Jew Killing WWII By Poles Only Jews Matter Levine

Fugitives of the Forest: The Heroic Story of Jewish Resistance and Survival During the Second World War, by Allan Levine. 2008

ARMIA KRAJOWA (A. K.) Killing Jews: Better Than Most Jewish Authors, But With a Frankly “Only Jewish Lives Matter” Approach

Other reviews already inform the reader about the main features of this book. Instead of repeating other reviewers, I focus on some specific issues, and present new information for the interested reader.

Author Allan Levine takes issue with historian Mark Paul on a number of matters. For Mark Paul’s assessment of Levine, please read the free online book, A TANGLED WEB: POLISH-JEWISH RELATIONS…

In some ways, Levine attempts to be objective. For instance, he shows a greater sensitivity to Polish suffering under the Germans than do most Jewish authors. On the other hand, Levine repeats all the standard, shallow exculpations for Jewish conduct against Poles.

AUTHOR FORGETS THAT JEWS ALSO MURDERED INNOCENT PEOPLE, AND NOT JUST THOSE WHO HAD HARMED JEWS

When referring to Leon Kahn’s testimony, Levine dismisses historian Mark Paul’s suggestion (that the killings of Kahn’s family, by the A. K., were conducted in retaliation for Jewish-Soviet acts) owing to the fact that Kahn’s father and younger sister were also allegedly killed. (pp. xxxiii-xxxiv). In doing so, Levine is essentially copying Yaffa Eliach, and forgetting that such reprisals had a collectivist aspect that went both ways. For instance, when Jews had earlier collaborated with the Soviets in sending Poles to Siberia, they were not merely retaliating against anti-Semitic Poles. They were sending all sorts of Poles, including innocent little Polish children, to their horrible deaths.

THE JEDWABNE MYSTIFICATION CONTINUES

Levine accepts Jan T. Gross on Jedwabne as gospel truth. (pp. xxx-xxi). The reader should know that, contrary to media spin, the subsequent IPN investigative commission did not prove Gross right on Jedwabne. Please see: Wokól Jedwabnego, and read the detailed English-language Peczkis review. Nor has Polish guilt for Jedwabne been proven. For instance, see JEDWABNE, by Chodakiewicz, and read my review.

There are two sides to every conflict. The reader should be aware of the fact that Soviet-collaborating Jews conducted massacres of Poles, notably at Naliboki and Koniuchy. We never hear about them: They have disappeared down an Orwellian memory hole! For an up-to-date account of the Jewish mass murder of Poles at various villages, please see: Intermarium: The Land between the Black and Baltic Seas: 0, and read the detailed Peczkis review.

ARE “MUTUALLY CORROBORATED” SURVIVOR ACCOUNTS NECESSARILY RELIABLE?

There are many problems with the kinds of survivor accounts freely used by Levine. For instance, even if the core of a survivor account is truthful, it may still leave out crucial material facts, causing it to have an anti-Polish slant.

The reader of this book should be aware of the fact that Jewish accounts of persecution by Poles have a very poor record of veracity when subject to independent investigation. See the Peczkis Amazon Wish List: POLISH POGROMS… Perhaps they should not be believed unless independently corroborated.

Levine falls back on the “Where there is so much smoke, there must be fire” thinking. He contends that, owing to the fact that there are so many Jewish reports of Polish misdeeds against Jews, they must generally be true, even if some of them are not. However, note that there are also many reports, from many different places and times, accusing Jews of conducting ritual murder. It does not necessarily follow that any of these reports are true!

This is also the case with Holocaust-survivor testimonies. Levine would have the reader believe that people who went through traumatic experiences would not make things up (pp. xxxiii), at least in a consistent manner. The exact opposite is the case. For instance, many Jews who were at Auschwitz, though acting independently, claim to have met, or even known, Joseph Mengele, than was plausibly the case. Consider this in broader context, Holocaust survivors tended to graft into their memories incidents that they had heard from others but not experienced themselves. [See the Peczkis review of COLLECTED MEMORIES, by Christopher R. Browning.] Does the commonality of certain elements, in the Levine-quoted survivor accounts, point to their truthfulness, or does it rather point to the commonality of specific Polonophobic memes in the Jewish community?

JEWS AND BANDITRY: OK FOR JEWS TO HARM POLES BUT JUST TERRIBLE IF POLES DEFEND THEMSELVES AND HARM JEWS

Levine acknowledges, “That Jewish partisans and fugitives were guilty of stealing food from Polish farmers is an uncontested fact. It happened regularly, as is chronicled in this book.” (p. xlii). He chides historian Mark Paul by asking what else Jews were supposed to do to feed themselves. In common with many Jewish authors, Levine forgets some things. To begin with, banditry, during wartime, is commonly a capital crime.

Hello, Dr. Levine! Not only Jewish lives matter: Polish lives matter too. Jews were not the only ones who needed to eat. Poles did too. Poles lived under near-starvation conditions because of the draconian requisitions by German officials and Soviet partisans. Therefore, Poles should not be expected to react to known or suspected Jewish banditry with anything other than the greatest severity. In addition, how were Polish peasants supposed to be more sympathetic to the plight of Jewish fugitives when their main experiences of them were as bandits?

NEWER SOURCES OF INFORMATION

While being harsh on the A. K. (ARMIA KRAJOWA), Levine presents an almost rosy view of the murderous Communist GL-AL bands. (pp. 202-on). For a corrective, please see: Tajne oblicze GL-AL i PPR: Dokumenty (Polish Edition), and read the detailed English-language Peczkis review.