Jews Forced Into Commerce a Myth Hauser

Ilustrowany Przewodnik po Zabytkach Galicji Wschodniej, by Zbigniew Hauser. 2004

Kresy Revisited. Desecration of Not Only Jewish But Also Polish Cemeteries. Jews Forced Into Usury, etc., a Myth

This work consists of an alphabetical list of cities and towns in the Ukrainian portion of the Kresy, specifically the city of Lwow, the former Lwow Voivodship, and the former Stanislawow Viovodship. Each entry includes the Ukrainian (Cyrillic) spelling of the locality, a brief (and often extensive) Polish history of the locality, and sometimes the postwar developments. The main focus is on Polish architecture, although synagogues are also discussed. Some attention is also devoted to the Hutzul (Hucul) culture of the mountainous areas of Stanislawow Voivodship.

THE DE-POLONIZATION OF THE KRESY

The Kresy were conquered by the Soviets as part of the Nazi-Communist alliance against Poland in 1939, and retained by the Soviet Union as a result of the Churchill-Roosevelt betrayal of Poland, and giveaway of eastern Poland at Teheran in 1943. The Kresy was ethnically cleansed of Poles.

The catalogue lists only a few locations where the Ukrainian fascist-separatist OUN-UPA had engaged in the genocidal slaughter of Poles during WWII. Some 250 Poles were murdered at Podkamien (Brody area, Lwow Voivodship). (p. 184). The convent at Sokol (Lwow Voivodship) became a refuge of Poles fleeing the UPA massacres in Wolyn. (p. 215).

Decades after the faintest glimmer of possibility of the Kresy returning to Poland had faded, the Soviets continued to forcibly de-Polonize the Kresy. They blew up churches, as at Rozniatow (Stanislawow area) in 1968. (p. 314). The city of Stanislawow (Stanislav) itself was renamed Ivano-Frankivsk in 1962. However, many Ukrainians continue to use the original name. (p. 316). In the 1980’s, the authorities destroyed much of the old Catholic cemetery in Stanislawow, over the objections of the few remaining Poles and part of the Ukrainian intelligentsia. (p. 322).

NOT ONLY JEWISH CEMETERIES WERE DESCRATED: POLISH CEMETERIES WERE TOO

Nowadays, we often see a display of matseva or matzevot, and complaints about the desecration or repurposing of Jewish cemeteries, after the German-made Holocaust. It is made into a big deal, even some kind of indictment of (what else?) Polish anti-Semitism. We never hear of all the other victims of such events.

A large share of this book is devoted to the city of Lwow, which had been the third Polish city after Warsaw and Krakow. Lwow continues to be the object of much interest in present-day Poland. (p. 10). One of the items elaborated on is the famous Orlat Cemetery. No sooner had the Poles been expelled by the Soviet authorities in 1946 than the ruination of the cemetery commenced. The beautiful architecture was beset with graffiti and profanities, and the cemetery was converted into a garbage dump. In 1971, bulldozers were used to demolish more of the architecture, and, soon thereafter, the once most-honored part of the cemetery was converted into a street. (p. 75).

PASSIVE NEGLECT ADDS TO THE TOLL

Most of the Polish architecture of the Kresy, however, was destroyed by passive neglect. Even today, one can find ruins and roof-less walls. Most of the churches were converted into secular buildings (such as farm-product storage sites) or Museums of Atheism. After the fall of the USSR, some of these buildings were re-converted into churches–generally Ukrainian ones.

1920 POLISH-BOLSHEVIK WAR: LITTLE-KNOWN FACTS

Disappointingly little information is given about the remaining Polish population of these territories. However, much of the colorful history of the area is discussed. For instance, Zadworze (Busk area, Lwow Voivodship) was the site of the “Polish Thermopylae” during the 1920 Polish-Soviet War. The Polish forces fought to the last man against Budyonny’s cavalry. (p. 250).

JEWS FORCED INTO COMMERCE A MYTH

It has commonly been argued that Jews were forced into “parasitic” occupations because nothing else was available to them, and specifically that they were rarely in agriculture owing to restrictions against them participating in this profession. To the contrary: At Bolechow (Dolina region, Stanislawow Voivodship), at least, the local Jews were offered a farming colony in the late 1700’s, which they refused owing to their lack of interest in farming. (p. 270). Instead, the colony was given to German colonists.

BORYSLAW

I especially found interesting the description of the city of Boryslaw (Drohobycz area, Lwow Voivodship)(pp. 85-86), the city of my matrilineal ancestors, where my grandfather had owned an oil well. In 1880, Boryslaw had still been a small village. The discovery of oil made it into a boom town. By 1938, it had grown to 42,000 inhabitants, and 70% of Poland’s oil came from that town. Under Soviet rule, the (Catholic) Church of St. Barbara was closed in 1945. It was given to the Greek Catholics in the early 1990’s. The Catholic Cemetery at nearby Hukowa Gora contains the remains of some prominent Poles, including Adam Burczymuch Palaszewski (d. 1931), who had been director of a mine, and who had earlier participated in the ill-fated January 1863 Insurrection.