Betrayals Polish Noncompliance Incurs German Death Penalty Kulski

The Color of Courage: A Boy at War: The World War II Diary of Julian Kulski, by Julian E. Kulski. 2014

Failure to Denounce Fugitive Jews Alone Incurred German Death Penalty. Paid Polish Guerrilla Jan T. Gross Myth. Black Market Risk. Church “Silence” on Holocaust

Julian E. Kulski (born 1929) was the great-great-grandchild of Rabbi Dov Beer Meisels. (p. 153). Julian was among the younger soldiers who fought in the ill-fated Soviet-betrayed Warsaw Uprising of 1944.

This book contains Kulski’s wartime diary, along with many dubbed-in WWII photographs illustrating the events described. It includes extra sections which give the reader a summary of Poland during WWII, biographical blurbs about personages (including Kulski’s relatives and associates) mentioned in the diary, etc.

The content of this work overlaps that of another that features this author. Please LEGACY OF THE WHITE EAGLE and read the detailed Peczkis review.

A POLE COULD GET THE DEATH PENALTY MERELY FOR FAILING TO DENOUNCE FUGITIVE JEWS IN THE VICINITY

An October 1939 entry (p. 30) has a list of offenses which incur the German-imposed death penalty, and one of these is merely not reporting information, about an attempted crime, to the authorities. [Later, Poles were in danger merely for not reporting the presence of fugitive Jews in the area, or Jews living with a neighbor. This obviously encouraged denunciations of such Jews out of fear.]

DIRECT POLISH ASSISTANCE TO THE WARSAW GHETTO UPRISING (1943)

Another diary entry (April 19, 1943) recounts the unsuccessful attempt by the A. K. to blast a hole in the ghetto wall during, and in attempted assistance to, the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. (p. 177).

POLOKAUST AND HOLOCAUST

Still another entry (June 7, 1944) alludes to the repeated German statements about annihilating the Polish people, and not just the Jews. (p. 251).

DEADLY CONDITIONS FOR POLISH PRISONERS OF WAR IN GERMAN CAPTIVITY

Finally, an entry (November 21, 1944) mentions the 12-hour workdays, and near-starvation rations, faced by Polish POWs in German captivity, notably those who had surrendered after the Warsaw Uprising. (p. 359).

I now focus on a few topics, of lasting interest, in more detail. I relate them to matters commonly raised that are outside the immediate purview of this book:

THE HOLOCAUST AND THE “SILENCE” OF THE CHURCH

It is nowadays customary for Holocaust materials to attack the Catholic Church, especially the Polish Church, for not speaking out forcefully against the Nazi actions against Jews. These attacks are as naïve as they are malicious.

In reality, the Polish Church, especially, functioned in constant fear of the German authorities. In the diary entry for Polish Constitution Day (May 3, 1944), Kulski comments, (quote) Moreover, both the singing of patriotic hymns in church and the preaching of sermons making reference to politics are strictly forbidden. (unquote). (p. 246).

THE BLACK MARKET: FEAR OF “LIGHT” CONSEQUENCES. NO COMPARISON WITH THE RESCUE OF JEWS

In his diary entry of March 31, 1942, Kulski wrote, (quote) The food situation in Poland is awful, and the Germans are taking everything. Now there is nothing more to sell, and my mother is resorting to bringing in sacks of potatoes and sugar from the country, riding in crowded trains, and looking out for police patrols when approaching stations. If she sees a patrol, she has to throw the previous food out the window in order to escape arrest and deportation to a concentration camp. (unquote). (p. 135).

In his diary entry of April 16, 1942, Kulski described the famous black market at Kerceli Square in Warsaw, (quote) In spite of the profits, this is a dangerous business, for the square is often surrounded by armed police who confiscate all the articles, destroy and burn the kiosks, and catch the smugglers and deport them to Germany. (unquote). (p. 137).

The foregoing sheds light on some attacks on Poland by neo-Stalinist Jan T. Gross. He had accused Poles of fearing the German-imposed death penalty selectively, in that Poles were reluctant to hide Jews, but freely flouted the death penalty by engaging in black marketeering. The argument of Jan T. Gross is fallacious. It is obvious that getting caught black marketeering meant being sent to a concentration camp or forced labor in the Third Reich, and not the death penalty, at least not necessarily. Kulski’s entries also make it clear that Poles were indeed afraid of the potential consequences of black marketeering, and not just afraid of hiding Jews. [The near-starvation conditions caused by the German occupants of Poland is what forced Poles to engage in black marketeering in the first place. It was a matter of self-preservation. It also made it very difficult for Poles to house and feed fugitive Jews.]

PAID POLISH GUERRILLAS?

Kulski’s unit had members with different vocational occupations. His father provided many of the jobs for the Underground members, as well as fake documents for the “occupations” of high-ranking members. (p. 118).

In time, Julian became a fireman. This provided a cover for his Underground activity, and facilitated his Underground actions by allowing him to be inconspicuously mobile as part of his work-related duties, and by enabling him to be exempt from the German-imposed curfew. (pp. 243-244).

Jan T. Gross, in a transparent attempt to degrade Polish patriotism, has leveled the ridiculous charge that members of the A. K. (ARMIA KRAJOWA) were in it for money. In actuality, only a few of the leaders, those that were full-time, were paid. Please go to OCLC 0691093814 and read the Korbonski review which is embedded in the Peczkis review. In addition, the experiences of Julian Kulski and his father make it clear that most A. K. members had normal jobs. So much for Poles getting rich by serving in the ARMIA KRAJOWA!