The Wider Pogrom in Poland.

On Thursday August 24^th 1939 “..I have no prayer but this ..that we shall meet again ..alive.” Chaim Weizman.

The level of research here is not extensive enough to include all those Polish Jews murdered by their former Neighbours, in those community’s which should have protected them. Nor is the detail sufficient enough to place an accusation against all such community’s which reneged upon their moral, even Christian duty to honour and respect those they lived in such close proximity to. So throughout this piece, you should recognise that anti-humane demonstrations against the Polish Jew was conducted in every era, century and millennia, wherever the Jewish People was met with such a savage betrayal of their right to life. But let me just state that I have sought to elicit as a more specific acknowledgement of how some Jews fared better than others. Though bludgeoned, beaten, assailed and assaulted, not all Jews were killed in Pogroms in Poland, which led to the Murder’s of all of those Jewish residents targeted. While History is being amplified to distort all of this, in favour of a narrative that would seek to shift to blame the Nazi era in Poland as some accumulating factor in all of these attacks. But, my search begins way before even Hitler gained a listened to voice within Poland. What stretches back to the 1910’s when Poland emerged from a World War to end all Wars, and in which Polish Jewry served bravely and honourably, met an intransigence of opinion which had been formed over millennia. While there is the largely conjectured assertion, as to the involvement of either the German military, or der Einsatzgruppe in the Pogroms themselves, after 1939, and this is both contentious, and is to be disputed, we are looking at a period which extends some 30 years prior to the commencement of World War II.  1940 proved deliberately intentional for many Jewish Community’s under attack, as the spectre of Hitler’s resolve for the Jews of Europe was more widely spread within Poland. There was already a manifesto amongst Right-Wing Groups throughout Poland which declared a Program for The Solution of The Jewish Problem. Its declared intention was in very clear alignment to what Hitler proposed would become die Endlosung der Judenfrage, The Final Solution of the Jewish Question:

“..1. A Polish and an International Jewish Organisation must find Territories for Jewish Settlement;

2. Jews should not be allowed to take out any money when leaving Poland; and

3.  A special Government Department should be established to speed Jewish Emigration. ..Jews must realise that ..sovereign Polish nation deprives them of ..right to remain in Poland. ..because of ..vital interests of ..Polish People conflict with ..interests of ..Jewish People.” The Mloda Polska Newspaper. Circa 1940.

So even before Hitler sought to ensure he could deal murderously with 3,650,000 of Polish Jewry, Poland was all conforming to his demands within a country where Pogroms were dealt to Polish Jews in many Shtetl’s, Villages, Towns and even City’s. That the Poles were conforming then to a strategic German effort, might make it seem as if there was indeed a systematic Polish approach. Considering their uniformity within the mistreatment of the Jewish People, inside and outside of Poland, and of the murders this effort dealt, comparisons are too numerous to just ignore. Poles were of so many different persuasions, some religious, some political, and in all of which the Jews were always defined as either outsiders or protagonists ranging against their own Polish identity. But as I write, I cannot ever begin to do justice to any part of this search, never understanding the deeper implication’s of neither, bias, bigotry, racism, hatred, or more specifically antisemitism. My work, particularly as it is guided by a very enclosed structure like my on-line Blog, is terminally confronting a past that all too many have no wish to accede to. But in both Parts I, and II, of my recent Blog itself, written specifically on Poland and It’s Jews, I have sought to deliver to posterity, a more than passing example as to why the Polish urge was to denounce their Jewish Neighbours. For all too many of those Poles, to even assist in the Jewish destruction, this surely conforms evenly to Hitler’s demands as I have stated.

“..one who understands will not judge ..will have no pride. Before him I shall not be ashamed. Whoever has found himself can never again lose anything in this world. He who has grasped ..human in himself understands all mankind.” Stefan Zweig.

It is essential in recognising, we all have the ability to learn, but we must relearn those very truths that enter the arena of debate from time to time. Such is the conduct of affairs surrounding The Holocaust that we cannot rest and ever allow for further truths to diminish either what we know, or what we should ensure history remains aware of. It is evident from within Poland that the truth is that hurtful, or perhaps repugnant to common decency, that there is a distance being sourced to place the very evidence of what we know, from what must be shown to be truthful. Lies can be honed into a well contained narrative that disputes every fact which points to Poles ever being involved in the Slaughter of their own Jewish Neighbours, more understood to be Polish Jewry. But the truth must remain above suspicion, it must retain its integrity and must shed all visible light of factual certainty in ensuring there is no room for disaffection to distort the evidence. While it is clear that 6,000,000 Jews were cast out from much of society, the rather dim darkness seeking to evade the very truth, which destroyed 6,000,000 Jews in the first place, must not pervade the area with any distorted view. When we look to aspects of why we record such inhumane treatments, we recognise in this, added to our list of accusations, that in 1943 is recorded from an official of the Polish government in exile:

“..return of Jews to their former businesses and workshops is completely out of ..question ..even in a much smaller number. ..non-Jewish population took ..place of Jews in Cities and Towns ..and this is a fundamental change in a large part of Poland ..which is final. ..return of ..Jews in their masses would be felt by ..population not as a restitution ..but as an invasion against which they would even defend themselves physically.” Roman Knoll.

