Model Nazi: Arthur Greiser and the Occupation of Western PolandModel Nazi tells the story of Arthur Greiser, the man who initiated the Final Solution in Nazi-occupied Poland. Between 1939 and 1945, Greiser was the territorial leader of the Warthegau, an area of western Poland annexed to Nazi Germany. In an effort to make the Warthegau 'German,' Greiser introduced numerous cruel policies. He spearheaded an influx of hundreds of thousands of ethnic Germans. He segregated Germans from Poles, and introduced wide-ranging discriminatory measures against the Polish population. He refashioned the urban and natural landscape to make it 'German.' And even more chillingly, the first and longest standing ghetto, the largest forced labour program, and the first mass gassings of Jews in Nazi-occupied Europe were all initiated under Greiser's jurisdiction. Who was the man behind these dreadful policies? Catherine Epstein gives us a compelling biographical portrait of Greiser the man: his birth in the German-Polish borderlands, his rise to Nazi prominence in Danzig, his actions as party leader in the Warthegau, and his trial and execution in postwar Poland. Drawing on a remarkable array of German and Polish sources, she shows how nationalist obsessions, political jealousies, and personal insecurities shaped the policies of a man who held remarkable power in his Nazi fiefdom. Throughout, Epstein confronts a burning question of our age: why do individuals imagine genocide and ethnic cleansing to be solutions to political problems? |
Contents
1 | |
15 | |
Striving for Strength and Power in Danzig | 49 |
Senate President | 85 |
The Warthegau | 124 |
Resettlement Deportation Murder | 160 |
Segregation in the Warthegau | 193 |
Exploiting Poles and Jews to Make the Gau German | 231 |
Rule and Loss | 268 |
Trial and Execution | 305 |
Afterword | 342 |
Notes | 345 |
430 | |
Acknowledgments | 439 |
443 | |
Other editions - View all
Model Nazi: Arthur Greiser and the Occupation of Western Poland Catherine Epstein Limited preview - 2012 |
Model Nazi: Arthur Greiser and the Occupation of Western Poland Catherine Epstein Limited preview - 2010 |
Model Nazi: Arthur Greiser and the Occupation of Western Poland Catherine Epstein No preview available - 2010 |
Common terms and phrases
According actions administration Arthur Greiser August authorities became become Berlin Bormann camps carried church claimed Collection continued crimes Danzig December decree early East eastern ethnic Germans example February Final Final Solution forced foreign Former Forster Free City further Gauleiter German ghetto given Group Gustav head Himmler Hitler important individuals initiated insisted issued January Jewish Jews July June later leader League least letter Litzmannstadt lived Ćuczak March Maria matter measures meeting military Ministry murder Nazi never noted November NSDAP October officials ordered Ostdeutscher Beobachter party perhaps planned Poland Poles policies Polish political population Posen position president Press received Reich Reichsstatthalter relations reported resettlers response senate sent September Siegmund situation soon suggested told took turn University wanted Warthegau Wartheland World wrote York