Wehrmacht troops entered Łódz on September 8, 1939. About 70,000 members of the Jewish population had escaped prior to the German occupation, but 162,000 Jews still remained in the city. On November 9, 1939, Łódź and its surroundings were annexed to the Reich and integrated into the newly established province of Reichsgau Posen. The annexation process was finalized on November 20, after the new border with the neighboring Generalgouvernement (General Government, the zone of Nazi-occupied central Poland not formally annexed to the Reich) had been clarified. The province was officially renamed Reichsgau Wartheland on January 29, 1940.
On October 30, 1939, Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler ordered the expulsion of all Jews and "hostile" Poles from the annexed territories, entrusting the task of planning and organizing orderly deportations to the Reich Security Main Office (Reichssicherheitshauptamt, or RSHA), led by his right-hand man, SS-Gruppenführer Reinhard Heydrich. Himmler appointed Wilhelm Koppe Higher SS and Police Leader (Höherer SS- und Polizeiführer, or HSSPF) of the new province and instructed him to prepare for the immediate expulsion of Poles and Jews. On November 3, Koppe stipulated that 200,000 Poles and 100,000 Jews were to be deported by the end of February 1940....
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GLOWNA KOMISJA BADANIA ZBRODNI HITLEROWSKICH W POLSCE - GKBZHP, WARSZAWA, POLAND ZBIOR Ob - I-VI, VII-X copy YVA TR.17 / JM.3513