The Gleiwitz Incident
In August 1939, World War II had not broken out, yet. A black propaganda operation was carried out by Nazi forces meant to provoke justification for a German invasion of Poland.
The Gleiwitz Incident involved German troops pretending to be Polish citizens. Their intent was to stage an event that would justify a German military counter attack. The idea behind Gleiwitz was described at the post-war Nuremberg Trials. An SS officer testified he was given orders by two men (one of whom was Heinrich Müller, the chief of the Gestapo) to organize a small group of Nazi soldiers clad in Polish uniforms in order to storm the Gleiwitz station from where they would broadcast a Polish language, anti-German messages over the airwaves.
The incident quickly resorted to grisly acts against innocent civilians in order to solidify its authenticity. People who had no children, nearby family or friends were targeted, especially if it was suspected they were potential Polish sympathizers, such as Franciszek Honiok. Arrested the day before the Gleiwitz incident, Honiok was given a lethal injection and dressed to look like his intent was to carry out the crime he was being framed for. His body was filled with bullets and left to decorate radio station with false evidence.
Nazi concentration camps already dotted the landscape throughout Germany. Prisoners were transported from Germany to Poland to further lend authenticity to the Gleiwitz Incident. Before their arrival (and sometimes after) they were drugged, redressed, shot full of bullets, and their faces were annihilated until they were unrecognizable. The SS referred to the bodies as “konserve” (Canned Goods). To increase the believability of the scenario, some of the prisoners were forced to wear the Polish uniforms and attack the radio station, where they were subsequently killed.
The Gleiwitz incident was one of many operations the Germans were running along the Polish border at the same time in the build up to invasion. The overarching name was known as Operation Himmler. The SS staged everything from pillaged homes to propaganda centers. All of it was to provide Hitler with justified reasons for seeking retaliation and waging war. When Germany invaded Poland on September 1, 1939, Hitler noted that the crimes happening along the border were organized acts of aggression meant to cleanse Poland of ethnic Germans living on Polish territory.