“..Day in ..day out ..in hundreds of cities throughout Poland ..Russia 1,000’s upon 1,000’s of Jews are ..systematically murdered according to a preconceived plan ..no one ..takes our part.” Emanuel Ringelblum.
There are places like Auschwitz, the Polin Museum in Warsaw, and the Marek Edelman Centre in Lodz, who are not autonomous. Is there a real champion for the Polish Jewish past if it is to accuse some in Poland of collaboration in the most unique, unparalleled, and unprecedented assault upon a People in all of History? This places ethical demands for the integrity of all of History, particularly with over 1,000 years of Polish Jewish History within Poland, upon institutions being seriously compromised. Any effort to restrain the truth, distort the facts or present a bias of any nature, especially where any Polish collaboration in Hitler’s aims for its Jews is being evidenced. This cannot be rejected, hidden or denied by want of any chosen distortion seeking to exonerate Polish guilt. As Hitler reached for power, Poland was becoming a state on its own, beckoning more and more assaults upon its Jewish population. Between 1918 and 1919, at the birth of the Polish nation, there were vicious Pogroms in Lvov, Pinsk and Vilna and over 100 smaller Jewish Community’s. all of these incidents, which dealt a deadly blow to the Jewish presence within this new Poland afforded Hitler a view which consoled his own hatred for the Jewish People.
“..All of Poland was rife with anti-Semitism.” Rubin Offenbach.
This fledgling State of Poland was founded on November 11th. 1918, with Gabriel Narutowicz as its first President. This leader was assassinated 2 days later. This, amidst the turmoil of the post World War I environment, ensured that the Polish rancour over the Jews grew proportionately greater. At this time there were some 31,900,000 People within Poland’s new borders, and there were approximately 2,500,000 Jews living there, or about 8 per cent of the population. All of these Jews gained Polish citizenship but were threatened immediately by Polish nationalist groups and the Catholic Church. It will be recalled that that Census figures taken throughout Poland in 1921 than recognised the integrity of 2,855,000 Jews present within Poland, a growth rate of 355,000 Jewish People in less than 3 years. All of this can be explained by Jews who saw themselves as Polish first and as non-practicing Jews secondly, and so never registered that heritage, ensuring the accuracy of numbers is misleading.
“..There is a difference between ..German orchestrated systems of terror against ..Poles and ..Jews. ..Germans want to ruin ..Polish state as a state. ..with regard to ..Jews ..they want to devastate ..biological substance of ..Jewish Nation. If ..Germans do not change their method of dealing with ..Jewish population ..if there is no effort at Allied intervention ..whether through reprisals or other action ..barring some unforeseen circumstance ..within 18 months of ..time I left ..Homeland ..Jewish People of Poland will cease to exist.” Jan Karski.
This same day, November 11th. 1918, in Kielce, 4 Jews were Murdered and 100’s were injured as looters tore though the Jewish quarter. Meanwhile, and as Hitler took hold of that version of aggressive, divisive power in German, Austria and Czechoslovakia, Poland looked to Hitler as an example of how it could promote itself as a European power. In that volatile mix, the Jewish People were to be completely torn from the very fabric of their Community’s within Poland, and then from the wider European Continent. As the Jewish People were gradually dispossessed from their homes and were brutally Slaughtered, what had begun as a rhetorical device to gain power turned into a blood thirsty purge of all Jewish presence from amongst its former neighbours. Also, and in Lvov on November 22nd. 1918 Polish Soldiers attacked the Jewish Citizens there.
“..power of ..nazis ..partly based on ..considerable support which anti-Jewish laws received among ..polish population. ..not by chance ..Poland ..chosen as ..place for ..extermination of ..Jews.” Joseph Schupack.
On November 24th. 1918, and by the time the unrest in Lvov had abated, 72 Jews of Lvov lay Dead, having been Murdered. A further 300 Jews were seriously wounded and 3 of Lvov’s Synagogues had been looted and destroyed. An international commission of inquiry was convened in the area. On April 5th. 1919 the Polish Army, under command of General Antoni Listowski Murdered 35 Pinsk Jews. On April 19th. 1919, and in a 3 day orgy of violence against the Jews of Vilna, the Polish Army succeeded in Murdering 67 Jewish Men, Women and Their Children. The looting from Jewish owned businesses continued for several weeks. During June 1919, a Pogrom took place against the Jews of Cracow where 2 Jews were Murdered in the City Market Place. On August 8th. 1919, with the Polish Army at odds with military discipline, it was responsible for the Murders of 37 Jews in Minsk and a further 160 Jews from the surrounding areas.
“..fatalist policy of ..Polish state ..led to such widespread judaization of ..country that ..Jewish population ..Poland exceeded that of ..entire rest of ..world.” Roman Stanislaw Dmowski.
There were people like Roman Stanislaw Dmowski, a founder of the right-wing Endecja, the National Democratic Party or ND, who made it very difficult, and sometimes impossible for Jews to be Polish Jews. His demand for Poland, an exclusively Polish ethnicity where Catholic’s, and only those of ethnic Polish descent were all that mattered. Dmowski looked very much to the example of Hitler to see the way forward, and this was evident in his view of Jewish lives being removed from the state. So it is clearly no exaggeration that some of these advocates of hatred for the Polish Jewish People, and within Poland, sought to administer for all of Polish antisemitism. Since the end of World War I in 1918, antisemitism had been in the ascendency across the globe.
“..I think right now they are not very well known ..mostly because they have been ..surpassed by The Holocaust. In ..interwar period ..they were very well known. 1,100 pogroms killed over 100,000 Jews in a 3 year period.” Jeffrey Veidlinger.
For some years, and even prior to Hitler’s rise to power, this formation took on the mantle of The Greatest Hatred and would provide a collaborative power base from which a total response to a final resolve could be gained. Amongst collaborative states,, armed with these two facets of hatred, antisemitism and the Pogroms that were conducted within Poland and Ukraine, all of this came together on the World stage. In a spectacle so horrifying to humanity, this Slaughter required its own title, and from within this Genocide, Hitler and Polish antisemitism were classified and tightly bound together. Clearly, with Hitler’s wish to fully and finally resolve the issue of the Jewish Question, Jewish life became a tenuous hold upon any future prospect.
On Wednesday April 12th. 1922 “..there can be no compromise ..either victory of the Aryan or annihilation of ..Aryan and ..victory of ..Jew.” Adolf Hitler.
With the removal of a Jewish presence within Germany, Austria, Poland and then all of Europe, the programme was set upon a collison course with the very life blood of Jewish existence. The crucible of hatred for the Jewish People was beginning to focus its central demand around Poland by virtue of the extent of the presence of Polish Jewry there. All of this would add weight to the solution of the final Jewish presence for any Jew within the border’s of Europe. When then added to the fact that Hitler merely saw in non-Jewish Poles a work horse, a sub-division of humanity only capable of serving the needs of the new German Reich, the Polish compliance in what was murderously intended for the Jews, did not save 3 million of these non-Jewish Poles. The tenets of Polish nationalism was bitterly proposed toward Polish Jewry, all of whom were to be seen as an existential threat to the Polish State.
“..it is easy to cope with ..Jewish problem when ..Jews are small in number ..but it is more difficult in Poland where their number is so much larger.” Jozef Pilsudski.
