Plunder of Polish Property in the Polish Territories Occupied by Germany and 'Incorporated into the Reich' (1939-1945)

Abstract

The plunder of Polish property in the territories occupied by Germany and incorporated into the Reich (1939-1945) has been studied mainly in connection with specific assets or specific regions. A systematic account encompassing the full scope of organized plunder - from Wehrmacht seizures to the institutional framework of the Main Trusteeship Office East - based on unpublished archival sources has been lacking.

This article analyzes the organized plunder of Polish property in the eastern territories incorporated into the Reich between 1939 and 1945, examining the institutional framework (Main Trusteeship Office East, Treuhandstelle Posen, Ostland, Reichsland), the legislative basis of confiscation, and the successive stages of expropriation affecting industrial enterprises, farms, dwellings, raw materials, art objects, and personal belongings.

The study draws primarily on archival materials from the Archiwum Państwowe Miasta Poznania i Województwa Poznańskiego (HTO Posen files) and from the Deutsches Zentralarchiv Potsdam (Reichsfinanzministerium), supplemented by the Archives of the Main Commission for the Investigation of Nazi Crimes in Poland.

The analysis demonstrates that the plunder of Polish property was an organized, legally framed process initiated in October 1939 by Göring's decree establishing the Main Trusteeship Office East (Haupttreuhandstelle Ost). The Wehrmacht seized strategic materials from the first days of occupation; civilian administration, NSDAP, SS, and Gestapo subsequently confiscated industrial enterprises, farms, and religious property through specialized agencies. By 1941 all Polish farms in the incorporated territories had been transferred to German possession; 299,606 Polish houses were confiscated by March 1942; raw materials worth 75.1 million marks were seized; art objects were looted or destroyed for war use. The consistent confiscation of Polish property served both economic exploitation and the policy of reducing Poles to the role of landless manual laborers under German control.