Left to right: Franz Josef Huber, Arthur Nebe, and the three planners of most of Operation Himmler: Heinrich Himmler, Reinhard Heydrich, and Heinrich Müller

Operation Himmler, also called Operation Konserve, consisted of a group of 1939 false flag undertakings planned by Nazi Germany to give the appearance of Polish aggression against Germany. The Germans then used propaganda reports of the events to justify their invasion of Poland, which started on 1 September 1939. Operation Himmler included the Germans staging false attacks on themselves—directed at innocent people, such as civilians and concentration camp prisoners. The operation arguably became the first act of the Second World War in Europe.[1]

Planning

Prior to the 1939 invasion, German newspapers and politicians like Adolf Hitler carried out a national and international propaganda campaign accusing Polish authorities of organizing or tolerating violent ethnic cleansing of ethnic Germans living in Poland.[2][3]

The plan, named after its originator, Heinrich Himmler,[1] was supervised by Reinhard Heydrich[4] and managed[5] by Heinrich Müller.[1][4] The goal of this false flag project was to create the appearance of Polish aggression against Germany, which could be used to justify the German invasion of Poland. Hitler also might have hoped to confuse Poland's allies, the United Kingdom and France, into delaying or stopping their declaration of war on Germany.[6]

Implementation

The operations were mostly carried out on 31 August.[7] The operation, as well as the main German offensive, was originally scheduled for 26 August; the shifting diplomatic situation resulted in delay until 31 August and 1 September. The operations were carried out by agents of the SS[7] and the SD.[8] The German troops, dressed in Polish uniforms, would storm various border buildings, scare the locals with inaccurate shots, carry out acts of vandalism, retreat and leave behind dead bodies in Polish uniforms.[8] The bodies were really prisoners from concentration camps who were dressed in Polish uniforms, killed by lethal injection, shot for appearances and left behind. They were described in plans as Konserve: canned goods, which also led to the informal name of the operation, Operation Konserve.[1][7][9][10]

There were several separate operations, including staged attacks on the following:

Gleiwitz incident

Alfred Naujocks
Gliwice Radio Tower today. It is the highest wooden structure in Europe.

Further information: Gleiwitz incident

On the night of 31 August a small group of German operatives, dressed in Polish uniforms and led by Alfred Naujocks, seized the Gleiwitz radio station and broadcast a short anti-German message in Polish (sources vary on the content of the message). Several prisoners (most likely from the Dachau concentration camp) and a local Polish-Silesian activist (arrested a day earlier) were left dead on the scene in Polish uniforms.[9][12]

Aftermath

In his 1 September speech to the Reichstag announcing war, Hitler cited the 21 border incidents as justification for Germany's "defensive" action against Poland:

I can no longer find any willingness on the part of the Polish Government to conduct serious negotiations with us. These proposals for mediation have failed because in the meanwhile there, first of all, came as an answer to the sudden Polish general mobilization, followed by more Polish atrocities. These were again repeated last night. Recently in one night, there were as many as twenty-one frontier incidents: last night there were fourteen, of which three were quite serious. I have, therefore, resolved to speak to Poland in the same language that Poland for months past has used toward us... This night for the first time Polish regular soldiers fired on our own territory. Since 5:45 a. m., we have been returning the fire... I will continue this struggle, no matter against whom, until the safety of the Reich and its rights are secured[2]

By mid-1939, thousands of Polish Volksdeutsche had been secretly prepared for sabotage and guerrilla warfare by the Breslau (Wrocław) office of the Abwehr. Their activities were meant to provoke anti-German reprisals that could be claimed as provocations.[13]

The German agents indeed co-operated with the German forces during the invasion of Poland, which led to some reprisals that were highly exaggerated by the German propaganda.[13][14][15] One of the most notable cases of such a scenario was reportedly carried out during Bydgoszcz Bloody Sunday. An instruction issued by the Ministry of Propaganda stated that the press

must show news on the barbarism of Poles in Bromberg. The expression "bloody sunday" must enter as a permanent term in the dictionary and circumnavigate the globe. For that reason, this term must be continuously underlined.[16]