The Jew was to be an internal problem to so called Polish ethnic purity and would be considered for removal to Madagaskar. As such the Jews were designated the as the anti-Pole and faced eventual elimination from the Polish nation. This was being decreed as their physical removal from the state, and otherwise deported away from their former homeland. A series of Pogroms throughout Poland would not elicit any intervening response from government institutions. On September 19th. 1930 Joseph Goebbels threatens that any attempt upon Hitler s life will be met by a pogrom against the Jewish Population of Germany. In just these few instances of pogrom and dedications to hatred against Polish Jewry within Poland, and what was immensely troubling to Polish Jewry, all became deadly to too many of the Jews in Poland, Germany and Austria. The establishment of a clarion call to this anti-Jewish rabble was permeating back through the Polish borders and Hitler caught wind of the very deliberate nature of that exact same hatred for the Jews he had already endorsed.
“..Poles proved their deeply entrenched national tenacity ..rebelled frequently ..fought against ..conqueror in wars already lost before they began ..whereas from ..point of view of ..champions of social progress ..chaining of Poland was a sin oppressing ..conscience of Europe.” Yisrael Gutman.
Yisrael Gutman is a Polish Jewish Survivor who identified with Polish needs to raise themselves out of the oppressive demands of neighbours and former foes. However, while most Jews felt this disparity, their awareness within Poland itself was of a Polish Jewry that was an oppressed minority being ritually sanctioned, pogromed and killed. It has to be remembered from this stand point, that such is the integrity within History, its scientific significance must always be protected. We cannot allow untruths, either from bias or distortion to contaminate the arena of any History, an infection of history which will corrupt all of History. Yisrael Gutman here ensures the very soul of our search through The Holocaust is not tainted. This from a Jew, a Polish Jew, a Polish Jewish Survivor. Yisrael is fundamentally basing his place in history objectively, and while scientifically researching the correctness necessary.
“..struggle against ..Jews ..implacable ..intensifying ..deportations ..mass executions. ..massacres of ..Jews in Ukraine ..nearly complete. In Poland and Germany they want to complete it ..with a system of mass murders.” Abbot Pirro Scavizzi.
It is clear that in all of World History, herr Hitler saw a closely held alignment with his own wishes and those of Poland’s with regards the Jewish People. Eventually, the heavily laden demands for Polish Jewry, and indeed for every Jew in Europe would prove decisive in the emergence of The Holocaust. On December 9th. 1931 Hitler reasserts his intention is a solution which will be final, die Endlosung, for the Jewish People and is revealed in The Munchener Post. Elsewhere, a welcome mat to Hitler was being layered to do all that he wanted to achieve against the Polish Jews, and from within Poland. Poland cannot own History. It must accept the good with the bad, and acknowledge the downright criminal acts conducted against its own Jewish Citizens. What emerges in The Holocaust recognises what was done to Polish Jewry by its non-Jewish citizens.
“..Jewish population in Poland is condemned to death in accordance with ..slogan ..Slaughter all Jews ..no matter how ..war ends.” General Wladyslaw Sikorski.
The act of diplomacy ensures the rights of ones own People and unfortunately Poland handed that right to Hitler to engage in how best he saw fit in destroying 3,650,000 to perhaps as many as 5,774,000 Polish Jews, given a previous assumption that 118,000 increased the growth rate per year in early 1920. On January 26th. 1934 Poland signs 10 year Hitler pact of non-Aggression and on April 14th. 1934 the Oboze Nardovo Radzykalny, a radical antisemitic group, or ONR, a strongly anti-Jewish political grouping in Poland is formed. Between 1935 -1938 Polish further measures against its Jewish Community more closely aligns itself to Hitler’s endlosung policy. However, and seemingly opposing such a nationalist anti-Jewish view was Marshal Josef Piludski, and the Second Polish Republic. This approach, which advocated a multi disciplined, diverse and tolerant society was dogged by widespread antisemitic incidences throughout Poland.
“..Polish youth ..armed with clubs ..sticks ..make pogroms against ..Jews. ..Jews ..beaten and wounded. ..Jewish quarter ..abandoned to toughs and killers.” Chaim Aron Kaplan.
It is clear though that Pilsudski was not as avid an antisemite as Dmowski but was much like all of Poland, antisemitic. On May 12th. 1935, Marshal Jozef Pilsudski died and as the defender of Jews in Poland, and a wider critic of antisemitism, it is clear after his death, the gloves of tolerance came off and Pogroms swept Poland like a torrent. Continued attacks upon Jewish integrity sweeps through Poland with State, Church coordinating their belligerence toward the Jewish Community. When Polish Church and State conform to antisemitic hatred, more than 3,450,000 Polish Jews will be forced into oblivion. The Polish Jews now felt that their major protector, who in many ways had been Pilsudski was taken from them. The military in charge then were to become complicit in all that raged against the Jews, and were unable, incapable or more accepting of the flow of virulent and violent hatred toward Polish Jewry.
“..when ..heads of ..major nations in ..world faced ..new Germany with cool reserve and considerable suspicion ..Catholic Church ..greatest moral power on earth ..through ..Concordat expressed its confidence in ..new German government.” Guenter Lewy.
The regime which emerged after Piludski, found favour with Hitler’s continuing amplification of anti-Jewish sentiment. Poland , for its part, enacted laws to refute any Jewish status within Poland and it activated statutes which limited the Jewish presence to mere subservience. Poland then restricted Jewish businesses to vassals of Polish interest and all manner of Laws, which could well have been adopted straight from the tenets of the Nuremberg Race Laws, were adapted and engineered to specifically deny any Jewish hegemony or reliance upon the state.
Polish Jewish Boycotts were as broad as they were widespread,
Polish Jewish Banks were sequestered?
Polish Jewish Students could be easily removed from Schools, Colleges, Universities,
Polish Jewish Rituals pertaining to Religious observances were outlawed,
Polish Jewish ritual slaughter was prohibited.
The corrupted values of human decency are evident wherever the Polish and European Jews are confronted by what Hitler pointed to. It is essential also to remember that what originated in Germany, was conducted throughout all of Europe, more particularly within Poland. This is all a confrontation with every fibre of humanity. That such an assault as has never been witnessed before, and in all of history, should warn us of confusing the hatred of national socialism. The strength of any Nation belongs to the body of the People and if it espouses an inward looking and selfish consideration, it goes beyond the bounds of moral efficacy. All of the People, and where this equates to the values of a Socialism which recognises an equanimity which belongs to All and not just to the few, we do not separate out any People by any measure or design.
“..more I think of it ..more it appears that ..intelligent ..just and ..really good people who come after us will find it hard to understand how this could have happened ..to comprehend how ..very idea of murder ..mass murder ..could begin in ..dark recesses and convulsions of ..brain of an ordinary human being like millions of others.” Anatoli Kuznetsov.
The Jewish People are no less a component part of any and all communities they remain equal within, and must be given their right to humanity’s civilising essential. We are all for each other and each of us uphold all the rights of the other so as not to engender a threat to anyone. We must always recognise what Hitler’s Nazism proposed for the Jewish People, and this just did not stop with the Jewish People. It did not cease with killing Jews. It recognised the removal of every facet of opposition to an elitism that served a corrupted model of what corrupts all of human nature. In line with this, and on June 8th. 1935 there was a Pogrom in Grodno, Poland against its Jewish Community. There were 3 Jews Murdered, amongst them were Gedaliah Becher and Yisrael Berzowski. Also, Shlomo Pozniak was severely injured and along with Leib Buchinsky, both were put into hospital.
