Author Description

Traces the history of German claims to western Poland from the Middle Ages to its annexation as the Warthegau in 1939, focusing on the city of Łódź, an important textile center with some 230,000 Jewish inhabitants in 1939. After the occupation, the Germans deported 80,000 Jews and many Poles, in order to resettle the Warthegau with ethnic Germans, until it was decided to exploit the city's industries. In spring 1940 a ghetto was established. Pt. 3 (pp. 92-131) describes the Nazi exploitation of the ghetto, especially in the manufacture of clothing for the Wehrmacht. Nazi bureaucrats benefited from the profits and therefore resisted SS demands to destroy the ghetto, as did the Wehrmacht. In August 1944 the 70,000 Jews of Lodz were transported to Chelmno or Auschwitz. Traces the careers of SS officers including "expert for Jewish matters" Günther Fuchs, who was responsible for the selections. Pt. 4 (pp. 132-187) brings excerpts from the trial of Fuchs and of his superior, Otto Bradfisch, in Hannover in 1962-63. Fuchs was sentenced to life imprisonment and Bradfisch to 13 years.