Conquered Poland Looted by the Nazis

Manawatu Times, Volume 64, Issue 305, 27 December 1939, Page 7

Conquered Poland Looted by the Nazis

FAMINE AND PERSECUTION People arriving here from Warsaw state that the Poles are now facing famine and guerilla warfare is daily being intensified, owing to the wholesale looting and other activities of the Nazi invaders, wrote the Helsinki correspondent of the London Daily Telegraph on October 8. Valuable furniture, paintings and bric-a-brac, seized by Gestapo officers, are dispatched to German homes. Closed shops are being broken into and their goods, including art treasures and old books, are sent to the Reich. Gestapo agents are everywhere. People who refuse to surrender food or fuel, textiles, or metals are beaten or fined. Some had been imprisoned und others executed. Even door handles and metal kitchen utensils have been collected for the Reich. In some places people of both sexes between the ages of 14 and 65 were forced to help tho Labour Corps. In an effort to create sympathy for themselves the Germans supply the poor and members of the underworld with food taken from the wealthier classes. Radio sets are being seized, and the people are strictly forbidden to listen to foreign broadcasts. Before Hitler’s arrival in Warsaw to review tho German forces which conquered the city the inhabitants were forced to clean the streets, remove debris, and rub out slogans written on the walls. Slogans Replaced Such slogans as “Death to the German bandits" had to be replaced by “Death to Poland." For months before the Polish invasion Reich soldiers were supplied with special German-Polish dictionaries containing such phrases as “Give up food or be shot." The last three words appear on nearly every page. The German bombardment having shattered most of the windows, unbroken panes were removed for use in buildings in which Germans are billeted. The municipality wag ordered to provide the invaders with the best of everything, including feather beds and wines and other luxuries. Secret police are rounding up people with members of their families living abroad to compel their relatives to serve German interests under a threat that the hostages will otherwise suffer. Spies supplied the Germans with lists of Poles who had distinguished themselves in their country’s RcrvicQ,land many have disappeared. Their fate is unknown. Doctors were arrested and forced to attend the German wounded, leaving the Poles without medical assistance. Conditions are even worse in the villages and country districts, where fledgling officers and n.c.o’s., now masters of life or death, are creating a reign of terror and seizing all provisions and harvests. Spreading Propaganda Members of German minorities in Poland are employed in spreading virulent propaganda blaming the Allies for the disaster to Poland and sneering at the absence of direct help by France and Britain. Lists wore supplied of Poles who had spoken adversely about Germany, and of tens of thousands of Jewish refugees from Germany, Czechoslovakia and Austria, who are now subjected to terrible persecution. Only specialists are spared on condition that they return to Germany to assist the Nazis. All cameras and pictures showing the effect of German bombardment are being confiscated. The German promise to permit Polish officers to retain their swords and the soldiers to return to their homes has been broken. Instead, troops aro being sent in large numbers to concentration camps. AYhole towns like Siedlce and Novgorod, whose populations were respectively 70,000 and 12,000, have been completely wrecked by German shells and bombs. The ruins of the first now bear a big tablet erected by the Germans stating: “Here stood Seidlce." Reports that M. Sharzynscka, Mayor of Warsaw, committed suicide are completely discredited, but his fate is unknown.