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

The Mass Deportation of Poles to Siberia: A Historical Narrative Based on the Written Testimony of the Polish Siberian Survivors, by Michael Carolan (Editor), Antoni Piechuta. 2009

Includes Eyewitness Accounts of Jewish-Soviet Collaboration against Poles. Does Not Minimize the Number of Polish Deportees

This work consists of dozens of 2-4 page testimonies of Poles who lived in the Soviet-annexed Kresy (Poland’s pre-WWII eastern half), and who were deported in 1940-1941 as “enemies of the people” by the Soviet Communist authorities and NKVD. The testimonies touch on prewar life and the start of WWII in 1939, the early Soviet occupation, the fateful night of arrest and deportation, and long trip to the Gulags, the unspeakable living and working conditions there, the many deaths in the Gulags, the “amnesty” caused by Nazi Germany attacking its erstwhile Soviet ally in June 1941, the freed surviving remnants of the Gulags gathering in the southern USSR, the participation in the Battle of Monte Cassino, and the post-WWII life in various countries (especially the USA).

THE FEAR-OF-NAZIS CANNED EXCULPATION FOR THE ZYDOKOMUNA FAILS

Jewish support for the Soviets is often excused as an expression of gratitude for not falling into the hands of the Nazis. This does not hold, as evidenced by the fact that active Jewish collaboration went much deeper than that. It continued long, long after the Red Army had first occupied the Kresy.

ACTIVE JEWISH DISLOYALTY TO POLAND IN 1939

Jewish-Soviet collaboration was an overtly anti-Polish act, as evidenced by Jewish militias actively participating in the mass arrests of Poles and their deportation to Siberia. (pp. 99-100, 128-129, 188, 314, 353). These are eyewitness testimonies, not anti-Semitic fantasies. One particularly odious aspect of Jewish-Soviet collaboration was the active participation of Jewish acquaintances in the denunciation of Poles and in their arrests (e. g., p. 314), as well as the profanation of Christian symbols by Jewish militiamen. (p. 100). Of course, these examples are only those which the authors chose to mention, and do not include the covert forms of Jewish denunciation of prominent Poles to the Soviets, not noticed by the Polish victims.

THE NUMBER OF 1939-1941 POLISH DEPORTEES TO THE INTERIOR OF THE USSR STANDS AT 1 MILLION OR MORE

Recently, Russian revisionists have tried to degrade the number of Poles deported to Siberia to less than 400,000. These new figures are based on an assumed 25 deportees per railroad car. In reality, the number of deportees per car were 30-40 (p. 101), 40 (p. 364), 50 (p. 77), 50 (p. 285), and 65 (p. 315).

For more on this, see Chodakiewicz POLISH POETRY IN THE GULAGS:

https://www.jewsandpolesdatabase.org/2020/08/22/gulag-numbers-poles-1939-1941-1-25-million-affirmed-soviet-archives-unreliable-ablamowicz/

YURI GAGARIN

This book contains an assortment of interesting information. For instance, one of the later deportees lived in Lublin, Poland, a block away from Princess Gagarina. The latter was supposed to be an aunt of cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space. (p. 35).

For more on the engagement of Poles and Russians throughout history, see:

https://www.jewsandpolesdatabase.org/2020/11/06/poles-played-a-major-role-in-building-russia-swider/