Germans Despoiled Poland and Not Only Jews Przygoda

The Way to Freedom, by Zdzislaw Przygoda. 1995

Wartime Looting in Perspective. The Systematic German Despoiling of Poland. The Mendacious Anti-Polish “Goodbye Jews!” Scene in SCHINDLER’S LIST

Zdzislaw Przygoda was an assimilated Polish Jew who eventually joined the Underground Armia Krajowa (A. K., or AK). His job in the A. K. was to hide escapees of all sorts and to give them false identification papers. (p. 57-on). The Gestapo caught him, but he managed to survive the war in various camps. Earlier, he had been an eyewitness to German terror bombing of defenseless Polish civilians during the 1939 war. (p. 39).

POLISH AID TO THE WARSAW GHETTO UPRISING (1943) HAD BEEN SUBSTANTIAL

Przygoda refers to A.K members, later by name, who aided the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising: “I knew many people who assisted those in the Ghetto. I have three Catholic-Polish friends in Toronto, where I now live, who helped to smuggle arms and ammunition into the ghetto.” (p. 54). He adds” On the 19th of April, the Polish company of AK under the command of captain Josef Pszenny, had tried to break the ghetto wall down at Bonifraterska Street. The AK suffered heavy losses fighting to help the Jews of Warsaw.” (p. 56).

CONTRARY TO THE MOVIE SCHINDLER’S LIST (SWINDLER’S LIST), POLES DID NOT APPROVE OF JEWISH SUFFERINGS

The “Goodbye Jews!” scene in SCHINDLER’S LIST, further embellished with Poles throwing clods of mud at the Jews, made it seem, to the over 120 million American viewers, that this was typical Polish behavior towards Jews. It most certainly was not. The scene is anti-Polish propaganda, pure and simple. (Of course, a few individual Poles did mock Jewish suffering, just as a few (or not so few) individual Jews did mock Polish suffering.)

In Przygoda’s experience, anything remotely similar to the anti-Polish scene in SCHINDLER’s LIST was decidedly marginal, and then fiercely condemned by most Poles. He writes: “On my way home from work in the street car, I listened to the loud discussions amongst the passengers. `The ghetto is burning! The Jews are burning, and we will finally be rid of them!’ said one. The majority of passengers reacted quickly by beating him as he made a quick exit from the moving carriage. It was clear that the majority of passengers were upset by the German action, and pleased that the ghetto inhabitants were beginning to fight.” (p. 54).

THE GERMAN-IMPOSED DEATH PENALTY WAS DECISIVE

Jan T. Gross and his fans continue to belittle the German-imposed death penalty for the slightest aid to Jews. In contrast, Przygoda, who, unlike Gross, actually went through the Holocaust, appreciates the force of the death penalty and praises Poles who defied it in order to rescue Jews. (p. xii).

KIELCE A SETUP

As for the Kielce Pogrom, Przygoda understands it as a Communist act that they had falsely blamed on the National Democrats (Endeks) and A.K. (pp. 99-100).

PETTY THEFT IS COMMON WARTIME CONDUCT, NOT SOMETHING THAT “POLES DID TO JEWS”

Jan T. Gross, in his FEAR, has focused exclusively on Poles stealing from Jews, as has the media. However, Poles also stole from other Poles. For instance, Polish cultural treasures stolen by the Germans met the same fate at the hands of Poles in postwar Germany: “Some items had been stolen after the end of the war by Polish workers who knew that they were able to sell them on the black market.” (p. 99).

THE SYSTEMATIC GERMAN DESPOILING OF POLAND

Let us keep wartime stealing in perspective. For some time after the war, Przygoda remained in Germany, and worked to locate property that the Germans had stolen from the Poles. The amount was staggering. He comments: “During this time, I helped to expedite to Poland five trains, each consisting of about seventy railway cars, and each loaded with the Polish highway machinery.” (p. 92). Many other stolen goods were located, including horses. (pp. 93-94). Przygoda also uncovered art treasures that the Germans had stolen from Poland, including materials from the Wawel Castle. (pp. 98-99).

These sobering facts contrast with the usual portrayal, in the west’s media and Holocaust museums, of Nazi Germany only stealing the property of Jews, or of the stealing of Jewish property as the only thefts of any lasting importance.