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

The Dark Heart of Hitler’s Europe: Nazi Rule in Poland under the General Government, by Martin Winstone. 2014

Relative Fairness to: The Polokaust, Jew Killing By Poles, Paid Polish Rescuer “Greed”-Not, and Jedwabne. Veiled Censorship of This Author

This book is atypical in some respects. Consider the following.

A RARITY: THE POLOKAUST GIVEN ALMOST EQUAL TIME TO THE JEWS’ HOLOCAUST

The author repeats standard information on the Shoah, taking a functionalist approach to its origin. (p. 150). As for the Gypsies (Sinti and Roma), Winstone concludes that the Nazis never developed a clear policy on them. (p. 171). Finally, the author devotes considerable detail to the Nazi destruction of Poles and of Polish institutions. Although the information is not new, it is eye-opening because of the nearly-complete monopoly of the Holocaust in the thinking of Western academia and media, and the almost total disregard of Polish suffering and its implications.

Winstone uses hundreds of scholarly sources to support his conclusions. This includes the work of the historian Marek Jan Chodakiewicz, and his Between Nazis and Soviets: Occupation Politics in Poland, 1939-1947:

https://www.jewsandpolesdatabase.org/2019/11/04/death-penalty-german-decisive-chodakiewicz/

SOME EXAMPLES OF THE GERMAN-MADE TERROR: MORE POLES THAN JEWS SLAIN!

The author estimates that, by the end of 1939, some 50,000 Polish civilians, of whom about 7,000 were Jews, had perished at the hands of the Nazi Germans as part of murderous non-military actions. (p. 59). This means that, in the first stages of the German occupation of Poland, 86% of the victims were Poles.

Martin Winstone discusses the mass expulsions of Poles and Jews from the Warthegau, and into the GG (General Government). He realizes that this process came to a halt in 1941, not out of some newly-discovered German compassion for Poles, but owing to the Wehrmacht’s needs for the upcoming Nazi German invasion of the USSR. (p. 87).

The author examines the Germans’ Operation Zamosc in considerable detail. Hundreds of Polish villages were depopulated, and replaced with German settlers. Some 100,000 Poles fled their homes, or were deported to concentration camps. Thousands died or were murdered. Of some 30,000 Polish children who were uprooted, about 10,000 of them perished. The Poles successfully resisted with massive guerrilla warfare. For more on all this, see my review of Odilo Globocnik, Hitler’s Man in the East:

https://www.jewsandpolesdatabase.org/2019/11/04/polokaust-zamosc-operation-detail-poprzeczny/

THE POLOKAUST: THE NAZI GERMAN GENOCIDE OF THE POLES

Winstone seems to consistently attempt to minimize the overall number of Poles murdered by the Germans. He seems to only give credence to the facts and figures that minimize Polish deaths at the hands of the Nazis, and does so without presenting any evidence to justify his preferences.

In addition, the author is internally inconsistent on the subject of the Nazi German genocide of Poles. On one hand, he maintains that the Nazis, after the war, merely planned to resettle (not exterminate) tens of millions of Poles, and other Slavs, to Siberia, as part of GENERALPLAN OST. However, while discussing the earlier Nazi-proposed resettling of European Jews to the same location, he only THEN states that this alone would have resulted in a vast number of deaths. (p. 150). So, following his thinking, how could the same policy that would cause massive Jewish deaths also not cause even more massive Slavic deaths? In addition, if a mass-resettlement plan for the Jews could (and did) evolve into a mass-extermination plan for the Jews, then why would a mass-resettlement plan for the Slavs fail to evolve into a mass-extermination plan for the Slavs? That is, since Nazi policies against Jews became radicalized, why would this radicalization not eventually extend to the Slavic UNTERMENSCHEN?

For more on the unmistakably genocidal character of GENERLPLAN OST, see:

https://www.jewsandpolesdatabase.org/2019/11/04/polokaust-generalplan-ost-madajczyk/

As for the Polocaust that actually took place given the confines of the war, the reader should realize that more recent research shows that over 4 million ethnic Poles were murdered by the Germans during WWII, and that total Polish losses could reach 8 million.

