AntiSemitism Silenced Polish Rescuers a Myth Ozarowski

Wolyn Aflame, by Filip Ozarowski. 1997 [translated from the Polish by Jan Peczkis]

“All Guerrilla Groups Were Bandits” Myth. No Double Standard in Secrecy in Rescuing Jews and Engaging in Underground Activities. The OUN-UPA Genocide of Poles and Polish Guerrilla Defensive Measures

This work clarifies some matters related to Polish-guerrilla action, and I mention two of them.

THE “ALL GUERRILLAS WERE BANDITS” MYTH: ARMIA KRAJOWA DID NOT STEAL FROM THE PEOPLE

Owing to the fact that the Communist GL-AL bands stole from the people, often with an admixture of terror directed at the peasants, some apologists have tried to whitewash this Communist conduct by alleging that “all guerrilla organizations did it”. This is not true. The Armia Krajowa (A. K.) did not steal from Poles. A. K. representatives would buy provisions from the peasants. The requisition could be against the will of the owner, but he was paid for the item. (p. 280).

THE MYTH OF UNILATERAL POLE-TO-POLE TRUST IN UNDERGROUND ACTIVITIES BUT NOT IN JEW RESCUE

The following is a variant of the “Polish rescuers were ashamed of rescuing Jews” meme. Some Polonophobes have leveled the accusation that, whereas Polish neighbors had to act in secrecy, from their neighbors, when hiding Jews, they could trust their Polish neighbors for Underground activities. This is not true. Polish Underground activity also was conducted in the strictest secrecy. This became obvious when members of the Volhynian A. K. came out in the open to fight the Germans. Ozarowski comments, “They came as individuals and in groups, having previously been secret members of various underground outfits known only to their commanders. In Kowel everyone came to realize just how extensive the underground conspiracy had been all along. Everyone was surprised to learn that his neighbor had ALSO been a member of the conspiracy all this time and had pretended to be submissive to the Germans. Many of the railroad workers from Kowel were astonished to see their former janitor at the Kowel train station now wearing a uniform and assuming leadership as Major ‘Kowal'” (emphasis in original)(p. 151).

THE OUN-UPA GENOCIDE OF POLES, AND POLISH DEFENSIVE EFFORTS

Everyone has heard of the 6 million Jews, but who has ever heard of the genocide directed against the Poles (Polokaust)–by Germans, Russians, and Ukrainians? The author of this book, who personally witnessed the tragic events, has written about the attempted Ukrainian Nationalist genocide directed against the rural Poles of Wolyn. [I know the author personally. He is quite a fellow. At the time of the posting of this review (January 2020), he has recently passed away at 97 years old].

Although the events occurred over 75 years ago, this book is timely if only because of the fact that Ukrainians and Ukrainian emigres, to this day, largely refuse to acknowledge the crimes of the OUN-UPA, and even falsely try to blame this evil on the Poles.

Wolyn had, for centuries if not millennia, been a region of mixed Polish-Ukrainian population. Wolyn had been part of Poland for centuries, but the Ukrainian nationalists wanted it as part of a future independent Ukraine. During the German occupation of the region in WWII, the fascist OUN-UPA began a campaign of agitation and forced conscription of local Ukrainians against Poles, using terror against Ukrainians who were opposed to the genocidal policies of the so-called Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA). In time, some 60,000 Wolynian Poles were murdered in the most sadistic manner. This included death by burning alive, impaling on stakes, grotesque mutilation of the body, children thrown down wells, etc.

Ozarowski details the defensive measures taken by the Poles, often against overwhelming odds. He details the unsuccessful efforts at Stepanska Huta and the successful defended villages in such places as Przebraze and Zasmyki. He also discusses in great detail the 27th Wolynian Division of the AK (Polish Home Army), of which he was a part.