Poland under German and Soviet Occupation 1939–1941: Approaches to a Comparison

Abstract

On 1 September 1939, Nazi Germany attacked Poland. As Adolf Hitler had agreed with Stalin on the partition of the country, the Red Army invaded Poland on 17 September. Thus, until the German attack on the Soviet Union in June 1941, Poland came under the synchro-nous rule of two extreme occupation powers. Within this context limited by time and space, Poland offers almost ideal conditions for a synchronic comparison of the Soviet and German occupation regimes. This article discusses the question of how a comparison of dictatorships can be designed in a meaningful way, namely within a synchronous sectoral comparison of the Soviet and German suppression of the Polish resistance. Numerous parallels emerge: Both occupiers set up task forces, which, in the wake of the armies, arrested potential political enemies. Mass murder, though, was in this early phase of the occupation only committed by the Ger¬man task forces of the security police. Both secret police apparatuses set up their surveillance systems and carried out preventive actions directed against certain social groups. At the same time, countless resistance initiatives emerged based on pre-war military, political and civil organizations. The Polish government-in-exile initiated the founding of the Union of Armed Struggle, which endeavored to unite the various resistance groups under its um¬brella. In its fight against opponents, the Soviet secret police—the NKVD—proceeded in a much more targeted and professional manner than the German security police. The NKVD, drawing on much greater human resources and experience, recruited agents and informers from all social classes into its surveillance apparatus.

Keywords

• poland
• world war ii
• soviet occupation
• german occupation
• comparison of dictatorship
• polish resistance
• nkvd
• gestapo
• german security police