The Establishment and Organization of Nazi Occupation Authorities in Pomerania, 1939: Administrative Engineering, Targeted Violence, and Historiographical Perspective

This article examines the establishment and organization of Nazi occupation authorities in Pomerania in 1939, showing how the Third Reich fused administrative engineering with targeted violence to achieve rapid annexation. Following the Wehrmacht’s invasion on 1 September 1939, a short-lived military administration gave way to the Reichsgau Danzig–Westpreußen, created by Hitler’s decree of 8 October. At its apex stood Reichsstatthalter Albert Forster, who presided over a party–state fusion in which civil offices were mirrored by NSDAP hierarchies. Police power was concentrated under the Higher SS and Police Leader, while extraordinary courts and special tribunals reconfigured the legal system to suppress dissent. Alongside these institutions, the paramilitary Selbstschutz, formed from local ethnic Germans, carried out mass arrests and executions of Polish elites in autumn 1939–early 1940. The coexistence of formal legality and overt illegality was not contradictory but complementary, as decrees and courts signaled permanence while terror cleared the ground for integration. Drawing on archival documents and a systematic review of recent scholarship, the article situates Pomerania as a model case of Nazi annexation. It highlights the interplay of administration, law, and violence, while identifying research gaps concerning everyday life, local collaboration, and comparative occupation models.