“..we will destroy Jewish breed. They will disappear through hunger and want. ..polish people will be grateful ..Jewish Question only a cemetery will remain.” Dr. Ludwig Fischer.
The future Nazi Warsaw Governor was assured by what Poland was achieving with its Jews and was confident it would be acceptable to all of Polish society what would be visited upon the Jewish People of Poland. All told, between 40 to 50 Grodno Jews were injured and damage was done to some 300 Jewish properties. On February 29th. 1936, Cardinal Hlond, the Catholic primate of all Poland issued a pastoral letter calling for discriminatory measures against the Jewish People. This incites a series of coordinated assaults on Jews across Poland. On March 9th. 1936, a Pogrom in Przytyk sees 2 Jews Murdered and on April 30th. 1936 the ONR, the Oboze Nardovo Radzykalny, attacked 5 Jews returning from Warsaw to their homes in Minsk-Mazowiecki. Then, and on June 1st. 1936 in Minsk-Mazowiecki there was a Pogrom and on June 30th. 1936 the Pogrom in Myslenice when 2 Jews were Murdered. On March 3rd. 1937, as the Polish government seeks to revoke Citizenship of Polish Jews in Germany, on May 13th. 1937 the Jews of Brest-Litovsk were attacked by locals and police who looted, robbed and beat up the local Jews and the Jewish store owners and their workers.
On June 16th. 1937 “..No place for Jews in Poland.” General Lucjan Zieligowski.
During August 1937 there are 350 incidents of physical assaults against Jews recorded in this month within Poland. On December 14th. 1937 Poland considers its territorial solution for its Jewish Community and The Madagaskar Plan is first muted. At this time we perhaps recognise why, while in 1938 alone, 40% of all Property in Warsaw was Jewish owned with 40% of all non-Jewish Poles employed in Jewish owned industrial concerns. 80% of the skilled workforce in Poland was Jewish, and a certain non-Jewish resentment kept resurfacing.
“ ..at ..reunion ..Austria with ..German Reich ..Heydrich gave ..order ..set ..Jewish emigration in motion from Vienna.” Adolf Eichmann.
On March 5th. 1938, Adolf Eichmann, now in charge of forced Jewish emigration was given charge, by Reinhard Heydrich, of what both France and Poland had been negotiating. This concerted effort would amount to the physical removal of all Jews from both Countries and toward a foreign reservoir and this, the Madagascar Plan was given momentum. On April 5th. 1938 there were more anti-Jewish riots across Poland. On April 15th. 1938 in Dabrowa-Tarnowska, Poland sees Jews Murdered in an anti-Jewish Pogrom. On April 29th. 1938 in Vilna, again Poland’s Jews are Murdered in an anti-Jewish Pogrom. On October 6th. 1938 Poland now revokes Polish Passports for its Jews living in Germany and on October 28th. 1938 17,000 Polish Jews are placed in limbo, a stateless, pushed across the German border, and Zbaszyn becomes the holding pen for 8,000 Polish Jews in Poland, not wanted by Poland.
“..horrible sight ..I encountered during ..trip was a visit to a German internment camp near Gotha. ..things I saw beggar description. While I was touring ..camp I encountered ..3 men who had been inmates and by one ruse or another had made their escape. I interviewed them through an interpreter. ..visual evidence and ..verbal testimony of starvation ..cruelty and bestiality were so overpowering as to leave me ..sick. In one room ..where they were piled up 20 ..30 naked men ..killed by starvation ..George Patton would not even enter. He said that he would get sick if he did so. I made ..visit deliberately ..in order to be in a position to give first hand evidence of these things if ever ..in ..future ..there develops a tendency to charge these allegations merely to propaganda.” General Dwight David Eisenhower.
On November 9th. 1938, widespread damage, looting and Murder was delivered to the Jews of Germany, Austria, Czechoslovakia and Poland. These Kristallnacht Pogroms asserted themselves upon the Jewish People, and paved the way toward what the World would assent to. This Night of Broken Glass, which delivered the term ‘Kristallnacht’, was clearly orchestrated from within Hitler’s gaze, and with some 267 synagogues that are ransacked and destroyed, with 7,500 Jewish Shops looted, with over 50,000 Jews removed to Concentration Camps at Dachau, Buchenwald and Sachsenhausen and with over 240 Jews who are Murdered. By 1939 the Polish Jewish Community had ranged between 3,650,000 and any former assessment of 5,774,000 Jewish People.
“..Government and with it ..great majority of ..German people ..are very conscious of ..appalling suffering brought to ..Jews in Germany and ..occupied territories. ..German people in their overwhelming majority ..disgusted by ..crimes perpetrated against ..Jews. ..in ..name of ..German people appalling crimes were committed ..that demand from us moral and material reparation ..not only as far as damages to ..individual ..but ..with regard to Jewish property.” Konrad Adenauer.
As Poland first became a Republic, the Jewish People were unaware of their position to be in this new state. Then, and when in August 1939, there was a mass conscription, and mobilization of the Military, so such discriminatory effort was placed before the Polish Jews, who were already serving in the Polish Military. Those Jews who then enlisted or who were conscripted, it seems, were no different from non-Jewish Poles. Here too it becomes clear, and from within Poland, that it was easy to identify the Polish Jew as neighbours knew who they were, where they lived and where they worked. This would play neatly into the hands of Hitler’s killing machinery as identification was key to success within Poland. It is clear also that all which was Jewish owned would not be retained by Polish Jews. Everything which was jealously coveted and demanded by former neighbours would not be bargained over.
“..Relief work doesn’t solve ..problem ..it only keeps people going a little while. ..people have to die anyway. It lengthens suffering ..but cannot save them. It remains a proven fact that ..people fed in ..soup kitchens will all die if they eat nothing but ..soup supplied and ..dry rationed bread. ..question thus arises whether it would not serve ..purpose better to reserve ..available money for selected individuals ..for those who are socially productive ..for ..intellectual elite ..etc. But. ..why should one pronounce judgment on artisans ..labourers and other useful persons. Only ..ghetto and ..war have turned them into non people ..into scrap ..into human dregs ..candidates for mass graves. There is left a tragic dilemma. What shall one do. Shall one ..hand out ..food ..with little spoons to everybody ..and then no one will live ..or in generous handfuls to just a few.” Emanuel Ringelblum.
Bargains with living had to be made and for some Jews, the consideration of who those Jews should be was being made. Polish Pogroms though, secured much in the way of Jewish goods, livestock, even homes and lands for any of those Poles merely willing to steal them. Whereas within Hitler’s view, he saw all Jewish property, Wealth and even impoverished possessions as Germany’s right to acquire. As the German’s planned to invade Poland, their vision of the Hasidic Jew was the image Hitler projected and protested most vociferously about. But such was not his view of a cultured way of life, and it most certainly could not insulate them from the ravages to be inflicted upon all Polish Jews. Those most easily identified, or not as the case may be, were at the mercy of all Poles who knew them as Neighbours, Colleagues, Employers, Teachers, Tutors, Legal Advisers or Medics.
