Warnings By Poles of Shoah Example Dobroszycki

The Chronicle of the Lodz Ghetto, 1941-1944, by Lucjan Dobroszycki (Editor), Richard Lourie (Translator), Joachim Neugroschel (Translator). 1987

Polish Warnings to Jews. Polish-Jewish Relations Generally Positive. Jewish Ghetto Police in Action. Polish Mischlinge Murdered

After the German-Soviet conquest of Poland in September-October 1939, the area around Lodz was directly annexed into the Third Reich and named Wartheland (the land of the Warthe (Warta) River). The city itself was renamed Litzmannstadt (after a WWI German officer then active in the area). Owing to the intensity of German rule imposed upon the population, Poles and Jews were less able to interact with each other compared with, for example, Warsaw.

NOT ONLY JEWS SUFFERED: POLES DID TOO

Within weeks of the start of the German occupation of Lodz, both Jews and Poles were subject to cultural genocide. In his introduction, Dobroszycki describes the burning of all synagogues by the Germans and, that very same day, their annihilation of the statue of Kosciuszko (p. xxxiv). The destruction of Christian institutions by the Germans included the conversion of one of the main churches of Lodz into a storage facility, as shown in one of the not-numbered photos situated between pages 424 and 427.

The Lodz ghetto was created by the Germans but not fully liquidated by them until the late summer of 1944. At that time, nearly all of its remaining inhabitants were murdered at Auschwitz-Birkenau. Earlier, the Jews of Lodz had been steadily gassed and cremated at nearby Kulmhof (Chelmno).

POLES WARN JEWS OF THE IMPENDING GERMAN-MADE HOLOCAUST

Dobroszycki credits the Poles with playing a major role in bringing these crimes to light: “Since January 1942, both the Polish and the Jewish resistance movements had gradually learned about the existence of the camp in Chelmno and the fates of the Jews deported there. The first information was obtained from Polish railroad workers, local residents, foresters; later, more detailed accounts were to come from eyewitnesses…” (p. xxii).

INTERNALLY-INCONSISTENT MURDEROUS NAZI POLICIES TOWARDS PART-JEWS

Dobroszycki (p. 40) points out that Polish Mischlinge (Jewish-gentile “half-breeds”) were simply reckoned Jews and exterminated. In contrast, German Mischlinge were spared [See HITLER”S JEWISH SOLDIERS, by Rigg].

POLISH-JEWISH RELATIONS GENERALLY POSITIVE

In the chronicle itself, mundane matters predominate. Interestingly, positive references to Poles far exceed negative ones. For instance (May 20, 1942): “The civilian population, the Aryans, and particularly the Poles, were very favourably inclined toward the Jews and, in large measure, the Jews from Brzeziny owe them their lives. They tell of one baker who baked a special quota of bread for the Jews, which he would have little children bring into the ghetto. The little children would bring one batch of bread into the ghetto, and then, before anyone knew it, they’d be back with another. Aryan friends would pass the Jews bacon, meat, and other products through the ghetto fence, more often than not without being paid for it. The Jews from Brzeziny see no analogies with the pre-war situation; anti-Semitism seemed to have vanished completely there.” (p. 183). There are reports of Polish smugglers caught and arrested for bringing goods into the ghetto (December 10, 1942; p. 299. February 15, 1943; p. 320).

The foregoing accounts parallel, in many ways, those of Emmanuel Ringelblum relative to the Warsaw ghetto. They suggest that Poles and Jews did in fact tend to draw closer together during the German occupation of Poland. This is contrary to the position held by Yisrael Gutman.

JEWISH-NAZI COLLABORATION

Consider the early deportations of Lodz Jews to the death camps (September 14, 1942): “In the meantime, the Jewish police were searching the apartments and bringing out anyone who had been hiding or people who were ill.” (p. 251). A similar situation is described as follows (Thursday, July 13, 1944): “A shameful, shocking street scene. Jews hunting other Jews like game. A real Jew-hunt, organized by Jews. But what is to be done; there is no choice. Anyone who is called up must report.” (p. 525).

The “anyone who is called up must report”, not mentioned, also applies to the POLICJA GRANATOWA and to village mayors. The Germans demanded that they search for fugitive Jews, and the Poles had no choice but to comply.