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{{Short description|Staged attack by Nazi forces to begin the invasion of Poland in 1939}}
{{Short description|Staged attack by Nazi forces to invade Poland}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2025}}
{{Infobox operational plan
{{Infobox operational plan
| name        = Gleiwitz incident
| name        = Gleiwitz incident
| partof      = [[Operation Himmler]]
| partof      = [[Operation Himmler]]
| image      = File:Radiostacja Gliwice - przemasban101.png
| image      = Radiostacja Gliwice - przemasban101.png
|image_size =
|image_size =
| caption    = [[Gliwice Radio Tower]] in 2012 Szobiszowice district
| caption    = [[Gliwice Radio Tower]] in 2012 Szobiszowice district
| type        = [[False flag attack]]
| type        = [[False flag]] attack
| location    = [[Gliwice|Gleiwitz]], [[Upper Silesia]], [[Nazi Germany]] (today [[Gliwice]], Poland)
| location    = [[Gliwice|Gleiwitz]], [[Upper Silesia]], [[Nazi Germany]] ({{small|today}} [[Gliwice]], Poland)
| map_type    = Germany 1937
| map_type    = Germany 1937
| coordinates = {{coord|50.313370|18.689037|format=dms|display=inline,title}}
| coordinates = {{coord|50|18|48|N|18|41|20|E|display=inline,title}}
| map_size    = 200
| map_size    = 200
| map_caption = Location of the Gleiwitz radio tower in Nazi Germany (1937 borders)
| map_caption = Location of the Gleiwitz radio tower in Nazi Germany (1937 borders)
Line 22: Line 22:
| outcome    =
| outcome    =
}}
}}
 
{{Events leading to World War II}}
The '''Gleiwitz incident''' ({{langx|de|Überfall auf den Sender Gleiwitz}}; {{Langx|pl|prowokacja gliwicka}}) was a [[false flag attack]] on the radio station ''Sender Gleiwitz'' in [[Gliwice|Gleiwitz]] (then Germany and now Gliwice, Poland) staged by [[Nazi Germany]] on the night of 31 August 1939. Along with some two dozen similar incidents, the attack was manufactured by Germany as a ''[[casus belli]]'' to justify the [[invasion of Poland]]. Prior to the invasion, [[Adolf Hitler]] gave a radio address condemning the acts and announcing German plans to attack Poland, which began the next morning.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Address by Adolf Hitler – September 1, 1939 |url=https://fcit.usf.edu/holocaust/resource/document/HITLER1.htm |access-date=2022-03-21 |website=fcit.usf.edu}}</ref> Despite the German government using the attack as a justification to go to war with Poland, the Gleiwitz assailants were not Polish but were German SS officers wearing Polish uniforms.  
The '''Gleiwitz incident''' ({{langx|de|Überfall auf den Sender Gleiwitz}}; {{Langx|pl|prowokacja gliwicka}}) was a [[false flag]] attack on the radio station ''Sender Gleiwitz'' in [[Gliwice|Gleiwitz]] (then Germany and now Gliwice, Poland) staged by [[Nazi Germany]] on the night of 31 August 1939. Along with some two dozen similar incidents, the attack was manufactured by Germany as a ''[[casus belli]]'' to justify the [[invasion of Poland]]. Prior to the invasion, [[Adolf Hitler]] gave a radio address condemning the acts and announcing German plans to attack Poland, which began the next morning.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Address by Adolf Hitler – September 1, 1939 |url=https://fcit.usf.edu/holocaust/resource/document/HITLER1.htm |access-date=21 March 2022 |website=fcit.usf.edu }}</ref> Despite the German government using the attack as a justification to go to war with Poland, the Gleiwitz assailants were not Polish but were German SS officers wearing Polish uniforms.  


During his declaration of war, Hitler did not mention the Gleiwitz incident but grouped all provocations staged by the SS as an alleged "Polish assault" on Germany. The Gleiwitz incident is the best-known action of [[Operation Himmler]], a series of [[special operations]] undertaken by the ''[[Schutzstaffel]]'' (SS) to serve German propaganda at the outbreak of war. The operation was intended to create the appearance of a Polish aggression against Germany to justify the invasion of Poland. On September 3, [[United Kingdom declaration of war on Germany (1939)|Britain]] and [[French declaration of war on Germany (1939)|France]] declared war on Germany, and the European theatre of [[World War II]] had begun. Manufactured evidence for the Gleiwitz attack by the SS was provided by the undercover German SS officer [[Alfred Naujocks]] in 1945.
During his declaration of war, Hitler did not mention the Gleiwitz incident but grouped all provocations staged by the SS as an alleged "Polish assault" on Germany. The Gleiwitz incident is the best-known action of [[Operation Himmler]], a series of [[special operations]] undertaken by the ''[[Schutzstaffel]]'' (SS) to serve German propaganda at the outbreak of war. The operation was intended to create the appearance of a Polish aggression against Germany to justify the invasion of Poland. On September 3, [[United Kingdom declaration of war on Germany (1939)|Britain]] and [[French declaration of war on Germany (1939)|France]] declared war on Germany, and the European theatre of [[World War II]] had begun. Manufactured evidence for the Gleiwitz attack by the SS was provided by the undercover German SS officer [[Alfred Naujocks]] in 1945.


