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

Zagłada Polskich Kresow, by Krzysztof Jasiewicz. 1998

The WWII Soviet Invasion and the Communist Classicide Directed Against the Polish Landed Gentry

THE DESTRUCTION OF THE KRESY: THE POLISH LANDED GENTRY IN THE NORTHWEST PART OF THE REPUBLIC UNDER SOVIET OCCUPATION, 1939-1941, is the title of this Polish language scholarly work. It covers the period between the Soviet-Nazi conquest of Poland and Nazi Germany’s attack on its erstwhile Soviet ally, and is based on extensive archival information.

THE BIG HULLABALOO ABOUT POLISH LANDLORDS

The entire population of the 1939 Kresy amounted to 13.5 million people, of which 5.5 million were ethnic Poles. (p. 141). [Thus, while Poles were a minority, it was a large one, and it is manifestly incorrect to think of the Kresy as “non-Polish”.] “Wealthy Polish landlords” figure prominently in both Soviet Communist and Ukrainian nationalist propaganda, for which reason they are greatly exaggerated. They actually constituted only about 0.25%–0.3% of the total Kresy population! (p. 79, 135). Also, far from being something directed against the Byelorussians and Ukrainians, as sometimes propagandized, landed estates occurred all over Poland, including places that had no Belorussians or Ukrainians. (p. 37).

The very concept of “landed estate” is a relative one–often not large by the standards of agricultural holdings in other nations (such as the USA). For instance, Jasiewicz (p. 37) notes that, in “western Byelorussia”, there existed 4,695 holdings of at least 50 hectares. Of these, 2,798 holdings exceeded 100 hectares. (p. 37).

CLASS WARFARE

Communism has always been based on the inciting and cultivation of hatreds, especially those based on social class. Communist propaganda stirred up the peasantry against the landlords, and later the Soviet authorities conducted various organized repressions against the same. Jasiewicz calls all this primitive egalitarianism. (p. 50).

Perhaps ironically, most of the poverty of the Kresy owed not to the privileges of the wealthy, but to such things as the massive scale of yet-unrepaired WWI-era destruction (p. 41), not to mention the recently concluded 123 years of onerous tsarist Russian rule. In addition, most of those eventually arrested by the Soviets were peasants. (p. 211). At very least 200 members of the landed gentry were murdered, but the vast majority of those murdered by the Soviets were commoners. (p. 79). Most Poles deported to Siberia were also commoners. (p. 140).

The first wave of murders against the landed gentry began during the actual Soviet invasion. The murderers included Byelorussians, Ukrainians, Red Army personnel and NKVD, robber bands, Communized bands, “people’s courts”, etc. (p. 71). Not all peoples were equally receptive to Communist incitements. The following peoples did not participate in the murders of the Polish landed gentry: Karaims, Armenians, Russians, and Tatars. Jews often acted as members of militias. (p. 71). However, Jasiewicz (p. 187) cites some local Jews who lamented the destruction of the Polish state. Other locals–mostly Byelorussians and Ukrainians but also many Poles–engaged in robbery. (p. 91).

All of the foregoing so-called “proletarian justice” (as that during the Russian Revolution) included the senseless destruction of property and infrastructure. (e. g, p. 87, 99). A large number of art collections, agricultural equipment and facilities, buildings, libraries, etc., were destroyed.

The subsequent Soviet-organized “redistribution of wealth”, Communist style, included the seizure of tens of thousands of head of livestock from the landed estates, and giving many of them to the peasantry. This only temporarily improved their lot. According to Soviet statistics, 3,170 landed estates, in just “western Byelorussia”, were confiscated. (p. 95). The Soviets then introduced collective farming and all of its miseries.

Jasiewicz provides biographical detail on some of the landed gentry. This includes a listing of individuals and their known fate. (p. 277-on). He also points out that quite a few prominent and patriotic Poles were members of the Kresy’s landed gentry. These included famous Auschwitz-exposer Witold Pilecki and Major Henryk Dobrzanski “Hubal” (p. 223).