[Ger-Poland-Volhynia] Propaganda

[Karl Krueger]

My parents and other close family friends were resettled from eastern Poland (near Lublin) to Warthegau in the summer of 1940. The overriding comment I have heard from them is the audacity of the Nazis on short notice to move them and all their belongings before they could harvest their crops to essentially leave their farms that they all worked so hard to establish. This was the hardest struggle for them but it seems their transfer to Warthegau went quite smoothly, although the farms they took over may not have been as good as what they left. Germans were usually better caretakers of their land than the Polish farmers.
   
  Looking back at history, I can say it seems this was a good price to pay for what was coming down the road. In the winter/spring of 1945, as the Russian troops were advancing west, the resettled Germans had shorter distance and better warning about fleeing westeward to German land. Had they still been in eastern Poland they clearly would not have made it out to relative safety and been at the mercy of the Russians seeking revenge. In essence, had it not been for the resettlement, I and many others of us probably would not have been born and others would likely have grown up in Siberia instead. So while the resettlement was viewed as negatively, it did have some positive outcomes that clearly were not intended when it was instituted. 
   


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