While it is unfortunately true that the vast majority of European Jewry was not going to live, it is essential to understand that many more of them might have survived if more of us had intervened. There was a real sense from a Jewish acceptance perspective, that a vast swathe of Poland would lose little sleep over the fact of the approaching destruction of any, or all of Polish Jewry. We were moments away from this truth coming to fruition, as stated by Chaim Weizman in August 1939, and as Polish Jewry would be the first Jewish Community to face Hitler’s total extermination plan for them, we add to what Poland had already proposed for its own Jewish People. Here, we are as opposed to Hitler’s legislated assaults and even murders upon Austrian, Czech, and German Jews, though they converge and merge to provide a single aim. However, and while Pogroms against Polish Jewry had been consistent in recent history, even if we only choose to go back to the end of World War I, death for the Jews of Poland was a constant threat. From the hands of their former Neighbours, or even former Friends in more than 200 communities, Polish Jewry was cast aside and laid to waste alongside a further 1,000,000 other Jews from the wider European Continent to add to the soil of Poland. That surety was exacerbated with Hitler’s intervention into Poland when, on Friday September 1^st 1939, Hitler advanced his Weltanschauung, this World View, into a sovereign Poland. On Thursday November 9^th 1939 the first recognised Slaughter of an entire Jewish Community took place in the Town of Ostrow-Mazowiecka, with over 560 Jews being Murdered there. If the Jews of other neighbouring Towns were not made aware of this very fact, the non-Jewish Poles themselves knew full well what they had seen and become a witness to.

“..incident ..grew into a legend. Without doubt ..this heroic deed ..in ..face of certain death ..gave moral support to every prisoner. We realized all at once that if we dared raise a hand against them ..that hand might kill ..they were mortal ..too.” Wieslaw Kielar.

Soon after the Soviet Union was invaded by the German army on Sunday June 22^nd 1941, and within dozens of Polish Villages, Town’s and Cities, more dedicated Pogroms against Polish Jews were becoming almost systematic in nature. The non-Jewish Poles now took a more discerning and deliberately active role in delivering their Jewish Neighbours toward oblivion. Eventually, and between the time the Russian push to finally drive the German forces back, then as hidden Polish Jews felt a need to return to their homes, the very same anti-Jewish hatred awaited them. As the echo from the Jewish Warsaw Ghetto Uprising faded into the distance, and between 1944-1946, when more Jewish Survivors began to arrive to their former homes, safety was not ensured in the least. However, the more urgent the sense of return became, the more deliberate the prosecution of the prevention of that Jewish need was the Polish response. Poland must be determined in its history to revisit this past, and not permanently shut down the response to what was not only a tragic event, for the many Murdered Jewish Survivor’s upon their return, but were deliberately targeted for their elimination. But this also serves as a further accusation of Polish intolerance to their Jewish People, as a wholesale indifference to the continuing shame of what was allowed to happen within Poland, and toward some 3,550,000 Polish Jews totally destroyed. While it is clear that post War Pogroms within Poland were not as widely localised as such, and though there was no concerted or centralised effort to manage them, as Pogroms, their appearance fared badly for all those Jews deemed unworthy of life. It became apparent too, and through an escalation of this murderous effort, all effort was leading more and more directly toward where we could evidence the important non-Jewish conformity to the overall exterminating operations.

“..I am happy to die amidst fighting Halutzim. We will take with us into our graves ..awareness that ..Jewish People will endure eternally.” Yitzhak Katzenelson.

The complete evisceration of some 3,550,000 of Polish Jewry, took on a more pronounced and a very definitive role in the waging of anti-Jewish assaults, and murders upon more and more of the Polish Jewish community was not as satiated as we’d imagine. We practically have to disregard the German intervention here, so as to acknowledge the very fact that Jews were consistently targeted within Poland by former neighbours, friends even, and certainly racially motivated haters within those communities. From that Friday of September 1^st 1939 though, with a formative Einsatzgruppe unleashed upon an unsuspecting Jewish People in Poland, these legions were detailed with targeting many of those communities which had housed Jews for centuries. Such was the killing dimension of these attacks, which Poland has now sought to conceal because of its own involvement, conformity was behind these systematic aktionen. History must not bend to such attempts to marginalise the truth and even in these early days with the range of such aktionen escalating, such effort could be traced through practically 70 or so local Shtetl, Villages, Towns, and even from within Polish City’s. While the deadly levels of such corresponding non-Jewish actions were commensurate with German demands, we cannot evoke the one without recognising the other. Of course, once World War II was more fully advanced in hostilities, and the strength of der Einsatzgruppe had been increased to move relentlessly into Byelorussia, Russia, Ukraine, and the Baltic States, the very systematic nature of the Slaughter grew exponentially. From the theatre of the conflict, into the more deadly industrialised extermination for all those Jews caught in the eye of an annihilatory storm, Polish Jewry was not safe amongst its own Polish communities. Behind these lines, Polish Jewry was not left unhindered by local infractions, and as the pace of The Final Solution grew more speedily toward a more focused resolve of The Jewish Question, we could now describe as an epidemic of Genocidal proportions. Across the length and breadth of Poland now, other Pogroms constituted what were more consistent with all that any anti-Polish Jewish sentiment could reflect and murderously act upon.

The Town of Baranow included 1,092 Jews, and a further 400 Jewish refugees from the surrounding areas, all of whom congregated and worked in the Centre of the Town. Here they lived amongst their Jewish neighbours as tradespeople, while the Poles worked the land. On May 8^th 1942 more than 500 of the Jews from an open Ghetto were ordered to gather in the main square and were taken by cart. The Jews were marched to the railway station in Pulawy, and in Deblin, for transportation and resettlement at the Death Camp Sobibor. 100’s more Jews escaped to the Forests but were hunted down by local Poles keen to exact a remunerated toll upon them and gain lucratively from doing so. But the story has an unpleasant return for any of the 25 or so Jews who survived in hiding, as their return was treacherously met with robbery and Murder. The Bes Midrosh, the Orthodox Synagogue itself, as a sign of the former Jewish presence in Baranow, is no more, as a bank now stands in its wake. In Belso-Podlaskie, local ‘naras’ agitators sought to close down Jewish Shops, injuring many Jews who stood in the way. In Biala-Podlaska, in June 1920, kidnapped Jews were sent to dig defensive trenches, and were killed or died, and at the same time Polish troops killed the local Jews.

