Polish-Jewish Relations: 1,300 Keyword-Phrase-Indexed Book Reviews (by Jan Peczkis)

World War II Through Polish Eyes, by Maria Szonert. 2002

Teschen (Cieszyn) 1938. Very Few Poles Released From Auschwitz. “Creeping Egalitarianism” (My Term): Polish Nobility Reached 15% of the General Population

This work describes the events surrounding WWII through the eyes of specifically-named Polish individuals who experienced the events, or talked with those who did. It includes an extensive bibliography for further study.

TESCHEN (CIESZYN) 1938: THE FACTS

The taking of a tiny disputed border area of Zaolza (Trans-Olza, of Cieszyn: Teschen), during the 1938 Nazi-German sponsored dismemberment of Czechoslovakia, has at times been misrepresented as a Polish aggressive act. In contrast, Szonert understands this event as follows: “His (Beck’s) defenders argue that his annexation of Zaolzie was aimed at the Munich policy and Germany’s increasing power rather than at Czechoslovakia as such. If not Poland, then Germany would take over Zaolzie with its sizable Polish population and strategic industrial base with the largest steel mill in Europe. Colonel Beck makes this bold move to prevent the German penetration of Poland’s southern borders vital to Polish defense.” (p. 25).

LITTLE-KNOWN FACTS ABOUT GERMAN AGGRESSIONS AGAINST POLAND

The events up to the 1939 German attack included German fifth-column activities. These are well described. (e. g., p. 70). The brutalities of the German occupation are featured. There is an extensive account of a Polish prisoner at Auschwitz. Projected to live no more than 3 months, he survived. In time, he was released.

A GEM ABOUT THE WARSAW UPRISING

Throughout this book, seldom-mentioned information is included. For instance, Szonert cites sources that estimate that the Germans employed the same number of soldiers to crush the Warsaw Uprising of 1944 as they had in Rommel’s North Africa Campaign of 1941-1943! (p. 341)

SCALE OF THE NAZI CONCENTRATION CAMP SYSTEM

Szonert puts the Nazi system in perspective, going beyond the usual Judeocentric approach. She comments: “Between 1939 and 1945, the Nazis built or set up about nine thousand concentration camps including main camps and their auxiliaries. It is estimated that about 18 million people from 30 nations went through these concentration camps.” (p. 271).

““CAPTURED POLES COULD BE RELEASED BY THE NAZIS BUT JEWS NEVER COULD”: A DOUBLY DISENGENUOUS CLAIM. AUSCHWITZ

Holocaust-uniqueness proponents have argued that the Holocaust was special because Polish prisoners could sometimes be released from Nazi custody, but Jews never could. Szonert’s data (p. 258) makes it obvious that, while it is true that Polish prisoners could technically be released, this was very exceptional. Of several tens of thousands of prisoners at Auschwitz in 1941, some 300 were released, amounting to less than one percent. [In addition, small numbers of Jews were also released elsewhere–such as the 1,600 Jews in the Kasztner-Eichmann deal.]

UNDEMONIZING THE POLISH NOBILITY

Szonert’s work also includes brief flashbacks to earlier times in Polish history. The szlachta, or Polish nobility, ranged from magnates that owned vast estates and even their own armies, down to petty gentry that worked the land like the peasantry. The szlachta at times reached the unheard-of 15% of the Polish population–the largest noble class in any country at the time. (p. 324). This means that there was a definite “creeping egalitarianism” in Polish society that was far ahead of the other European nations at the time.