Jewish Disloyalty 1830 Margolis

A Partisan from Vilna, by Rachel Margolis. 2010

Jewish Disloyalty to Poland During the November 1830 and January 1863 Insurrections. Subsequent Pro-Russian Jewish Orientation. WWII German Death Penalty Appreciated

Anthony Polonsky writes: “The Poles effectively lost power in the region after the Uprising of 1830 and after 1863 the Tsarist authorities attempted to undermine Polish influence in the region. Those Jews who sought to escape from their inferior status saw no reason to take on the disabilities to which the Poles were now subject.” (p. 14). [Proving the Endek point that, with few exceptions, Poland’s Jews were not Poles]

EASTERN POLAND’S JEWS IDENTIFY WITH POLAND’S OPPRESSOR RUSSIA, NOT WITH POLAND

Polonsky adds that, “Polish society in Vilna was strongly nationalistic and relations between Poles and Jews here were tense and were exacerbated by the fact that a significant proportion of the Jewish elite here had been Russified in the nineteenth century and that a section of the Jewish leadership had supported the incorporation of the town into Lithuania in response to Lithuanian promises of far-reaching Jewish autonomy.” (p. 17).

SOFT-PEDALLING THE JEWISH CRIME AGAINST THE POLES OF KONIUCHY

Polonsky discusses the 1944 massacre of Poles in the village of Koniuchy [Kaniukai], by Soviet-Jewish bands. (pp. 41-42). He tries to downplay the number of Jewish participants as “under a hundred” in comparison with 400 Russians. He also repeats the falsehood about Koniuchy being a center of collaborationist police and of resistance to partisans (p. 42, 49), but correctly concludes that: “As so often happen in such incidents, there were also many innocent victims”. (p. 42).

[Ironically to Polonsky’s exculpation, the alleged Polish participants in the Jedwabne massacre number well under 100, but we never hear the end of it.]

YITZHAK ARAD ACCUSED OF CRIMES

The Introduction has an interesting account of Yitzhak Arad, the former head of Yad Vashem, and onetime Jewish partisan and NKVD member. He faced investigation for possible war crimes–until external pressure stopped the investigation. (pp. 49-50; see also p. 514).

RACHEL MARGOLIS’ EXPERIENCES

In the remainder of the book, Margolis describes her experiences before WWII, the German-Soviet attack on Poland, Soviet rule, Nazi invasion, Holocaust, her guerrilla life, and decades-later visits to the area. She includes many personal details, and these sometimes make it hard to follow the events taking place.

POLISH RISKING OF GERMAN-IMPOSED DEATH PENALTY APPRECIATED

Poles aided Jews in various ways. Some Poles brought food to Jews for payment, while other Poles brought food to Jews out of compassion. (p. 288). During the German occupation, Margolis stayed with Poles for quite a while. (pp. 267-283; see also p. 17). Unlike Jan T. Gross and the media that quotes him, who belittle the German-imposed death penalty for aid to Jews, Holocaust-survivor Margolis does not. She concludes: “Only now did I understand how much effort and self-abasement went into the arrangements that were made for me with the Poles; no one wanted to keep Jews in their home and put their lives in danger.” (pp. 285-286).

DANGER FROM JEWISH GESTAPO AGENTS

Some dangers faced by Nazi-evading Jews were obvious, while others were not. Fugitive Jews had to fear informers, including Jewish informers. (p. 286, 288).

THE AUTHOR A COMMUNIST

Margolis was an internationalist (p. 429), and active Communist. (e. g., p. 149). Her Communist sentiments are obvious from her attitudes towards Poland: “I hated bourgeois Poland, but even more so I hated Smetona’s Lithuania with its strange language.” (p. 224).

While a guerrilla, the author was shocked out of her rosy view of Communism and the Soviet Union by the attitudes of Soviet partisans that she had encountered. They complained that their ranks already had “too many Jews”, that Jews were cowards, etc. (pp. 406-407). Margolis also alluded to combat between the pro-Communist guerrillas and the A. K. (Armia Krajowa, Polish Home Army).(p. 468, 478).

Margolis’ overall portrayal of Poles is mixed. On one hand, she repeats Yitzhak’s Shamir’s crass Polonophobic remark about Poles “imbibing anti-Semitism with their mother’s milk” (p. 506), and makes unsubstantiated accusations of the A. K. killing fugitive Jews. (p. 468). On the other hand, she realizes that Poles suffered greatly under the Nazis (losing 2 million civilians)(p. 507)[actually 4-8 million], and that members of the A. K. [along with not a few other Poles] were shot and buried alongside the Jews at Ponary (p. 487). She recognizes the fact that Poles should not be demonized for the Holocaust (p. 508), and that more Poles are honored at Yad Vashem for aiding Jews than members of any other nationality. (p. 507).