“..This report tells ..story of ..victims of Auschwitz ..not with ..purpose of opening old wounds ..but of passing it on as a legacy for us Jews and for all mankind. It will fulfil its purpose only if it helps teach us ..to become better human beings ..to truly love our neighbours ..and to work toward ..eradication of brutality from ..face of ..Earth.” Lucie Adelsberger.
With 3,650,000 or 5,774,000 Polish Jews added to an equation, which amounted to total annihilation of all of these Polish Jews, Poland would become the blood stained cemetery of as few as 4,500,000 Jews of Europe, and vastly more than this. This hate filled posture became a catalyst for World War II and within that, 6,000,000 and more Jews were Slaughtered. As it became conceived of, perceived as and enacted upon, The Final Solution of The Jewish Question was most dedicated to enactment within Poland. For Poland’s 3,650,000 to 5,774,000 Polish Jews, this sets the scene for a collaborative effort which colluded in Hitlers demand for those more than 3,450,000 Polish Jews who were eventually Slaughtered. Continually, and throughout Poland, there were Pogroms in 100’s of Shtetl, Villages and Towns, targeting those Jews displaced from home, country and then life.
“..Jews await death and ..you come across people lying at ..street corner ..frozen ..begging. Almost daily people are falling dead or unconscious in ..middle of ..street. It no longer makes so direct an impression. Child in arms ..a mother begs ..Child appears dead.” Emanuel Ringelblum.
In what has been often referred to, and by such as Emanuel Ringelblum, the Jews of Poland were the dead in waiting, as Hitler clearly knew. For Jews everywhere, they were surviving in the antechamber of the extermination process. In regions throughout Poland we can know that of the over 100 Pogroms, in which Jews were murdered, all of Poland were a witness to what would emerge once Hitler’s formative Einsatz grew into its stride. In effect also, the Jews in all of Europe were under direct threat and unsafe, and throughout Poland, Polish Jews were under constant fear of Pogroms and also their denouncing. The neighbourly essence of a supposedly christian Country was abandoned in favour of so much larceny.
“..For many parts of ..Polish society it is very difficult ..since for decades they were victims themselves ..of ..Nazis. ..countries around Poland ..Ukraine ..Baltic States ..same level of public debate about their relationship with their own Jewish minority.” Jan Grabowski.
Polish locals did not always even wait for the Jews to be murdered to remove everything of any worth from them. If then we are to use such thefts as a template for a national effort, no Jew anywhere within Poland, given no right to choose, also had no right to what was still theirs up till the doors of extinction swallowed them up. The consuming threat from Hitler’s legions was clearly exacerbated by the murderous and treacherous involvement of so many former neighbours and even associates who betrayed every facet of human compassion. This all resounds with such complicit a resolve as to suggest an adherence to Hitler’s fuller intention. But even if this was not a complicitly collusive approach, it met the criteria of what Hitler sought from collaboration.
“..convinced ..better in Germany than ..Poland ..prisoners ..transported to our Ghetto had come from Poland. They told us there were extermination camps there. ..did not want to believe such a thing.” Zev Birger.
Hitler considered the Polish people as slaves and as a lesser nation than those he considered were the Aryan peoples. As such, in the context of Hitler’s racial policy, the Jews were the ultimate target which never allowed any others to rest upon their laurels. By the time Hitler invaded Poland, September 1st. 1939, 400,000 Polish Jews had escaped Poland, leaving behind either 3,250,000 or even 5,374,000 of Poland’s Jews. As the World became reconciled once more to a World War II, some 70,000 Polish Officers and Soldiers were dead and over 130,000 lay wounded. The German’s had captured over 300,000 Polish Prisoners of War and claimed Poland as part of Hitler’s World view.
“..I had worked for 2 months and then had to flee ..because one of ..foreigners ..a Pole who knew me ..had probably struck a deal with ..Gestapo and threatened to reveal my identity.” Alter Feinsilber.
Within Poland now, the immediate enforcement of rationing saw German entitlement halved for non-Jewish poles and halved again for Jewish Poles. 2,000 calories per day for Germans became 1,000 calories per day for non-Jewish poles and 500 calories per day for Polish Jews, if that. For non-Jewish Poles, they would be the Labour force of the Reich and subsequently they die from exposure to that demand, as a matter of course. As this was being realised, all of European Jewry would be Hitler’s target for complete annihilation. While non-Jewish Poles would be murdered selectively, all of Polish Jewry would be Murdered, collectively and totally. Nazi officials were quick to pronounce sentence and the Nazi Warsaw Governor, Ludwig Fischer would procure every possible condition that would deliver as many Jews as was possible toward oblivion. This was clearly attested to in the Polish press, with the Gazeta Polska detailing the bread rations specific to a deadly intention for the Jewish People.
“..Jews receive half ..food which ..poles receive. ..poles receive grams of bread daily ..Jews receive 100 grams ..every other day.” Dr. Witold Majewski.
In these days of struggle for Polish Jewry, the most destructive prewar Pogroms, which occurred in towns like Czestochowa, Minsk-Mazowiecki, and Przytyk, these Towns were all located in central, and not to Eastern Poland. The forced belief was that most of the Pogroms, and where some would credit them being outraged, was to remove such instances and carnage away from the vastly Polish controlled areas. Also, and for those Jewish Army personnel who were captured during the first phases of World War II, they were detained separately into German controlled areas. These areas would be formed into the Ghettos, Labour Camps and way stations for the future depositing of all Polish Jews into the Death Camps.
“..In ..uniform of ..Polish policeman I visited ..sorting camp near Belzec.” Jan Karski.
This truly is what the Jewish People must content with, with regard to the losses incurred in these established extermination centres for their People. In particular, this aspect of The Holocaust is open to the conjecture of degree, capacity and even totality of the destruction within. As the World will come to know the names of:
I. Belzec where between 500,000 and 1,800,000 Jews were Slaughtered;
II. Treblinka where between 700,000 and 1,500,000 Jews were Slaughtered;
III. Sobibor where between 225,000 and 350,000 Jews were Slaughtered;
IV. Majdanek where between 120,000 and 500,000 Jews were Slaughtered;
V. Birkenau where between 1,100,000 and 3,000,000 Jews were Slaughtered, and this is including Auschwitz; and
VI. Chelmno where between 152,000 and 1,300,097 Jews were Slaughtered.
“..Bitterness ..pain fill ..Children’s recollections of those poles who hunted them ..betrayed them ..handed them to ..common enemy ..of cruelties perpetrated by other children ..of every human ignominy. ..there are few such testimonies ..reason ..simple ..painful ..children ..are not here to record their stories.” Maria Hochberg-Marianska.
This allows for the capacity of these Death Camps, which extinguished the existence of at least 2,797,000 Jews Slaughtered amongst them or 8,450,097 if all assessments are agreed to. What this ensures though, is a fundamental loss to the very scientific approach to History we demand, and an empty space that is possibly filled with 5,653,097 Slaughtered Jews, betrayed by our failing oversight. to secure their loss to posterity. Also, and for Ghettos like Baranovichi, Bedzin, Czestochowa, Kielce, Lida, Lodz, Nowy-Sacz, Piaski, Pinsk, Radom, Rzeszow, Siedliscze, Slonim, Sosnowiec, Stryj, Tarnow, Tarnopol, Tomaszow-Mazowiecki, Tuczyn, Warsaw, and Zdunska-Wola, these containment centres confined the vastness of Jewish existence within Poland. Once the Ghetto was recognised as the tool of Hitler’s grand plan, it was far too late for Jewish existence to ever fully appreciate its peril.
