Nazis Saw Jews and Poles Similarly Hlond

Persecution of the Catholic Church in German Occupied Poland, by August Hlond. 1941

The Early Polokaust: The Systematic Annihilation of Polish-Ness in the German-Occupied Territories Annexed to the Reich. Nazis Treated Jews and Poles Similarly

Readers accustomed to think of Jews as the only victims of the Nazis are in for a shock when reading this book. This 1941 work consists of a series of eyewitness reports in German-occupied Poland, covering only Fall 1939 and sometimes through Spring 1940.

WARNING: The descriptions of Nazi German conduct against Catholics and Poles are graphic, and may upset sensitive readers. At the same time, the reader must realize that the items discussed in these book were applicable only to the first few months of the German occupation, and do not touch on the horrors that developed later.

NAZIS SAW JEWS AND POLES SIMILARLY

Actions speak louder than words. The Nazi Germans did not treat Poles and Jews particularly differently. Poles and Jews were both severely punished for violating the curfew. (p. 22). Some Jews were imprisoned in convent buildings. (p. 27). Polish priests, together with Jews, were often confined together under inhumane conditions. (p. 47). Sometimes, Jews were forced to prepare Poles for the execution process and to bury the bodies. (p. 58).

THE GERMAN DESTRUCTION OF POLISH CATHOLICISM

Polish church properties were expropriated by the Germans, and their dwellers thrown out and reduced to abject poverty. The Germans looted every major religious and cultural institution in Poland, and, in a barbarous manner reminiscent of the Communists, destroyed the statuary and altars in many churches. In an obvious act of cultural genocide, the Germans confiscated the contents of every public and private library that they could reach, and sent the materials to paper mills. (p. 85).

The Germans also destroyed virtually all statuary, Crosses, and shrines alongside roads and in public places. They also removed and destroyed crucifixes from schools and public buildings. (I knew an eyewitness, Marian Widomski, who lived as a boy in German-occupied Reich-annexed Poland, and who, decades later, was my scoutmaster in the ZUCHY (Polish Scouts). He recounted the strict German prohibition against the display of Crosses in public buildings.)

The war on Poland’s Catholic heritage continues, in modernized, form, to this day. Nowadays, the LEWACTWO (Polish leftists) have rather arrogantly tried to remove Crucifixes from all public spaces in Poland.

THE GERMAN PERSECUTION OF POLISH CATHOLIC PRIESTS

Certain priests were murdered by the Nazis, while thousands of other priests were sent to prison or concentration camps. Many parishes had no priests to conduct Masses, or only one. In many locations, priests had to go underground, and to conduct confessions and Masses in secret. An untold number of Poles died, naturally or un-naturally, without the benefit of the Sacrament of Extreme Unction.

The overall situation is summarized as follows, (quote) It goes without saying that the Nazi aim is to dechristianize as rapidly as possible these countries which are attached to the Catholic faith, and the results are as follows: 95 per cent of the priests have been imprisoned, expelled, or humiliated before the eyes of the faithful. The Curia no longer exists; the Cathedral has been made into a garage as at Pelplin…Hundreds of churches have been closed. The whole patrimony of the Church has been confiscated, and most eminent Catholics executed. The Poles have been driven from the land of their ancestors and replaced by Germans. All the religious emblems in streets and public places have been removed, and Hitlerian agents blaspheme or denigrate the Catholic faith in public. (unquote)(p. 43).

BRUTAL DEPORTATIONS OF POLES

The Germans murdered many thousands of Poles in various massacres, and deported many others to forced labor in Germany, or to the war-devastated and severely impoverished German-occupied central Poland (General Government). The Poles had only a few minutes to take only the belongings that they could carry, sometimes not being allowed to dress (p. 22), while the Germans took everything else for themselves. During the winter of 1939-1940, the deported Poles had to travel for days in unheated railroad cars while the temperature was -30 F, with a very high mortality.

THE GERMANS, WITH THEIR CRIMINALITY, WERE SOWING THE WIND

What goes around comes around. The author, perhaps anticipating what the later German expellees would experience, commented on the righteous anger building up in Poles, (quote) They see themselves driven out of their homes and despoiled of all that they owned; they see that they have been mercilessly doomed to perish, and that they have found no aid, no protection, no defense. So to be outraged in one’s beliefs of religion and of conscience, in one’s dignity, and in one’s rights to liberty, to family, to property, to life itself, fills the soul of man with an overmastering bitterness which some day may break forth with deplorable consequences upon the barbarous oppressor. (unquote)(p. 24).

NOT ONLY JEWS WERE PILLAGED. POLES WERE TOO

Neo-Stalinist Jan T. Gross, as in his GOLDEN HARVEST, has tried to make a big deal of the fact that some Poles acquired the properties of Nazi-murdered Jews. Apart from the German-caused privations that forced Poles to engage in this kind of conduct, this Polish act was a pittance compared with German pillage of both Jews and Poles.

Apropos to this, Polish Cardinal August Hlond wrote, “The hatred of the populace for Germany and Hitlerism is very deep and menacing.” (p. 51). “The Germans rob, sack, and carry away everything they like, without giving any receipt. If this goes on, we shall perish miserably. It is not astonishing that a profound and terrible hate is being born in very heart. It is to be feared that in time there will be some frightful massacre. But they [the Germans] do everything, in truth, to make themselves hated.” (p. 66).”

Finally, (quote) The attitude of the people is heroic, but hatred is increasing. Only a miracle will be able to save the Germans from a terrible vengeance. It is very consoling to see how all the social classes among the Poles have drawn together. (unquote)(p. 68).