“..Jews and Christians were taken to work. ..later ..however ..were released immediately. ..Jews were hit with ..rifles’ cults ..their money stolen. These were done mainly by ..Poznans. People were allowed on ..Streets until 10 at night ..before ..working day was over. Jews had to pay 100 to 500 Marks each for someone to accompany them home. Complaints to ..authorities were disregarded ..as ..army officer in charge of ..not interested. ..Poznans’ bullies and robbed Jews ..they shot Jews on ..Streets ..wounded a Woman ..broke into houses.” Apolinary Hartglas.

Estimates suggest that 2 Polish Jews were Murdered in the are of Vollia, with a further 6 Jews killed at the back of the Town, and all by Polish soldiers. In Bialystok, and while there were routine condemnations of Jews here, and the issuance of blood libel’s was always there for the Poles to fall back upon, it is between June 14^th and June 16^th 1906 that we recognise a Pogrom which destroyed more than 170 Jewish lives here, both Killed, Murdered and injured. The Jewish Dead are buried in a mass grave in the Bagnowka Cemetery. In Bielawa, a blood libel was asserted whereas in Bielsk-Podlaski, excuses to act were negligible. In Boleslawiec, estimates suggest that 8 Polish Jews were Murdered. In Branczyce, the ‘naras’ attacked the local Jewish Community and in Brest-Litovsk, a Pogrom in 1935 added to the widespread actions conducted against the Jews of Poland. In Bytom, a blood libel was the fulcrum by which anti-Jewish sentiment was exploited in a murderous effort. In Bzury too Jews were under constant fear of what religious festivals would deliver for them. In Cala there was no escaping the irrational behaviour of the Towns non-Jewish people toward their Jewish Neighbours.

“.. Auschwitz ..is a monument to remind humanity ..there once was a nation full of clever ..educated ..disciplined ..methodical people. And ..these people planned and put into effect The Final Solution ..plan to systematically eliminate ..a whole people.” Erika Kounio Amariglio.

In  Chelm estimates can barely suggest the loss to Polish Jews who were Murdered in the blood libel levelled against those Jewish Survivors, once they had emerged from the most catastrophic event in all of History. Here, in the early part of 1945 the returning Jews faced a barrage of accusations including one of taking Blood from a young Christian Boy. This was the same blood libel the catholic church had always proffered in setting non-Jews against their Jewish Neighbours, as a local Polish militia tortured a Young Jew to death. In Cholerzyn, in Choroszcz, and in Ciechanow, all too familiar was the deadly resort of the local Poles to their Jewish Community. In Cracow on July 27^th 1945, and then again on August 11^th 1945, there are estimates which suggest 5 Polish Jews were Murdered as a result of a 13-year old Polish boy who ran from the Kupa Synagogue accusing the Jews of seeking to murder him. Also, and asserting that Christian Children were laid out within the Synagogue itself, somehow killed according to the ritual of suspicion and ignorance, hatred for the Jews found its gravest level. One of these Jews Murdered was the Birkenau Survivor Roza Berger, as 5 other Jews were wounded, including Hanna Zajdman. In dozens of apartments were looted, their Jewish Tenants were beaten and robbed as the entire area of Kazimierz erupted with savagery, and brutality. A vigilante force of some 60 Poles broke into the synagogue and robbed all they could, destroying what they couldn’t take with them and set the Synagogue alight. Hanna Zajdman and the other injured Jews were accosted en-route, and even within the confines of the Hospital where they were also treated abysmally by other patients.

“..They called us ..Jewish scum ..they were only waiting for ..surgery to be over in order to rip us apart.” Hanna Zajdman.

In Czarnow, local ‘endeks’ attacked Jews with impunity, and in Czestochowa, there was a blood libel accusation and in Czworka, the ‘naras’ raged against the Jews, while in Czyzew, Jews were ritually accosted, abused and killed as was the antisemitic way. In Dabrowa-Tarnowska there were Pogroms in 1918 and 1919, and then again, Jews within their Polish Community were Murdered. On April 15^th 1938 too, when local non-Jewish Poles conducted and exacted their form of vengeance, a further Pogrom was instigated. In Diosgyor, 1 Polish Jew was Murdered as a consequence of the usual Polish non-Jewish hatred. In Dlugoszioly, the ‘naras’ were openly antagonising and assaulting the Jews here. In Eisysky, after a der Einsatzgruppe Aktionen on September 24^th 1941, when all 4,000 Jews of the Town were to be Murdered, for some of those Jews who somehow managed to escape, they were murdered upon return by their former Neighbours. Estimates are rather sketchy as to the numbers involved, particularly considering the thoroughness of der Einsatzgruppe former involvement in murdering these Jews, and as the Poles became witnesses to the terror. In Frampol, many attacks were conducted against Jewish Survivors immediately after they seemed safe after their liberation. But between 1944, and continuing up until 1946, fear deeply affected the Jewish Survivor as much of this fear was compounded by local hatred’s, and the Armia Krakowa operations in the area. Nachman Kestenbaum, and 4 members of the Sztajnberg family were murdered. Throughout the Galician voivodship, Jews faced a barrage of ill-conceived threats and death at the hands of too many locals who did not respect their return to life.

