4,500 people. As soon as the German armies marched into Polish territory, the
Nazi policy against the local Jewish population was imposed. Separate administrative and police apparatuses, subordinated directly to the main quartermaster of a given army, operated by the high command of each of the five
armies that attacked Poland. Numerous acts of terror against the civilian population
were committed already during the military administration period: executions, hostage taking, expulsions, looting, as well as destruction of synagogues and other buildings, and objects of worship.⁶⁵⁶ Particularly brutal events took place in Aleksandrów Łódzki, Włocławek, and Sieradz on Rosh Hashanah, on the night of 14–15 September. Begun by the Wehrmacht, the crimes did not cease with the shift of power from the military to the civil administration, which took place 26 October 1939. It marked also the beginning of mass resettlements.
At first, Jews were forced to leave the territories close to the former German border. Consequently, the Regierungsbezirk Posen had no Jews by the end of November 1939. In Regierungsbezirk Hohensalza they were deported from the counties of Inowrocław, Gniezno and Szubin between September and November 1939. In the counties of Włocławek, Ciechocinek, Konin, and Koło, some of the residents had been deported by February 1940. In Regierungsbezirk Litzmannstadt Jews were forced to leave its western counties of Kalisz, Ostrów and Kępno, and from Łódź County. However, the planned resettlement of the Jewish population from the remaining territory of Wartheland was temporarily stopped, and instead, the German policy changed to concentrate the Jews in ghettos.
The plan to establish the ghetto in Łódź (eventually closed on 12 April
1940)⁶⁵⁷ was announced in December 1939 by Friedrich Übelhör, governor of
the Regierungsbezirk. The ghettos in Pabianice and Warta were established in
February 1940. Between March and August 1940 Jews were forced into separate
districts in Wieluń, Szadek, Kutno, Brzeziny, Włocławek, Zduńska Wola,
Sieradz, Poddębice, Lututów, Łask, Ozorków, Zelów and Zgierz. December
1940 brought the establishment of the ghetto in Koło, followed by those in
656 T. Berenstein, A. Rutkowski, “Prześladowania ludności żydowskiej w okresie hitlerowskiej administracji wojskowej na okupowanych ziemiach polskich (1 IX 1939–25 X 1939 r.),” part 1, BŻIH 2 (38) (1961): 3–38; part 2, BŻIH 3 (39) (1961): pp. 63–87.
657 See Part One.
