Selected Violations of the Occupation Law in the Polish Territories in 1939–1940

Abstract

The aim of this article is to present, explain, and interpret the principles and norms of the international public law which concern the military occupation law (specifically laid out in the Hague regulations of 1907), in force prior to the Second World War and on its outbreak. The discussion paves the way for the subsequent evaluation – based on selected examples – of whether the German Reich and the Soviet Union, that is, the two aggressors who seized the Polish lands following the country’s military defeat of September 1939, observed the military occupation law (or rather allows for an overview of which of the aforesaid principles and norms were violated). The period under scrutiny is the years 1939–1940, i.e. the beginning of the occupation of the Polish lands and the time of the invading powers’ setting up their administrations, as this is when the aggressor is particularly responsible for establishing occupying authority in accordance with the applicable law.