Before the outbreak of the war the present county of Blachownia was a part of Czestachowa County (before 1941 this territory belonged to Russian Poland). Only recently, it was decided to incorporate the present county area of Blachownia County into the district of Oppeln. Blachownia is a rather big market-place which in Polish times was even called a Spa.
As the necessary preparations can be considered closed in the following a short survey on the general conditions shall be given as far as they are at present of interest and importance.
At first, contact was made by the Chief of the local agency of the Land Office in Lublinitz, with the local authorities of the Party, the State such as the East German Corporation for Agricultural Development and the Secret State Police, and after a thorough exposition of the aims of the Land Office, excellent state of agreement was reached. Before this the Land Office of Kattowitz had discussions in the same direction regarding the Blachownia County with the higher authorities of the Party and the State District Governor [Regierungspresident], Provincial Governor [Oberpresident], Gauleitung.
The chief of the local agency at Lublinitz had found out that a number of villages exist in Blachownia County the inhabitants of which belong for the greatest part to the German nationality and that particularly in recent years the Polish nationality strongly penetrated into these small ethnic German islands.
Blachownia County comprises about 133,000 inhabitants. Of these, 2,000 can be considered without further ado as ethnic Germans. The number of Jews is estimated at 6,000. 260 villages are combined in 15 greater communities. In 3 of such greater communities to which also the German villages belong, racial German mayors are in office.
1. The greater community Lipie: Mayor Mueller, comprising the racial-German villages of Haukow, Lindow, Natalin and Rosalin,
2. The greater community Scharny-Las: Mayor Lorenz, comprising the racial-German villages of Schwarzwald,
3. The greater community Wrozosowa: Mayor Neugebauer, comprising the racial-German village of Alt-Hutau.
The rest of the communities are Polish throughout and have still an almost pure Polish administration.
To 1. In greater Lipie 20 of the 23 villages are destroyed up to 80%. The ethnic-German families are living in the most primitive conditions, closely compressed into the few dwelling-houses still remaining or into other poorly prepared shelters consisting of destroyed houses even in holes in the ground. The German villages mentioned were founded about 80 years ago by Germans who came mostly from Middle-Silesia (Strehlen, district of Breslau). By hard work they have cleared the woods and created farms.