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

The Warsaw Diary of Adam Czerniakow: Prelude to Doom, by Adam Czerniakow, Raul Hilberg (Editor), Stanislaw Staron (Editor, Translator), Josef Kermisz (Editor). 1998

Polish Smugglers Save the Jews. Grave Robbery Jews Rob Jews 

Adam Czerniakow’s diary covers the period from the German attack on Poland (early September 1939) through late July 1942. At that time, faced with the prospect of turning over thousands of Jews for the first transports to the death camp at Treblinka, Czerniakow chose to commit suicide instead.

NOT ONLY JEWS SUFFERED: POLES DID TOO

While, of course, focusing on the sufferings of the Jews, Czerniakow never loses sight of the sufferings of the Poles. For instance, he includes an entry on the partial destruction of the Royal Castle and the Church (actually, Cathedral) of St. John, by German artillery (p. 75). He also mentions the massacre of Poles (and some Jews) by the Germans at Wawer (late December, 1939; p. 103). Czerniakow first mentions Treblinka while it had only been used as a forced-labor camp for mostly Poles (p. 316).

NOT ONLY JEWS LOST THEIR HOMES: POLES DID TOO

The creation of the Warsaw Ghetto by the Germans uprooted a large number of Poles as well as Jews, as described in a report by Czerniakow: “The resettlement, encompassing 700 ethnic Germans, 113,000 Poles, and 138,000 Jews, was carried out at once; 11,567 non-Jewish apartments in the Jewish district and some 13,800 Jewish apartments in the rest of the city were surrendered.” (p. 396). Clearly, at that stage of the German occupation, property acquisition was very much a two-way street.

POLISH SMUGGLERS HELP SAVE THE GHETTOIZED JEWS

The Germans enclosed the Jews in the ghetto in order to starve them, but both Poles and Jews cooperated to thwart this German intention. In the introduction, Josef Kermisz elaborates on this: “If Warsaw’s Jews had had to live on the official bread ration, they would all have died of starvation in the first year. Czerniakow tells stories of smugglers and underground trade…The German plan, to starve the Jews to death quickly, was foiled…Thousands, Jews and non-Jews, were occupied with smuggling.” (p. 13).

THE NAZI MADAGASCAR PLAN

Czerniakow mentions some events whose potential significance was not realized until later. For example, in the July 1, 1940 entry in his diary, Czerniakow alludes to the German plan to resettle both German and Polish Jews in Madagascar (p. 169).

DURING THE FIRST PART OF THE GERMAN OCCUPATION OF POLAND, POLES ACTUALLY SUFFERED MORE THAN JEWS!

Ironically, in the first two years of the German occupation, Poles were more likely to be murdered by the Germans than Jews. At times, Poles actually disguised themselves as Jews! Czerniakow describes this in two entries; that of February 20, 1940 (p. 119) and of May 8, 1940 (p. 147). In the latter, he writes: “Some Poles are beginning to wear Jewish armbands [to avoid being impressed for labor in Germany].” The brackets had been inserted by the editors of this volume.

JEWISH GESTAPO AGENTS

Both Poles and Jews were corrupted by the brutalities of the German occupation. The Polish blackmailers (szmalcowniki) are well known, but it is seldom realized that they also had their Jewish counterparts. Josef Kermisz commented: “Czerniakow poured out his wrath on Jews who served the Germans, the informers, extortionists, and underworld figures who degraded and corrupted the ghetto.” (p. 19).

GRAVE ROBBERY: JEWS ROB JEWS. GRAVE LOOTING DONE BY JEWS AS WELL AS POLES

Neo-Stalinist Jan T. Gross, in his GOLDEN HARVEST, has made a media-promoted big deal out of Poles trying to find valuables at the sites of the Jewish dead. We were assuredly told that Poles had been animated by (what else?) greed and anti-Semitism.

However, such ghoulish behavior, especially during wartime, is not limited to any particular nationality. The looting of the Jewish dead was also conducted by Jews. In the entry for November 9, 1941, Czerniakow wrote: “A report of the Order Service about cases of graves being dug up by some gang to extract gold teeth from the dead.” (p. 297).

GERMAN PLANTS IN THE POLICJA GRANATOWA

Czerniakow sheds light on the Polish Blue Police (Policja Granatowa). Some of their worst members were actually Volksdeutche (prewar Polish citizens of German extraction). In the entry for June 10, 1942, Czerniakow commented: “Today, Junacy [an informal designation of uniformed youth groups, mainly ethnic German] searched the cellars of the house at 20 Chlodna Street, allegedly looking for hidden leather.” (p. 365). Again, the content in the brackets had been supplied by the editors of this volume.

A LITTLE LEVITY…

Finally, there is a place for humor in Czerniakow’s diary. He speaks of “horizontal Aryans” and “vertical Aryans.” (p. 192). The former refers to infant Jews who had been baptized, while the latter refers to Jews who had converted to Christianity as adults. (Of course, under Nazi racial laws, Jews who had converted to Christianity were not recognized as Aryans. They were still considered to be Jews, and treated accordingly).

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For a description of everyday life in the Warsaw Ghetto, see:

https://www.jewsandpolesdatabase.org/2019/11/04/jewish-self-criticism-candor-korczak/