“..new death house provides for ..liquidation of 8,000 to 10,000 victims. If we consider ..right now 2,000,000 murdered Jews ..greater part of Polish Jewry ..already buried in ..area of Treblinka ..disturbing question arises ..for whom do ..SS men intend that new house of death.” Jacob Apenszlak.
What we must always remember too, and from the many dozen’s of Ghettos that were in existence within Poland is the truth that the Polish People observed everything that was happening to the Jews in their vicinity. When Lodz became Poland s largest Jewish community, this is the case after Treblinka had resettled the Jewish Community of Warsaw, in such a short journey that was witnessed by all of Poland’s community’s between transportation and resettlement. This was largely true in all areas featured around all 6 Death Camps and this is whether Poland physically witnessed it or were informed through an acknowledgement made by those who had. In June 1941 the Szczuczyn Pogrom was conducted by non-Jewish Poles against their former neighbours. In Wasosz, a Pogrom was carried out by Poles on July 5th. 1941. On July 7th. 1941 in Radzilow, there was a Pogrom against local Jews made by local Poles.
“..Jews must adjust themselves to all conditions ..we shall endeavour to create such conditions for them as will make ..adjustment difficult.” Dr. Ludwig Fischer.
On July 10th. 1941, an anti-Jewish Pogrom took place in Jedwabne, and was amongst over 20 such local attacks upon Polish Jews by their Gentile neighbours. In Lvov, yet another Pogrom was instigated by the German security forces and was assisted by Ukrainians. This lasted from June 30th. until July 2nd. 1941, All told. More than 1,600 Jedwabne Jews were Murdered, most at the hands of an Einsatz kommando. Also, there were 340 Jewish Men, Women and Their Children who were Burned to Death in a local Barn at the hands of their non-Jewish neighbours. Then again a further Pogrom in Lvov was held from July 25th. until July 29th. 1941 and the Tykocin Pogrom was instigated by forces from Einsatzgruppe B on August 25th. 1941, and non-Jewish Poles were eager participants.
“..September 1941. ..most ..Jews in Romania ..knew about ..atrocities ..against Jews In Poland ..but ..no one believed anything would happen to us. ..Jews of Romania ..no different from ..Hungarian ..French ..Czechoslovak or other European Jews. Everyone was in denial.” Felicia Carmelly.
It was a sad fact that the evidences of what was being enacted within Poland was more widespread tat we imagined. True too was the very fact, which implicated all of those with Poland, Civilians, Church, those representing the Polih government in hiding, all knew of the progress of the assault upon the integrity of Polish Jewry. That the Pogrom was perpetually wielded against Polish Jews by non-Jewish Poles, all added to the efficiency of Hitler’s demands within Poland for 1,000,000’s of Polish Jewry.
“..In November and December 1941 began ..slaughter of Jews in ..Warthegau. ..slaughter ..by means of gas. ..a special gas chamber car ..used ..90 people ..loaded at one time. ..victims buried ..Lubartow Forest. ..1,000 ..gassed daily. In Chelmno ..November 1941 to March 1942 all ..Jews from Kolo ..Dab ..Bugaj ..Izbica 5,000 in all ..with 35,000 from Lodz Ghetto and a number of Gypsies ..gassed.” Szmul Zygielbojm.
Now unless we are going to revise the words of such a distinguished witness, and a Polish scholar whose testimony is clear, Poland knew full well what places like Belzec meant for the Jews of Poland.
On Thursday October 15th. 1942 “..camp ..located near ..town ..Belzec ..well known all over Poland from ..tales of horror ..circulated about it.” Jan Karski.
On Friday November 5th. 1942 the peasants in within Siedliscze, would see to it that their Jews, still clinging to life would forfeit that effort. They gathered together and with scythes in hand, and in anticipation of the day’s roundup of their neighbours who were Jews, and for which they took their scythes to, they would be paid for each Jew caught and even Murdered. Of the many neighbours who saw in a Jewish return both surprise and incredulity, there was alarm too and even shock which bordered upon a substantial regret. For written into the refrain:
‘we thought many yids would not survive’
Jews would not be allowed to survive.
Friday November 5th. 1942 “..Village of Siedliska. ..peasants were buying scythes. ..raid. ..against ..Jews.” Stanislaw Zeminski.
As 1942 faded, the majority of the Jews of the following Ghetto’s had been murdered, in excess of 80% of their Total, and that was even before all of the death camps had become fully operational:-
Cracow 37,000 Jews were transported to Belzec.
Lublin 23,000 Jews were transported to Belzec, Sobibor and Treblinka.
Lvov 161,500 Jews were transported to Belzec.
Radom 29,000 Jews were transported to Belzec and Treblinka.
Warsaw 50,000 Jews were transported to Treblinka.
“..I didn’t want to go back to Poland. Poles were killing a lot of Jews who returned to claim property ..homes ..other possessions. My Parents were dead. There was nothing to go back to.” Bianca Lerner.
Bianca’s Father was Murdered in a Ghetto while her Mother was transported to Treblinka and resettled there. On January 18th. 1943, and with the resumption of the resettlement of 6,000 of the Warsaw Ghetto s Jews, these are all murdered at Treblinka. However, as the Warsaw Ghetto was surrounded for the 2nd. Liquidation, the Jewish fight was brought to the Nazi’s at x4 Battle Group Barricades and Jewish Resistance plans to disrupt all future ‘resettlement’ operations begins. a further 4,500 Jews were deported and some 1,200 more Jews were Murdered in situ, after Resisting. This is the 1st. Jewish Fighting Resistance in the Warsaw Ghetto and the Resistance lasts for 4 days, till the very day it had earlier proposed for an Uprising.
On January 21st. 1943, the January Aktion Resistance of the Jews of the Warsaw Ghetto comes to a close.
“..Saturday March 13th. 1943 ..Dear Sirs ..coming days are likely to see ..end of ..Jews in Warsaw. Are we ready. From a material point of view it is very bad. Of ..49 weapons that have been allocated to us only 36 can be used ..for lack of ammunition. Our position as regards arms has worsened after ..many operations of ..past few weeks ..during which much ammunition was used. At ..present moment there are no more than 10 bullets for each weapon. This is a catastrophic situation. Please inform ..authorities in our name that if large scale help does not arrive immediately ..we shall look on it as indifference on ..part of ..representatives and ..authorities to ..fate of ..Jews of Warsaw. ..allocation of weapons without ammunition is a cynical mockery of our fate ..and confirms ..assumption that ..poison of antisemitism continues to pervade ..leading circles in Poland ..despite ..cruel and tragic experiences of ..past 3 years. It is not our intention to persuade anybody concerning our willingness and ability to fight. Since January 18th. Jews of Warsaw have been in a state of continuous struggle with ..invader and his servants. Anyone who denies this or casts doubt upon it ..is nothing but a deliberate antisemite. We do not expect only understanding from ..authorities and ..delegatura but also that they should consider ..murder of 1,000,000’s of Jews ..who are Polish Citizens ..to be ..main problem of our current life. We regret most deeply that it is not possible for us to make direct contact with ..Allied governments ..with ..Polish Government and ..Jewish organizations abroad in order to inform them about our situation and ..attitude towards us on ..part of ..Polish authorities and public. ..We request that you take ..necessary steps immediately with ..Army Authorities and Government Representatives. We request that you read them this letter and demand immediately at least 100 grenades ..50 revolvers ..10 rifles and several 1,000 bullets of various diameters. I am prepared to submit within two days accurate plans of our positions ..with maps ..so that there need be no doubt whatsoever concerning ..necessity of ..supply of arms. Commander ..Jewish Fighting Organization.” Mordechai Anielewicz.
