Free The German Fifth Column in Poland by Aleksandra Miesak Rohde Page B

were dropped in civilian clothes, and were allotted the task of mingling with the Polish refugees who streamed towards the centre of the country.
    “ Towards the middle of August, about fifteen days before the opening of hostilities, the students were assembled and sent to special camps, where they remained until the war started. Here they had a refresher course in the plans of activity, and were assigned to various localities of Poland. (Desantenbezirke.)”
    The agent in question knew only the Kaszuban dialect, and had been classed in the second category and was to pass as a “refugee from Gdynia.”
    H e was dropped from an aeroplane in the district of Toruń, and had orders to mingle with the refugees and to proceed to the region of Zamość, Hrubieszów, and still farther east to Włódźimierz in Wolhynia. A number of German agents were directed to this region, unknown to one another.
    E ach agent received a list of Germans living in Poland, to whom he was to turn for aid and assistance. The author of this statement went to one named Zielke, a member of the German minority in Hrubieszów. He succeeded in fulfilling his task, furnishing the German airmen with information as to the positions of the Polish commands, their depots, stores, etc.
    A greed signals were made in the following ways:
I n the daytime, by means of tent canvas or by setting fire to stacks of hay or straw.
A t night, by means of electric torches and by setting fire to various objects.
    N .B.—This statement gives no details of the way in which information obtained by agents was transmitted to the German airmen. But from other depositions it is clear that the information was transmitted by wireless as well as by light signals, which the German minority had every facility for making.
    The following deposition was made by a Polish Major: [18]
    “German diversionist activity in Poznań, and especially in Pomorze, was organized and prepared long before the outbreak of the war, which fact confirms that the Germans systematically prepared for the war on Poland.
    “ The main element used in German subversive activities was the youth, who were devoted to National Socialism. The young generation of Germans had perfect freedom to organize and to receive instruction in the German schools, and were almost entirely under the influence of the competent elements from the Reich. The technique of instruction to groups intended for diversionist activities was as follows: the candidate clandestinely left Poland in order to receive the necessary training in Germany. The first stage of the journey made by the future agents was Danzig. Here the German Consul-General took over their documents for safe custody, registered them, and sent them on to special points where the diversionist courses were being held. These centres were situated in Danzig, Piła (Schneidemühl), Koenigsberg, and Stettin.
    “ The German preparation of these agents reached wholesale proportions as soon as the Reich had solved the Czech problem. Plans for subversive action in Poland were not limited to training the cadres, but were extended to other fields of operation. Always, however, they were based on the German element, which often, irrespective of the social class to which it belonged, was engaged in employment which favoured Germany’s plans. After the Czech conflict one characteristic detail could be observed. The large German landed estates definitely stopped selling their grain, especially oats and hay, though there was no economic motive for holding up sales. They were preparing provisioning bases for when the German troops should march into Poland. At a time when German propaganda was harping on the theme of ‘the persecutions of the German minority in Poland’ there were instances of German landed proprietors burning agricultural plant, as happened in Szubin and Wyrzysk, in order to furnish arguments for this propaganda.
    “ Those destined to carry out diversionist activities were