Nazi Crimes Against Ethnic Poles - Germanization

Germanization

In Reichsgau Wartheland, the annexed territories of Greater Poland, the Nazis' goal was complete Germanization: assimilation politically, culturally, socially, and economically into the German Reich. This did not mean old style of Germanization—Germanizing the inhabitants by teaching them the language and culture—but settling them with Germans, which would include only a small fraction of those living there, as most were not ethnically German.

Germans closed elementary schools where Polish was the language of instruction. Streets and cities were renamed (Łódź became Litzmannstadt, etc). Tens of thousands of Polish enterprises, from large industrial firms to small shops, were seized from their owners. Signs posted in front of those establishments warned: "Entrance forbidden for Poles, Jews, and dogs." The Nazi regime was less stringent in their treatment of the Kashubians in the Reichsgau Danzig-West Prussia. Everywhere, however, many thousands of people were forced to sign the Deutsche Volksliste a racial documentation which the Nazis used to identify and give priority to people of German heritage in occupied countries.