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

The Cigarette Sellers of Three Crosses Square, by Joseph Ziemian. 2005

Polish Blackmailers (SZMALCOWNIKI) Were Usually Petty Extortionists, Not Jew-Killers. Fugitive Jews Fear Jewish Gestapo Agents

The story of the Jewish boys who sold cigarettes in the Polish side of Warsaw is a moving one. The Jewish boys met Polish boys who bullied them, and other Polish boys who protected them. (p. 116). The Jewish boys obtained fake identification (pp. 125-126), probably from the Polish Zegota, a one-of-a-kind organization of aid to Jews in all of German-occupied Europe.

Polish boys were also involved in trade. (p. 115). In fact, the reader who is interested in a more broad-based analysis of the experiences of both Jewish and Polish children should read my review of Lukas: DID THE CHILDREN CRY?

https://www.jewsandpolesdatabase.org/2019/11/04/censored-scholar-richard-c-lukas/

THE SZMALCOWNIKI USUALLY JUST WANTED MONEY, AND DID NOT ACTUALLY DENOUNCE FUGITIVE JEWS

Ziemian focuses on the challenges of living in the Polish side of Warsaw: “The street urchins, whose only possessions were their meager clothing, did not attract any special attention from the shmalzers [szmalcowniki](blackmailers who denounced Jews to the Germans) and were therefore in less danger than the adults.” (p. 14). When the Jewish boys did experience threats of denunciation to the Germans, it was in order to try to force them to disclose the names and addresses of wealthy fugitive Jews. (pp. 52-53, 64). The fact that the Jewish boys were usually left alone by the blackmailers adds to the contention that most szmalcowniki were petty extortionists, interested in money, who did not actually denounce Jews to the Nazis.

FUGITIVE JEWS FEARED JEWISH GESTAPO AGENTS

In addition those who actually denounced Jews to the Germans were not limited to Poles. While in Aryan Warsaw, fugitive Jews often ran to each other. Ziemian comments: “Chance meetings between Jews, even among acquaintances, unless they were true friends, usually ended with the words: ‘Excuse me; I don’t know you, you must be mistaken.’ and a fast retreat in the opposite direction. Every Jew was afraid of his own shadow.” (p. 14). Not mentioned is the fact, noted in other Jewish memoirs, that any “fugitive Jew” could be a Gestapo agent.

THE FATES OF THE CIGARETTE-SELLING JEWISH BOYS

Some of the Jewish boys were later involved in the Poles’ Warsaw Uprising (1944), and even performed feats of bravery. (p. 155). After the war, many of the Jewish boys, soon to be men, moved to Israel, where many of them led fruitful lives.