Content Warning: This article discusses historical events involving mass executions and ethnic cleansing during World War II, which may be distressing. It aims to educate on the atrocities of the Nazi regime and the importance of human rights, encouraging reflection on the dangers of discrimination and the value of remembrance.

The Intelligenzaktion, a Nazi operation launched in late 1939, targeted the Polish intelligentsia and elite for elimination to crush potential resistance and facilitate Germanization. In Danzig-West Prussia (now Pomerania), this campaign, led by Gauleiter Albert Forster, resulted in the murder of approximately 12,000 to 20,000 Poles and Kashubs from September 1939 to spring 1940, with total regional deaths reaching up to 60,000 by war’s end. The Free City of Danzig’s incorporation into the Reich violated the Treaty of Versailles, ushering in terror. This analysis, based on verified sources like Wikipedia, the Wikipedia reader WikiMili, and historical accounts from Poland at War Tours, provides an objective overview of the operation, Forster’s role, and its consequences, to foster discussion on human rights violations and the perils of ethnic cleansing.

The Annexation of Danzig and Pre-War Planning

The Free City of Danzig, established by the Treaty of Versailles after World War I, was a semi-autonomous territory under League of Nations supervision, with a majority German population but Polish rights to the port. Nazi Germany viewed it as a violation of national unity. On September 1, 1939, Germany invaded Poland, and Danzig was immediately incorporated into the Reich, becoming part of the Reichsgau Danzig-West Prussia on October 8, 1939, under Gauleiter Albert Forster.

Pre-invasion, Nazi authorities compiled lists of Polish elites—teachers, clergy, intellectuals, veterans, doctors, and landowners—for arrest and elimination. This was part of Operation Tannenberg, a broader plan to decapitate Polish society. In Pomerania (Gdańsk Pomerania), home to Polish and Kashubian communities, the repression was particularly severe, aimed at erasing cultural and political leadership.

Albert Forster’s Role and the Campaign of Terror

Albert Forster, appointed Gauleiter and Reichsstatthalter on October 26, 1939, oversaw Danzig-West Prussia’s administration. A fervent Nazi, Forster incited violence in a speech at the Prusinski Hotel in Wejherowo, urging ethnic Germans to attack Poles: “We have to eliminate the lice-ridden Poles, starting with those in the cradle.” This rhetoric fueled pogroms and mass arrests.

The Intelligenzaktion Pommern, a regional phase of the broader Intelligenzaktion, targeted 61,000 Poles from special lists, with executions from fall 1939 to spring 1940 claiming around 65,000 lives overall in Pomerania. Volksdeutscher Selbstschutz units, supported by Wehrmacht and SS, carried out the killings, often with local collaboration under threat.

Key sites included Piaśnica, a forest near Wejherowo, where 12,000–20,000 Poles and Kashubs were murdered from October 1939 to early 1940, buried in mass graves. Other locations like Chojnice’s “Valley of Death” saw 2,000 deaths, including mental hospital patients under Action T4. By November 1939, the region was declared “Judenfrei” (free of Jews), with 30,000 Jews killed or deported.

Forster’s administration expelled 35,000–170,000 Poles, with 87,000 “evacuated” by February 1940, per his reports. The region saw 60,000 murders total by war’s end, including ethnic cleansing and forced Germanization.

Broader Context: Intelligenzaktion and Nazi Goals

The Intelligenzaktion was part of Operation Tannenberg, executed by Einsatzgruppen and Selbstschutz, killing 100,000 Polish intellectuals nationwide. In Danzig-West Prussia, it aligned with Lebensraum ideology, displacing Slavs for German settlers. Forster’s power struggle with Himmler limited SS interference, but he enforced Nazi policies ruthlessly.

The campaign destroyed Polish culture, closing schools, confiscating property, and conscripting labor. Kashubs, ethnic Poles of Germanic descent, were forced into the Deutsche Volksliste, reclassifying them as Germans.

Post-War Accountability

Polish teachers photographed moments before their execution by German occupation forces in Fordon, near Bydgoszcz, northern Poland, in 1939.

After Germany’s surrender in May 1945, Forster was captured by the Red Army and tried at the Gdańsk National Tribunal in 1946 for war crimes, including Piaśnica murders. Convicted, he was executed by hanging on February 28, 1952.

The trials exposed the operation’s scale, with evidence from mass graves and survivor testimonies. Memorials like Piaśnica’s site commemorate victims, educating on the genocide’s forgotten aspects.

The Intelligenzaktion in Danzig-West Prussia, under Albert Forster, exemplified Nazi ethnic cleansing, murdering 12,000–20,000 Poles in Piaśnica alone and up to 60,000 regionally. From Danzig’s annexation to Forster’s 1952 execution, it devastated Pomerania’s Polish and Kashubian communities. For history enthusiasts, this history underscores human rights’ fragility and discrimination’s dangers. Verified sources like Wikipedia encourage remembrance of victims and dialogue on preventing genocide, building a tolerant future.