“..daily ..life was becoming more and more difficult. ..more we were oppressed ..more energy we Jews seemed to have ..always ..will to live found its expression.” Kitty Hart.

In Gniewoszow, 16 Jewish Men, Women and Their Children were murdered by their neighbours, as many Polish Pogroms still prevail. While common decency would have commanded most people not to act against their own, no matter the religious, ethnical or racial divergences, the Slaughter of the Polish Jews continued. What always remains essential, and in the attempt to save even 1 single Jew, was to remind oneself of a common humanity amongst us all which should have been preserved for all human beings. In this, the ability to save more of the 6,000,000 Jews was there for any single person to make a simple difference, and therefore not to act so as to add further to The Final Solution. With an additional 6 million humanitarians, willing to do something, or in effect, to not do what Hitler, and his minions sought, how many additional Jews might have been saved from the tally of destruction. It is far too obvious that the mantle of humanity would have more benefitted from some form of christian compassion. There is an ideal of moral efficacy, so absented in many Polish community’s, all of which added to what Hitler had banked on, and with this promotion of the very hatred of the Jews, far too many in Poland applied such complicity to their own insignificance. Along with these intolerances in Gniewczyna-Lancucka, in Goniadz, in Grajewo, we are compelled to question the humanitarian nature of non-Jewish Poles. In Grodno, and on June 6^th 1935 Polish Jews were Murdered here as local non-Jewish poles conducted a Pogrom against their Jewish neighbours. In Grojec, assaults left the Jewish Community in fear as it did in Iwie where Jews faced a Pogrom in 1929. The Town of Janow-Lubelski was witness to 12 of its Jews being murdered, as was the case for the Jews of Jasionowka, and in perhaps the most infamous Pogrom of the period, during which 3,650,000 Polish Jews were fighting for their very existence, what occurred around the Village of Jedwabne, where estimates suggest 1,600 Polish Jews were Murdered, here atrocity by their former Neighbours, and Community brought the catastrophe for the Polish Jews to a newer decline. Though this dreadful deed was acknowledged for its devastation of the Jewish Community, there is a continuing denial which springs forth to this day.

On March 4^th 2001 “..burning alive of ..Jewish population ..forcibly herded by Poles into a barn ..is indisputable.” Cardinal Josef Glemp.

Merely 4 months later, the then President of Poland added his name also to those who sought some form of conciliatory resolution of this deed. The Polish president clearly acknowledged that the participation of the local non-Jewish population in this sordid and murderous effort within Jedwabne was a crucial departure from the norms of both human decency and the execution of criminal mass murder. The problem with the Polish presidents speech is his ability to assuage the guilt of the guilty by eliciting the presence of German conquerors of Poland into something that was wholly orchestrated by the non-Jewish citizenry of the Town of Jedwabne. What this president was certain of, and the facts he assured his audience was that history knows much about the crime itself, if in fact it knows all there is to be known. Yet, and while harbouring the premise that German instigators rallied the non-Jewish population to act somewhat out of character, it appears Poles were among the assassins. This all is so as to delay for us an acceptance from knowing the fullest awareness of that very pertinent and relevant truth that the Polish government is reluctant to accede to.

On July 10^th 2001 “..Sixty years ago ..on 10 July 1941 ..crime was committed against Jews on this land ..at that time conquered and occupied by the Nazi Germany. ..victims were helpless and defenseless. ..criminals had a sense of being unpunished since German occupants incited them to such acts. We know with all ..certainty that Poles were among ..oppressors and assassins. This was a dreadful day. Day of hatred and cruelty…We can have no doubt that here in Jedwabne Polish citizens were killed at  ..hands of fellow citizens.”  President Aleksander Kwasniewski.

In Kalisz during March 1919 2 Jews were Murdered, and then again in July 1946, and for the 500 of Kalisz’s Jews who had thought they had Survived Hitler’s efforts in The Holocaust, and were simply seeking a peaceful return to their former lives, bitter hatred still stalked and awaited them. An ultimatum was delivered, and such violence was visited upon these Jewish Survivor’s, even as they then sought to leave all they had previously owned, forever. This attack so ensured that all the non-Jewish Poles, who had been expropriating from the close on 20,000 Slaughtered Jews of Kalisz, would retain the spoils of their larceny, which no ethical morality has sought to correct. In Kalisz, and in much of Poland, Jews were restricted from recovering anything that resembled their former property or Worldly goods, and as they were forced to leave, so much of what had added to the Jewish gift of vibrancy to be gained in Poland was being lost.

“..It is not a sad story I am telling you. It is ..story of experience ..and plenty of hope and courage ..because once you give up hope ..that you wouldn’t make it ..you were dead within 2 days.” Hetty Verolme.

So much hatred descended upon these Kalisz Jews that by 1950, hope was being drained from them and barely 100 of Kalisz’s Jews retained the courage, nor could they find the stomach to remain amongst a hostile and hate filled environment. This now adds much more fully to the most vicious assault upon those who were the Surviving Polish Jews constantly trying to revive their former existence, and who had sought a return to their home community of Kielce. This Pogrom of July 4^th 1946 was also based on accusations of the blood libel, and some 42 Jews, some of whom were Holocaust Survivors were killed and more than 100 of the Towns Jews were injured. The torment for the Jews of Poland continued. Here too, we must recognise that of a former Jewish Community of some 24,000 resident’s, these too had been inextricably linked to Hitler’s malicious plan for them, and for the vast majority of them, they were delivered for resettlement to the Death Camp at Treblinka. Barely 212 Kielce Jews returned to reclaim what remained of their former lives but even these few Jews could not presume such an ordinary demand would be recognised or honoured. So again, from all that had been from their former lives, taken and stolen away from their past was not to remain consigned to that past.

