Arthur Greiser

Arthur Karl Greiser (22 January 1897 – 21 July 1946) was a Nazi German politician, SS-Obergruppenführer, Gauleiter and Reichsstatthalter (Reich Governor) of the German-occupied territory of Wartheland.

He was one of the persons primarily responsible for organizing the Holocaust in occupied Poland and numerous other crimes against humanity.

In 1903, he enrolled in elementary school, which was followed by two years of intermediate school and finally the Königlich-Humanistisches Gymnasium (Royal Humanities Secondary School) in Hohensalza.

He left the Gymnasium in 1914 without receiving a diploma, as in August that year he volunteered to join the Imperial German Navy.

He served in the Kiel harbour naval forts at Korugen, Falckenstein, and in the fortress tower of Laboe from August 1914 to July 1915.

He was then assigned as an artillery observer in Flanders as well as participating in minesweeping operations in Friedrichsort.

Greiser earned the Iron Cross (First and Second Class), the Honour Cross of the World War 1914/1918 and a Wound Badge in Black in 1914.

The territory over which Greiser ruled was potentially very rich – the Prussian Imperial province of Posen had been the breadbasket of Wilhelmine Germany before 1914, possessed an excellent rail and road network, and a comparatively healthy and well educated workforce; Litzmanstadt (Łódź) had developed a fairly sophisticated industrial base during the 19th century.

Although every Gauleiter was expected to fully Germanize his assigned area by any means, Greiser emphasized brutality to achieve this goal.

He was an ardent racist who enthusiastically pursued an 'ethnic cleansing' program to rid the Warthegau of Poles and to resettle the 'cleansed' areas with ethnic Germans.

This was along the lines of the racial theories espoused by Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler.

Mass expulsions of Poles from the Warthegau to the General Government and summary executions were the norm.

A Polish servant in Greiser's house described him as "a powerfully built figure. He was a tall man, you could see his arrogance, his conceit. He was so vain, so full of himself—as if there was nothing above him, a god, almost. Everybody tried to get out of his way, people had to bow to him, salute him. And the Poles, he treated them with great contempt. For him the Poles were slaves, good for nothing but work".

In April 1917, Greiser volunteered for service in the Naval Flying Corps, where he initially served as an observer with SEE I and II and then with Küstenfliegerstaffel I and II.

From August 1917 to August 1918, he was assigned as a naval aviator to Marine Schutzstaffel I. During this time, he was transferred to Seeflugstation Flandern II (Ostend) and he later flew with the Seefrontstaffel and MFJ IV.

From December 1917 to January 1918, he was attached to the KE-Schule Langfuhr (near Danzig, now Gdańsk).

Whilst posted to combat duty, he flew missions over the North Sea between the southern English and Belgian coasts.

He was later shot down and wounded by gunfire.

On 30 September 1919, he was classified as 50% war-disabled and discharged from naval service.

From 1919 to May 1921, he served in the Freikorps Grenzschutz Ost and fought in the Baltic states.

According to Richard Evans, Greiser was fanatically anti-Christian, and an early member of the Nazi Party (NSDAP number 166,635).

After many years with the nationalist Deutschsoziale Partei (DtSP) founded by Richard Kunze and membership in Der Stahlhelm in the mid-1920s, he joined the NSDAP and SA on 1 December 1929, and the SS on 29 September 1931.

As Senate President of Danzig, he was a rival to his nominal superior Albert Forster, Gauleiter of the city since 1930.

Greiser was part of the SS empire whilst Forster was closely aligned with the Nazi Party Mandarins Rudolf Hess and later Martin Bormann.

He was the Deputy President of the Free City of Danzig from 1933 to 1934 in the Rauschning Senate, and was made Senate President (Senatspräsident) in 1935–1939.

On 23 August 1939 Forster replaced Greiser as Danzig's head of state.

Greiser was accused by Poland as being directly responsible for escalating tensions between the Free City and the Republic of Poland in 1939.

When the Polish Foreign Affairs Minister Józef Beck announced economic reprisals following the harassment of Polish frontier guards and customs officers, Greiser issued an announcement on 29 July 1939 declaring that the Danzig police no longer recognised their authority or power, and demanded their immediate withdrawal.

The notice was so rudely worded that the Polish diplomatic representative to Danzig, Marian Chodacki, refused to forward it to Beck and instead sent a court summary.

Immediately following the German invasion of Poland, Greiser was transferred from Danzig and on 8 September was appointed Chef der Zivilverwaltung im Militärbezirk Posen or Chief of Civil Administration in the military district of Posen, which was annexed to the German Reich on 8 October 1939.

The military administration ended and he was then appointed Gauleiter of the newly created Reichsgau Posen on 21 October.

At the same time he was named Reich Defense Commissioner of the newly established Wehrkreis XXI, consisting of the new Reichsgau.

Additionally, he was appointed to the Prussian State Council.

On 2 November, he was also named Reichsstatthalter (Reich Governor) of the new territory, thereby uniting under his control the highest party and governmental offices in his jurisdiction.

On 29 January 1940, the region was renamed Reichsgau Wartheland.

A member of several Nazi paramilitary organizations, Greiser was made a NSFK-Gruppenführer as well as a NSKK-Obergruppenführer in April 1940.

Finally, on 30 January 1942, he was promoted to SS-Obergruppenführer.

He was arrested by the Americans in 1945, and was tried, convicted and executed by hanging in Poland in 1946 for his crimes, most notably genocide.

Greiser was born in Schroda (Środa Wielkopolska), Province of Posen, Imperial Germany, the son of a minor local bailiff (Gerichtsvollzieher).

He learned to speak Polish fluently during his childhood.