It is an understatement for the Polish underground to not only conclude that over 3,200,000 of Poland’s Jews have been effectively Murdered, knowing too the order of that destruction in places like Auschwitz, Belzec, Birkenau, Chelmno, Majdanek, Sobibor and Treblinka but who also was the Perpetrator, the Participator and the willing, complicit, duplicitous collaborator in the scale of the atrocity waged against their own Jewish Citizens.
Tuesday March 23rd. 1943 “..Insofar as ..can be ascertained ..fate of ..Jews has undergone a further deterioration. Considering barely several hundred thousand Jews have remained out of 3,500,000 one has a fair insight concerning ..scale of atrocities ..perpetrated.” Polish Underground.
On April 17th. 1943 the fuller Jewish Warsaw Ghetto Uprising begins with many of those remnants of Warsaw’s Jews, 70,000 Jews still alive. SS Obergruppenfuhrer Jurgen Stroop arrives in the Warsaw Ghetto and the eventual destruction of all Jewish Resistance here within the Ghetto is underway! Rabbi Zusia Friedman pleads his case that God would Not allow the Jews of Warsaw, Israel and indeed of Poland to be vanquished as he still urged restraint.
“..I believe in God and in miracles. God would not permit ..decimation of Israel ..his people. We must wait and ..miracle will come.” Rabbi Zusia Friedman.
On April 22nd. 1943 The Jewish Telegraphic Agency relays the news of the Jewish Warsaw Ghetto Revolt, it obtained from a report in Stockholm.
“..In April 1943 news reached us about ..Uprising in ..Warsaw Ghetto. How we rejoiced and how proud we were of them! How we longed to have ..opportunity to do ..same! But ..in ..Lodz Ghetto nothing could be done because of our total isolation from ..outside world ..although there was talk of it.” Esther Brunstein.
On Friday April 23rd. 1943, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency delivered the news of the Jewish Warsaw Ghetto Uprising relaying the report from Stockholm with the headline:
Nazis Start Mass Execution of Warsaw Jews on Passover. Victims Broadcast S.O.S.
On Thursday April 29th. 1943 “..strength of ..German military and police machine ..being weakened daily. This strength broke near Stalingrad ..had to retreat from Tunis now stands powerless before a group of Jews who defend themselves in ..ghetto.” Polska Underground Newspaper.
On April 29th. 1943 it is clear from the Polish Underground Newspaper report that the struggle for the Jews of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising is a stand being made by the Jews with little assistance delivered by the Poles outside.
Wednesday May 5th. 1943 “..In Poland there were ..about 4,500,000 Jews ..there remain ..only 100,000. ..Warsaw Ghetto containing ..650,000 ..only 20,000 ..25,000 Jews there. ..majority killed. ..Special death camps at Lublin (Majdanek) ..Treblinka near Brest-Litovsk. ..several hundred ..jammed into large rooms ..where they die by gassing.” Vatican Memo.
On May 5th. 1943 it is obvious that wen the Vatican produces a Memo, which clearly acknowledges what it knows of the fate of more than 4,400,000 Jews of Poland. The acknowledgement of at least two of th Death Camps in Poland is a certainty, the rabbit line from Church to the Vatican is in operation. Here, in its failure to act more decisively is a moral abandonment of one of its key components in Christian belief.
“..In Majdanek and everywhere in Poland. They gave what is ..best in humanity. I have it all ..in my soul ..letters written to me by many. Everything is possible ..in spite of other manifestations. I ..myself have never experienced any animosity toward me and what I represent. There is always ..goodwill and hope.” Halina Birenbaum.
On May 8th. 1943, in the Warsaw Ghetto, the Headquarters of Jewish Resistance, 18 Mila Street, is surrounded and liquidated. Mordechai Anielewicz and 97 Resistance Fighters Died that Day with their refusal to succumb to the Nazi brutality. This point in time will forever show the way toward all future Jewish Persistence and Resistance! Just 2 managed to Survive while more than 50,000 Warsaw Jews having been murdered in recent months. On May 10th, 1943, the Warsaw Ghetto Jewish Uprising came to an end and The Jewish Warsaw Ghetto was reduced to a pile of rubble which stood about 3 storey’s high. It would be week before Stroop could declare Warsaw was ‘Junderein’ and we will see 22,000 of these Jews being transported to Majdanek.
On Tuesday May 11th. 1943 “..responsibility for ..crime of ..murder of ..whole Jewish nationality in Poland rests first of all on those who are carrying it out ..but indirectly it falls also upon ..whole of humanity ..peoples of ..Allied nations and on their governments ..who up to this day have not taken any real steps to halt this crime. By looking on passively upon this murder of defenceless millions tortured children ..women and men they have become partners to ..responsibility…My friends in ..Warsaw ghetto fell. ..I did not succeed in dying ..same way or ..with them. ..I belong to them and ..mass graves there.” Shmuel Zygielbojm.
In the meantime, what we are then to learn from the tenuous position of those Polish Jews striving to survive in, the presence of each of the 6 Death Camps in Poland, is to be underscored by those within the Polish Foreign Affairs Office, as Roman Knoll articulates. It was clear that non-Jewish Poles held with the deepest of regret the fact that the Polish Jews, albeit barely too few of them, did indeed Survive.
In August 1943 “..return of ..Jews to their jobs and workshops is ..out of ..question ..even if ..number of Jews is greatly reduced. ..non-Jewish population has filled their places in ..towns ..cities ..in much of Poland this is a fundamental change ..final in character. ..return of masses of Jews would be perceived not as an act of restitution ..but as an invasion against which they would have to defend themselves ..even by physical means.” Roman Knoll.
Throughout the period of turmoil and desolation, when 1,000,000’s of Polish Jews were being extracted from life, no year gave pause to the terrors mounted upon these by non-Jewish Poles seeking to extend their own personal influence within Poland. In 1944, as Allied victory seemed all but assured, the shift of emphasis for Hitler’s murder programme shifted away from Poland and toward Hungary, the largest Jewish Community still in existence. In the meantime, the Death Camps were closed, except Birkenau, with Majdanek and even Chelmno opening to occasion mass Slaughters of Jews, but for Poland, it was still keen to settle its debt with Jewish existence. On January 25th. 1944 there were about 100,000 Polish Jews who still remained alive in Poland. This represents 3,400,000 of the lesser estimate of Polish Jews who have been Murdered within a 3 year period.
“..I spoke with my Cousin who survived ..massacre of ..Jews in Sokoly ..Poland ..that night that Tokele was murdered. My cousin was fortunate as having gone to get some hot water to wash ..Sabbath dishes. While out fetching hot water ..Yaffe ..my Cousin ..saw her nephew Shaikie go to visit ..Gritzik house to see ..rest of ..family and that’s ..last time she saw him alive.” Avigdor Ben-Dov.