“..killing was perpetuated by hoodlums. ..what about ..soldiers who ..took part. ..what about ..others ..onlookers ..bystanders. ..history of ..Polish people is filled with suffering and glory ..Be worthy of that history ..citizens of Poland. ..face ..recent past which is also yours. To forget is to choose dishonour.” Elie Wiesel.

In Klementow, there are estimates which suggest 5 Polish Jews were Murdered as was found for the Jews too of Kleszczele, of Klobuck, of Knyszyn, of Kolno, and in Kosow-Lacki where estimates suggest 10 Polish Jews were Murdered. In Kulesz-Koscielny, the local ‘naras’ agitators were involved in assaulting local Jews while in Kunmadaras, 3 Polish Jews were Murdered. Then, as Jews faced similar attacks in Kuznica, in Legnica, with a blood libel waged against them, in Lochow the Jews were not exempt. Not even in the City of Lodz, where the vast majority of an already decimated Jewish Community had been consigned to oblivion within the Death Camp within Chelmno, we recognise clearly that this was where the Poles had fully assumed that  ‘Hitler had exterminated all of them.’

“..Two Polish women ..entered after us ..were ..standing at ..counter raked us with hostile gazes. We overheard them ..Look ..how many dirty Jews are still alive. And they told us that Hitler had managed to exterminate all of them.” Sara Palger-Susskind.

In Lomza, marauding bands of ‘naras’ looted and forced Jews to close their businesses, and in Lopuszin, the attacks on the Jews seemed constant and unrelenting. In Losice, on October 27^th 1944, the remnant of those Surviving Jews returning to their former homes, and seemingly hoping to resettle themselves, found it was impossible to do so. Factions of the non-Jewish Poles had other ideas, and a grenade was thrown into the home of these Jews, and carnage entombed many of them. As the properties of all former Jews, already confiscated and occupied, these former Jewish properties and good would not be relinquished or returned to their Jewish owners. The City of Lublin, provides a challenge for Historians as it becomes less and less evident that the very truth of what has been conducted against Jews, before, during and even after The Holocaust is contested. These Jews are not to be afforded to truth in History as to the shame would demand as it becomes essential to understand that between 1944 and 1946, we can all too readily identify some 66 Jewish Holocaust Survivors who were murdered in Lublin, a City standing alongside one of Hitler’s extermination centres, and within the City’s confines, the Death Camp of Majdanek. Here too it is imperative we remind the World that but 3 Survivor’s managed to escape what confined so many Jews within the Death Camp of Belzec and this was no barrier to the further attention hate filled Poles would deliver to the Polish Jew, no matter what they had escaped from.

“..I’m sometimes surprised that young People don’t know what The Holocaust is. And you have to explain it to them. And I do that. I go to many schools. But when I’m not there anymore ..I hope that somebody will ..like you ..will remind ..World that it did happen.” Hetty Verolme.

With Chaim Hirszman one of these of the Death Camp Belzec Survivor’s, being murdered in Lublin, in April 1945, Lublin, became a space for the extinction of all too many Jews who had managed to Survive the Death Camps. It was also to be recorded that within Lublin, was Leon Feldhendler, who was one of the foremost Resistance Leaders of the Jewish revolt in the Death Camp at Sobibor who was to be Murdered. While we cannot be specific, the very detail of certain attacks upon these Jewish returnees, asserts a suggestion of a very distinct Polish effort was to ensure no Jewish evidence’s are to emerge from any of the 6 Death Camps established upon Polish soil. At Lunna, at Mazovia, at Minsk-Mazowiecki, where Abba Lichtenstein was murdered, at Miechow, in Minsk-Mazowieki, in Mordy, were 7 Polish Jews were Murdered and in Nalenczow, where Mendel Hershendruns, his Wife, along with Isaac Simfield were severely beaten and Hospitalised. Also, while at Narewka, Jews were attacked as they were at Nasielsk, nowhere was it to be recognised by Polish Jews that they were not to be spared non-Jewish Polish hate filled attention.

“..not a single Jew is in Nasielsk. ..poles live in their houses. ..took their belongings.” Zdzislaw Suwinski.

While I list these Shtetl’s, Villages, Towns, and even Cities, places of sanctuary for all the people of Poland, anti-Jewish violence was running amok throughout Poland. I do not want anyone, in reading this treatise, to feel it diminishes in any way, the complicity of those places where even more Jews were taken from us. In Niedzno, the Jews could not feel safe while in Nowomiasto, ‘endeks’ were largely involved in the assaults upon the Jews. In Odrzywol, in Opatow, in Opoczno, and in Ostrow-Mazowiecka, no Jew was safe from unwanted abusive intention, assault, nor Death. As we delve deeper and further into all that Jews, History and Jewish History in Particular loses, in Ostrzyca, we recognise the loss of Aron Licht murdered here in 1944 even after having survived the Death Camp at Sobibor. In Otwock, there was a blood libel raised against the Jews, and Jews were ritually Murdered because of this defamatory lie. In Parczew, a Pogrom during March 1946, was raged against those Jews who had Survived all of Hitler’s intention for them. But! Some of these Jews simply could not survive the cordon of hate that was thrown around them, and though estimates vary as to exactly how many Jews were in fact Murdered, we are clear that Jews here were indeed Murdered.

