The population in the General Government 's territory was initially about 12 million in an area of 94,000 square kilometres , but this increased as about 860,000 Poles and Jews were expelled from the German-annexed areas and " resettled " in the General Government . Offsetting this was the German campaign of extermination of the Polish intelligentsia and other elements thought likely to resist ( e.g. Operation Tannenberg ) . From 1941 , disease and hunger also began to reduce the population . Poles were deported in large numbers to work as forced labour in Germany : eventually about a million were deported , and many died in Germany
Operation Tannenberg
Operation Tannenberg
Occupation of Poland (1939–1945)