Intelligenzaktion — the schoolmaster of Pomerania

The Intelligenzaktion (action against the Polish intelligentsia) is the targeted genocide planned by the Reichssicherheitshauptamt (RSHA) as early as the summer of 1939, within the framework of Operation Tannenberg. The target: the physical elimination of Poland's elites — academics, teachers, doctors, priests, lawyers, reserve officers, journalists, civil servants, landowners. The doctrine: without its head, the Polish nation will no longer be able to resist.

The method: from 1936 onward, Sonderfahndungsbuch Polen ("Special wanted lists Poland") have been compiled in Berlin from informants among the German minorities (Volksdeutsche) in Poland. By 1 September 1939 these lists hold 61,000 names. As the invasion begins, the Einsatzgruppen (five operational groups) and the Selbstschutz (ethnic-German militias armed by Heydrich) receive orders to execute those on the lists — without trial, immediately upon identification.

A typical schoolmaster in a small Pomeranian town — say 38 years old, married, two children, a reader of the local daily Pielgrzym since 1925, president of the local branch of the Polish Teachers' Union (ZNP) since 1932 — is very likely to be on those lists. The day after the occupation (around 5-10 September) he hears from a neighbour that a Volksdeutsche known in the town has been seen handing a list to the German military commander.