“..On February 5^th 1946 ..Country Town of Parczew was surrounded by a uniformed band of marauders ..100-120 strong ..equipped with firearms. For 5 hours ..band ran amok with impunity through ..Town. Amongst those Polish Jews Murdered were David Tempy ..aged 42 years ..Mendel Turbiner ..aged 31 years ..and Abram Zysman ..aged 43 years. Wounded at ..time also was Lejb Frajberger. Almost all Jewish homes were ransacked. Goods were placed in wagons and carried off ..in a number of cases where Jewish property was not of interest to ..attackers ..property ..was destroyed and rendered unusable.” Provincial Jewish Committee.

In Peremba, the local ‘naras’ were looting and attacking Jews in the Streets while in Piaski, 6 Polish Jews were Murdered, and in Piatnica, the Jews were attacked relentlessly. Meanwhile in Piatrikow, there were placards openly declaring, and displayed widely all stating that:

“..Death to the Jews.”

were an evidence of hate throughout the Town. In Pilki, in Plock, in Podlasie, and in Polaniec, we must deal with estimates which suggest an unknown number of Polish Jews were attacked and were then Murdered. In Przemysl, a Pogrom was conducted against the Jews in 1938, and again at the beginning of August 1945, with leaflets being distributed demanding the Jews leave the Town by the middle of the month. In Pshitik, also known as Przytyk, there was an attack upon the Jewish Population here on March 9^th 1936, and there are estimates which suggest that 5 Polish Jews were Murdered. Here, in a local Pogrom that was conducted by some 39 non-Jewish Poles and fortunately for History, it still manages to record what some Jews, those like Abba Lichtenstein could not be allowed to Survive.

“..Men and Women rose with superhuman bravery against pogromists ..old and young ..a tiny handful against a bloodthirsty mob. All of them alike went fearlessly forth and saved many lives by doing so. At ..time this act of heroism enthralled ..whole enlightened world.” Abba Lichtenstein.

In Pzeszow, there was a blood libel, and in Raciaz, were under attack, and then in Radom, at the beginning of August 1945, leaflets were also distributed demanding that the Surviving Jews must leave the Town before the middle of the month. In Radzilow, on July 7^th 1941, and in almost identical circumstances as would become identified with the Jedwabne Pogrom, a Barn featured heavily. It would appear too that both local Poles, and outside Polish agitators, would murder more than 1,000 of the Towns Jews. It is evident that it is within a barn which sees 500 Jews of the Town being burned to death, and this was to be raged against these Jews for a period of 3 days.

“..poles hurried everyone to ..barn on Sutkowski’s estate ..which stood by ..Road to Racibory. ..doors they nailed shut ..poured gas over ..walls ..set ..barn aflame. When it was being consumed by ..flame ..they brought ..Jews and forced them to climb a ladder onto ..roof ..and jump inside. ..ones who refused were stabbed with bayonets and thrown into ..flames. A few were able to break free ..but they were shot by ..villains ..who surrounded ..barn. ..oppressors shouting and their song drowned ..cries of those who were dying in flames. They then began searching ..whole area. Several hundred Jews were found during those 3 days ..and murdered bestially. Many were brought to ..barn ..soaked with gas and burned alive. Many were shot outside ..barn ..after being violently beaten. ..Pogrom lasted 3  days ..from ..7^th to ..10^th of July.” Emanuel Ringelblum.

One of the many absurd reasonings for these Pogroms, were some with ages old superstitions, a deep envy, and a mercenary greed. Around the time of the Germano Russian demarcation line that was established in Poland, many will name this period as a moment revenge for the supposed Jewish collaboration and Jewish welcome for the Russian entry into Poland. For the Jews this though was to be a certain respite from the very murderous German intention. However, with the demarcation, along the eastern line of Poland that was entered into on September 17^th 1939, Polish Jewry did indeed gain moments of peace from their non-Jewish protagonists. However, and whatever the reasoning, Poles could clearly not disguise their hatred, not even their theft of anything Jewish they could get their hands on to expropriate.

“..murderers ..cut off her head ..17 year old Dora Dorogoj with a saw ..by ..Kopanczyks Estate ..and threw ..her body into a swamp.” Menachem Finkelsztejn.

In Radzyn, there were multiple Pogroms against the Jews of the Town both in 1935, and then in the following year 1936. As antisemitism struck another finite note of bitter hatred, Poland records for posterity its concerning intolerances of those Jews who had been their own community for over 1,500 years. Then there was an escalation of many such efforts in 1937 to deprive ever more Jews of Poland of life, living and everything that they had worked to attain. The assimilation of the anti-Jewish hatred which was gaining traction across the border into Germany, became manifestly more deliberate as it became more orchestrated with Poland. It was impossible to disguise the comparative resemblances which echoes all across these borders and which identified in the Jewish People, a profitable gain was to be made from their demise.

“..I ..think about ..Jews ..killed shortly after ..war ..pogroms ..against Jews in postwar Poland. After ..bestial nazis ..this was ..second worst page in history ..written by poles in Poland.” Joseph Schupack.

The regularity of such anti-Jewish attacks, impacted deeply upon the long standing, even historic Polish Jewish presence. Such experience as the looting of any Jewish worth was to be a newer endeavour, a wider engagement, securing a steady stream even of income for the non-Jewish Poles. Maliciously engaged in such tawdry an abuse of immoral and criminal undertakings, Polish Jewry was earmarked clearly for a murderous effort that swept before them, and left 3,550,000 Polish slaughtered in its wake. Tragically too, and for too many entire Jewish Family’s who had managed to survive the hate filled attention, they were readily separated out from the rest of their community. Attention fell upon many Jews too by elements of the ‘armia krajowa’ and they were Murdered by these criminal elements.

