Back to the machinations of the “peace negotiations” of Versailles.
Similar to the activities along the Rhine, Imperial Fever had also broken out in the east. Even before the start of the Paris negotiations, in Dec. 1918, Polish forces occupied the Poznan countryside and tried to conquer Western Prussia. After that, Poland pursued an aggressive foreign policy that did not end until 1939.
1919. Invaded Eastern Galicia and Eastern Lithuania.
1920. Incursion into Soviet-occupied Ukraine and the Olsa region.
1921. Attempted conquest of Upper Silesia.
1933. Polish troops landed on the Westerplatte, part of the Free City of Gdansk. [Danzig]
1938. Occupation of six Slovak border districts in the Carpathians.
1939. Aggression reaches its climax. Border crossings (between 25 – 31 Aug. – 43 documented cases) with fatalities, burnt down German farms, customs officials shot and airliners shot at.
The British Ambassador Neville Henderson wrote on 16 August 1939. “If a ceasefire is to be maintained – and this is the last hope – then the mistreatment of the German minorities in Poland must be stopped.” The Manchester Guardian reported on 17 January 1930. “Ukraine has become hell under Polish rule. The same can be said of Belarus with even greater certainty. The aim of Polish policy is the disappearance of national minorities on paper and in reality.” (http://www.michaelgrandt.de) Within a few years, the aggressive Polish policy had managed to turn the majority nationals into minorities.
In 1929, the Polish magazine – League for Imperial Power – published the following: “In the war with the Germans, there will be no prisoners and no room for human feelings. We will amaze the world with the unusually bloody sacrifices that will exceed human measure. We will wash away the insult that we have experienced from the Germans.” And further 1937 “The struggle between Poland and Germany is inevitable. We must prepare ourselves systematically for this. Our goal is a new Grunewald in the suburbs of Berlin, i.e. the defeat of Germany must be carried by Polish troops to the centre of the territory in order to hit Germany in the heart. Our ideal is a Poland with the border along the Oder and Neisse.
Prussia must be recaptured for Poland, namely the Prussia on the Spree. The world must tremble before the German-Polish war. We must carry the spirit of relentless revenge into the ranks of our soldiers.
From today, every issue of this paper will be dedicated to the coming Grunewald in Berlin.”
Compared to these editors, Julius Streicher was a bungling beginner, and was lynched for it after the “inevitable” war. We know from Else Löser: “In the Jesuit church on the old market (Bromberg) the weapons were hidden. The guilt of the Polish clergy has been proven. They had long been stoking hatred in their services that the Germans are the enemies of Poland, of Catholic Poland. The hatred came from the Polish pulpits.” (Mensch und Mass. Edition 7. 1991.)