ethnic Germans who allegedly settled in that region during medieval times in significant numbers . They were considered by the Nazi ideologues to be a part of the " Greater Germanic Race " . For example , the 1885 " Meyers Konversationslexikon " entry under " Goralen " stated , that Germans ( also ) lived in that area in the 11th century but were slavicized . German occupation . The region inhabited by " Górale " ( pre - war Polish Nowy Targ County in Podhale ) was annexed by Germany immediately after the Invasion of Poland in 1939 . Later , the German authorities attempted to assimilate the population into the body of Volksdeutsche , and to encourage their collaboration with the occupying forces . Soon , a small group of local collaborators gathered under the leadership of " Reichsdeutsche r " Witalis Wieder , with Wacław Krzeptowski – a self - proclaimed " Goralenführer " – and his cousins Stefan and Andrzej Krzeptowski , as well as suspected German spy Henryk Szatkowski , and Józef Cukier from Zakopane . During a visit of Nazi Governor - General Hans Frank to Podhale on November 7 , 1939 they proposed to establish a separate state for " Goralenvolk " . Most fled to Germany at the end of the war except for Krzeptowski himself , who decided to hide in the mountains ( at " na Stołach " ) in a secluded shack . He was apprehended by the Polish Armia Krajowa unit under Lieutenant Tadeusz Studziński , charged with high treason and hanged on January 20 , 1945 . The implementation of the " Goralenvolk action " aimed at germanization of the Polish highlanders was actively opposed by the underground Tatra Confederation , a Polish resistance organization founded in May 1941 in Nowy Targ ( the historical capital of Podhale ) , by the poet and partisan , Augustyn Suski ( " nom - de - guerre " Stefan Borusa ) with Tadeusz Popek ( " Wacław Tatar " ) as his deputy and Jadwiga Apostoł ( " nom - de - guerre " Barbara Spytkowska ) as their administrative secretary . Suski died at the Auschwitz concentration camp . Popek was tortured and executed in Zakopane . A German census conducted in 1940 showed that 72 % of the local " Goralenvolk " population identified themselves as Polish rather than ethnic German . This result was a great disappointment to the collaborators and the occupiers alike . After attempts to revive the idea during the following years proved unsuccessful , the Germans abandoned the project in 1943 . With the arrival of the Allied troops towards the end of the war , the short - lived existence of the so - called " Goralenvolk " initiative became a footnote of history .