“..I can neither forget nor forgive those who helped ..Germans to exterminate us. Without their collaboration ..quite possibly every third or fourth Jew in Poland might have remained.” Joseph Schupack.

In Rajgrod, Jews again were attacked, and in Ryki, for some 30 of the Jews from the Town, and during May 1945, and then again at the end of the year, these Jews who had managed to survive Hitler’s terms of The Holocaust, would not be allowed to survive Polish terms for the same deliberate hatred. Amongst those Jews who were Murdered during this particular Pogrom were Simcha Brozdowicz, Pola Ewensztajn, Szaul Mliczkiewicz, Hersz Nachtajler, and the following 3 Jews whose last name is what all that is known to us, Rozenkiewicz, Vishlitzki, and a Polish Jewish Army officer called Wslicki, a Jewish soldier who had fought the common enemy. In Rzeszow, and during the period of June 1942, and July 1942 anti-Jewish riots echoed throughout the Town and then again in June 12^th 1945, Jewish Survivors were met with accusations, assaults and threats. These attack’s necessitated the departure of many Jewish Survivors, uncertain of the levels of hatred they would have to continue to endure. In Sanok, Jews were assaulted and abused, in Siemiatycze, in Siedlycze, and in Skarzysko-Kamienna, Jews felt it impossibe to evade the hate filled attention of their former neighbours. Amongst the 5 Jewish Survivor’s who were Murdered here were Eliezer Lewin,  and Icchak Warszauer, both returnees to their former homes during January 1946. Along with a further 4 Jewish Survivors, Icchak Warszauer was Murdered by non-Jewish poles, a month later during February 1946. In Skierniewice, the Jews of the Town were under attack. In Slawatycze, in 1945, Jewish Survivors were unwelcome in their former Town, and amongst those who were Murdered was Welwel Grynszpan. In the Town of Sobibor, after the Jewish Revolt within the Death Camp, escaping Jews were both rounded up and Murdered by local non-Jewish Poles. For those allowed to live past their capture, they were subsequently handed over to the German authority for ransomed execution. In Sokolow-Podlaskie, 11 Jews were wounded in attacks against them in the Market Square. In Sokoly, and this place is of immense relevance to me in my effort for the Jews, who are The Holocaust, this is another story of Survivor Jews being sorely treated and then Murdered by their former neighbours. It is from Sokoly, which begun this journey I have been on for over 30 years, where this odyssey of mine began. In Remembrance of all that was inflicted upon 6,000,000 Murdered Jews, this has its genesis of my deeply felt effort, and here with the Murders of Tovah ‘Tokele’ Olshak, along with her Cousin Shaine Olshak, who had looked out for the 4 year old Orphan toddler, both were Murdered simply because they were Jews who saw fit to return home. Along with these was David Kostshevski, who had Survived both Auschwitz and Majdanek, and who later died from his wounds in Bialystok. Murdered also at the time there was Chaim Litwak, Shaikele Litwak, Shammai Litwak, and Yankele Litwak, all shot dead. With Batya Weinstein, who managed to survive the Death Camp at Birkenau, she could not Survive the murderous intentions of these antisemitic Poles, and nor could David Zholti who is making up the atrocity in this, the Sokoly, Community.

“..I knew ..Tokele ..she is Tovah Olshak ..Sister of Shaina Olshak. Both of Tokele’s Parents were previously shot in ..nearby Lupochowo Forest and she had been cared for and Loved by a Christian woman.” Yaffa Litwak.

In Sompolno, in Sosnowiec, in Stawiski, in Suchowola, in Szczecin, and in Szczuczyn, local Poles sought out many excuses to deliver a death sentence upon their Jewish Neighbours. Far too many excuses were made for killing these Jewish People, and without any restraint whatsoever. In Tarnow, and between June and July 1942 there were several anti-Jewish riots, Liba Tiefenbrun who returned to Tarnow, in May of 1945 had asked a railway worker whether there were any Jews left there. The rail worker informed Liba that barely a few had returned but he clearly told her that while there was a few of them, and that they were so afraid, that they still had to hide as a blood libel assailed returning Jews there, his advice was for Liba not to stay.

“..My Mother-in-law ..returned to Tarnow ..lived there for a year waiting for family to return ..to no avail. After ..attempted attack on ..Kohn Family and ..killing of Jakub and Dora Kunstlich ..she was afraid and left.” Jill Leibman.

In Truskolas, and in Trzcianne, Jews were constantly assailed by their neighbours while in Turek, Yaakov Waldman, who had Survived the Death Camp at Chelmno, was not allowed to Survive his non-Jewish Poles brand of hatred. In Turobin, Josef Kopf who was already a Survivor, having escaped from the Death Camp at Sobibor, returned home and was murdered there, while in Tuzanka, local ‘naras’ attacked the Jewish Community there and as they did in Tykocin, and in Tylza. The Vilna, Pogrom of April 29^th 1938 saw a number of Polish Jews Murdered as it was in Warsaw, as Polish conscripts raged against their Jewish Community during the Easter festivities of 1940. In Wasilkow, the threat to the Jewish Community was emerging, and it was in Wasosz, and on July 5^th 1941, that more than 250 Jews of the Town were either beaten to Death or viciously succumbed to multiple stabbings during this particular Pogrom. In Wegrow, in Wegrzynek, in Wizna, in Wlodawa, in Wolka-Dobrynska, in Wysokie-Mazowieckie, in Zalewska, and in Zareby-Koscielne, safety for the Jews of these Community’s was laid bare before marauding bands of envious, even jealous former non-Jews, but Polish neighbours. In Zbaszyn, on October 28^th 1938 17,000 Polish Jews were discarded in a wasteland between Poland and Germany, thrown out of Germany, and refused entry into Poland.

