AB-Aktion

The AB-Aktion (German: Außerordentliche Befriedungsaktion lit. 'Extraordinary Pacification Operation', Polish: Akcja AB) was the second stage of Nazi Germany's campaign of violence in the occupied General Government (GG) of Poland. It followed the Intelligenzaktion, during Germany's invasion the preceding year, which sought to eliminate the intellectuals and the upper classes of the Second Polish Republic. The remaining Polish population would thus be docile and exploitable, making it easier to Germanise Poland and extirpate Polish cultural, ethnic and national identity. The November 1939 Sonderaktion Krakau was a template for the AB Aktion. Most of the 150 faculty and staff at Jagiellonian University in Kraków who were arrested survived the concentration camps and were released within months. German leader Adolf Hitler had personally charged GG governor Hans Frank with keeping Poland stable during the invasion of France the following year. When security forces made their next wave of arrests, Frank concluded it would be better to execute those arrested shortly afterwards.

In spring 1940 several conferences were held, including some jointly with the Soviet NKVD, to formalize plans for AB. Shortly afterwards arrests began. Over 30,000 Polish citizens were taken into custody; about 7,000 were subsequently massacred. Despite Frank's initial intent to quickly execute all arrestees, at Reichsfüherer Heinrich Himmler's request many were sent to concentration camps, including the first to arrive at Auschwitz. The resistance soon recovered from the major setback. By late 1941 the Germans switched to tactics that more specifically targeted known or suspected underground groups, as more Poles from all walks of life began taking action against the occupiers, contrary to German expectations. Mass executions continued as a method of state terror.