==Events at Gleiwitz==
==Events at Gleiwitz==
Much of what is known about the Gleiwitz incident comes from the [[affidavit]] of ''SS-Sturmbannführer'' Alfred Naujocks at the [[Nuremberg Trials]]. In his testimony, he stated that he organised the incident under orders from [[Reinhard Heydrich]] and [[Heinrich Müller (Gestapo)|Heinrich Müller]], chief of the [[Gestapo]].<ref name="Nuremberg"/> On the night of 31 August, a small group of German operatives dressed in Polish uniforms and led by Naujocks seized the Gleiwitz station and broadcast a short [[anti-German sentiment|anti-German]] message in Polish (sources vary on the content of the message).<ref name="Ailsby"/>  The operation was named "''Grossmutter gestorben''" (Grandmother died).<ref name="Interview with Naujocks">{{cite news |title=Grossmutter Gestorben |url=https://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/print/d-46172747.html |website=Der Spiegel |date=12 November 1963 |publisher=Spiegel-Verlag |access-date=22 November 2020}}</ref> The operation was to make the attack and the broadcast look like the work of Polish anti-German saboteurs.<ref name="Ailsby"/><ref name="WirtzGordon"/> The operation was planned and carried out from the [[Sławięcice Palace (Schloss Slawentzitz)]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Pałac w Sławięcicach i jego wojenna historia. Miał 45 pokoi i wielką salę balową. Co się z nim stało?' (The palace in Sławięcice and its wartime history. It had 45 rooms and a large ballroom. What has happened to it?) |url=https://kedzierzynkozle.naszemiasto.pl/palac-w-slawiecicach-i-jego-wojenna-historia-mial-45-pokoi/ar/c15-8433385 |website=kedzierzynkozle.naszemiasto.pl |date=1 September 2021 |access-date=28 February 2023}}</ref>
Much of what is known about the Gleiwitz incident comes from the [[affidavit]] of ''SS-Sturmbannführer'' [[Alfred Naujocks]] at the [[Nuremberg trials]]. In his testimony, he stated that he organised the incident under orders from [[Reinhard Heydrich]] and [[Heinrich Müller (Gestapo)|Heinrich Müller]], chief of the [[Gestapo]].<ref name="Nuremberg"/> On the night of 31 August, a small group of German operatives dressed in Polish uniforms and led by Naujocks seized the Gleiwitz station and broadcast a short [[anti-German sentiment|anti-German]] message in Polish (sources vary on the content of the message).<ref name="Ailsby"/>  The operation was named "''Grossmutter gestorben''" (Grandmother died).<ref name="Interview with Naujocks">{{cite news |title=Grossmutter Gestorben |url=https://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/print/d-46172747.html |website=Der Spiegel |date=12 November 1963 |publisher=Spiegel-Verlag |access-date=22 November 2020 }}</ref> The operation was to make the attack and the broadcast look like the work of Polish anti-German saboteurs.<ref name="Ailsby"/><ref name="WirtzGordon"/> The operation was planned and carried out from the [[Sławięcice Palace (Schloss Slawentzitz)]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Pałac w Sławięcicach i jego wojenna historia. Miał 45 pokoi i wielką salę balową. Co się z nim stało?' (The palace in Sławięcice and its wartime history. It had 45 rooms and a large ballroom. What has happened to it?) |url=https://kedzierzynkozle.naszemiasto.pl/palac-w-slawiecicach-i-jego-wojenna-historia-mial-45-pokoi/ar/c15-8433385 |website=kedzierzynkozle.naszemiasto.pl |date=1 September 2021 |access-date=28 February 2023 }}</ref>