“..I would like to talk about names not on behalf of ..Survivors ..as they can speak for themselves but on behalf of ..dead ..even though I was not authorized by them to do so. Firstly ..about ..name of ..day on ..eve of which we are gathered here ..Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes’ Remembrance Day ..a title chosen in ..early years of ..State of Israel. This name implies that The Holocaust of 6,000,000 People ..and ..heroism of those who took up arms ..rebels ..partisans ..are two separate entities ..which they are not. ..heroism is at ..heart of The Holocaust ..an inseparable part of it. ..heroism of ..Mothers who stayed with their Children instead of saving themselves ..of ..Sons ..Daughters who refused to abandon their parents ..of ..Doctors ..Nurses who took care of ..sick despite ..terrible risk to their own lives ..heroism of every single person who tried to alleviate ..suffering of another ..of every person who struggled to stay alive till ..bitter end.” Ruth Bondi.

The abandonment of all of these Jews set the seal on what would approach 3,650,000 of Polish Jewry, but would subsume and consume 3,550,000 of them. The very tenet of this story is written into Poland, and by a hatred Polish people had for their Jewish Community. Now before I cause outrage here, I do not claim that all non-Jewish Poles hated their Jewish Neighbours, though it is an Historical fact. While it is true that Polish Jews had been under constant and continuous threat for Century’s within Poland, not all Poles are guilty. In this truth, the bark of Hitler’s bite was most favourably welcomed though by those who sought out the Polish Jews for the exact same murderous conduct Hitler expressly demanded for them. I have no business entering upon belief systems which astound me as much as they confound me, though as I assess the damage such systems always manage toward those who do not have those exact same beliefs, I am repelled by such belief. Through their core faith of what might be considered of the same godhead, the equality of everyone within humanity, derived from a recognised moral and ethical compass, is not equally recognised. Difference in faith is often distorted by bitter internecine feuds and divisions, setting one group against the more fundamentalist others in these religious differences. I am amazed there are still such firm beliefs being held at all while the history of its place in any society is filled with the carnage of the gravest wrongs to be done to their fellow human beings. All of this appears to be done in the name of some god or other and as I am marking my time here, even as I try to progress my understanding of such an immense Catastrophe for the Jews of Europe, I am no nearer knowing why some people saw fit to even contemplate such a Slaughter against 6,000,000 innocent Jewish People. What then finally forged together a Jewish religious, political allegiance, which finally enacted the very resolute demands they placed upon themselves to die fighting, is visible to this day. I know from my long research question upon question has been asked, even of the Patriarchs to both Jewish and Christian tradition. I hear the plaintive cry to some god asking help for the Jews in their hour of need. But no god assisted 6,000,000 Jews in releasing or saving them from Their Slaughter. As hard as I attempt to unimagine what Any Jews felt at the aggressive attention of the Nazis, I hear the same cry resonate. Why me, and god help me. All to no avail. If anyone can hold on to any belief in view of all I have written, Please! inform me as to how it is possible to be so commanded as to belief. Somewhere in my past pages of research I recall an explanation as to why loneliness becomes a poison to the Jewish People. Surely for the Jewish People, alone with their thoughts as to why some god abandoned them to such ignominy, their inner thoughts are that very loneliness that poisons their past, present, and indeed their future. If in fact any future was to be allowed to those too few Jews who eventually escaped the wrath of inhuman beings.

“..Jews who survived ..1942 deportations ..established armed organisations. ..resistance in ..event of ..liquidation. ..Serious armed resistance organizations ..set up in 5 major Ghetto ..Warsaw ..Wilno ..Bialystok ..Cracow ..Czestochowa as well as ..45 other ghetto ..Breslaw ..Swieciany ..Lida ..Mir ..Stolpce ..Zdzieciol ..Grodno ..Nieswiecz ..Molczadz ..Kleck ..Baranowicze ..Slonim ..Dereczyn ..Krynki ..Lachwa ..Kobryn ..Brzesc ..Kamien-Koszyrski ..Poborsk ..Tuczyn ..Luck ..Zdolbunow ..Krzemieniec ..Brody ..Lwow ..Jaworow ..Brzezany ..Buczacz ..Borszczow ..Horodenka ..Rohatyn ..Miedzyrzec ..Podlaski ..Radzyn ..Zelechow ..Rzeszow ..Tarnow ..Bochnia ..Dzialoszyce ..Sandomierz ..Radom ..Pilica ..Bedzin ..Sosnowiec ..Opatow and Wlodawa. ..in ..extermination camps ..Sobibor ..Treblinka .. Auschwitz ..concentration camps ..Plaszow ..Lwow-Janowska ..Jewish POW camp ..Lublin ..18 forced labour camps ..Kielce ..Skarzysko-Kamienna ..Ostriwiec ..Swietotkzryski ..Kruszyna ..Minsk ..Mazowiecki ..Budzyn ..Krasnik ..Sasow..Stryj ..Kamionka ..Hancewicze ..Koldyczewo ..Dworzec ..Swiezna ..Iwie ..Wilejka ..Kureniec and Biala-Waka.” Yisrael Gutman and Shmuel Krakowski.