Roundup (history) - Polish Resistance

Polish Resistance

In 1940, a roundup was used by Home Army secret agent Witold Pilecki to gain entry into Auschwitz, gather first-hand intelligence on the camp, and organize inmate resistance. On September 19, 1940, Pilecki deliberately went out during a street roundup in Warsaw and was caught by the Germans along with other civilians and sent to Auschwitz. There he organized Związek Organizacji Wojskowej (ZOW, the Military Organization Association) and in November 1940 sent its first report about the camp and the genocide being committed there, to Home Army headquarters in Warsaw.

In retribution for roundups as acts of Nazi terror, the Polish resistance carried out attacks on German forces and prepared lists of Nazi leaders to be eliminated for their crimes against civilians. Nazi personnel responsible for organizing roundups, such as members of local unemployment offices, the SS, SD, and German police, were sentenced to death by the Special Courts of the Polish Underground for crimes against Polish citizens during the Occupation of Poland. Because of the particular brutality of the police, the AK killed 361 gendarmes in 1943, and 584 in 1944. In Warsaw alone, ten Germans were killed daily. From August to December 1942, the AK launched 87 attacks on the German administration and members of the apparatus of terror. In 1943 this number rose radically − the AK carried out 514 attacks during the first four months. In an underground operation known as Operacja Główki (Operation Heads), Polish underground combat units from Kedyw eliminated roundup organizers such as

• Kurt Hoffman - chief of the unemployment office in Warsaw responsible for organizing roundups of Poles. Executed by the AK on 9 April 1943.
• Hugo Dietz - his assistant. Executed on 13 April 1943.
• Fritz Geist - chief of the unemployment office department. Killed on 10 May.
• Willi Lübbert - worked at the unemployment office and organized roundups of Poles to be sent to Nazi labor camps. Executed on July 1, 1944.
• Eugen Bollodino - worked at the unemployment office and organized roundups of Poles to be sent to Nazi labor camps. Executed by combat patrol unit DB-17 on 8 June 1944.