To make the attack seem more convincing, the Gestapo executed [[Franciszek Honiok]], a 43-year-old unmarried Upper Silesian<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20120314190818/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/history/world-war-two/6106566/World-War-IIs-first-victim.html The World War II's first victim. A farmer was murdered as part of a Nazi plot to provide an excuse to invade Poland, the story of a man forgotten by history.] By Bob Graham, 29 Aug 2009. The Telegraph.</ref> Catholic farmer, known for sympathising with the Poles. He had been arrested the previous day by the Gestapo and dressed to look like a [[saboteur]], then rendered unconscious by an injection of drugs, then killed by gunshot wounds.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/history/world-war-two/6106566/World-War-IIs-first-victim.html |title=World War II's first victim – Telegraph |website=www.telegraph.co.uk |access-date=11 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120314190818/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/history/world-war-two/6106566/World-War-IIs-first-victim.html |archive-date=14 March 2012 |url-status=dead}}</ref> Honiok was left dead at the scene so that he appeared to have been killed while attacking the station. His corpse was then presented to the police and press as proof of the attack.<ref name="Franciszek Honiok"/> Several prisoners from the [[Dachau concentration camp]] were drugged, shot dead on the site and their faces disfigured to make identification impossible.<ref name="Ailsby"/><ref name="WirtzGordon"/><ref>[[Thomas Laqueur]], [http://www.lrb.co.uk/v37/n18/thomas-laqueur/devoted-to-terror 'Devoted to Terror,'] in [[London Review of Books]], Vol. 37 No. 18–24 September 2015, pp. 9–16.</ref> The Germans referred to them by the code phrase "''Konserve''" (canned goods). Some sources incorrectly refer to the incident as Operation Canned Goods.<ref name="Lightbody"/>
To make the attack seem more convincing, the Gestapo executed [[Franciszek Honiok]], a 43-year-old unmarried Upper Silesian<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20120314190818/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/history/world-war-two/6106566/World-War-IIs-first-victim.html The World War II's first victim. A farmer was murdered as part of a Nazi plot to provide an excuse to invade Poland, the story of a man forgotten by history.] By Bob Graham, 29 August 2009. The Telegraph.</ref> Catholic farmer, known for sympathising with the Poles. He had been arrested the previous day by the Gestapo and dressed to look like a saboteur, then rendered unconscious by an injection of drugs, then killed by gunshot wounds.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/history/world-war-two/6106566/World-War-IIs-first-victim.html |title=World War II's first victim – Telegraph |website=www.telegraph.co.uk |access-date=11 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120314190818/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/history/world-war-two/6106566/World-War-IIs-first-victim.html |archive-date=14 March 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Honiok was left dead at the scene so that he appeared to have been killed while attacking the station. His corpse was then presented to the police and press as proof of the attack.<ref name="Franciszek Honiok"/> Several prisoners from the [[Dachau concentration camp]] were drugged, shot dead on the site and their faces disfigured to make identification impossible.<ref name="Ailsby"/><ref name="WirtzGordon"/><ref>[[Thomas Laqueur]], [http://www.lrb.co.uk/v37/n18/thomas-laqueur/devoted-to-terror 'Devoted to Terror,'] in [[London Review of Books]], Vol. 37 No. 18–24 September 2015, pp. 9–16.</ref> The Germans referred to them by the code phrase "''Konserve''" (canned goods). Some sources incorrectly refer to the incident as Operation Canned Goods.<ref name="Lightbody"/>


In an oral testimony at the Nuremberg Trials, [[Erwin von Lahousen]] stated that his division of the ''[[Abwehr]]'' was one of two that were given the task of providing [[Polish Army]] uniforms, equipment and identification cards; he was later told by [[Wilhelm Canaris]] that people from concentration camps had been disguised in these uniforms and ordered to attack the radio stations.<ref name="Lahousen">{{cite web|url=http://avalon.law.yale.edu/imt/11-30-45.asp|title=20 Nuremberg Trial Proceedings Volume 2; Friday, 30 November 1945|access-date=8 November 2012|publisher=[[Avalon Project]]}}</ref>
In an oral testimony at the Nuremberg Trials, [[Erwin von Lahousen]] stated that his division of the ''[[Abwehr]]'' was one of two that were given the task of providing [[Polish Army]] uniforms, equipment and identification cards; he was later told by [[Wilhelm Canaris]] that people from concentration camps had been disguised in these uniforms and ordered to attack the radio stations.<ref name="Lahousen">{{cite web |url=http://avalon.law.yale.edu/imt/11-30-45.asp |title=20 Nuremberg Trial Proceedings Volume 2; Friday, 30 November 1945 |access-date=8 November 2012 |publisher=[[Avalon Project]] }}</ref>


[[Oskar Schindler]] played a role in supplying the Polish uniforms and weapons used in the operation as an agent for the ''[[Abwehr]]''.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Lebovic|first=Matt|title=80 years ago, how a very different Schindler's 'list' helped ignite WWII|url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/80-years-ago-how-a-very-different-schindlers-list-helped-ignite-wwii/|access-date=2020-10-08|website=www.timesofisrael.com|language=en-US}}</ref>
[[Oskar Schindler]] played a role in supplying the Polish uniforms and weapons used in the operation as an agent for the ''[[Abwehr]]''.<ref>{{cite news |last=Lebovic |first=Matt |title=80 years ago, how a very different Schindler's 'list' helped ignite WWII |url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/80-years-ago-how-a-very-different-schindlers-list-helped-ignite-wwii/ |access-date=8 October 2020 |website=[[The Times of Israel]] |date=29 August 2019 |language=en-US |issn=0040-7909}}</ref>


