As early as 1918, the persecution of the German population began with house searches conducted by armed mobs, threats of execution, looting, and abuse. Abductions, detention as hostages, and punishments without legal basis kept the German population in a state of constant fear. The months-long internments in the Szczypiorno prison camp had no other purpose than to instill terror and thereby promote the de-Germanization of the region. The mass exodus of Germans from the occupied territory began only with these internments.
When arresting Germans, the authorities did not base their actions on any alleged offense that had been committed; rather, mere membership in the German minority was grounds to infringe upon personal freedom at the slightest pretext.
The humiliations and insults that those affected had to endure can be gleaned from such details as the fact that a Protestant clergyman was forced to empty spittoons and latrines; that Protestants, when asked by officials about their marital status, had to describe themselves as “crazy” instead of stating their denomination; and that they were publicly forced to sing along to Polish songs mocking the Germans, cheer for Poland, and identify themselves as “German pigs” during inspections of their prison cells.
In July 1920, members of the German rowing club Goplo were surrounded by workers from the sugar factory. The boathouse was demolished, the boats smashed to pieces, and the Germans were beaten with clubs and held underwater until they nearly drowned. What was most telling, however, was that it was not the attackers who were punished, but rather that, that very same evening, the gendarmerie conducted house searches at the GERMANS’ homes.
Encouraged by such official support, 600 Poles gathered in front of the district commissioner’s office in Kurschwitz; they intended to carry out “house searches” on the Germans. In groups of 70, they went from one German household to the next, raiding the settlers’ homes. The authorities had taken no measures to protect them.
The movement gained momentum. On June 8, 1921, three rallies took place in Posen, at which participants—including those who had taken part in the Ostrowo pogroms—called for people to follow the example of the Ostrowo population without delay and to take the expulsion of the Germans into their own hands.
Posters depicting a broom and bearing the inscription “With this broom we will sweep the last Germans out of Poland” were carried around the city. Leaflets and threatening letters were distributed and mailed, signed by a “Leader of the Emigrant Uprising and the Extermination Commando for Greater Poland.”
“Anyone from that German rabble who is still here in July will be killed without exception, and the worst Hakatists will be doused with gasoline, kerosene, and tar, set on fire, and burned. Now it’s all of your turn. Everyone—whether doctors, pastors, lawyers, builders, merchants, civil servants, shop owners, factory owners, estate tenants, settlers, or owners of any kind—anyone who is German.”
In Bromberg, too, German shops were looted on June 16. German signs and inscriptions were destroyed, and the publishing building of the German newspaper Deutsche Rundschau in Poland was damaged.
The wave of pogroms continued to spread into rural areas as well. In Zedlitzwalde near Lissa, about 200 Polish workers went from house to house in columns of 20 to 50 men and informed the German owners, presenting Polish documents, that they had to leave their properties within eight days, abandoning all their possessions. In Heinrichsdorf, Soldau County, there was a full-scale attack on the German property owners, the pastor, and other Germans. During the night, hordes of people had fallen upon the Germans, looting and assaulting them. At the subsequent court hearing, although the perpetrators could be identified beyond a doubt, they were acquitted.
