The Gleiwitz incident was a staged attack by Nazi forces on a German radio station in Gleiwitz, a German town close to the Polish border, which is now Gliwice in Poland. SS men dressed as Polish soldiers seized the station and broadcast a short message in Polish, and left behind a dead man, a local prisoner dressed in a Polish uniform, to make it look like a Polish attack. The action, part of an SS operation led by Alfred Naujocks, was one of a number of false-flag incidents intended to provide a pretext for the German invasion of Poland. Adolf Hitler referred to Polish attacks in his speech the next day, as the invasion began and the Second World War started in Europe.
Before and after
- 22 May 1939Pact of Steel
- 2 July 1939Founding of Hewlett-Packard
- 9 August 1939Birth of Romano Prodi
- 23 August 1939Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact
- 31 August 1939Gleiwitz incident
- from 1 September 1939 to 6 October 19391939 Invasion of Poland
- from 1 September 1939 to 2 September 1945World War II
- from 1 September 1939 to 3 September 1939Battle of Mława
- from 1 September 1939 to 7 September 1939Battle of Westerplatte
More in Wars, politics & history
- from 28 July 1914 to 11 November 1918World War I
- 28 June 1919Treaty of Versailles
- 4 June 1920Treaty of Trianon
- from 1933 to 1945The Holocaust
- 30 January 1933Hitler becomes Chancellor of Germany
- from 18 July 1936 to 1 April 1939Spanish Civil War
The era
This moment belongs to the Modern era (1914 CE to 1945 CE), world wars and a changing world. You can also browse everything in the 20th century.