# Germany invades Poland

Date: 1939

## The fact

On 1 September 1939 German forces invaded Poland on [Hitler](/people/adolf-hitler)'s order. Britain and France declared war on 3 September. It is the dated opening of the European war. Adolf Hitler's documented role is: He ordered the invasion. The Wehrmacht and SS executed; Britain and France declared war on 3 September.

## Context

The Gleiwitz staged attack is the pretext file. Sharing the campaign with OKW and SS is required. The setting of Germany invades Poland is the public file around 1939-09-01. Shared offices, unnamed crews, printers, or later editors may appear without becoming this instrument. Contribution type is direct. Driver [humanitarian-access](/drivers/humanitarian-access) is attached because the significance names a mechanism from this act, not because a standing list needed coverage.

Later competitions, monuments, translations, UNESCO listings, museums, and adaptations are not converted into extra lifetime acts.

## Evidence and sources

USHMM and Avalon independently date 1 September 1939. Official carrier: Avalon Project — address by Hitler to the Reichstag, 1 September 1939 (https://avalon.law.yale.edu/; Yale Avalon Project). Independent carrier: USHMM — Invasion of Poland 1939 (https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/; United States Holocaust Memorial Museum).

Official or archival record: Avalon Project — address by Hitler to the Reichstag, 1 September 1939 (https://avalon.law.yale.edu/; Yale Avalon Project).

## Significance

Worsening humanitarian-war path of highest weight. Direct. High confidence. The welfare reading on this path is worsening. Readers checking this Fact should open both named URLs for Germany invades Poland.

Confidence is stated on the impact path, not hidden in adjectives. Gleiwitz is a pretext operation, not a Polish attack. Mixed effects of Germany invades Poland are separate paths.

## What is established and what is not

Established: 1 September 1939 invasion. Not established: a unique total-war death figure in this one row. Established: a sourced public record of Germany invades Poland under 1939-09-01.

Shared responsibility is part of Germany invades Poland. Naming Adolf Hitler does not delete co-authors, institutions, or later transmitters. The lag from 1939-09-01 to any measured indicator is not treated as zero. Alternative explanations — weather, other armies, later statutes, or independent cultural change — remain live where the sources do not close them.

The contribution type is direct. The attached driver is humanitarian-access. The welfare reading used in this dossier is worsening. That reading is an impact-path choice, not a property stored on the Fact itself.

If a number is not in the two records named above, it is not supplied here.

## People

- Adolf Hitler: https://factrail.ai/people/adolf-hitler

## Drivers

- Humanitarian Access: https://factrail.ai/drivers/humanitarian-access

## Sources

- https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/
- https://avalon.law.yale.edu/

## Methodology

https://factrail.ai/methodology

Canonical: https://factrail.ai/facts/hitler-poland-1939