The author details the million (or more) Poles deported to Germany for forced labor. (e. g, pp. 111-112). However, he does not even touch on the genocidal aspects of this policy. It removed a large fraction of Poles of childbearing age from the population, thus depressing the natural growth rate of the Polish population.

DON’T FORGET THE INDIRECT GENOCIDE OF POLES

Martin Winstone details the near-starvation of Poles under the German occupation. (e. g, p. 115). However, he does not follow up on the implications of this. This “passive” genocide of Poles undoubtedly caused a depressed birth rate and high “natural” death rate. In addition, the near-starvation conditions make it easy for the reader to see why Poles commonly refused to help fugitive Jews, and why Poles commonly reacted with denunciation, or even murderous violence, against Jews known or suspected to be stealing from them.

AVOIDING SOME OF THE STANDARD JUDEOCENTRIC, ANTI-POLISH MEMES

Now consider Polish conduct during the Holocaust. The author makes many of the standard canned assertions–too many for me to address. However, and to his credit, Winstone engages in a somewhat deeper understanding of the issues involved. Let us consider some examples.

JEW-KILLING BY POLES IN SOME KIND OF CONTEXT–FINALLY!

Unlike most other Holocaust authors, this author internalizes the harsh conditions facing the Poles, and, for this reason does not jump to instant moralizing about Poles denouncing Jews for German rewards. (p. 178). Nor does he summarily judge Poles “greedy and anti-Semitic” for wanting to acquire post-Jewish properties. (p. 179). Instead, Winstone appreciates the degradation, demoralization, and brutalization caused by the German occupation. (p. 178).

Rather than uncritically repeating accusations of the Polish Underground killing fugitive Jews, Martin Winstone realizes that mistaken identity is a factor, in that bandits often pretended to be Polish guerrilla forces. (p. 182).

THE GREEDY PAID POLISH RESCUER MYTH

The author exonerates Poles for taking payment from Jews they were hiding. He realizes that no payment could ever suffice for risking one’s own life. (pp. 179-180). To explore this overall subject objectively, and in more detail, please click on, and read my detailed review, of Golden Harvest or Hearts of Gold? Studies on the Wartime Fate of Poles and Jews:

https://www.jewsandpolesdatabase.org/2019/11/04/jan-t-gross-rebutted-in-detail-chodakiewicz/

A GLIMMER OF CRITICISM OF THE STANDARD POLONOPHOBIC NARRATIVE ON JEDWABNE

Although the author does not elaborate on Jedwabne, he does realize that, in his words, “the flawed Communist-era trial documents raise their own problems…” (p. 177). That’s putting it mildly!

For more on the dubious reliability of Soviet archives and other Communist-era official sources, see:

https://www.jewsandpolesdatabase.org/2019/11/04/jedwabne-1949-lomza-trials-unreliable-david-fox/

Unfortunately, Winstone then lapses into a “where there is so much smoke, there must be fire” line of thinking. He suggests that reports of Polish misconduct are so numerous that they must be true. This is a non sequitur. There are also many reports, from different places and different times, accusing Jews of conducting ritual murder, but this does not, by itself, necessarily mean that any of these accusations are true.

AN ALLUSION TO VEILED CENSORSHIP

The author is identified as the Education Officer for the Holocaust Educational Trust. What he says next speaks volumes about the reality of functional censorship and controlling the narrative in academia, especially on Holocaust-related matters and Poland.

Winstone begins this work with the following statement, (quote) The views or opinions expressed in this book, and the context in which the images are used, do not necessarily reflect the views or policy of, nor imply approval or endorsement by, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. (unquote). (p. vii). So even the USHMM is some kind of self-appointed clearinghouse that determines what historians can or cannot discuss!

This is unusual. There is normally a free exchange of ideas. I have read and reviewed many Holocaust-related books, and they never carry any disclaimer. Why is it necessary here? Is it because Martin Winstone is juxtaposing the sufferings of Poles and Jews, under the Nazis, which is not to the liking of the Holocaust establishment? Or is it because Winstone softens the standard Pole-accusatory narrative on the occasional Polish negativism towards Jews–a softening that the Holocaust establishment also does not like?