==Context==
==Context==
[[File:Glivice plaque.JPG|thumb|Plaque on site commemorating the incident]]
[[File:Glivice plaque.JPG|thumb|Plaque on site commemorating the incident]]
The Gleiwitz incident was a part of a larger operation carried out by ''Abwehr'' and SS forces.<ref name="WirtzGordon"/> Other orchestrated incidents were conducted along the Polish–German border at the same time as the Gleiwitz attack, such as a house burning in the [[Polish Corridor]] and spurious propaganda. The project was called [[Operation Himmler]] and comprised incidents intended to give the appearance of Polish aggression against Germany.<ref name="Hitler"/><ref name="Lightbody"/> German newspapers and politicians, including [[Adolf Hitler]], had made accusations against Polish authorities for months before the 1939 invasion of organising or tolerating violent [[ethnic cleansing]] of [[Volksdeutsche|ethnic Germans]] living in Poland.<ref name="Hitler"/><ref name="German Editor"/> On 1 September, the day following the Gleiwitz attack, Germany launched ''[[Fall Weiss (1939)|Fall Weiss]]'' (Case White), the strategic plan for the [[invasion of Poland]], which precipitated [[European theatre of World War II|World War II]] in Europe. Hitler cited the border incidents in a speech in the [[Reichstag (Weimar Republic)|Reichstag]] on the same day, with three of them called very serious, as justification for his invasion of Poland.<ref name="Hitler"/> Hitler had told his generals on 22 August, "I will provide a propagandistic [[casus belli]]. Its credibility doesn't matter. The victor will not be asked whether he told the truth".<ref name="WirtzGordon"/><ref name="Lightbody"/>
The Gleiwitz incident was a part of a larger operation carried out by ''Abwehr'' and SS forces.<ref name="WirtzGordon"/> Other orchestrated incidents were conducted along the Polish–German border at the same time as the Gleiwitz attack, such as a house burning in the [[Polish Corridor]] and spurious propaganda. The project was called [[Operation Himmler]] and comprised incidents intended to give the appearance of Polish aggression against Germany.<ref name="Hitler"/><ref name="Lightbody"/> German newspapers and politicians, including [[Adolf Hitler]], had made accusations against Polish authorities for months before the 1939 invasion of organising or tolerating violent [[ethnic cleansing]] of [[Volksdeutsche|ethnic Germans]] living in Poland.<ref name="Hitler"/><ref name="German Editor"/> On 1 September, the day following the Gleiwitz attack, Germany launched ''[[Fall Weiss]]'' (Case White), the strategic plan for the [[invasion of Poland]], which precipitated [[European theatre of World War II|World War II]] in Europe. Hitler cited the border incidents in a speech in the [[Reichstag (Weimar Republic)|Reichstag]] on the same day, with three of them called very serious, as justification for his invasion of Poland.<ref name="Hitler"/> Hitler had told his generals on 22 August, "I will provide a propagandistic [[casus belli]]. Its credibility doesn't matter. The victor will not be asked whether he told the truth".<ref name="WirtzGordon"/><ref name="Lightbody"/>


==International reactions==
==International reactions==
[[United States|American]] correspondents were summoned to the scene the next day but no neutral parties were allowed to investigate the incident in detail and the international public was skeptical of the German version of the incident.<ref name="WirtzGordon"/><ref name="Zaloga"/>
American correspondents were summoned to the scene the next day but no neutral parties were allowed to investigate the incident in detail and the international public was skeptical of the German version of the incident.<ref name="WirtzGordon"/><ref name="Zaloga"/>


==In popular culture==
==In popular culture==
There have been several adaptations of the incident in cinema. ''[[The Gleiwitz Case|Der Fall Gleiwitz]]'' (1961), directed by Gerhard Klein for [[DEFA (film studio)|DEFA]] studios (''The Gleiwitz Case''; English subtitles), is an [[East Germany|East German]] film that reconstructs the events.<ref name="imdb"/>
There have been several adaptations of the incident in cinema. ''[[The Gleiwitz Case|Der Fall Gleiwitz]]'' (1961), directed by Gerhard Klein for [[DEFA (film studio)|DEFA]] studios (''The Gleiwitz Case''; English subtitles), is an East German film that reconstructs the events.{{Citation needed|date=December 2025}}


