Status and Prospects for Research on the German Police and Administration’s Actions Against Poland in the Period from mid-October 1938 till December 1939

Preparations for aggression against Poland on the police-administrative front began in Germany as early as the spring of 1939. At the forefront, here are the activities of the police authorities (Gestapo, Security Service) aimed at collecting data on persons in the territory of Poland to be arrested and possibly liquidated. In the form of arrest warrants, these findings were then used, in September and October 1939, by the so-called operational groups of the Security Police and SD (Einsatzgruppen). In mid-October, these groups established permanent headquarters, spreading political terror over the occupied areas. The administrative side of the occupier's activities differed depending on the status given to particular areas: whether they were incorporated into the Reich or included in the so-called General Government. All these aspects, including the personalities of the functionaries and clerks involved, deserve full investigation.