Jungdeutsche Partei

Jungdeutsche Partei in Polen (JDP), or the Young German Party in Poland (Polish: Partia Młodoniemiecka w Polsce), was a Nazi German extreme right-wing political party founded in 1931 by members of the ethnic German minority residing in the Second Polish Republic.[1]

Jungdeutsche Partei in Polen
Young German Party in Poland
Volksdeutsches decorated with the Golden Party Badge by Adolf Hitler in Berlin after Invasion of Poland in 1939. From left: Ludwig Wolff of Deutscher Volksverband, Otto Ulitz, Wagner, Rudolf Wiesner from Bielsko-Biała, Obergruppenführer Werner Lorenz, Erwin Hasbach from Ciechocinek, Gero von Gersdorff from Wielkopolska, and Weiss from Jarocin
Established1931 (1931)
TypeNazi party
HeadquartersBielsko-Biała, Poland
LeaderRudolf Wiesner,
Obersturmführer Max Wambeck (1938)
AffiliationsThird Reich
RemarksFar-right politics

The party was opposed not only to collaboration with Poland, but also, with other German organizations in Poland.[2] Its leader was Rudolf Wiesner (pictured, fourth from the left), a committed Nazi.[3] He was replaced by Max Wambeck from NSDAP on 22 November 1938.[4] After the invasion of Poland Wambeck (fluent in Polish, known as Maksymilian Wambeck locally)[5] served as SS-Obersturmführer in Chodzież in the Gnesen Gau (Polish Gniezno County) interrogating and torturing Armia Krajowa resistance members.[4]

Activities

Sponsored financially by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Third Reich, the Jungdeutsche Partei members trained in propaganda, sabotage and espionage activities against the Polish state,[6] smuggled military weapons,[7] and waged a campaign of intimidating other members of the community to leave for Nazi Germany, with tangible incentives.[6] A considerable number of young Polish Germans joined the rank-and-file of the Party during the mid-1930s as a result of Nazi indoctrination and aggressive recruitment.[8] The party had its own flag with JdP symbol in it, celebrated anniversaries (Heldengedenktag), a hymn sung at gatherings (Jungdeutsche marschiert) with a Nazi salute, and its own red armbands similar to NSDAP.[9]

The Jungdeutsche Partei was formed originally in 1921 in Bielsko-Biała as the Deutscher Nationalsozialistischer Verein in Polen. Renamed in 1931 the party gradually expanded its activities to cover most of Upper Silesia with 1,200 members,[10] and other regions such as Greater Poland (since 1934) as well as Pomerania and Volhynia in the following years.[11][12] The public rallies held by the party were aggressively anti-Polish, rabidly racist, and anti-Jewish; while proclaiming to the world: "We want to be Germans, and nothing but Germans."[13] JDP was dissolved by Adolf Hitler after the invasion of Poland with transfer of its membership to Germany.[14]

See also

Notes and references
  1. Richard Blanke (1993). The Impact of National Socialism. Orphans Of Versailles: Jungdeutsche Partei. University Press of Kentucky. pp. 170, 247. ISBN 0813118034.
  2. Herbert A. Strauss (1993). Current Research on Anti-Semitism: Hostages of Modernization, Volumes 2–3. Walter de Gruyter. p. 986. ISBN 3110137151.
  3. Neil Gregor; Nils H. Roemer; Mark Roseman (2006). Jungdeutsche Partei in "Volksgemeinschaften unter sich" by Winson Chu. German History from the Margins. Indiana University Press. pp. 118–119. ISBN 0253347432.
  4. Waldemar L. Janiszewski (10 September 2011). "Mroczne tajemnice senatora (Dark secrets of a senator)". Regionalny Portal Informacyjny Dziennik Nowy.pl. Retrieved 12 September 2014.
  5. Karol Grünberg (1963), page 223.
  6. H. Kennard to Viscount Halifax (August 24, 1939). "The British War Bluebook". 2008 Lillian Goldman Law Library. Retrieved 11 September 2014.
  7. Wacław Uruszczak (2012). Krakowskie Studia z Historii Państwa i Prawa Vol. 5. Wydawnictwo UJ. p. 339. ISBN 978-8323388685.
  8. Karol Grünberg (1963). Nazi Front Schlesien: niemieckie organizacje polityczne w województwie Śląskim w latach 1933–1939. Wydawnictwo Śląsk, Katowice. Historic photos.
  9. Prof. Ryszard Kaczmarek; Instytut Historii Uniwersytetu Śląskiego. "Niespełnione nadzieje (Hopes unfulfilled)". Tygodnik Onet.pl. Retrieved 12 September 2014. Tygodnik Powszechny: Krwią i blizną (21/11)
  10. Karol Grünberg (1963), page 170.
  11. Bundesarchiv Berlin Lichterfelde (2014). "Jungdeutsche Partei für Polen". Reconstitution of the Memory of Poland. Naczelna Dyrekcja Archiwów Państwowych. Retrieved 12 September 2014.
  12. Karol Grünberg (1963), page 65.
  13. Claus-Christian W. Szejnmann; Maiken Umbach (18 January 2016). Heimat, Region, and Empire: Spatial Identities under National Socialism. Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 77–79. ISBN 978-0230391123.
  14. Jarosław Gdański (2011). "Dobrzy Niemcy w polskich mundurach (Good Germans in Polish uniforms)". Inne Oblicza Historii ioh.pl. Retrieved 12 September 2014.
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