''[[Operacja Himmler (film)|Operacja Himmler]]'' (1979) is a Polish film that covers the events.<ref name="imdb1"/>
''[[Operacja Himmler (film)|Operacja Himmler]]'' (1979) is a Polish film that covers the events.{{Citation needed|date=December 2025}}


Both ''[[The Tin Drum (film)|Die Blechtrommel]]'' (1979), directed by [[Volker Schlöndorff]], and ''[[Hitler's SS: Portrait in Evil]]'' (1985), directed by [[Jim Goddard]], briefly include the incident.<ref name="imdb3"/><ref name="imdb2"/>
Both ''[[The Tin Drum (film)|Die Blechtrommel]]'' (1979), directed by [[Volker Schlöndorff]], and ''[[Hitler's SS: Portrait in Evil]]'' (1985), directed by [[Jim Goddard]], briefly include the incident.{{Citation needed|date=December 2025}}


It was also mentioned in a video game; ''[[Codename: Panzers]]'' (2004), which stirred up some controversy in Poland where the game was briefly discussed in Polish media as [[Anti-Polish sentiment|anti-Polish]] falsification of history, before the issue was cleared up as a case of poor reporting.<ref name="gazeta"/>
It was also mentioned in a video game; ''[[Codename: Panzers]]'' (2004), which stirred up some controversy in Poland where the game was briefly discussed in Polish media as [[Anti-Polish sentiment|anti-Polish]] falsification of history, before the issue was cleared up as a case of poor reporting.<ref name="gazeta"/>
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==References==
==References==
{{reflist|30em|refs=
{{Reflist|30em|refs=


<ref name="Ailsby">Christopher J. Ailsby, ''The Third Reich Day by Day'', Zenith Imprint, 2001, {{ISBN|0-7603-1167-6}}, [https://books.google.com/books?id=TMdZSJGWaIYC&dq=Gleiwitz+incident&pg=PA112 Google Print, p. 112]{{Dead link|date=August 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>
<ref name="Ailsby">Christopher J. Ailsby, ''The Third Reich Day by Day'', Zenith Imprint, 2001, {{ISBN|0-7603-1167-6}}, [https://books.google.com/books?id=TMdZSJGWaIYC&dq=Gleiwitz+incident&pg=PA112 Google Print, p. 112]{{Dead link|date=August 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>


<ref name="Franciszek Honiok">{{cite web|url=http://www.muzeum.gliwice.pl/en/radiostacja|title=Museum in Gliwice: What happened here?|publisher=Muzeum.gliwice.pl|access-date=8 March 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061104063227/http://www.muzeum.gliwice.pl/en/radiostacja/|archive-date=4 November 2006|url-status=dead}}</ref>
<ref name="Franciszek Honiok">{{cite web |url=http://www.muzeum.gliwice.pl/en/radiostacja |title=Museum in Gliwice: What happened here? |publisher=Muzeum.gliwice.pl |access-date=8 March 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061104063227/http://www.muzeum.gliwice.pl/en/radiostacja/ |archive-date=4 November 2006 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
 
<ref name="gazeta">{{cite web|url=http://wiadomosci.gazeta.pl/wiadomosci/1,114873,2243402.html|title=Skrytykowali grę, choć jej nie widzieli|publisher=Wiadomosci.gazeta.pl|date=23 August 2004|access-date=18 May 2012}}</ref>
 
<ref name="German Editor">{{cite web|url=http://www.nizkor.org/ftp.cgi/imt/nca/ftp.py?imt/nca/nca-06/nca-06-3469-ps-04|title=Holocaust Educational Resource|publisher=Nizkor|access-date=8 March 2014|archive-date=2 July 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170702084049/http://www.nizkor.org/ftp.cgi/imt/nca/ftp.py?imt%2Fnca%2Fnca-06%2Fnca-06-3469-ps-04|url-status=dead}}</ref>
 
<ref name="Hitler">{{cite web|url=http://www.fcit.usf.edu/HOLOCAUST/resource/document/HITLER1.htm|title=Address by Adolf Hitler|date=1 September 1939|publisher=archives of the Avalon Project at the [[Yale Law School]]|access-date=4 June 2015}}</ref>
 
<ref name="imdb">[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0054864 ''Der Fall Gleiwitz'' (1961)], IMDb.com; accessed 4 June 2015.</ref>


<ref name="imdb1">[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1287849 ''Operacja Himmler'' (TV 1979)], IMDb.com; accessed 4 June 2015.</ref>
<ref name="gazeta">{{cite web |url=http://wiadomosci.gazeta.pl/wiadomosci/1,114873,2243402.html |title=Skrytykowali grę, choć jej nie widzieli |publisher=Wiadomosci.gazeta.pl |date=23 August 2004 |access-date=18 May 2012 }}</ref>


