Polokaust An Introductory Summary Biskupski

The History of Poland, by Mieczyslaw B. Biskupski. 2000

An Overview of the Polokaust: The Staggering Losses Inflicted By the Nazi Germans on Poland

The author generally provides a balanced account of Polish history. This book encompasses pre-Partition Poland, Poland under foreign rule, the resurrection of the Polish state (1918) with its frontier battles, the Second Republic (1918-1939), WWII (1939-1945), the Soviet-imposed Communist state in its early (1945-1970) and later (1970-1989) function, and the Third Republic. (1990-present).

TIMELESS 1939 WAR MYTHS

While discussing the 1939 campaign, Biskupski debunks some myths: the one about the Polish Air Force getting destroyed largely on the ground, and the one about Polish cavalry charging German tanks out of foolhardiness or desperation. Actually, Poles used horses for their mobility. He realizes that the horse was still widely used in combat at the time, and that the Wehrmacht, in its conquest of Poland, and notwithstanding its mechanization, still relied on almost 200,000 horses. (p. 104).

THE POLOKAUST: A SUMMARY

Perhaps the strongest part of this book is its eye-opening description of the staggering scale of Polish losses during WWII. The Germans murdered 45% of Poland’s physicians and dentists, 57% of her attorneys, 40% of her professors, 30% of her technicians, a majority of her journalists, and nearly 20% of her clergy. There was a total of 200 concentration camps in German-occupied Poland. (p. 108). The devastation was proportionately unmatched anywhere in the world, and came out to thirteen times the national income of the last prewar year, 1938. Biskupski adds, “Almost 40 percent of the entire productive capacity of the country lay in ruins, and two-thirds of the industrial base at least partially destroyed. In agriculture, two-thirds of the cattle, half of the horses, and more than 80 percent of the swine were gone, 80 percent of the railroad cars and engines were gone, the vast majority of bridges and rail lines along with them. (p. 123).

PROBLEMS WITH THIS BOOK

The author makes not-well-supported critical comments of the likes of Roman Dmowski, Smigly-Rydz, Cardinal Glemp, and Poles in Polish-Ukrainian relations. Some readers may find these remarks one-sided and tendentious.