Much like Putin views Ukraine and her people; Adolf Hitler considered Danzig a piece of Germany and he hated the Poles and the League of Nations for being granted oversight of the city after WWI. Danzig was largely an ethnically German city and a valuable port as well. Hitler encouraged his local representative in Danzig, Albert Forster, to replicate Nazi Germany persecution of the Jews. In July 1932, the local Nazis organized a big parade and demonstration, featuring both anti-Jewish and anti-Polish caricatures. In May 1933, the Nazis won power in Danzig through a democratic election. Forster repeatedly challenged the control of the League of Nations over Danzig and proceeded rapidly with the Nazification of the city.
Antoni Kozep was born on April 16, 1920. His father was Antoni and mother Ewa Malinowska. In 1944, he was living in Danzig; his occupation was an Educational Assistant so we can safely assume he was a student at a University working with a professor. On July 14, 1944, at age 24, Antoni was arrested and sent to the infamous Stutthof camp, only 22 miles away. (1). There was no reason given for Antoni’s arrest in the research documents we gathered. We do know he was an unmarried man and that he was given prisoner number 044517. According to camp documents provided by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Antoni had no money or valuables on his person. He had no previous convictions, never in prison. Did he survive the deplorable conditions at the camp? He is not on any casualty list we have found yet but not all were counted. Let’s look at Danzig events leading up to his internment and wonder was he ever concerned for his safety.
Following World War I, the Treaty of Versailles (1918) declared Danzig to be a free city administered by Poland and the League of Nations. Germany resented the loss of this largely German city and an important port as well. On 1 Sept, 1939, Nazi Germany invaded Poland, initiating World War II. The very next day, Germany officially annexed Danzig, the Free City. The Nazi regime in Danzig murdered the Polish postmen defending the Polish Post Office: this was one of the first war crimes of World War 2.
Arthur Greiser, a leading Nazi Party official in Danzig became the head of the Danzig Senate in 1934. After the beginning of World War II, he became administrator of the newly made German occupied province known as the Warthegau. Albert Forster, Hitler’s Danzig friend was named Gauleiter and Reichsstatthalter of Danzig-West Prussia (the other German-annexed section of occupied Poland aside from the Warthegau) Under these two men, the local non-German population of Poles and Jews were classified as sub-human and subjected to an extermination campaign involving ethnic cleansing, mass murder, and in case of some Poles with German ancestry, forceful Germanization.
Between 1933 and 1939, Forster became embroiled in a feud with Arthur Greiser, who was to remain Forster’s lifelong nemesis. On 23 August 1939, Forster replaced Greiser as Danzig’s head of state. Greiser and Forster though partnered and were directly responsible for the extermination of non-Germans and were strong supporters of Polish genocide. They both had advocated for Jewish and Polish genocide as young men. Forster stated, we have to exterminate this nation (Poland), starting from the cradle. Their goal was to make Danzig and the surrounding area fully Germanized within ten years, (3) and were directly responsible for extermination policy in the region. Forster reported to Hitler that 87,000 people had been “evacuated” from the region by February 1940.
Meanwhile Greiser had his own initiative, the Nazi plan for Poland required attacking the Polish Church, particularly in those areas annexed to Germany.[ Greiser, with the encouragement of Reinhard Heydrich and Martin Bormann, launched a severe attack on the Catholic Church. He cut off support to the Church from the state and from outside influences such as the Vatican and Germany. In July 1940, Greiser instituted Bormann’s anti-church “thirteen point” measures in the territory. The anti-church measures, which had Hitler’s approval, included arrest warrants for clergy (priests and nuns) and suggests how the Nazi initiatives looked under every rock to demoralize the Poles.
Forster fled Danzig on 27 March 1945 ahead of the invading Soviet forces. In 1948, Forster was condemned to death by the Polish court for war crimes and crimes against humanity. He was held and had his sentence deferred. The Polish president denied clemency on 21 February 1952 and Forster was moved from Gdańsk to Mokotów Prison in Warsaw, where he was hanged on 28 February 1952. His wife, who had not heard from him since 1949, was informed of his death in 1954. Greiser was arrested by the Americans in 1945, and was tried, convicted and executed by hanging in Poland in 1946.(4)
On 30 Mar, 1945, Danzig was taken by the Russians and most of the old city was destroyed. Almost immediately, the Soviets handed the city administration over to Poland. On July 14, 1944, at age 24, Antoni had been imprisoned at Stutthof only 21 miles away. Stutthof was liberated on May 9 1945. Antoni had only spent 10 months there. hade he survived the typhoid epidemic at the camp in 1944? Had he survived the brutal killings?
After World War II, Danzig and its environs officially became part of Poland. There was significant rebuilding to do. The German population either fled or was expelled. Danzig was renamed Gdansk. Had Antoni survived? had he returned to his occupation or studies? Highly unlikely at Danzig given the destruction of city center. Our research continues
- https://www.thejc.com/news/news-features/danzig-the-city-where-hell-began-and-ended-1.488006?msclkid=7cce0f45ba4511ecad7bcc53716fb9c8
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Forster?msclkid=0df89895ba5311ec9f132eb64d1e332c
- Dieter Schenk: Albert Forster. Gdański namiestnik Hitlera. Gdańsk: Wydawnictwo Oskar, 2002, page 251. ISBN 83-86181-83-4.
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Greiser?msclkid=ab332951ba5611ecb8c44c7a23ccfaef
East European & Prussian Roots 