On February 17th. 1945 in Sokoly, local poles murdered 7 Jewish Survivors in a localised Pogrom and secured for Hitler a further addition to his final aim. That said, is this not a collaboration with the spirit of Hitler’s Final Solution. On August 11th. 1945 the Cracow pogrom, with the Kupa Synagogue burned down, at which point there remained 50,000 hardy souls, Jewish Survivors who floundered between a wish for their home and a need for any home. On March 8th. 1946 Poland decreed Jewish Restitution claims for Property, Homes and Possessions was to be made by those Jews who had been Slaughtered, and all of this by the end of 1947. However, at the end of this period, a year’s extension is granted for the ashes of Polish Jewish to present themselves.
“..murders of Survivors right after ..War ..intimidated many who might have sought their property back. Fearing for their lives ..many made no attempt to retrieve their assets.” Naphtali Lavie.
On July 4th. 1946 polish soldiers, polish police officers and polish non-Jewish civilians Murdered 42 Polish Jews and more than 40 other Polish Jews were wounded in Kielce. There was still the proposition of acquiring all that once was owned by 3,650,000 Polish Jews or even 5,774,000 Polish Jews. Poland was acutely aware of Hitler’s final solution for the Jews, and at an early stage, but the greed that overcame the larceny of Polish intention, removed so many rights once taken away from Polish Jewry. Such too was the clamour to secure as much of this Polish Jewish acquisition, edicts were enacted and so written that only Surviving Polish Jews, who could prove their Polish status would reclaim what the Polish State was busy acquiring.
“..One can safely assume that all ..candlesticks ..quilts found anywhere in rural Poland today were once Jewish possessions.” Joseph Schupack.
After the War, much of Poland was filled with fear for the Polish Jews and the growing option opened to the vast majority of them was to stay and fight or flee from all they had endured. For all too long, the fight for survival had worn the Jewish Spirit and they were literally frazzled by their very existence. In truth, they saw no welcome within Poland to secure them, to anchor them to the former status which was forever denying them, or even to give them some form of hope that they could cling to. On December 31st. 1948 further Polish Measures are brought to bear to ensure that the Polish Jews cannot reclaim what Polish Jews have been deprived of.
“..We can have no doubt that here in Jedwabne Polish citizens were killed at ..hands of fellow citizens.” President Aleksander Kwasniewski.
For me, to link all the detail of History to that History, we cannot deflect from what some would be unwilling to accept in their History. Within Poland, it would be better placed, evaluating what it failed to do to save 3,450,000 of its own Jews, all Murdered because they were Jews. For Poland, which has now sought to disown everything Hitler established in Poland, and for what Polish citizens engaged in with regard to the Slaughter of its Jewish Community, this will prove both disingenuous to their own History and toward all of History. It is clear though, that except for what has proved lucrative to the non-Jewish Poles, the Destruction of 3,450,000 of their own Polish Jews delivered for them riches they could never have gained with their previous efforts.
“..I ..never knew ..total number ..I have nothing to help me make an estimate. ..I ..remember ..figure in ..larger actions ..repeated to me by Eichmann or his deputies. ..I ..no longer remember ..figures for ..smaller actions ..insignificant in comparison with ..numbers given. I regard ..total of 2,500,000 ..far too high. ..Auschwitz had limits to its destructive possibilities ..Upper Silesia ..Polish territory under German rule 250,000 Germany ..Theresienstadt 100,000 Holland 95,000 Belgium 20,000 France 110,000 Greece 65,000 Hungary 400,000 Slovakia 90,000.” SS Obersturmbannfuhrer Rudolf Hoess.
In 1973 it is clear too, that when Lucjan Dobroszycki had compiled and analysed the records of anti-Jewish post War reports, anti-Jewish hatred had not ended with Hitler’s final resolve. From amongst the clutter of news reports Lucjan Dobroszycki assessed that in the 2 year period between September 1944 and September 1946 there were 115 differing communities where more than 300 Jews had been killed by their non-Jewish Neighbours. What is certain though, and for those like Hoess who knew all too well how many Jews he had processed through the extermination machinery in Birkenau, it is clear he sought to sway and connive in History, and away from the truth.
“..I wrote ..truth. There were Poles who were involved in The Holocaust. They betrayed their Jewish neighbours and sometimes even killed them. That s a fact. It s stupid that I should have to discuss this with ..police and that someone could be offended by it. How can one be offended by ..truth.” Katarzyna Markusz.
In 2014 the problems for the Polish Jewish Survivor, and in a greater level of Polish betrayal, their descendants, these prewar Polish Jews, looking back became an obvious demand for so many. While many of the Survivors sought to leave this past behind, Poland became a wish to explore a past that had belonged to their Parents or Family members. There has been an almost nostalgic wish for investigating what had once been, what had been lost, what could be retrieved and the investigations of why their Parents resented, even hated their Polish pasts. In many respects, Polish Jewry was being reborn, albeit from many distances and only by descendants of Jews who did not want Poland. While it might still be true that much still belonged to a wronged Polish Jewry, Poland was certainly fixed on retaining whatever it had taken from Polish Jewry
October 2020 “..Will we live to see ..day when ..Polish authorities also admit that hostility toward Jews was widespread among Poles ..and that Polish complicity in The Holocaust is an historical fact.” Katarzyna Markusz.
In reminiscences with their past, the ugly truth was always abandoned by Poland, always in favour of washing out the blame game and in place of suppressing the fullest truth. This seemingly allowed for The Holocaust itself to be shed from the integrity of History, fully detained in the past where Poland became the necessary repository for forgetfulness. I met with some of what had become of Cracow’s Jewish Community in Kazimierz, as I sought to discern whether Poland could in fact remain objective in what we sought to learn. It was abundantly clear that some of the past prejudices against the Jews, whether still living in Poland, those who left Poland and for those Jews eternally detained in the depths of its soil, this prejudice still manifested itself. The truth of antisemitism remained embedded within much of Poland, and still spilled over into my concern as to whether Polish institutions could or would refute the tenor of Poland’s new laws pertaining to The Holocaust and Polish participation.
“..Polish prosecution does not punish those for espousing anti-Semitic attitudes ..but is willing to punish a journalist. It s crazy.” Katarzyna Markusz.
While I found many individual Poles knowledgeable enough to appreciate the awful truth of the past of some of their own, fear ensured their stillness in the face of any response. Despite the horrendous fact of the loss of 3,450,000 or way more Polish Jews, no shame was to be attributed in all too many cases against those non-Jewish Poles who enacted some of the most egregious terrors against their own Jewish Communities. Even Jewish graves had been dug up by locals who still believed Jews had buried their valuables in the cemeteries of Poland. Of course, and so as to hide the ownership the Jews had gained was not merely to keep them from the Germans. For no other reason than such hatred, Jewish individual graves, and entire Jewish Cemeteries were desecrated. It is manifestly impossible to now deny what many Polish Survivor’s have clearly stated in their affirmation of their long held belief that they were hated, and in many instances, are still hated within Poland.
