Poles inscribed on the Volkslist and duty to serve in the Wehrmacht in the light of the verdicts of the Special Court in Toruń

Abstract

Poles who lived in the northern part of Poland defeated in September 1939, were forcibly subjected to germanization by the German authorities enrolling them onto a list of German nationals (Volksliste) and incorporating into the German army against their will. Any attempts to avoid the appointment to the Wehrmacht, also by those who did not have the citizenship of the Third Reich, were punished as attempts to commit the crime of weakening the defense power of the German state. The cruel punishment of resistant Poles was performed by a German Special Court in Toruń, which sentenced, among others, to a death penalty a Pole who was called to military service, but while not wanting to leave his German wife, he cut off his fingers to avoid the enrollment. The Supreme Court of the Reich established the principle that Poles who receive a military appointment, even if they did not have German citizenship, are to be punished. The Poles called to serve in the Wehrmacht found themselves in an impossible situation. They could have died at the front or in a German prison or a concentration camp. Therefore, those who were forcibly incorporated into the Wehrmacht often deserted, for which they were also threatened with the death penalty.