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

The Tragedy of Silesia 1945-1946, by Gladys H. Kaps. 1953. Christ Unterwegs, Munich

The “Victorious” Poles and the Defeated Germans Were Both Subject to Imposed Policies of Expulsion

Kaps provides an anthology of German accounts of their experiences prior to and during the expulsions. In my opinion, his work on this subject is far superior to those of Alfred Maurice de Zayas. There is no hint, in Kaps, of the canard that accuses the Russians and Poles of killing 2 million Germans during the forced resettlement.

POLAND’S POST-WWII BORDERS, AND REPARATIONS FROM GERMANY, ARE ENTIRELY DIFFERENT ISSUES

Why is this question still relevant? Recently (2022), the Polish government has sought WWII reparations from Germany. See:

https://www.jewsandpolesdatabase.org/2023/02/11/poland-war-losses-germany-owes-poland-reparations-big-time-definitive-work-poles-and-not-only-jews-suffered-long-term-demographic-losses-zyblikiewicz-and-wnek/

The Germans not only refused, but some hinted that seeking reparations could reopen the question of Poland’s borders. This is utter nonsense. Even though Poland was one of the victorious Allies, Poland’s borders were unilaterally imposed upon Poland by the Big Three (the USA, Great Britain, and the Soviet Union), and the Poles had no say in it. The unilateral decisions at Teheran-Yalta, about Poland’s postwar borders, had absolutely no connection to reparations. So, Poland’s post-WWII borders are a completely separate issue from any and all reparations from Germany!

THE POLES, JUST LIKE THE GERMANS, WERE PAWNS OF BIG-POWER POLITICS

Pointedly, the German expellees also recognized the fact that the arriving Poles THEMSELVES were expellees [The population transfer had been caused by the giveaway of the Kresy (prewar eastern half of Poland) to the Soviet Union by Churchill and Roosevelt, for which Poland was given prewar German territories up to the Oder-Neisse (Odra-Nysa) rivers].

Despite the fact that Poles had been the first victims of German aggression, and Poland was supposed to be on the winning side of the war, the Poles, no less than the defeated Germans, had nothing to say about their fate. Instead, both Poles and Germans were forced to abandon their centuries-old domiciles without their consent, and without compensation, and to start a new life on a new land. (Taking a chapter from American history, some Poles facetiously called these recovered territories the “Wild West”.)

SOVIET BARBARISM IN ACTION

The atrocities of the Russians (against Germans and–not mentioned–also against Poles) included murder, rape, and vandalism. As an example of the latter, Soviet soldiers looted a church and then used its interior as a latrine. Polish unkindness against Germans consisted mostly of beatings (especially when Poles were inebriated) and thefts. For instance, gangs of Polish war orphans would frequent the trains and waylay the German passengers.

COMMUNISTS EXPLOIT “NATIONALISM” WHENEVER IT SERVED THEIR PURPOSES

Although Communism is supposed to scorn “bourgeoisie nationalism”, the Communist authorities were not above inciting well-founded ethnic hatreds when it served their purposes. In particular, the newly imposed Soviet puppet state, having virtually no indigenous support among the ethnic Polish population, attempted to gain an air of legitimacy by fanning the flames of anti-German sentiment. Kaps includes one account in which a newly arrived Polish Communist official said in a public address: “You German swine are going to work till you drop, and, if I have my way, you will have nothing to eat!” (p. 272).

REPENTANT GERMANS? NOT EXACTLY

Some of the German expellees obviously learned nothing from the war and continued to repeat pre-Nazi and Nazi-era racist statements against Slavs. Kaps includes several such accounts. Germans repeatedly spoke of the Poles as being incompetent (a forerunner of the concept of Polnische Wirtschaft), and some Germans even accused the Slavs of being exceptionally creative in their sadism. (Look who is talking)!

SUFFERING AND REVENGE

Interestingly, there was often a transitional period during which both the German owners and the recently-arrived Poles lived on the same farmsteads. Friendships sometimes developed. Kaps includes German accounts that mention Poles describing their recent sufferings at the hands of the Russians and the Ukrainian fascists (OUN-UPA).

Although many millions of Poles and Soviet citizens had been murdered by the Germans in the just-concluded war, not all Poles or Russians were thirsty for revenge. Far from it: Kaps includes accounts of Germans calling on Poles to protect them from Russians, while still other accounts mention the vice-versa. Kaps even includes accounts of Germans testifying of Poles and Russians being “wonderfully kind to us”. (p. 275).