<ref name="imdb2">[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089279 ''Hitler's S.S.: Portrait in Evil'' (TV 1985)], IMDb.com; accessed 4 June 2015.</ref>
<ref name="German Editor">{{cite web |url=http://www.nizkor.org/ftp.cgi/imt/nca/ftp.py?imt/nca/nca-06/nca-06-3469-ps-04 |title=Holocaust Educational Resource |publisher=Nizkor |access-date=8 March 2014 |archive-date=2 July 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170702084049/http://www.nizkor.org/ftp.cgi/imt/nca/ftp.py?imt%2Fnca%2Fnca-06%2Fnca-06-3469-ps-04 |url-status=dead }}</ref>


<ref name="imdb3">[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078875 ''Die Blechtrommel'' (1979)], IMDb.com; accessed 4 June 2015.</ref>
<ref name="Hitler">{{cite web |url=http://www.fcit.usf.edu/HOLOCAUST/resource/document/HITLER1.htm |title=Address by Adolf Hitler |date=1 September 1939 |publisher=archives of the Avalon Project at the [[Yale Law School]] |access-date=4 June 2015 }}</ref>


<ref name="Lightbody">Bradley Lightbody, ''The Second World War: Ambitions to Nemesis'', Routledge, 2004; {{ISBN|0-415-22405-5}}, [https://books.google.com/books?id=wyfgwYOiZasC&dq=Gleiwitz+incident&pg=PA39 Google Print, p. 39]</ref>
<ref name="Lightbody">Bradley Lightbody, ''The Second World War: Ambitions to Nemesis'', Routledge, 2004; {{ISBN|0-415-22405-5}}, [https://books.google.com/books?id=wyfgwYOiZasC&dq=Gleiwitz+incident&pg=PA39 Google Print, p. 39]</ref>


<ref name="Nuremberg">{{cite web|url=http://avalon.law.yale.edu/imt/12-20-45.asp|title=20 Nuremberg Trial Proceedings Volume 4|date=20 December 1945|access-date=12 October 2009|publisher=[[Avalon Project]]}}</ref>
<ref name="Nuremberg">{{cite web |url=http://avalon.law.yale.edu/imt/12-20-45.asp |title=20 Nuremberg Trial Proceedings Volume 4 |date=20 December 1945 |access-date=12 October 2009 |publisher=[[Avalon Project]] }}</ref>


<ref name="WirtzGordon">James J. Wirtz, [[Roy Godson]], ''Strategic Denial and Deception: The Twenty-First Century Challenge'', Transaction Publishers, 2002, {{ISBN|0-7658-0898-6}}, [https://books.google.com/books?id=PzfQSlTJTXkC&dq=Gleiwitz+incident&pg=PA100 Google Print, p. 100]</ref>
<ref name="WirtzGordon">James J. Wirtz, [[Roy Godson]], ''Strategic Denial and Deception: The Twenty-First Century Challenge'', Transaction Publishers, 2002, {{ISBN|0-7658-0898-6}}, [https://books.google.com/books?id=PzfQSlTJTXkC&dq=Gleiwitz+incident&pg=PA100 Google Print, p. 100]</ref>


<ref name="Zaloga">[[Steven J. Zaloga]], ''Poland 1939: The Birth of Blitzkrieg'', [https://books.google.com/books?id=oQeAKAjlEwMC&dq=%22Operation%2BHimmler%22&pg=PA39 Google Print, p. 39]{{Dead link|date=August 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}, Osprey Publishing, 2002; {{ISBN|1-84176-408-6}}</ref>}}
<ref name="Zaloga">[[Steven J. Zaloga]], ''Poland 1939: The Birth of Blitzkrieg'', [https://books.google.com/books?id=oQeAKAjlEwMC&dq=%22Operation%2BHimmler%22&pg=PA39 Google Print, p. 39]{{Dead link|date=August 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}, Osprey Publishing, 2002; {{ISBN|1-84176-408-6 }}</ref>}}


==Further reading==
==Further reading==
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* Stanley S. Seidner, ''Marshal Edward Śmigły-Rydz Rydz and the Defense of Poland'', New York, 1978.
* Stanley S. Seidner, ''Marshal Edward Śmigły-Rydz Rydz and the Defense of Poland'', New York, 1978.
* Spieß / Lichtenstein ''Unternehmen Tannenberg. Der Anlass zum Zweiten Weltkrieg'', Wiesbaden und München 1979.
* Spieß / Lichtenstein ''Unternehmen Tannenberg. Der Anlass zum Zweiten Weltkrieg'', Wiesbaden und München 1979.
* {{cite journal|last=Polak-Springer |first=Peter |s2cid=145321954 |date=April 2013 |title='Jammin' with Karlik': The German-Polish 'Radio War' and the Gleiwitz 'Provocation', 1925–1939 |journal=European History Quarterly |publisher=Sage |volume=43 |issue=2 |pages=279–300 |doi=10.1177/0265691413478095 |url=http://ehq.sagepub.com/content/43/2/279.abstract|url-access=subscription }}
* {{cite journal |last=Polak-Springer |first=Peter |s2cid=145321954 |date=April 2013 |title='Jammin' with Karlik': The German-Polish 'Radio War' and the Gleiwitz 'Provocation', 1925–1939 |journal=European History Quarterly |publisher=Sage |volume=43 |issue=2 |pages=279–300 |doi=10.1177/0265691413478095 |url=http://ehq.sagepub.com/content/43/2/279.abstract |url-access=subscription}}


