Alvin Eichorst (@AEichorst47312)

Invasion of Poland - "Blood-drenched September" [Part 2] On January 30, 1933, Adolf Hitler’s National Socialists gained power in Germany. While there were some political dissidents that floated the idea of annexing Polish territories, it was primarily Hitler’s idea and not a pre-1933, official, Weimar plan to invade and split Poland. Or even to annex Bohemia and Austria, creating satellite/puppet states that were subordinate to the Father German State. As a piece of this long-term policy, Hitler began with a strategy of rapprochement with Poland in an attempt to improve opinion on the matter within Germany. This resulted in the German-Polish Non-Aggression Pact of 1934. - Previously, Hitler’s foreign policy goals were to weaken diplomatic relations between Poland and France, and try to maneuver Poland into the Anti-Comintern Pact* of 1934, to form a mutual cooperation against the Soviet Union’s influence. … *The Anti-Comintern Pact, officially referred to as the “Agreement against the Communist International,” was an anti-communist pact signed between National Socialist Germany and the Empire of Japan on November 25, 1936, and directed at the “Communist International” (Comintern). The agreement was signed by German ambassador Joachim von Ribbentrop and Japanese ambassador Kintomo Mushanokōji. Italy would join the agreement in 1937, but was recognized legally as an original singer of the Pact according to the terms of its entry. Spain and Hungary also joined, as did more during World War II. … Poland would gain territory to the northeast in Ukraine and Belarus if it agreed to wage war against the Soviet Union. However the concessions the Poles were expected to make meant they would become largely dependent upon Germany and function as little more than a client state. ___________________________________________ [The Danzig problem] The populace of the Free City of Danzig was highly supportive of an annexation by Germany, as there were many ethnic Germans in the Polish territory that separated the German exclave of East Prussia from the Greater Reich. The Polish Corridor represented land that was long disputed by both Poland and Germany, but was inhabited by a Polish majority. - The Corridor became a territory of Poland after the signing of the Treaty of Versailles. Many native Germans wanted the urbanized port city of Danzig and its surrounding regions to be reincorporated into the Greater German Reich. Danzig had a German majority and had been separated from Germany itself under the terms of the Treaty of Versailles and made it into an independent “Free City.” - Hitler appealed to German nationalism by promising to “liberate” the German minority located within the Corridor and the City. ___________________________________________ By Germany, the invasion was referred to as the Verteidigungskrieg (Defensive War) since Hitler insisted that Poland struck first. - “Germans in Poland are persecuted with a bloody terror and are driven from their homes. The series of border violations, which are unbearable to a great power, prove that the Poles no longer are willing to respect the German frontier.” Poland participated in the Partition of Czechoslovakia which followed the Munich Agreement. It coerced Czechoslovakia into surrendering the Český Těšín region by issuing an ultimatum that was accepted only days later. This region had a Polish majority, and had been disputed by the Czechs and Poles since the end of World War I. Poland’s annexation of Slovak territory, particularly villages in Čadca, Orava and Spiš regions, was used as justification for Czechoslovakia to join Germany during the invasion.