* * * * * *
“(6) * * * Any tendencies towards the consolidation of conditions in Poland are to be suppressed. The ‘Polish muddle’ [polnische Wirtschaft] must be allowed to develop. The government of the territory must make it possible for us to purify the Reich territory from Jews and Polacks, too. Collaboration with new Reich provinces (Posen and West Prussia) only for resettlements (Compare Mission Himmler).
“Purpose: Shrewdness and severity must be the maxims in this racial struggle in order to spare us from going to battle on account of this country again.” (864-PS)
Frank’s own statements regarding the purposes of his administration in Poland should be considered in connection with the foregoing document. The economic and political responsibilities which had been conferred on Frank by Hitler, and according to which he “intended to administer Poland”, were explained by Frank as follows in an interview that took place on 3 October 1939:
“Poland can only be administered by utilizing the country through means of ruthless exploitation, deportation of all supplies, raw materials, machines, factory installations, etc., which are important for the German war economy, availability of all workers for work within Germany, reduction of the entire Polish economy to absolute minimum necessary for bare existence of the population, closing of all educational institutions, especially technical schools and colleges in order to prevent the growth of the new Polish intelligentsia. ‘Poland shall be treated as a colony; the Poles shall be the slaves of the Greater German World Empire.’ ” (EC-344-16 & 17)
The Hitler-Keitel protocol should also be construed in the light of various passages in Frank’s diary relating to German policy in Poland. Illegality had been made in effect a canon of administration by the protocol, which provided that Frank’s task involved “a hard racial struggle which will not allow any legal restrictions.” Frank emphasized this point to his Department Heads at a conference on 19 December 1940:
“* * * In this country the force of a determined leadership must rule. The Pole must feel here that we are not building him a legal state, but that for him there is only one duty, namely, to work and to behave himself. It is clear that this leads sometimes to difficulties, but you must, in your own interest, see that all measures are ruthlessly carried out in order to become master of the situation. You can rely on me absolutely in this.” (2233-O-PS)
It was the German purpose from the beginning to administer the General Government as colonial territory in total disregard of the duties imposed by International Law on an occupying power, and Frank’s administrative policies were shaped in accordance with this policy. At the first conference with Department Heads of the General Government on 2 December 1939, Frank stated:
“Decisive in the administrative activities of the General Government is the will of the Fuehrer that this area shall be the first colonial territory of the German nation.” (2233-K-PS)
The “hard racial struggle” which Keitel and Hitler agreed could be solved only if attacked without “legal restrictions,” developed into the struggle which had as its ultimate purpose the Germanization of the General Government.