By Tadeusz Piotrowski. Jefferson, NC and London: McFarland &Company 1998. xiii + 262 pages. Appendix, notes, bibliography,illustrations, index. Hardcover. $55.00.
Judith Olsak-Glass
For 123 years, Poles lived under Russian, Prussian, orAustro-Hungarian rule. During World War I, all three of theseimperialist empires collapsed. Seizing an opportunity, the Polesdeclared independence on 11 November 1918. A plethora of dauntingproblems immediately confronted the war-ravaged Second Republic ofPoland. Author Tadeusz Piotrowski posits that along with a strugglingeconomy, two problems above all others would ultimately contribute toPoland's holocaust in World War II: Poland's borders and Poland'ssizeable minorities.
By 1921, after a series of armed conflicts with neighboringstates, Polish borders were finalized. Although the process resultedin territorial gains, especially in the east, it also fostered muchhostility and open resentment both within and outside Poland. Besidesthe enmity of Germany and the Soviet Union, Poland was forced tocontend with rising minority discontent. As Piotrowski points out,'the political objectives of all radical nationalists were, afterall, separatist.' (5) Thus, the yearnings for an independent 'greaterUkraine,' a reunited Belarus or a Jewish state within the Polish onesmoldered relentlessly. When war erupted in 1939, 'the radicalmembers of these minorities, rather than supporting Poland in itshour of need, chose to side with the enemy and vied with one anotherin their support of the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany, hoping therebyto achieve their objectives at Polish expense.' (6)
Continuing along the lines of his previous work on interwarPoland, Polish-Ukrainian relations and Ukrainian nationalism, TadeuszPiotrowski presents a detailed examination of collaboration with theSoviet and Nazi occupation forces of the ethnic minorities livingmainly in the eastern provinces of pre-World War II Poland.
The first two chapters, titled 'Soviet Terror' and 'Nazi Terror,'provide a brief overview of Poland's subjugation. Zones of occupationand their ethnic composition are likewise discussed, as are Sovietand Nazi occupation policies and practices. Citing a comprehensivelist of Soviet crimes and misdeeds, from the Katyn massacre to the1945 Moscow show trial of sixteen kidnapped political leaders of thePolish underground, Piotrowski argues that from the very beginning,it was Stalin's aim to ensure that an independent Poland would neverreemerge in the postwar period. The prisons, ghettos, internment,transit, labor and extermination camps, roundups, mass deportations,public executions, mobile killing units, death marches, deprivation,hunger, disease, and exposure all testify to the 'inhuman policies ofboth Hitler and Stalin' and 'were clearly aimed at the totalextermination of Polish citizens, both Jews and Christians. Bothregimes endorsed a systematic program of genocide.' (32) Suchlarge-scale operations needed helpers. As a final segment to thispreliminary examination, Piotrowski defines 'collaborator' and'accomplice' to mean voluntary complicity with the Soviets or Germansfor the express purpose of destroying Poland, its citizens, or itsunderground Home Army. He reminds the reader that collaborators wereonly a small percentage of Poland's 35 million pre-war citizens, butbecause of their cooperation with Soviet or Nazi forces, over sixmillion Polish citizens were murdered, both Jews and Christiansall ofthem, he reiterates, victims of Poland's Holocaust.
As a self-described 'naturalized American citizen of Polishdescent who happens to be a sociologist,' Professor Piotrowskiteaches Sociology of the Holocaust at the University of NewHampshire. He broadens the scope of the term 'Holocaust' to includeall Polish citizens who were murdered as a result of both Nazi andSoviet genocidal policies and practices. Although the Jewishexclusivity of the Holocaust is generally accepted, thiscomprehensive approach offers a broader and more accurate account,lending itself to a deeper understanding of an extremely complicatedperiod. As the book demonstrates, the ethnocentric goals ofcollaborators meant a death sentence for ordinary Polish citizens.Also, with the ebb and flow of Soviet and Nazi forces over Poland'seastern territories, loyalties often switched back and forth in orderto insure the fulfillment of various political agendas.
All aspects of collaboration by Jews, Poles, Belarusians,Lithuanians, and Ukrainians on Polish soil are painstakinglypresented in their own densely packed chapters. Piotrowski'snarrative tells the story of complicity through eyewitnesstestimonies, memoirs, diaries, military field reports, periodicals,hundreds of secondary sources as well as his own insights andinterpretations. The book does an excellent job of integratingscholarship on the subject, much of it of recent vintage. Almost onehundred pages of notes provide much more than mere citations. Besides15 tables within the text, ten tables illustrating population lossesand deportations appear in Piotrowski's text; it also includes adiscussion between scholars over the intent of the Polish Home ArmyGeneral Bor-Komorowski's Order No. 116was it aimed against Jewishpartisans or against bandits, some of whom may have beenJewish?1 As detailed as the notes and text are, the bookassumes some background knowledge; for example, the positions ofmajor personalities, such as Józef Beck or Jozef Pilsudski,are not explained on first mention, nor is the 30 July 1941Sikorski-Maisky agreement. Such instances are rare and ultimately donot detract from the presentation. The Appendix with thirteendocuments (e.g., the 1919 Minorities Treaty, the NKVD InstructionsRelating to 'Anti-Soviet Elements,' Beria's letter to Stalin on theexecution of thousands of Polish prisoners of war, and the UB[Soviet-controlled Communist Security Police] chronology of theKielce Pogrom released in 1989) are included along with four maps,although sites mentioned do not always appear on the maps. TheBibliography is extensive and state-of-the-art, but its full valuemight be limited to those who read Polish or Ukrainian. The Index isexcellent; particularly good are the cross references. Finally, thecopy editor and proofreader deserve credit for a virtually flawlesstext.
