Jewish Disloyalty 1919 Uprisings Prybyla

When Angels Wept: The Rebirth and Dismemberment of Poland and Her People in the Early Decades of the Twentieth Century, by Jan Prybyla. 2010

Silesian Uprisings [Injuries Forgiven; German Contempt Not Forgiven]. Bereza Kartuska Demythologized. Auschwitz: Slow (Polish) and Fast (Jewish) Deaths

The author, Jan S. Prybyla, is the nephew of Jan Przybyla and his wife Marta. The latter two were murdered by the Germans at Auschwitz in the latter part of 1942. The family pedigree goes back to Sierakowice, which is located near Gliwice (then Gleiwitz) in German-ruled Silesia.

Because there are many reviews of this item, I do not repeat basic information about the content of this book. Instead, I focus on some topics that I consider of lasting historical significance.

RAISING POLISH NATIONAL CONSCIOUSNESS UNDER FOREIGN RULE

In 1903, Jan Przybyla joined the illegal Polish organization, Eleusis (abbreviated Els), which functioned in all three parts of Partitioned Poland. It had been founded by Wincenty Lutoslawski, the internationally known philosopher and philologist in Krakow. (p. 15). Eleusis facilitated self-help for Poles, character development, and abstinence from alcohol. It was devoted to raising Polish national consciousness and awareness of Polish history. (p. 16).

THE SILESIAN UPRISINGS: THE ACTIVISM OF WOJCIECH KORFANTY

This work provides considerable detailed about Wojciech Korfanty, who was known to Jan Przybyla. (p. 22). Korfanty served in the German parliament in 1903-1912. (p. 23). In return, he got mostly contempt from the Germans. This prompted the author of this book to quote Ben Franklin, who remarked, “Although many forgive injuries, none ever forgave contempt.” (p. 24).

Korfanty served in the Prussian legislative chamber from 1904 to 1918. He made an impassioned speech to the German national Parliament that all of Upper and Middle Silesia, along with West Prussia (encompassing Danzig/Gdansk), and the Masurian part of East Prussia, be returned to the new independent Polish state. (p. 24).

The Interallied Commission in Opole was conducting a plebiscite, and Polish-German battles erupted with guns as well as words. The German advantages were formidable: Poland was distracted by simultaneously-occurring events (e. g, the Bolshevik War). In Silesia, the German police and militias were in place. Most Poles were employed by Germans, and the local economy was under German control. This enabled Germany to put pressure on the local Poles, which they did. (p. 26).

During the actual insurgencies, Korfanty generally preferred diplomatic solutions. (p. 30). Although the overall plebiscite was in Germany’s favor, and would have been so even had onetime residents not been brought in (p. 29), the final outcome was not bad for Poland. The author comments, (quote) Twenty-nine percent of the plebiscite territory went to Poland, but due largely to the Third Silesian Uprising and French support to the decision-making couloirs of power, Poland received two-thirds of the industrial area. This translated into half of all the iron and steel works, 76 percent of coal mines, 80 percent of zinc and lead mines, and every iron mine located in Upper Silesia’s four most urbanized and industrialized counties, all of which reverted to Poland. (unquote). (p. 33).

JEWISH DISLOYALTY TO POLAND 1919

During the plebiscite and the Silesian Uprisings, the Jews of Silesia generally sided with the Germans. (p. 34).

BEREZA KARTUSKA

A false equivalence is sometimes made of the pre-WWII Polish detention camp at Bereza Kartuska, and the concentration camps of the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany. If so, one might as well attempt an equivalence between the light of a candle and the light of the sun. The author points out that, during its five years of existence, Bereza Kartuska had housed a grand total of 14,000 to 17,000 inmates, and with the staggering death toll of 20. (p. 47).

AUSCHWITZ: QUICK DEATHS (JEWS) VS. SLOW DEATHS (POLES)

The author describes the 1939 German-Soviet conquest of Poland. He then features the brutalities of the Nazi German occupation.

Some Holocaust uniqueness advocates have made much of the fact that Jews were usually gassed upon arrival at Auschwitz, while Poles were generally not gassed, but “only” imprisoned. Ironic to this, Jan Przybyla (alias Midowicz) described the situation in Auschwitz, (quote) Officially, the theoretically daily allocation per person during hard labor was said to have been 2,150 calories; 1,738 for the rest. These figures were never realized—they were consistently much lower. One source puts the average daily calorie intake per emaciated laborer at 1,250—1,400 calories. A surviving prisoner (1943) puts it this way: “Hunger was the most frightful, the most hateful incubus, hanging over the prisoners…Only the gas chambers were more effective.” (unquote). (p. 178).