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

Wojna 1920 Roku Na Mazowszu i Podlasiu, by Janusz Szczepański. 1995

Systematic Jewish Disloyalty to Poland During the Crucial 1920 Polish-Soviet War. Pogroms Demystified and Contextualized

English-language title: THE WAR OF 1920 IN MAZOVIA AND PODLASIE

Part of the Jewish population was consistently loyal to Poland. (p.104, pp. 230-231). However, massive Jewish support for Communism was very real, and it went far, far beyond CP membership. Among the major Jewish political parties, the Bund and Poale Zion were decidedly pro-Soviet all along. (p. 102, 203, 228). However, Jewish support for Communism was mostly latent. When the Polish Army was at the gates of Kiev, Jewish-Communist manifestations in Poland became noticeably subdued. (p. 50). When the Red Army entered Poland, there was a massive Jewish outpouring of support at many documented towns, as described in detail (pp. 226-231), and touched on in the next paragraph.

A VARIETY OF TREASONOUS JEWISH ACTS AGAINST POLES AND POLAND

Jews were known to house fugitive Soviet POWs. (p. 105). Jewish snipers shot at retreating Polish Army units (p. 277, 339), while other Jews informed the arriving Red Army on the whereabouts of the retreating Polish Army. (p. 227). Jewish shopkeepers, who had closed their shops to the Polish Army, now reopened them for the Red Army. (p. 226). Some Jews spread anti-religious propaganda (p. 212), and denounced socially-prominent Poles to the Soviets (p. 228). Young Jews joined the Red Army (p. 229), while other Jewish locals performed work for the Soviets. (p. 189).

During the 1920 war, young Jews engaged in massive avoidance of conscription into the Polish Army, often paying doctors to declare them unfit. (pp. 104-105). Thousands of Army Jews deserted. (For specific figures, see p. 119). Faced with such disloyalty, Polish Army officials decided to expel many Jewish officers and soldiers from the Polish Army. (p. 131). Jewish conduct towards the Polish Army is often blamed on anti-Semitism, an excuse which would come in handy again relative to Anders’ Army, although anti-Semitism there turned out to be exaggerated, and mostly limited to name-calling. (See my review of: General Anders and the Soldiers of the Second Polish Corps). [Now consider the Japanese-American soldiers during WWII. Though facing humiliations, they didn’t desert. Just the opposite: They went all out and distinguished themselves by the valor, for which they got frequently decorated.] Finally, whoever said that Jews shouldn’t serve in the Red Army because of ITS anti-Semitism?

For more on the extensive Jewish support (not only card-carrying Communists!) for the Soviet Union during the 1920 Polish-Bolshevik War, see:

https://www.jewsandpolesdatabase.org/2019/11/04/antisemitism-in-poland-phony-indignation-bemporad/

ANTI-JEWISH VIOLENCE DEMYSTIFIED AND CONTEXTUALIZED. SELECTIVE INDIGNATION ON ANTISEMITISM

The “pogroms” against Jews must be put in a broader context. To begin, with, violence, military and non-military, was an all-around occurrence. Besides murder and robbery of common Poles (e. g., pp. 166-167, 345-346) , the invading Bolsheviks murdered priests (p. 219) and POWs (p. 325). Was Jewish sensitivity to pogroms of the nature of selective indignation? The Red Army conducted its share of crimes (robberies, mass arrests, murders, etc.) against Jews. (p. 172, 229, 357). Oddly enough, the western Jewish presses focused almost exclusively on Polish misdeeds, and Soviet anti-Semitic acts did not cool the Jewish ardor for the USSR, which was to be amply manifested again in 1939. Antisemitism phony indignation was at work.

Revenge for Jewish-Soviet collaboration was a motive (p. 226), but not the only motive, for Polish anti-Jewish acts. There was overall indiscipline and demoralization in the retreating Polish Army that led to its members committing crimes not only against Jews, but also against Poles. (p. 129). After the tide had permanently turned, there was an additional wave of popular lawlessness in the wake of the Red Army’s retreat, facilitated by the abundance of Soviet-abandoned weaponry. (p. 350).

EVEN-HANDED POLISH JUSTICE

Tens of Jews were later shot by the Polish authorities for Bolshevik collaboration. (pp. 352-on). However, justice was blind. Poles faced criminal penalties, including the death penalty, for anti-Jewish acts, just as they faced the same for such acts against fellow Poles. (p. 107, 357).

THE USSR, AND NOT POLAND, STARTED THE 1920 POLISH-SOVIET WAR

Poland is accused by Communist apologists of being the aggressor in this war. Actually, Polish intelligence had discovered a Soviet buildup in preparation for an attack on Poland, so Pilsudski preempted it by striking first. (p. 20).