==External links==
==External links==
* {{cite magazine | url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,958453-1,00.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080413014449/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,958453-1,00.html | url-status=dead | archive-date=13 April 2008 | title= Blitzkrieg September 1, 1939: a new kind of warfare engulfs Poland | magazine=Time | date=28 August 1989 | access-date=4 June 2015 }}
* {{cite magazine |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,958453-1,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080413014449/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,958453-1,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=13 April 2008 |title=Blitzkrieg September 1, 1939: a new kind of warfare engulfs Poland |magazine=Time |date=28 August 1989 |access-date=4 June 2015}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070814101908/http://www.radiostacjagliwicka.republika.pl/foldery/FoldeRAng.htm Radio Tower Museum in Gliwice: Gliwice provocation. Broadcasting station.]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070814101908/http://www.radiostacjagliwicka.republika.pl/foldery/FoldeRAng.htm Radio Tower Museum in Gliwice: Gliwice provocation. Broadcasting station.]
* {{in lang|ru}} [https://web.archive.org/web/20070515180715/http://ww2.boom.ru/Polish/gleiwitz.html Мой сайт@Mail.Ru – Сервис бесплатного хостинга]
* {{in lang|ru}} [https://web.archive.org/web/20070515180715/http://ww2.boom.ru/Polish/gleiwitz.html Мой сайт@Mail.Ru – Сервис бесплатного хостинга]
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[[Category:Combat incidents]]
[[Category:Combat incidents]]
[[Category:August 1939 in Europe]]
[[Category:August 1939 in Europe]]
[[Category:False flag operations]]

Latest revision as of 12:17, 30 December 2025

Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox operational plan Template:Events leading to World War II The Gleiwitz incident (Template:Langx; Template:Langx) was a false flag attack on the radio station Sender Gleiwitz in Gleiwitz (then Germany and now Gliwice, Poland) staged by Nazi Germany on the night of 31 August 1939. Along with some two dozen similar incidents, the attack was manufactured by Germany as a casus belli to justify the invasion of Poland. Prior to the invasion, Adolf Hitler gave a radio address condemning the acts and announcing German plans to attack Poland, which began the next morning.[1] Despite the German government using the attack as a justification to go to war with Poland, the Gleiwitz assailants were not Polish but were German SS officers wearing Polish uniforms.

During his declaration of war, Hitler did not mention the Gleiwitz incident but grouped all provocations staged by the SS as an alleged "Polish assault" on Germany. The Gleiwitz incident is the best-known action of Operation Himmler, a series of special operations undertaken by the Schutzstaffel (SS) to serve German propaganda at the outbreak of war. The operation was intended to create the appearance of a Polish aggression against Germany to justify the invasion of Poland. On September 3, Britain and France declared war on Germany, and the European theatre of World War II had begun. Manufactured evidence for the Gleiwitz attack by the SS was provided by the undercover German SS officer Alfred Naujocks in 1945.

Events at Gleiwitz

Much of what is known about the Gleiwitz incident comes from the affidavit of SS-Sturmbannführer Alfred Naujocks at the Nuremberg trials. In his testimony, he stated that he organised the incident under orders from Reinhard Heydrich and Heinrich Müller, chief of the Gestapo.[2] On the night of 31 August, a small group of German operatives dressed in Polish uniforms and led by Naujocks seized the Gleiwitz station and broadcast a short anti-German message in Polish (sources vary on the content of the message).[3] The operation was named "Grossmutter gestorben" (Grandmother died).[4] The operation was to make the attack and the broadcast look like the work of Polish anti-German saboteurs.[3][5] The operation was planned and carried out from the Sławięcice Palace (Schloss Slawentzitz).[6]

To make the attack seem more convincing, the Gestapo executed Franciszek Honiok, a 43-year-old unmarried Upper Silesian[7] Catholic farmer, known for sympathising with the Poles. He had been arrested the previous day by the Gestapo and dressed to look like a saboteur, then rendered unconscious by an injection of drugs, then killed by gunshot wounds.[8] Honiok was left dead at the scene so that he appeared to have been killed while attacking the station. His corpse was then presented to the police and press as proof of the attack.[9] Several prisoners from the Dachau concentration camp were drugged, shot dead on the site and their faces disfigured to make identification impossible.[3][5][10] The Germans referred to them by the code phrase "Konserve" (canned goods). Some sources incorrectly refer to the incident as Operation Canned Goods.[11]