The operation convinced very little international opinion about the German claims.[6]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d Roger Manvell, Heinrich Fraenkel, Heinrich Himmler: The SS, Gestapo, His Life and Career, Skyhorse Publishing Inc., 2007, ISBN 1-60239-178-5, Google Print, p.76
  2. ^ a b Address by Adolf Hitler - September 1, 1939; retrieved from the archives of the Avalon Project at the Yale Law School.
  3. ^ Nazi Conspiracy and Aggression, Volume VI (PDF). United States Government Printing Office: Washington: Office of United States Chief of Counsel For Prosecution of Axis Criminality. 1946. p. 188. 31. On 1 September, the day of the beginning of the battle against Poland, Hitler's speech in the Reichstag gave the instructions for the press, especially as to the ticklish problem of the attitude of the Western powers. (what displays as page 188 on bottom of page is page 193/1125 of this PDF)
  4. ^ a b 20 Nuremberg Trial Proceedings Volume 4; Thursday, 20 December 1945 Archived 24 February 2008 at the Wayback Machine. The Avalon Project. Retrieved 4 August 2007.
  5. ^ Gerald Reitlinger, The SS, Alibi of a Nation, 1922-1945, Da Capo Press, 1989, ISBN 0-306-80351-8, Print, p.122
  6. ^ a b Steven J. Zaloga, Poland 1939: The Birth of Blitzkrieg, Osprey Publishing, 2002, ISBN 1-84176-408-6, Google Print, p.39
  7. ^ a b c James J. Wirtz, Roy Godson, Strategic Denial and Deception: The Twenty-First Century Challenge, Transaction Publishers, 2002, ISBN 0-7658-0898-6, Google Print, p.100
  8. ^ a b c d Martin Allen, Himmler's Secret War: The Covert Peace Negotiations of Heinrich Himmler, Carroll & Graf Publishers, 2005, ISBN 0-7867-1708-4, Google Print, p.51
  9. ^ a b c d Christopher J. Ailsby, The Third Reich Day by Day, Zenith Imprint, 2001, ISBN 0-7603-1167-6, Google Print, p.112
  10. ^ John S. Craig, Peculiar Liaisons in War, Espionage, and Terrorism of the Twentieth Century, Algora Publishing, 2005, ISBN 0-87586-331-0, Google Print, p.180
  11. ^ Jorgensen, Christer, "Hitler's Espionage Machine", Spellmount Ltd., 2004, ISBN 1-86227-244-1
  12. ^ "Museum in Gliwice: WHAT HAPPENED HERE?". Archived from the original on 2 May 2008. Retrieved 5 March 2008.
  13. ^ a b Perry Biddiscombe, Alexander Perry, Werwolf!: The History of the National Socialist Guerrilla Movement, 1944-1946, University of TorontoPress, 1998, ISBN 0-8020-0862-3, Google Print, p.207
  14. ^ For an example of Nazi propaganda document discussing "Polish atrocities against the German people", see The Polish Atrocities Against the German Minority in Poland Compiled by Hans Schadewaldt (Berlin: German Foreign Office, 1940) pp. 35–54, cases 1 - 15. signed testimony of Herbert Matthes, Bromberg furniture maker
  15. ^ Richard Blanke, The American Historical Review, Vol. 97, No. 2. Apr. 1992, pp. 580–582. Review of: Włodzimierz Jastrzębski,Der Bromberger Blutsonntag: Legende und Wirklichkeit. and Andrzej Brożek, Niemcy zagraniczni w polityce kolonizacji pruskich prowincji wschodnich (1886-1918)
  16. ^ A. K. Kunert, Z. Walkowski, Kronika kampanii wrześniowej 1939, Wydawnictwo Edipresse Polska, Warszawa 2005, ISBN 83-60160-99-6, s. 35.

Further reading

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