“Naturally the common people don’t want war, neither in Russia, nor in England, nor in America, nor in Germany. That is understood. But after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country.” - Hermann Goering
Operation Himmler, a Nazi Germany SS project to create the appearance of Polish aggression against Germany, which would be used to justify the subsequent invasion of Poland.
On the night of 31 August 1939 a small group of German operatives, dressed in Polish uniforms and led by Alfred Naujocks, seized the Gleiwitz station and broadcast a short anti-German message in Polish (sources vary on the content on the message).
Several prisoners (most likely from the Dachau concentration camp) and a local Polish-Silesian activist (arrested a day before) were left dead on the scene in Polish uniforms.
Who was the first victim of a war that would do more than forty million of them? It was a prisoner of the Nazi concentration camps (probably Dachau) used in a German secret operation that would lead to the outbreak of World War II.
Some months before the invasion of Poland by Germany, several German newspapers and other politicians like Adolf Hitler had already begun a national and international campaign accusing Polish authorities of organizing or tolerating violent ethnic cleansing of Germans living in Poland.
The August 22, 1939, Adolft Hitler warned his generals that he would get something that would legitimize an action war against Poland:
«I will provide a propagandistic casus belli. Its credibility doesn't matter. The victor will not be asked whether he told the truth.»
Then they launched a plan that had the name of its creator Heinrich Himmler and was initially supervised by Heinrich Müller and then by Reinhard Heydrich. The aim was to create the idea of a Polish aggression against Germany, which would later be used to justify the invasion of Poland. In addition, another of the intentions of Adolf Hitler was that such an operation would confuse the Poland allies (United Kingdom and France) and delay their declaration of war on Germany.
Operation Himmler had several episodes: (keep reading)
Very interesting footage from Die Deutsche Wochenschau in 1939. Most aspects of World War II from the German point of view are covered. Most scenes are of genuine combat in the Soviet Union, Italy, the Atlantic and the Western Front. Rare footage of Waffen SS, Panzer troops and Panzer Grenadiers, Luftwaffe, Kriegsmarine and the common German people are filmed in these extraordinary propaganda films.
Die Deutsche Wochenschau (The German Newsreel) was the sole series of German newsreels from 1940 until the end of World War II. It was usually narrated by Harry Giese (1903-1991)