JUDENRAT Big Help to Germans Lubetkin

In the Days of Destruction and Revolt, by Zivia Lubetkin, Yehiel Yanay (Editor), Ishai Tubbin (Translator). 1981

Jewish Nazi Collaboration: No Softening the Blow. Jews Slow to Accept Fact of Holocaust. No Denouncers Needed: Germans Found Fugitive Jews Directly Themselves

The author provides much detail on Jewish political movements and personages. Interestingly, among the first kibbutzim were those in pre-WWII Poland. (pp. 51-55).

As is the case with the vast majority of books on the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, this one is ZOB (Z.O.B.) centered. The author consistently refers to it as JFO (Jewish Fighting Organization). However, Lubetkin does briefly mention the Revisionists (ZZW, or Z.Z.W.) and their combat. (pp. 239-240).

POLES PLAYED A MAJOR ROLE IN KEEPING THE GHETTO JEWS ALIVE

Polish smugglers helped alleviate the starvation in the Warsaw Ghetto. (pp. 161-162). After Jews were deported, the remaining Jews bartered the deportees’ property in exchange for food. (pp. 162-163). Lubetkin touches on Polish aid to Jews many times (e. g., p. 87), including that of Zegota (p. 263), and mentions various Polish Warsaw-Ghetto-Uprising-aid efforts, notably that of Henryk Wolinski. (p. 193, 335).

JEWISH NAZI COLLABORATION: NO MINCING OF WORDS

The author is harsh on Jewish leaders: “In some of the various Judenrat, elements from the underworld volunteered to help subjugate the Jews. Even if there were some people within the ranks of the Judenrat who meant well, from an objective point of view, they could still be considered traitors since they diligently followed the Nazis’ orders.” (p. 40).

Lubetkin is even harsher on the Jewish Ghetto Police: “During the first period of the Deportation, which lasted for several weeks, only the Jewish Police rounded up the Jews to march them off to the Umschlagplatz at the railroad station–which meant certain death…Most of the members of the Jewish Police force had either a university or at least a high school education. They began to believe that they had the right to control the life and death of the Jews (just as if they belonged to the SS) and maintain order.” (p. 102).

JEWS WERE SLOW TO ACCEPT THE REALITY OF THE UNFOLDING HOLOCAUST

Author Lubetkin comments, “In the first few weeks, there weren’t that many Jews who took a chance and tried to hide. They did not as yet believe that deportation from the ghetto meant death, but there was no doubt in their minds that anyone found hiding would be shot on the spot. The few who did hide, however, were only discovered because of the efforts of the Jewish Police to do everything in their power to fulfill the quotas imposed upon them.” (p. 103).

DO NOT BLAME THE POLES FOR BEING LESS THAN ENTHUSIASTIC SUPPORTERS OF JEWISH RESISTANCE

Owing to the fact that Jewish leaders had been appeasing Germans up to this time, Poles at first were skeptical of Jewish claims of wanting to fight the Germans. There also was conflicting information about such efforts. Lubetkin mentions Alfred Shtolzman, a Judenrat member whose representative had met with the Armia Krajowa (AK, or A. K.), and tried to persuade them that the Jewish fighters were nothing more than corrupt, greedy extortionists posing as combatants. (pp. 193-194, 330).

Politically-mainstream Poles were also reluctant to support the ZOB more fully owing to its Communist inclinations. Besides, as Lubetkin admits, Yitzhak Zuckerman, during his negotiations with the Armia Krajowa (AK, or A. K.), tried to hide the existence of four outright-Communist Jewish units embedded within the ZOB. (p. 196).

POLISH AID TO THE WARSAW GHETTO UPRISING (1943)

When discussing Polish aid to the ZOB fighters, she comments: “We received instructions on improvising other weapons from Polish experts. We also had the formula for the famous `Molotov cocktail,’ which is so efficient against tanks and armored vehicles. Michael Klepfisch, an engineer from the Bund, learned it from his Polish Socialist friends.” (p. 165). Lubetkin’s statement about the armor-busting efficacy of Molotov cocktails, and the fact that their construction was learned from Poles, is almost identical to that of Warsaw-Ghetto-Uprising-Suppressor Nazi Juergen Stroop! See the Peczkis Review of Conversations with an Executioner.

THE GERMANS DID NOT NEED BETRAYERS TO UNMASK AND APPREHEND FUGITIVE JEWS

The deaths of fugitive Jews because of denunciations by Poles may have been overemphasized. It turns out that the Germans were perfectly capable of identifying fugitive Jews without assistance. Lubetkin writes: “The most dangerous possibility, however, was to be recognized as a Jew. The Germans had their own methods of uncovering Jews. They would stare at the faces of the passengers and anyone who looked unhappy was suspect. Therefore the liaisons always had to appear cheerful and laugh no matter how difficult and dangerous their missions were.” (pp. 79-81).