Each chapter seems designed to stand on its own, closes with anassessment of responsibility and fixes blame squarely on those whocolluded with the enemy to the detriment of the Polish state and thePolish people.
The chapter on Jewish collaboration is provocative, yet it hasimportant implications for Polish-Jewish relations and thehistoriography of the Holocaust. Acknowledging the existence ofanti-Jewish sentiment in Poland, ranging from benign to murderous,but never state-sponsored before and during the war, Piotrowskiquestions its causes and its extent. Part of the responsibility, heargues, 'must surely rest on the shoulders of the Jews themselves.'(36) In the interest of truth and fairness, he asserts that 'tosingle out and humiliate Poland for its real or manufacturedanti-Semitism is, therefore, grossly unfair.' (38) His aim is not toexcuse or justify wrongdoing, but to give a full accounting ofcircumstances surrounding events which have poisoned Polish-Jewishrelations and led unjustly to blanket charges of Polishanti-Semitism.
Among the factors which negatively affected perceptions andexperiences are Jewish ethnocentrism and aloofness; limited contactwith Poles due to voluntary isolationism; failure to assimilate;unfulfilled political expectations; immigration of persecuted Jewsfrom Nazi Germany to pre-war Poland; and socioeconomic conflicts.Addressing the correlation between the deterioration of Polish-Jewishrelations and the Soviet invasions of Poland in 1919-1920, 1939-1941,and 1944-1945, the author states that 'some Polish Jews becameco-participants in the Soviet reigns of terror.' (36) It issignificant that Poles in the eastern provinces vividly recall Jewskissing Soviet tanks in 1939 and, as survivors, again in 1944. ManyPoles were victims of Jewish-Soviet collaboration, targeted as theywere for deportation or execution by lists drawn up partially byJews. The author demonstrates that Jewish communists within theSoviet apparatus were quite numerous and visible in 1944-1948,holding key positions at the national and local levels. It is nothard to imagine how this situation affected Polish sensibilities. Toexplain is not to justify nor excuse, but serves to illuminate humanfailings on all sides. To bring the picture back into balance, notingthat life was often difficult for Polish Jews, Piotrowski readilyadmits that the overwhelming majority of Jews were not communists,nor did they side with either the Soviets or the Nazis. However,during the Nazi occupation, some Jews were willing collaborators andthe remainder of the chapter on Jewish collaboration decribes theirrole in the Polish Holocaust.
The chapter 'Polish Collaboration' under Soviet and Nazioccupation might be familiar material to some, yet Piotrowski doesmuch to strip away the myths surrounding these terrible times. Hequestions the accuracy
of the often repeated allegations that the Polish underground,including the Home Army, were guilty of collaboration with the Nazisand of committing anti-Semitic atrocities. One treatment of thisquestion focuses on the events at theshtetl of Ejszyszki (nowin Lithuania), an alleged 1944 pogrom near Wilno [Vilnius]. On 3April 1995, an article defaming Poles in that connection appeared intheU.S. News & World Report. It was followed up with anextensive piece in the New York Times on 6 August 1996.Piotrowski also deals with the activities of the Polish NationalArmed Forces (Narodowe Sily Zbrojne), a right-wing militaryorganization which aligned itself, for the most part, with the HomeArmy in early 1944, but was never under its control. The chaptercontinues by relating the Soviet attempts to liquidate the Home Army,the assistance given to the Warsaw Ghetto revolt, the role of thePolish 'Blue' Police in the murders of Jews, civilian complicity,Polish assistance to the Jews, and the post-World War II years.
In his final chapter, Piotrowski examines Soviet and Naziinvolvement with Ukrainian nationalists to explain how the policy ofethnic cleansing in Western Ukraine evolved and was carried out.Based on personal recollections and recent scholarship, Piotrowskibrings to light a grim period of savage barbarity, one to which mostEnglish-only readers have not yet been exposed.
Overall, this book makes a valuable contribution to several fieldsof study. Students of the Holocaust, of wartime collaboration, ofPolish, Central European and Russian history will be well served byPiotrowski's volume.
1 General Bor-Komorowski's Order reads asfollows:
Well-armed gangs ramble endlessly in cities and villages,attack estates, banks, commercial and industrial companies, housesand apartments, and larger peasant farms. The plunder is oftenaccompanied by acts of murder which are carried out by Sovietpartisan units hiding in the forests or by ordinary gangs of robbers.The latter recruit from all kinds of criminal subversiveelements.
Men and women, especially Jewish women, participate in theassaults. This infamous action of demoralized individuals contributesin a considerable degree to the complete destruction of many citizenswho have already been tormented with the four year struggle againstthe enemy.
The [German] occupier has not basically opposed the existingstate of affairs. When German security organs are sometimes calledin, in the more serious instances, they refuse to help, avoiding thebandits. Often the reverse occurs - the greater act of banditismcalls down repression upon the innocent population.
In order to give some help and shelter to the defenselesspopulation, I have issued an order- with the understanding of thechief Delegate of the Government - to the commanders of regions anddistricts regarding local security. I have ordered the commanders ofregions and districts, when necessary, to move with arms againstthese plundering or subversive bandit elements. I emphasized the needto liquidate the leaders of bands and not efforts to destroy entirebands. I recommended to the local commanders assuring the cooperationof the local population and of the representative of the Government'sDelegate in organizing self-defense and of a warning system.(Piotrowski 324)