31 Facts About Albert Forster

Albert Maria Forster was a Nazi German politician, member of the SS and war criminal.

Albert Forster was tried, convicted and hanged in Warsaw for his crimes, after Germany was defeated.

Albert Forster was born in Furth, where he attended volksschule and the Humanistisches Gymnasium from 1908 to 1920.

Albert Forster then trained in banking for two years and began working at a Furth bank in 1922.

Albert Forster was an observer at the trial for high treason of Erich Ludendorff, Adolf Hitler and eight others putschists, which took place between 26 February and 1 April 1924 in the court at Munich.

Albert Forster was in attendance in Munich when the Nazi Party was refounded by Hitler on 27 February 1925, and he again became the Ortsgruppenleiter in Furth.

Albert Forster officially rejoined the Party on 5 April 1925 ; as an early Party member he was considered an Alter Kampfer and would later be awarded the Golden Party Badge.

Albert Forster soon became a Parteiredner giving speeches throughout the area.

From February 1928, Albert Forster was employed as a payment office official by the German National Association of Commercial Employees, a nationalist and anti-Semitic trade union.

Albert Forster unsuccessfully sought a seat in the Reichstag at the 20 May 1928 election.

At the 14 September 1930 election, Albert Forster was elected to the Reichstag from electoral constituency 26, Franconia, and was made the expert advisor on labor and clerical employee issues to the Nazi Reichstag faction.

On 15 October 1930, Albert Forster became the Nazi Party's Gauleiter of the Free City of Danzig, replacing Arthur Greiser who then became the Deputy Gauleiter.

Albert Forster immediately embarked on an aggressive propaganda campaign and membership drive.

Albert Forster filled all the significant positions with his allies from the pre-war Free City of Danzig.

In May 1934 Albert Forster, who had been made an Honorary Citizen of Furth and of Danzig, married Gertrud Deetz.

In 1937 Albert Forster boasted about his fight against communists and other "subhumans".

In 1939, following orders from Berlin, Albert Forster led the agitation in Danzig to step up pressure for annexation by Nazi Germany and proclaimed that in future "Poland will be only a dream".

Albert Forster was hateful of Jews whom he called "dirty and slippery race" and he expressed his desire to control parts of Poland after Poles would be expelled from them.

Albert Forster would retain these posts until fleeing Danzig on 27 March 1945 ahead of the invading Soviet forces.

Albert Forster's goal was to make the area fully Germanised within ten years, and he was directly responsible for extermination policy in the region.

Albert Forster was directly responsible for the extermination of non-Germans in Danzig-West Prussia.

Albert Forster personally believed in the need to engage in genocide of Poles and stated that, "We have to exterminate this nation, starting from the cradle" and declared that Poles and Jews were not human.

Albert Forster reported that 87,000 people had been "evacuated" from the region by February 1940.

The Nazi policy and terror instituted by Albert Forster offered only two possibilities to the Polish population: extermination or Germanisation.

Albert Forster pursued a policy of genocide and forced assimilation of the population in his area of responsibility.

At the start of the war Albert Forster planned ethnic cleansing of all Poles originating from Congress Poland and all Jews by February 1940 from his Gau, but unforeseen problems with agriculture workers and the inadequate character of German settlers forced him to revise his policies.

Albert Forster was willing to accept any and all Poles who claimed to have "German blood" as Germans.

Albert Forster himself reported that 87,000 people had been "evacuated" from the region by February 1940.

Albert Forster initially refused to admit any of them into his Reichsgau.

In 1948, Albert Forster was condemned to death by the Polish court for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

The Polish president denied clemency on 21 February 1952 and Albert Forster was moved from Gdansk to Mokotow Prison in Warsaw, where he was hanged on 28 February 1952.