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

Waffen SS: Hitler’s Elite Guard at War, 1939-1945, by George H. Stein. 1984

No Polish SS. Guess Which Major German-Ruled European Nation Had No SS Units. Give Up? It’s Those Leftmedia-Maligned “Fascist” Poles

Probably the most eye-opening contribution of this scholarly and comprehensive book is the list of non-German nationalities represented in the SS, along with the approximate numbers of each nationality thus represented. Irrespective of whether or not all these units were directly involved in anti-Jewish “aktions”, they all contributed to the Holocaust by furthering the German war effort and prolonging Nazi German rule over Europe.

A NEAR-SINGULARITY: THERE WERE NO POLISH SS UNITS

With the bad rap Poles get for being almost as anti-Semitic as the Nazis, you would expect that there would be more Poles in the SS than any other non-German nationality. (In addition, the May 10, 1993 issue of TIME Magazine had a frankly lying article saying that there had been many Poles in the SS.)

What does Stein’s scholarship show? Surprise! There was not a single Polish SS unit in existence! There may, of course, have been a few Polish individuals in other SS units, and then mostly Polish citizens of German extraction (VOLKSDEUTSCHE) as well as those of mixed Polish-German ancestry. (Belatedly, TIME Magazine issued a retraction and apology a mere year-and-half later–November 21, 1994).

It is high time that Holocaust films, Holocaust educational materials, and the media tell it like it actually was. Will they do so? Fat chance.

YES, THE GERMANS DID ACCEPT “INFERIOR” PEOPLES INTO THE SS

Some have argued that the Germans did not accept Poles into the SS because Poles were deemed unworthy of that role. Stein makes it obvious that this could not possibly be true. Once the Germans had relaxed their strict racial qualifications for admission into the SS, they accepted many different kinds of untermenschen (Slavs and the even more inferior Asiatics) into the ranks of the SS.

EXPERIENCING NAZI ATROCITIES WAS NO BARRIER TO JOINING THE SS

Some commentators have suggested that no Poles could bring themselves to join the SS because of the German atrocities against their nation. Enter Stein again. Many nationalities (e. g., the Ukrainians) suffered extremely under Nazi German rule, yet had no problem fielding SS units of their nationality!

FIGHTING COMMUNISM IS NO EXCUSE FOR COLLABORATING WITH NAZI GERMANY. POLES WOULD NOT

Can the joining of the SS by non-Germans, especially eastern-European ones, be explained by fear of the Soviet Union and Communism? Not if one realizes that the Poles were all too cognizant of the intentions of the USSR against their nation, yet they, and notably their captured Underground leaders (successively “Grot” Rowecki and “Bor” Komorowski), categorically refused to form and lead any would-be Polish units fighting on the side of the Germans, let alone membership in the SS.