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

Untold Valor: Forgotten Stories of American Bomber Crews over Europe in World War II, by Rob Morris. 2006

Western Allied Jewish POWs Spared By Nazis: The Holocaust Was Neither Unique, Unprecedented, or Especially Irrational. Nor Was It Qualitatively Different From All Other Genocides

The most fascinating part of the book deals with American Jews. Morris writes: “There were tens of thousands of Jewish airmen flying over the Reich in World War II. An unknown number, certainly several thousand, were shot down and ended up as prisoners of war in German Stalag Lufts, or prisoner camps.” (p. 77).

NO SINGULAR NAZI GERMAN OBSESSION WITH CONSISTENTLY TREATING JEWS WORSE THAN EVERYBODY ELSE

The Nazi treatment of American Jews was far from monolithic. Morris writes: “Some Jewish airmen who ended up as POWs reported that their experiences as guests of the Germans were nearly devoid of anti-Semitism or mistreatment…However, there were instances of Jews being mistreated.” (p. 78).

THE NAZIS DID NOT TRY TO KILL EVERY SINGLE POSSIBLE JEW

In early 1945, towards the very end of the war, the Nazis did separate the Jewish POWs from non-Jewish ones, and made other moves against them. (p. 84-on). However, they were not exterminated. Nor was any Nazi attempt made to exterminate them.

There were American Jews in Nazi captivity for quite a few years. But when all was said and done, the Nazis did not, in fact, extend the Final Solution to American Jewish POWs. Morris comments: “Though the Third Reich was a system dedicated to the complete destruction of the Jewish race, almost all the Jewish aircrew POWs lived to tell the tale of their captivity.” (pp. 78-79).

AS IS THE CASE WITH EVERY OTHER GENOCIDE, THE NAZI GENOCIDE OF THE JEWS (SHOAH) WAS GOVERNED BY PRAGMATIC CONSIDERATIONS

Consider the stock argument about Holocaust a uniquely-irrational genocide, which is presumed to make the Holocaust exceptional and special, and to entitle it to more publicity than all the other genocides.

We had been led to believe that the Nazis had an all-consuming passion for killing Jews, and furthermore, as a matter of policy, would spare no effort to kill every single possible Jew within reach, even if it went against German military, economic, and political interests. We see from this book that such was not the case. The Germans tempered their genocide of Jews in the face of the repercussions (e. g, Allied reprisals) that would come from killing Allied POWs, including Jewish POWs. The Nazi ardor for killing Jews was cooled as soon as it clashed with practical realities.

So, it turns out, the Holocaust was governed by pragmatism, just like all the other genocides of human beings. The perpetrator killed members of the targeted group up to some point, but stopped once it went against his other interests.

Clearly, the “unique irrationality” and “unique intentionality” arguments for Holocaust preeminence are, once again, shown to be invalid. It is high time that all genocides be treated with the same attention and reverence. Genocide Recognition Equality Now!

IRONICALLY, THE MOSTLY-SLAVIC SOVIET POWS HAD IT WORSE THAN AMERICAN AND BRITISH JEWISH POWS!

The reader who is a student of WWII POWs may recount the fact that the Germans murdered over 3 million Soviet POWs, mainly through starvation. The USSR had not signed the Geneva Convention; the Americans had done so. Clearly, the Germans put observance of the Geneva Convention ahead of their plans to exterminate all possible Jews.

It is sobering to realize that the British Jewish and American Jewish POW had a greater right to live, in Nazi eyes, than did the Byelorussian-gentile or Ukrainian-gentile Soviet POW!

OTHER INFORMATION

Interestingly, Werner Goering, the nephew of Hermann, fought on the American side. (p. 136-on). Though both Sweden and Switzerland were neutral, the latter tilted strongly towards the Germans (p. 173), and treated downed American flyers accordingly. There is a brief account of the evacuation of Stalag Luft III in the face of the advancing Red Army (p. 203)–an evacuation that took place several months after the famous GREAT ESCAPE.