ARMIJA KRAJOWA the POLISH NATIONAL ARMY SOLDIERS SYSTEMATICALLY MURDERED JEWS by MEIR Halevi GOVER (original) (raw)

Barbara Engelking Jest taki piekny słoneczny dzień: Losy Żydów szukających ratunku na wsi polskiej 1942-1945 [It was such a beautiful sunny day: The fate of Jews seeking salvation in the Polish countryside, 1942-1945] (Warsaw: Centrum Badań nad Zagładą Żydów/ Polish Center for Holocaust Research Association, 2011). pp. 292 ISBN 978-83-932202-1-2; Jan Grabowski Judenjagd: Polowanie na Żydów 1942-1945. Studium dziejów pewnego powiatu [The hunt for Jews 1942-1945. A study of one county] (Warsaw: Centrum Badań nad Zagładą Żydów/ Polish Center for Holocaust Research Association, 2011). pp. 262 ISBN 978-83-932202-0-5; ISBN 978-83-932202-3-6; Jan Tomasz Gross, Irena Grudzińska-Gross Złote żniwa: Rzecz o tym, co się działo na obrzeżach zagłady Żydów [Golden harvest. Report on events at the periphery of the Holocaust] (Kraków: Wydawnictwo Znak, 2011). pp. 205 ISBN 978-83-240-1523-8; ISBN 978-83-240-1522-1

Early 2011 saw the publication in Poland of three noteworthy studies exploring Polish behaviour toward the Jews during World War II and the various forms of Polish participation in the Holocaust. These publications clearly advance the state of research, although they do not completely exhaust the topic, or even come close to that. They interrogate the image of the Holocaust as a largely German undertaking that has had a strong presence both in German and Polish research down to the present. The existence of this image is bound up with the historiographic circumstance that now as before, German Holocaust research is more closely connected with the German regime of occupation or the German Einsatzgruppen and execution units and less with the population under occupation, and in this way concentrates on the perspective of the German perpetrators. There is a concomitant tendency to neglect the perspective of the non-German perpetrators (and in part also that of the victims). By contrast, Polish Holocaust research has until recently viewed the Poles solely as victims of the National Socialist regime of occupation, and seen the murder of the Jews as an exclusively German matter. All three publications are written contra these continuing tendencies in thought and inquiry.

Pogrom Cries – Essays on Polish-Jewish History, 1939–1946

2017

All organizations, individuals or national groups, who have harmed the Polish Nation, must be justly punished" (WiN 10, c� 33, 3278)� Considering the context of declarations that justify collective responsibility in advance, the conditions imposed on the Jewish Poles for entering the Polish nation, could have proved difficult to meet� A. Fear of Communism personified by Jews The reports compiled by WiN in 1945 describe Jews as a homogeneous group: "The society's attitude towards the Government of National Unity is unanimous� We all share the opinion that the people in charge of the government have been sent mostly by Russia and obey orders from Moscow� No one, except for the Polish Worker's Party [Polska Partia Robotnicza, PPR] recognizes the Government of National Unity� All Poles know that this country is ruled by Jews and the NKWD 18 " (WiN 7, c� 42, 3558)� 11 August 1945 (WiN 42, c� 27, 5240)� We do not know what form the "provocative behavior" of the Jewish officer took, although we do know that the reports mention several incidents of that kind� E. Fear of "racial pollution" The author of one report describes undefined Jewish Poles as "well-fed, welldressed, crowding holiday and entertainment sites, doing their best to thrive, all of which makes a striking comparison with the very tough life led by the Polish peasants and workers" (WiN 9, c� 73, 5228)� The author is also anxious about the effects of mixed marriages in which "typical Jewish features in no way disappear": "according to opinion of Jews themselves, interbreeding of the Jewish race with Poles, even with an acceptance of Christianity, does not result in a loss of the features of the Jewish race" (WiN 8, c� 73, 3799)� Considering the above statement, it becomes difficult to ignore a concealed fear of "race pollution"� The same fear was apparent in Springfield, Illinois, in 1908, and was expressed in a parallel question: "Can we assimilate the negro? The very question is pollution"� 25 In this context there are several reports of underground segregation initiatives relating to Jewish and non-Jewish Poles� One dating from the summer of 1945 states: "In Łódź, the anti-Jewish action assumed a clearly defined character� Jews received written warnings saying they should leave Poland or otherwise would be shot� The security authorities cannot identify the source of these warnings but, despite assurances saying they are safe, the Jews are selling their workshops, buying foreign currency and going West� (…) Captain Lec, a writer and director of the CDŻ 26 in Łódź is currently investigating a death threat received by Ryszarda Łatowa, a CDŻ employee� The letter contains notification that 'as a result of keeping in with Jews, she is sentenced to death' � It is signed by 'Colonel Ząb' , and marked with a death's head� Similar letters have been received by all the Jews� Łatowa does not only keep in with the Jews, but also collaborates with the NKWD" (WiN 42, c� 208a, 5221)� 25 Senechal de la Roche, In Lincoln's Shadow, 25� 26 Despite my efforts, I could not decipher the abbreviation CDŻ� 27 Marcin Zaremba, "The myth of ritual murder in postwar Poland and hypotheses", in

Yuri Radchenko, and Andrii Usach, “For the Eradication of Polish and Jewish-Muscovite Rule in Ukraine”: An Examination of the Crimes of the Ukrainian Legion of Self-Defense" Holocaust and Genocide Studies, 34:3 (2020), 450-477.

Holocaust and Genocide Studies, 2020

This study examines the German-sponsored Ukrainian Legion of Self-Defense (Ukrains'kyi Legion Samooborony, ULS), both its rank and file and its Ukrainian and German officers. Drawing upon sources in German, Ukrainian, American, and Israeli archives, the authors analyze the Legion's command structure, its relationship to the Third Reich, and its relationship to the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists branch led by Andriy Atansovich Mel'nyk. The presentation of the political and military careers of lower-, mid-, and upper-level Legionnaires reveals their participation in killings of Jews, Poles, and other Ukrainians. The authors also identify the motivations of many of the actors. A close analysis of one case of German and Ukrainian "cooperation" in the Holocaust and other mass murders, this article relates to the debate over whether Holocaust perpetrators were "Ordinary Men."

"That’s for Hiding Jews!” Post-Liberation Violence against Holocaust Rescuers in Poland, 1944–1948

SIMON. Shoah: Interventions, Methods, Documentation , 2019

This article explores post-war violence against ethnic Poles who had assisted Jews during the Holocaust. Officially praised as representative of the entire nation’s compassionate and generous attitude, they faced ostracism, robbery, and murder by their home communities. Their neighbours envied them the ‘Jewish gold’ they had allegedly received for their assistance, while the right-wing, anti-communist armed underground considered them traitors who had impaired the nationalist ideal of a Poland without Jews. Drawing on early Jewish testimonies, letters sent by helpers to the Jewish Committees, and their testimonies from the 1960s, this article examines the consequences of their wartime actions that rescuers faced in the first years after liberation.