The basic idea of creating a racial register for persons of German extraction was later incorporated into a decree of 3 March 1941, signed by Himmler, Frick, and Hess. This decree is set forth in the 1941 Reichsgesetzblatt Part 1, page 118.
The entire apparatus of the SS was thrown behind the vigorous execution of these decrees. Proof of this fact is contained in the following extracts from directives issued by Himmler as the Reich Commissioner for the Consolidation of German Nationhood:
“I. Where Racial Germans have not applied for entry in the ‘German Ethnical List,’ you will instruct the subordinate agencies to turn over their names to the State Police (Superior) Office. Subsequently, you will report to me (Himmler).
“II. The Local State Police (Superior) Office, will charge the persons whose names are turned over to them to prove within eight days that they have applied for entry in the ‘German Ethnical List.’
“If such proof is not submitted, the person in question is to be taken into protective custody for transfer into a concentration camp.” (R-112)
The measures taken against persons in the fourth category, “Polonized Germans,” were particularly harsh. These persons were resistant to Germanization, and ruthless measures calculated to break their resistance were prescribed. Where the individual’s past history indicated that he could not be effectively Germanized, he was thrown into a concentration camp. In the words of Himmler’s decree of 16 February 1942:
“II. The Re-Germanization of the Polonized Germans presupposes their complete separation from Polish surroundings. For that reason the persons entered in Division 4 of the German Ethnical List are to be dealt with in the following manner:
“A. They are to be re-settled in Old Reich territory.
“1. The Superior SS and Police Leaders are charged with evacuating and resettling them according to instructions which will follow later.
“2. Asocial persons and others who are of inferior hereditary quality will not be included in the resettlement. Their names will be turned over at once by the Higher SS and Police Fuehrer (Inspectors of Security Police and Security Service) to the competent State Police (Superior) Office. The latter will arrange for their transfer into a concentration camp.