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

The Other Holocaust, by Bohdan Wytwycky. 1980. Novak Report, Washington D. C.

Slav Genocides: A Short Summary of the Nazi Holocausts of Gypsies and Slavs; Eventual Nazi Murder of Hundreds of Millions of Slavs

The author, a Ukrainian, summarizes the fates of 9-10 million non-Jews (mostly Slavs) who were murdered alongside the 5-6 million Jews. He does not, however, include the results of passive genocidal techniques. How many Slavic births never occurred? How many Slavs died premature “natural” deaths? For instance, he cites a total of 7.5 million forced laborers for the Reich (p. 76), mostly Slavs, but does not figure how many children were thereby prevented from being born to this mostly-childbearing-age group.

NO VALID DICHOTOMY BETWEEN THE NAZI TREATMENT OF JEWS AND SLAVS

Throughout this work, Wytwycky quotes racist statements of Nazi officials. They frequently mentioned Slavs in the same contemptuous terms as Jews. With reference to what nowadays is called the Polokaust, 3 million Polish gentiles (including much of the intelligentsia, and approximately 2,600 priests: p. 51) were murdered along with 3 million Polish Jews. Wytwycky realizes that Auschwitz was built originally for Poles. (p. 49).

THE GENOCIDES OF EAST SLAVS AT THE HANDS OF NAZI GERMANY

At least 5.5 million Ukrainians perished during WWII, of which about 3 million were murdered Ukrainian gentiles. (p. 64). The corresponding figures, for Byelorussians, were 2.3 million and a very conservative 1.4 million. (p. 70). Wytwycky elaborates on the Byelorussians: “Persons who toured Belorussia at the close of the war reported that it had been turned into a wasteland. It is estimated that over 200 towns and 9,200 villages were destroyed during the three years of Nazi occupation.” (p. 70).

Jews and Slavs became known as “unequal victims” in large part because the latter were a much larger group and the Nazis ran out of time. Wytwycky (p. 27) cites the seminal work of William L. Shirer. 1960. THE RISE AND FALL OF THE THIRD REICH. Schirer (p. 939) cited a letter from a German official, who wrote: “‘The Slavs are to work for us. In so far as we don’t need them, they may die.'”

GENERALPLAN OST IN ITS FULNESS

Going further, Wytwycky (p. 45) cites T. H. Tetens. 1961. THE NEW GERMANY AND THE OLD NAZIS, who concluded: “‘It is too often forgotten in the West that the extermination of the Jews of Europe was only to be a prelude for much more drastic action…Had the Germans succeeded with their plans they would have carried out a diabolical scheme of ‘resettlement’ and of ‘special treatment’ which would have caused the death of a couple hundred million Poles, Czechs, Ukrainians, and Russians.'” (Tetens, pp. 94-95).