 About two weeks after the fall of the Warsaw Uprising , on October 17 , 1944 , the commander of the German 9th Army stationed in Warsaw , Smilo von Lüttwitz , issued an order in which he informed his soldiers that there was a large number of " sneaky Poles " still hiding in the ruins of Warsaw . According to Smilo , they " posed a threat to the German forces " . Von Lüttwitz ordered a large scale łapanka ( police action / round @-@ up ) to " cleanse the city " of them . The order also sanctioned immediate execution of any individuals found hiding in the ruins . In some rare cases , those found were placed in a specially created concentration camp , and used as manual labor as the German army looted the remnants of the city . 
