Jungdeutsche Partei in Polen (JDP), or the Young German Party in Poland (Polish: Partia Młodoniemiecka w Polsce), was a Nazi German extreme right-wing political party founded in 1931 by members of the ethnic German minority residing in the Second Polish Republic.[1]
The party was opposed not only to collaboration with Poland, but also, with other German organizations in Poland.[2] Its leader was Rudolf Wiesner (pictured, fourth from the left), a committed Nazi.[3] He was replaced by Max Wambeck from NSDAP on 22 November 1938.[4] After the invasion of Poland Wambeck (fluent in Polish, known as Maksymilian Wambeck locally)[5] served as SS-Obersturmführer in Chodzież in the GnesenGau (Polish Gniezno County) interrogating and torturing Armia Krajowa resistance members.[4]
Activities
Sponsored financially by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Nazi Germany, the Jungdeutsche Partei members trained in propaganda, sabotage and espionage activities against the Polish state,[6] smuggled military weapons,[7] and waged a campaign of intimidating other members of the community to leave for Nazi Germany, with tangible incentives.[6] A considerable number of young Polish Germans joined the rank-and-file of the Party during the mid-1930s as a result of Nazi indoctrination and aggressive recruitment.[8] The party had its own flag with JdP symbol in it, celebrated anniversaries (Heldengedenktag), a hymn sung at gatherings (Jungdeutsche marschiert) with a Nazi salute, and its own red armbands similar to NSDAP.[9]
The Jungdeutsche Partei was formed originally in 1921 in Bielsko-Biała as the Deutscher Nationalsozialistischer Verein in Polen. Renamed in 1931 the party gradually expanded its activities to cover most of Upper Silesia with 1,200 members,[10] and other regions such as Greater Poland (since 1934) as well as Pomerania and Volhynia in the following years.[11][12] The public rallies held by the party were aggressively anti-Polish, rabidly racist, and anti-Jewish; while proclaiming to the world: "We want to be Germans, and nothing but Germans."[13] JDP was dissolved by Adolf Hitler after the invasion of Poland with transfer of its membership to Germany.[14]
^Bundesarchiv Berlin Lichterfelde (2014). "Jungdeutsche Partei für Polen". Reconstitution of the Memory of Poland. Naczelna Dyrekcja Archiwów Państwowych. Retrieved 12 September 2014.
