The Germans were coming. They were going to break out from Silesia and carve up Poland.

The Nazis' perverse pastoral vision for what the new "Lebensraum" would look like: Das Volk (the German people) hard at work -- on land seized from others; with industry chugging along in the background.

Britain and France couldn't protect Czechslovakia from being picked apart by Germany, who claimed the German-speaking Sudetenlands. Soon after, the other dominoes fell. First Austria. Then the rest of Czechoslovakia. Then, Germany demanded from Poland: the port city of Danzig; a land corridor reconnecting Germany with Prussia; and the return of the Silesian coalfields. "Nein" "Nie" "NFW"

 

Clare Hollingworth, reporting for Britain’s Daily Telegraph from Gleiwitz, spotted German tanks hiding in a Silesian valley, and scooped the world to the imminent outbreak of war.

“You are to kill without mercy all men, women and children of the Polish race ... The destruction of Poland is our primary task. The aim is not the arrival at a certain boundary line but the annihilation of all living beings." - Hitler’s orders to his military commanders

If Lebensraum (empire) was the goal; and war was Germany's strategy for seizing other nations' territories; then Generalplan Ost was the master plan.

World War II begins. Panzer tanks roll out of Silesia and race to Warsaw.

IntelligenzAktion begins. Armed with lists of names compiled by sympathizers, the Germans rounded up and killed the mayors, priests, academics, and business leaders. Soon, counties adjacent to Silesia were emptied to make room for the German Volk.

 

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