Demographic Estimates
It is estimated that between 1.6 and 2 million people were expelled from their homes during the German occupation of Poland. The Nazi German organized expulsions—by themselves—affected 1,710,000 Poles directly. New verified estimates by Polish historians give the number of 2.478 million people expelled. Additionally, 2.5 to 3 million Poles were taken from Poland to Germany as slave labourers to support the Nazi war effort. These numbers do not include people arrested by the Germans and sent to Nazi concentration camps.
In many instances, Poles were given between 15 minutes and 1 hour to collect their personal belongings (usually no more than 15 kilograms per person) before they were removed from their homes and transported east (see: deportations) On top of that about 5 million Poles were sent to German concentration camps. A total of about 6 million Polish citizens were killed during the war, of which approximately half were Jews. All these actions resulted in significant changes in Polish demographics at the end of the war.
Read more about this topic: Expulsion Of Poles By Germany
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