Jewish Economic Advantage Family Ties Sendyk

The End of Days: A Memoir of the Holocaust, by Helen Sendyk. 2000

Jewish Family Networks Facilitated the Permanence of Jewish Economic Hegemony (Forcing Poles To Boycott Jews). Jewish Nazi Collaboration. Polish, and Not Only German, Women Were Raped by Soviet Soldiers

Helen Sendyk was a Jew who lived in Chrzanow, Poland, before WWII. She describes Jewish life in pre-WWII Poland, the German invasion, the horrors of the German occupation, life at a German labor camp at Reichenbach (present-day Dzierzionow) in Silesia, “liberation” by the Soviets, etc.

JEWISH ECONOMIC DOMINANCE AND THE NECESSARY POLISH BOYCOTTS

Before the war, Poland’s Jews enjoyed an economic hegemony which the Poles were forced to try to weaken or break through Endek-led boycotts. Without such boycotts, the hegemony would have been hard to even dent. The hegemony had tended to be self-perpetuating, owing to the following: “Jewish families in Chrzanow knew each other for generations. Traditions and family status, yichus, were very important, and children generally followed in their parents’ footsteps. An official, respectful distance was kept between Jews and gentiles, but the Staplers had an unusually close relationship with our non-Jewish patrons.” (p. 3). On the other hand, the boycott was far from universal. Her Uncle Pinchas regularly sold shoes to Poles (p. 50).

THE 1939 WAR

Sendyk’s description of the German conquest of Poland includes that of a dogfight between the Polish Air Force and the Luftwaffe. Occurring on Sept. 3 (p. 57), the Polish airmen emerged victorious in this particular encounter: “When the buzzing intensified, we looked up to see a German airplane. Huddling together, we awaited the impending disaster. But the bombs never came. Instead, we saw five Polish planes in pursuit of the enemy plane. A short battle ensued, and soon the German craft burst into a ball of flames, burning shreds falling like fiery torches to the ground. There was exhilaration and happy waving at the Polish planes, with some people applauding the Polish heroes who had just saved their lives.” (p. 60). Her testimony adds refutation to the canard about the Polish Air Force getting destroyed on the ground on the first day of the war.

JEWISH NAZI COLLABORATION

The Judenrat and Jewish police are described in nuanced terms. Some of them tried to ease the plight of their brethren, while others eagerly collaborated with the Germans for personal gain. (p. 137).

THE PREDATORY CONDUCT OF THE RED ARMY

It is well known that the Soviets raped German women and girls in their drive across German-held or German territory. What is less known is the fact that the Soviets did the same to Polish women and girls, and to females of other nationalities. When the Red Army liberated the camp in which Sendyk had been held, the soldiers later returned, forcefully and persistently contending that they were owed sexual favors for liberating the Jewish women (pp. 216-218, 224). Other females in the area were raped.