Being a WWII novice, I’m trying to understand why Poland was partitioned the way it was in Sept/Oct 1939. Due to the secret clauses of the Mol/Rib Pact, Russia got a large chunk of Eastern Poland. Germany’s share was partly annexed by The Reich while from the rest was formed the General Government, headed by Frank.
Why did Hitler decide to structure Poland this way? What were the ostensible reasons and what were the real reasons (if the two vary)? Why didn’t he annex his entire share of the country?
The thing is, most of Poland was filled with Poles, and Hitler didn’t want Poles polluting his Germany. So, he annexed the “German” parts, like West Prussia, Silesia and Posnan/Wartheland, and kicked the Poles out. The “Polish” parts of Poland were turned into the General Government, where the Poles, under the kind and magnanimous rule of Governor Frank, could fufil their natural destinies of serving the German state in factories and farms until they did the decent thing and died out as a people. At which point, sometime in the future, German settlers would occupy the land and it would become a full part of Germany and take its rightful part as a home of the Aryan people.