“..from June 1941 to January 1942 ..I was ..Commander of Sonderkommando 4 A. ..June 1942 ..entrusted by Gruppenfuhrer Mueller with ..task ..obliterating ..traces ..executions carried out by ..Einsatzgruppe ..East. ..orders ..report in person to ..commanders of ..Security Police ..SD ..pass on Mueller’s orders verbally ..supervise ..implementation. ..order ..top secret ..there was to be no correspondence in connection with ..task. ..September 1942 ..reported to Dr. Thomas ..Kiev ..passed ..order ..to him. ..May ..June 1943 ..made additional trips to Kiev ..after conversations with Dr. Thomas and ..SS Police Leader Hennecke ..order was carried out. During ..visit ..August ..observed ..burning of bodies in ..mass grave near Kiev. ..grave was about 55 meters long ..3 meters wide and 2.5 meters deep. ..top ..removed ..bodies ..covered with inflammable material ..ignited. ..about two days until ..grave burned ..to ..bottom. ..grave was filled in ..traces ..practically obliterated. Owing to ..moving up of ..front ..not possible to destroy ..mass graves further south and east which had resulted from executions by ..Einsatzgruppe. ..my orders ..should have extended ..duties over ..entire area occupied by ..Einsatzgruppe ..owing to ..retreat from Russia ..could not carry out my orders completely.” SS Standartenfuhrer Paul Blobel.
The sheer lack of respect for Polish Jews within Poland, even after their death or destruction, would never be allowed service the needs or beliefs of the dead. These atrocity’s also secured for an eternity that was to be no resting place for Polish Jewry within Poland. What is occurring now, ensures for Jews of Poland’s past, and for far too many Jewish Survivors, who were afraid of going back to their towns, and who only sought safety in numbers, Israel became their answer. Like all too many Polish Jewish Holocaust Survivors, they never wished to return to an unwelcome place and this is a manifest truth. 3,650,000, and even 5,774,000 Polish Jews were presented to Hitler, his cohort and even Polish collaborators for Slaughter. Poland saw in this no chance for Jewish survival and therefore no return for Polish Jews to all they had previously owned.
“..I know. ..never in ..history of mankind ..never anywhere in ..realm of human relations did anything occur to compare with what was inflicted on ..Jewish population of Poland.” Jan Karski.
It is clear too, from talking to Jewish Survivor’s that they clearly identified with their former homelands, and this was particularly evident from amongst Polish Survivor’s. Even for those Polish Survivor’s who clearly resented the Poland of their antisemitic past, their offspring created a desire to look back. But, while they clearly registered with their former status as Polish Jews, and this was as distinct as say an Israeli Jew would differentiate themselves from any other European or American Jews, a former homeland somehow anchored them to their past and detained them there. Polish Jews were part of the Polish soil, and not just because of the immense capacity of Jewish losses that are buried beneath its surface. But the fact clearly remains that all of Polish Jewry belongs to the Jewish folklore of so many Centuries of Polish persistence with this Polish Country.
“..I feel ..hunger again ..it bites your insides. Concentration Camp for Jews. 1,800 of us at Beaune-la-Rolande. Where are ..my unhappy comrades. What gruesome death awaited them in ..Extermination Camps ..Poland. ..first miracle is that I am not among their number.” Moriz Scheyer.
Though the Polish Jewish presence is shrouded in many examples of a hatred which surfaced from time to time, but does not remove the ingrained dust from Polish Summers nor the dirt from under their nails which was gained digging in the Earth now containing more than 4,500,000 Jewish lives, of many Nations, all torn from existence. Poland became the Cemetery for the Jewish People, who arrived from all over Europe to be exterminated there. Regardless of their age or status, the fact that they were Jews was the only demand placed upon their extermination. For many of those Polish Jews who did manage to survive, they instilled in their Children, who in their turn informed their Children that the descendants of Polish Jewry must never return to a Poland, which despoiled them, this sits upon a reserve of a Polish soil whose foundation is now undermined by Jewish Ash and Blood.
“..It is impossible to understand and fully appreciate Polish history without knowing ..history of Polish Jews ..not only because of ..many centuries Jews lived on our soil ..but also for ..contributions of Jews to many aspects of Polish life ..economy ..culture ..and science.” Bronislaw Komorowski.
Here, a Polish President recognises all that is owed to the Jewish pre-eminence that belonged to the state and its marginally diverse People. Sadly, what is evident in these days is how soon Poland forgets that 6,000,000 Jewish Citizens can be torn from society, 3,450,000 of them because they were Polish Jews. We recognise that Germany could not forget that with the thrust toward defeat, its resolve was in order to solve The Final Solution of The Jewish Question. Germans who fought for a fatherland were thus disposed of to ail a degenerative disease that defines an antisemitic resolution. Where ever Nazism meets opposition to its perversion of humanity, it greets it with a carnage of death and destruction. The World after a Second World War recognises that 50 or 70 million dead and within that is a Genocide of 6,000,000 Jews we recognise is, The Holocaust.
“..not possible to estimate ..exact numbers of Jews who have been exterminated in Poland since ..occupation of ..country by ..armed forces of ..German Reich. But all ..reports agree that ..total number of killed runs into many hundreds of thousands of innocent victims ..men ..women ..children ..and that of ..Jews in Poland before ..outbreak of war ..over ..third have perished during ..last three years.” Edward Raczynski.
Hitler had not only recognised that Poland was to be his future centre for the annihilation of the Jews, he was well aware of the Polish antisemitism as a preparatory condition for this. It is not simply from Polish antisemitism that Hitler ensured there was the placement of all 6 of The Death Camps within Poland and not just for that specific reason. Also, and for the non-Jewish Poles, it was to be the lucrative return that was for so many who were to have from the destruction of as many of 3,650,000 Polish Jews accepted or appreciated. The Houses, Lands, Premises, Valuables and other goods to be had, purloined and stolen, fully incentivised so many within Poland. Hitler drew upon such avarice and greed and there was no moral accounting as even the Catholic Church sought to gain from the loss.
“..It is terrifying and horrifying. It takes a toll on you to write ..testimony. It takes a toll on ..reader. ..difficult ..to hear ..and ..difficult for them to tell.” Jeffrey Veidlinger.
In order to dismiss Judaism, as even a remote challenge to the hierarchy of a supposed christian community of 33 million non-Jewish people, this religious order sought silence in favour of its ethical precedent. Such dedication to the Jewish Past is being unravelled with anti-Jewish sentiment filtering through to the same antisemitic mindset of earlier Poland. I am forever mindful that while I might balk at the very sounds which express such atrocity as the Jewish Survivor witnessed and even endured, how much more difficult must it be for those Jews of Poland whose experience is called to remind us. Controversially. The use of libel to ensure History dos not repeat the accusations of what non-Jewish Poles managed against their Jewish Neighbours, must sour the product of the science of all of History. The accusation must be clear. And while we are not in doubt, and that not all non-Jewish Poles can be guilty, we are also aware that not all non-Jewish Poles are innocent.
“..When I stand before you ..to lead ..Prosecution of Adolf Eichmann ..I am not standing alone. With me are 6,000,000 accusers. ..they cannot rise ..and point an accusing finger. ..For their ashes are piled up on ..hills of Auschwitz and ..fields of Treblinka ..and are strewn in ..forests of Poland. Their graves are scattered throughout ..length and breadth of Europe. Their blood cries out ..but their voice is not heard. ..I will be their spokesman and in their name I will unfold ..awesome indictment.” Gideon Hausner.
