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German assasination that started wwii
Executive summary
The event most commonly linked to a “German assassination that started WWII” is the Gleiwitz incident — a false‑flag attack staged by Nazi operatives on the radio station at Gleiwitz (now Gliwice) on the night of 31 August 1939, used as one of the pretexts for the invasion of Poland on 1 September 1939 [1] [2]. Historians trace much of what is known to Alfred Naujocks’ Nuremberg affidavit and to Operation Himmler, a coordinated set of staged border incidents devised to create the appearance of Polish aggression [3] [4].
1. What actually happened at Gleiwitz — the core narrative
On 31 August 1939 a small team of German operatives, dressed in Polish uniforms and led by Alfred Naujocks, seized the Sender Gleiwitz radio station, broadcast a short anti‑German message in Polish and left corpses (likely prisoners) dressed as Poles to make the attack appear Polish; this action was the best‑known element of Operation Himmler, a set of staged provocations along the German–Polish frontier [1] [3] [4].
2. Why some people describe it as an “assassination” — and why that wording is misleading
Contemporary and later accounts note that the Gestapo and SS arranged for prisoners or kidnapped men to be left dead at some fake‑attack scenes [5] [3]. Calling Gleiwitz an “assassination” compresses two different facts: the deliberate killing or framing of victims by Nazi agents, and the political objective of manufacturing a casus belli. The more accurate term in scholarship and museum literature is “false‑flag attack” or “staged provocation” [2] [1].
3. Operation Himmler — the broader scheme behind the provocation
Gleiwitz was not a lone incident but the most famous act within Operation Himmler (also called Operation Konserve), a coordinated campaign of roughly two dozen staged incidents engineered to give Reich propaganda grounds to claim Polish aggression; Hitler cited multiple border incidents the next day when ordering invasion [4] [3]. Reinhard Heydrich and other senior SS and Gestapo figures supervised planning, per postwar testimony [5].
4. How the incident was used politically and militarily
Within hours of the staged attack, German radio and press reported it as Polish aggression; on 1 September Germany launched Fall Weiss (the invasion of Poland), and Hitler referenced border provocations when announcing the operation, giving the regime a propagandistic justification to present to domestic and international audiences [1] [3].
5. Sources and the limits of the historical record
Much of what historians rely on comes from the affidavit and testimony of Alfred Naujocks at Nuremberg and from Nazi archival material; scholars caution that details — for example, the exact content of the Polish broadcast or the identities of all victims — vary between accounts [1] [5]. Available sources do not mention every alleged casualty or every piece of local testimony; where disagreement exists, summaries note that sources “vary” on specifics [1] [4].
6. Why this episode is often framed as “the start” of WWII — and competing perspectives
Gleiwitz is frequently invoked because it immediately preceded the invasion of Poland and was explicitly cited in wartime German rhetoric as justification [1]. Yet most historians place the diplomatic and military decisions leading to war earlier — the invasion itself on 1 September 1939 and Germany’s broader expansionist policies are the proximate causes — so Gleiwitz functions as a manufactured pretext rather than the sole causal trigger [3] [4]. Some popular retellings simplify the timeline and emphasize a single moment of deception; scholarship stresses a chain of policy choices culminating in war [3].
7. How reporting and memory shaped the incident’s status
Contemporary international press and later historians amplified Gleiwitz because it offered clear evidence of Nazi deception; subsequent educational and museum narratives (and many secondary articles) have solidified the incident’s role as emblematic of Nazi pretextual tactics [6] [7]. Different outlets vary in vividness and detail, and some popular accounts dramatize elements that academic sources treat cautiously [8] [9].
8. Bottom line for readers seeking clarity
The Gleiwitz incident was a staged Nazi false‑flag attack used to justify the invasion of Poland; it involved murdered or kidnapped victims left to simulate Polish aggression and forms a documented part of Operation Himmler [2] [5]. If you want primary‑source depth, start with the Nuremberg affidavit of Alfred Naujocks and follow scholarship on Operation Himmler; for concise overviews, reputable history summaries and museum resources accurately label Gleiwitz a manufactured provocation [5] [3].