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

Zegota: The rescue of Jews in wartime Poland, by Irene Tomaszewski. 1994

Rescue of Fugitive Jews, in German-Occupied Poland, Was Very Difficult. German Guilt-Diffusion Success: “Who Were the Nazis” Regularly Asked at the USHMM

Zegota was a part of the Polish Underground, and was explicitly devoted to helping Jews. Tomaszewski and Werbowski estimate that at least 3,000 Poles were murdered by the Germans for aiding Jews (p. 9).

WHY DIDN’T THE POLES “DO MORE”? THE ALMOST-INSURMOUNTABLE DIFFICULTIES OF RESCUING FUGITIVE JEWS

Consider, for example, Zegota. For Jews with a strong Semitic appearance, hiding places had to be constructed, often by expert Zegota engineers (p. 53). Plastic surgeons reduced the Semitic appearances of other Jews and undid their circumcisions. For Aryan-appearing Jews, expert forgers prepared false documents (p. 59). These Jews had to be expertly coached to fit their paper identities, because a slip-up upon being questioned by the Gestapo meant certain death.

BETRAYERS OF JEWS: NOT REPRESENTATIVE OF POLISH SOCIETY, AND OFTEN NOT EVEN ETHNIC POLES

During his famous trip to the west to warn of the Holocaust, Jan Karski carried a message from Leon Feiner and a leading Zionist (probably Menachem Kirszenbaum). Although this message contained a condemnation of malefactors of Jews, it recognized the fact that they were marginal members of Polish society, and repudiated the modern Polonophobic notion that Poles generally rejoiced at the destruction of the Jews: “...Although the Polish people at large sympathize or try to help the Jews, many criminals blackmail, rob, denounce, or murder the Jews in hiding.” (p. 96). Clearly, then, according to this account, the majority of Poles were NOT hostile or indifferent to Jews.

The authors elaborate on the SZMALCOWNIKI and Jew-hunters: “Szmalcowniks, the derogatory term used to describe the blackmailers and denouncers, came from all ethnic groups–Volksdeutsche, Poles, Ukrainians, Lithuanians, and even Jews…Szmalcowniks fell largely into three categories–those on the Gestapo payroll, the organized criminals, and the dregs of society…the Gestapo also made use of the weak, those who gave in to threats and hoped to save themselves or members of their own families by betraying others.” (pp. 75-76)

SO WHY DIDN’T THE POLES PUT A STOP TO DENOUNCERS OF FUGITIVE JEWS?

The authors recognize that Zegota and other branches of the Polish Underground had very limited capabilities for assassinating such malefactors: “Poles could not wander about carrying guns–even the Polish police carried only a pistol and had to account for every bullet used.” (p. 78)

GERMAN PERFIDY IN THWARTING POLISH RESCUE EFFORTS

The Germans stooped to any low to uncover and murder Polish benefactors of Jews. Rescuer Aniela Waryszewska commented: “Just for giving (a Jew) a glass of water you could get shot…We also had to worry about the children. The Germans used to give them candy and ask them questions. Children had to be carefully taught.” (p. 123)

GERMAN GUILT DIFFUSION SUCCESSFUL CONSEQUENCE. “WHO WERE THE NAZIS” FREQUENTLY ASKED AT USHMM

The authors comment on what may be called the de-Germanization of the Nazis in recent decades: “One of the questions most frequently asked at the Holocaust Museum in Washington [USHMM] is `Who were the Nazis?'” (p. 70). (Did they come from Naziland?)