The Deutsche Volksliste, DVL for short, was a German national list introduced during the Second World War. It was created on 2 September 1940 on the basis of a rescript by Heinrich Himmler, and in the Polish lands incorporated into the Reich the order introducing it was issued on 4 March 1941. In Polish it is also known as the volkslista. In Upper Silesia it affected most of the inhabitants, and its consequences were felt long after 1945.

What entry on the list involved

So-called signing the volkslista involved filling in a questionnaire. It asked about religious affiliation, how long the family had lived in the area, which schools had been completed, and whether there were relatives in Germany. On the basis of the questionnaire an official assigned the person to one of four groups. In Upper Silesia all inhabitants had to fill in the questionnaires, and those who did not want to declare themselves of German origin had to justify their choice before special commissions. The commissions checked, among other things, which language was spoken at home.

Refusing to fill in the questionnaire could end with the whole family being sent to a concentration or resettlement camp. According to the same source, on 16 February 1942 an order was issued requiring the police to be told of persons who did not declare German nationality. They had 8 days to submit an application for entry, and after that deadline they faced arrest and being sent to a camp. In the second half of 1944 the death penalty was introduced for those who refused to be entered.

The four groups of the list

The scope of rights depended on the group. Persons in groups 1 and 2 received Reich citizenship automatically, those in group 3 for ten years, and those in group 4 as an exception. Identity cards were of different colours depending on the group.

Figures for Upper Silesia

According to a summary from the end of 1942, 1,450,000 people in Upper Silesia were entered on the DVL: 120,000 in group 1, 250,000 in group 2, 1,020,000 in group 3 and 60,000 in group 4. These are respectively 8.3, 17.2, 70.3 and 4.2 per cent of those entered. Incomplete data for the counties of the Katowice district show that about 90 per cent of inhabitants were entered in the individual groups.

Entry in group 3 was for many Silesians a protection against prison or a concentration camp. The Polish government in exile supported the stance of those who decided on humanitarian grounds to submit an application, and General Władysław Sikorski announced a directive on the matter by radio. Polish independence organisations and the Bishop of Katowice, Stanisław Adamski, took a similar position. The communist movement took a different view and regarded accepting the volkslista as treason.

Consequences during the war: service in the Wehrmacht

Those entered on the list were subject to German law, which meant conscription into all formations of the German army. Refusing to serve meant a death sentence for treason and reprisals against the family. Persons in groups 3 and 4 could also be sent to forced labour in Germany, including children over the age of 15. Some of the conscripts later ended up in Polish units in the West, as deserters or prisoners of war.

Consequences after 1945

The PKWN decree of November 1944 provided for confinement in a labour camp for persons who had declared German origin. In May 1945 about 36 thousand people were held in such camps. At the Zgoda camp in Świętochłowice, which we cover in a separate text on the Zgoda camp, those held included people accused of signing the volkslista.

The law of May 1945 distinguished between the groups of the list:

The decree of June 1946 introduced uniform court proceedings and abolished the labour camps, providing for a fine, loss of rights, forfeiture of property and imprisonment of up to 10 years. At the beginning of 1947 about 223 thousand proceedings were under way, more than half of them in Upper Silesia. On the basis of these provisions about 180 thousand people were expelled from Poland. The sanctions were abolished by a law of July 1950.