Occupation or Seizure

A Dispute Between Polish Lawyers as to the Legal Status of the German Conquest of Polish Territory

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.12775/STW.2021.05.11

Abstract

The eminent Polish lawyers, Profs. Ludwik Ehrlich and Antoni Peretiatkowicz, who were called upon as experts in international law in trials before the Supreme National Tribunal, concluded that the attack on Poland did not bear the hallmarks of war in a legal sense; the rule of the Reich in the Polish lands was not so much an occupation, but more an “unlawful seizure of land through violence and coercion.” This legal qualification of German aggression against Poland fundamentally changes the rights and obligations of the invader (not occupier) and the rights of “the population of a seized area.” The aim of the paper will be to present the arguments of lawyers in the discussion on the legal status of Germans as invaders and, on the other hand, citizens of the Polish state during the Second World War. Why did experts refuse to recognize the “state of occupation,” and what implications could such a legal qualification have? What arguments were used by opponents of such a construction?

Author Biography

Dr Joanna Lubecka , Jesuit University Ignatianum in Kraków, Institute of National Remembrance

A doctor of political science and historian working at the Jesuit University Ignatianum and the Historic Research Office of the In­stitute of National Remembrance in Kraków. Author of many sci­entific and popular-science publications concerning the history of the Third Reich, Polish-German relations, as well as German mem­ory and politics of history.

Selected publications
Zrozumieć nazistę. Wątki racjonalizacji i zrozumienia zachowania zbrodniarzy nazistowskich w powojennych procesach i badaniach psychologicznych, in: Wina i kara. Społeczeństwa wobec rozliczeń zbrodni popełnionych przez reżimy totalitarne w latach 1939–1956, ed. P. Pleskot (2015); Sprawcy w rękach ofiar – sprawiedliwośćczy zemsta, in: Jak rodzi się zło. Sprawcy, wykonawcy, pomocnicy, ed. A. Bartuś (2018); German Crimes Tried in Poland: a political and legal analysis on the example of Supreme National Tribunal Trials in Southern Poland, in: Political and Transitional Justice in Germany, Poland and the Soviet Union from the 1930s to the 1950s, eds. M. Brechtken, W. Bułhak, J. Zarusky (2019); Der Prozess gegen Rudolf Höß. Verlauf und juristische Aspekte, in: Im Schatten von Nürnberg, Transnationale Ahndung von NS-Verbrechen, eds. E. Heitzer, G. Morsch, R. Traba, K. Woniak (2019); Konieczność wykonania rozkazu jako instrument obrony w procesach niemieckich zbrodniarzy przed Najwyższym Trybunałem Narodowym, Oświęcim, in: “Pola Wolności”, ed. A. Bartuś (2020); Josef Bühler – urzędnik uwikłany czy świadomy uczestnik zbrodni? Rozważania w świetle procesu Josepha Bühlera (17 czerwca – 10 lipca 1948 r.), “Pamięć i Sprawiedliwość” no. 2 (2020); Niemiecki zbrodniarz przed polskim sądem. Krakowskie procesy przed Najwyższym Trybunałem Narodowym (2021).

Totalitarian and 20th Century Studies

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Published

2025-09-23

How to Cite

1.
LUBECKA, Joanna. Occupation or Seizure: A Dispute Between Polish Lawyers as to the Legal Status of the German Conquest of Polish Territory. Totalitarian and 20th Century Studies. Online. 23 September 2025. Vol. 5, pp. 168-183 (PL), 412-427 (ENG). [Accessed 31 December 2025]. DOI 10.12775/STW.2021.05.11.

Issue

Vol. 5 (2021)

Section

Artykuły

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