Germany is accused of starting the war, by invading Poland who was not a threat to Germany. Can you comment?
Wolff: You must always ask the question “why”, why did we attack Poland, why were people killed, why were there camps, and why did we come up against such resistance. We attacked Poland because Poland put us in a position that we had to protect our people who were left in Poland after Versailles, they were being persecuted and Poland refused to take action. They were a weak-minded state that was being pressured by England to fight us; all we wanted was a land bridge to East Prussia, and freedom for our people living in Poland. The Führer said he regarded Poland as a friendly state until England got involved, telling Poland to not work out anything with Germany as we cannot be trusted.
Those in our government who had ties to Poland tried everything to get the leaders to listen to us, and give us concessions, as we were offering Poland concessions. These requests were met with contempt and bravado. Attacks on our frontier by bands of criminals were not investigated by Poland, and brushed off. Even to the point of claiming we were making this up. We could have allowed this to go on, and waited Poland out until they came to their senses, however the plight of Germans in Poland could not wait, as horror stories started coming from refugees seeking the protection of the Reich. There was hardly a crime in attacking Poland; any nation faced with the same scenario would have acted as we did. Of course, the Allies use this as the excuse for their war, but other forces were driving them, and Poland was the excuse they needed. I want to add we treated Poland very well after the surrender, we sent in the RAD and Red Cross to help them rebuild. Something not acknowledged today, we only wanted vindication, not conquest. The fact that millions of Poles volunteered to serve in the armed forces, including the SS, came to Germany to work for good pay, and worked with us in every way shows we were not out to destroy the Polish people. The uprisings were more a result of allied agents encouraging the Poles with false promises more than Polish resentment of us. I should also like to say that England declared war on us, solely under the reasoning that we invaded a country they were protecting, however when Russia invaded, they were silent and did nothing. It proves to me that the Führer was right in that England and France wanted a war with Germany, and only Germany, in spite of the numerous treaties they claimed to honor. If people would only have been able to listen and judge for themselves who was the aggressor, without all the propaganda the Allies were using against us, then there never would have been a war.
1981 interview with SS-Obergruppenführer and General of the Waffen-SS, Karl Wolff.