In an oral testimony at the Nuremberg Trials, Erwin von Lahousen stated that his division of the Abwehr was one of two that were given the task of providing Polish Army uniforms, equipment and identification cards; he was later told by Wilhelm Canaris that people from concentration camps had been disguised in these uniforms and ordered to attack the radio stations.[12]

Oskar Schindler played a role in supplying the Polish uniforms and weapons used in the operation as an agent for the Abwehr.[13]

Context

File:Glivice plaque.JPG
Plaque on site commemorating the incident

The Gleiwitz incident was a part of a larger operation carried out by Abwehr and SS forces.[5] Other orchestrated incidents were conducted along the Polish–German border at the same time as the Gleiwitz attack, such as a house burning in the Polish Corridor and spurious propaganda. The project was called Operation Himmler and comprised incidents intended to give the appearance of Polish aggression against Germany.[14][11] German newspapers and politicians, including Adolf Hitler, had made accusations against Polish authorities for months before the 1939 invasion of organising or tolerating violent ethnic cleansing of ethnic Germans living in Poland.[14][15] On 1 September, the day following the Gleiwitz attack, Germany launched Fall Weiss (Case White), the strategic plan for the invasion of Poland, which precipitated World War II in Europe. Hitler cited the border incidents in a speech in the Reichstag on the same day, with three of them called very serious, as justification for his invasion of Poland.[14] Hitler had told his generals on 22 August, "I will provide a propagandistic casus belli. Its credibility doesn't matter. The victor will not be asked whether he told the truth".[5][11]

International reactions

American correspondents were summoned to the scene the next day but no neutral parties were allowed to investigate the incident in detail and the international public was skeptical of the German version of the incident.[5][16]

In popular culture

There have been several adaptations of the incident in cinema. Der Fall Gleiwitz (1961), directed by Gerhard Klein for DEFA studios (The Gleiwitz Case; English subtitles), is an East German film that reconstructs the events.Script error: No such module "Unsubst".

Operacja Himmler (1979) is a Polish film that covers the events.Script error: No such module "Unsubst".

Both Die Blechtrommel (1979), directed by Volker Schlöndorff, and Hitler's SS: Portrait in Evil (1985), directed by Jim Goddard, briefly include the incident.Script error: No such module "Unsubst".

It was also mentioned in a video game; Codename: Panzers (2004), which stirred up some controversy in Poland where the game was briefly discussed in Polish media as anti-Polish falsification of history, before the issue was cleared up as a case of poor reporting.[17]

See also

References

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  1. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  2. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  3. ↑ a b c Christopher J. Ailsby, The Third Reich Day by Day, Zenith Imprint, 2001, Template:ISBN, Google Print, p. 112Script error: No such module "Unsubst".
  4. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  5. ↑ a b c d e James J. Wirtz, Roy Godson, Strategic Denial and Deception: The Twenty-First Century Challenge, Transaction Publishers, 2002, Template:ISBN, Google Print, p. 100
  6. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  7. ↑ The World War II's first victim. A farmer was murdered as part of a Nazi plot to provide an excuse to invade Poland, the story of a man forgotten by history. By Bob Graham, 29 August 2009. The Telegraph.
  8. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  9. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  10. ↑ Thomas Laqueur, 'Devoted to Terror,' in London Review of Books, Vol. 37 No. 18–24 September 2015, pp. 9–16.
  11. ↑ a b c Bradley Lightbody, The Second World War: Ambitions to Nemesis, Routledge, 2004; Template:ISBN, Google Print, p. 39
  12. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  13. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  14. ↑ a b c Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  15. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  16. ↑ Steven J. Zaloga, Poland 1939: The Birth of Blitzkrieg, Google Print, p. 39Script error: No such module "Unsubst"., Osprey Publishing, 2002; Template:ISBN
  17. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".

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Further reading

  • John Toland, Adolf Hitler : The Definitive Biography, Template:ISBN.
  • Dennis Whitehead, "The Gleiwitz Incident", After the Battle Magazine Number 142 (March 2009)
  • Stanley S. Seidner, Marshal Edward Śmigły-Rydz Rydz and the Defense of Poland, New York, 1978.
  • Spieß / Lichtenstein Unternehmen Tannenberg. Der Anlass zum Zweiten Weltkrieg, Wiesbaden und München 1979.
  • Script error: No such module "Citation/CS1".

External links

Template:Authority control

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