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

Final Entries 1945: The Diaries of Joseph Goebbels, by Joseph Goebbels. 1978. G. P. Putnam’s Sons, New York

Jews and Poles Remain Nazi Scapegoats; Goebbels Perceives Actual Soviet Intentions That Culminated at Yalta

In the closing weeks of the European component of WWII, Goebbels’s attitude towards the Jews remained unchanged: (April 3, 1945): “The Jews have applied for a seat at the San Francisco Conference. It is characteristic that their main demand is that anti-Semitism be forbidden throughout the world. Typically, having committed the most terrible crimes against mankind, the Jews would now like mankind to be forbidden even to think about them.” (p. 305).

EXISTENTIAL ENEMIES: NOT ONLY JEWS: POLES WERE ALSO SCAPEGOATS OF THE GERMANS

On January 30, 1939, Hitler had warned that he would destroy Europe’s Jews if “world Jewry” precipitated another world war. However, Jews were not the only scapegoats; nor were they the only ones blamed for starting WWII. On March 18, 1945, Goebbels referred to Poland’s losses to, of all things, “…Polish arrogance in August 1939…” and having failed to accept the “…extraordinarily generous [German] proposals at that time…” [Sic!] (p. 165). Goebbels engages in an even more overt blame-the-victim mentality towards Poles when, in his entry of March 30, 1945, he quips about: “…Poland, which began this war anyway…” (p. 274). In addition, on March 26, 1945, Goebbels mentioned “…Poland and Russia, the most primitive countries of Europe.” (p. 233).

In other contexts, Goebbels had various scapegoats coming in handy, as summarized by historian Trevor-Roper: “…castigating whole classes, whole groups, whole nations: the miserable bourgeoisie, the generals, the Luftwaffe, the Churches, the Jews, the Swiss, the Swedes.” (P. xxx).

THE NAZI GOEBBELS HAD MORE RESPECT FOR THE POLES THAN DID CHURCHILL OR ROOSEVELT. FOR SHAME!

It is both sobering and sad to realize that someone of Goebbels’s character had a much better grasp of Soviet intentions that did Churchill or Roosevelt. Goebbels even quoted a British newspaper in this regard (March 3, 1945): The Daily Mail just made a truly sensational admission; it says that for two years now I have been the only person to analyze the case of Poland correctly and forecast accurately the way in which England would succumb to the Kremlin. Churchill comes in for criticism of rare severity.” (p. 30).

In stark contrast to the appeasing attitude of western politicians towards “Uncle Joe” Stalin, Goebbels commented (March 9, 1945): “In the region which was formerly Poland the Soviets are pursuing their bloody reign of terror undeterred by Anglo-American protests. They take not the smallest notice of Churchill and Roosevelt. A new wave of arrests is sweeping across the country, the victims being mainly the Polish nationalists.” (p. 88). Also (March 21, 1945): “The Soviets are going quietly on deporting Poles to the interior of Russia. They take not the smallest notice of the Anglo-Americans.” (p. 190).

YALTA ANTICIPATED: THE NAZI GOEBBELS UNDERSTOOD STALIN BETTER THAN DID CHURCHILL OR ROOSEVELT. SAD…

The situation under which Poles found themselves was obvious to Goebbels: (March 11, 1945): “Stalin is firmly determined–and no one can understand this–to negotiate with no one over the Polish question. How rigidly he has already imposed his will is evident from the fact that Mikolajczyk, the former Polish Minister-in-exile, now proposes to submit to the dictates of the Kremlin. Under protest admittedly, but what value are such protests today? Anyway the only choice for the Poles is either to be exterminated by force or to bow the Kremlin.” (p. 100).

Goebbels saw right through the Communist smear campaign directed against non-Communist regimes (March 19, 1945): “It is well known that Communists always call everything fascist that is not Communist and, under the guise of a struggle against fascism, exterminate all forces opposing bolshevization of a country in which they have any influence…According to Pravda, the London Poles are a gang of degenerate landowners rejected by the Polish people. In short, Pravda’s general tone is one hardly customary even between enemies, let alone between allies.” (p. 172).

On March 22, 1945, Goebbels discussed the Soviet-staged trials, in Bulgaria, of two witnesses who had been present, two years earlier, at the site of the Katyn massacre (p. 206). The two priests were tearfully forced to recant their blame of the Soviets.

GOEBBELS’ COMMENTS ON GERMANY’S IMPENDING DEFEAT: NAZISM COULD RADICALIZE AGAINST NON-JEWS AS WELL AS JEWS

Goebbels repeats certain themes throughout this latest set of his diaries. He seems obsessed with the incipient British loss of their worldwide colonial empire, and that regardless of the outcome of the war. He thinks that the new German jets can enjoy a 5:1 kill ratio over the Allied propeller-driven planes but recognizes that Germany can produce far too few jets to make a realistic impact in the air war. He repeatedly suggests that the Germans should have withdrawn from the Geneva Convention. This would have allowed the Germans to kill Allied POWs in reprisal for the German civilians killed by Allied bombing raids. It also would make the German soldiers fight harder, aware of the fact that the Allies would reciprocally take no prisoners. So Nazism, as radical evil, would have radicalized against non-Jews as well as Jews!