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Questions about Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany

Short answers, pulled from the story.

What Polish territories were annexed by Nazi Germany in 1939?

Nazi Germany annexed approximately 92,500 square kilometres of western Poland in October 1939, representing 23.7 percent of pre-war Poland and holding around 10 million people. The main administrative units created were Reichsgau Wartheland and Reichsgau Danzig-West Prussia, with additional areas absorbed into East Prussia and Upper Silesia.

How many Poles were expelled or deported from Nazi-annexed Polish territories?

Estimates range from around 780,000 to approximately 923,000 people expelled or deported from the annexed territories between 1939 and 1944; the Institute of National Remembrance puts the figure at 923,000. A total of 1.5 million people were expelled or deported when including those sent for slave labour or to concentration camps.

What was the Nazi Germanization plan for annexed Polish territories?

The plan aimed to replace 3.4 million Poles with German settlers, targeting Germanization of rural areas within 5 years and urban areas within 10 years. Heinrich Himmler oversaw resettlement as Reichskommissar, and the longer-range Generalplan Ost envisioned deporting up to 51 million Slavs to Siberia.

What happened to Jewish people in the Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany?

Jewish residents were forced into ghettos and progressively deported to extermination camps. More than 400,000 Jews from the annexed territories were deported to Auschwitz, Treblinka or Chelmno; over 300,000 of those came from Warthegau alone. Auschwitz itself was located within the annexed East Upper Silesia.

How many German settlers moved into Nazi-annexed Polish territories?

Estimates range from about 404,612 to 631,500 ethnic German settlers, with Warthegau receiving the largest share at 536,951 colonists. By 1942, up to two million Germans had been settled across all of pre-war Poland. Settlers came primarily from the Baltic states, Bukovina, Bessarabia, Volhynia, Galicia and Sudetenland.

What happened to the Catholic Church in the Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany?

Arthur Greiser's decree of the 13th of September 1941 revoked the legal status of churches in Wartheland; three weeks later most Catholic priests in the region were sent to concentration camps. Of 2,500 Catholic priests in Warthegau, 752 perished. By 1944, up to 1,300 churches had been closed in Warthegau alone, with 500 converted into warehouses.