From: kkniaz@eniac.seas.upenn.edu (Krzysztof W. Kniaz)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.polish
Subject: On relativity of sources
Date: 5 Oct 92 15:48:58 GMT
Organization: University of Pennsylvania


Thanks to Adam Reed I have read the book of Gutman and Krakowski 
"Unequal Victims. Jews and Poles during World War II" no less than 
twice. Below you may find yet another `misreading' of it.

First of all, I have nothing but respect for the amount of 
documentary work which is behind this book. Not accidentally, Krakowski 
is one of the chief archivists of Yad Vashem. The number of testimonies, 
mainly against the AK (Home Army) and Polish society is overwhelming, no 
doubt. I wish this work were not only translated into Polish, but also 
recommended as an obligatory reading to Polish students. I think that
Adam is right that Polish students were offered a censored version of
history. I disagree with him, however, that the censorship lasted 
continuously 200 years: there were periods when it was non-existent. 
Also, there have existed Polish emigree publishing houses in Paris and 
London which he certainly is familiar with, as well as illegal 
publications in Communist Poland. I wonder whether he is familiar, for
example, with the journal "Aneks", published in London, and its
volume no. 41/42 (1986), devoted in large part to a discussion very
similar to the one we are engaged in. 

Having said that, I may ask the question: is the book of Gutman/ 
Krakowski (later called G/K) beyond reproach? My answer is: not quite.

First of all, this monumental work seems to be written `a these'. It 
could very well serve the prosecution case in an imaginary trial against 
the Polish underground and perhaps all Polish society. I am sure Adam Reed, 
supported with this book, would play a role of a perfect prosecutor.

On the other hand, if this were a real trial, defence would also have to 
be allowed. Here I recommend the book by Richard C. Lucas "The Forgotten 
Holocaust,", from which I have already quoted one excerpt on the net 
(not that I am entirely happy with this defence, particularly its 
title). Still, if one tried to get a broader view of the years 1939-1945 
in Poland, one would have to read at least both sources, and preferably 
more - representing both the prosecution and defence cases, not only 
one side.

It would require a far greater specialist than my modest person to 
reveal the weak points in the G/K's case, if any. Myself, I have found 
at least two:

1. Among the impressive number of sources the authors have consulted 
there are titles published in the People's Republic of Poland. Among 
them one can find the works of a certain Norbert Michta (ref. 2 on p. 
205) and Mieczyslaw Moczar (ref. 49 on page 126). I do not know if these 
names ring a bell to Adam Reed, but they certainly do to me. Both were 
commanders of the GL/AL (Communist underground forces) units during the 
later period of the occupation.

It is no secret that the AK and the GL/AL waged a fierce war, and both 
insisted on destroying each other. The reasons were obvious: the AK 
fought in principle for re-establishment of the pre-war independent 
Polish state, the GL/AL, in contrary, fought for a "new, brave world" 
which in practice amounted to subduing Poland to the Soviet Union.

After the Soviet Army pushed the Germans out of Poland, the former 
Communist guerilla leaders Moczar and Michta became generals of the 
UB (secret police), whose principal aim was to secure the power of 
the very unpopular regime in Poland by physically destroying any (true,
potential or imaginary) opposition to it, including the remnants of the 
AK and other non-communist forces. The scope of this repression has only 
been revealed recently, and it went into at least tens of thousands people 
killed, and hundreds of thousands shipped to the Soviet Union and its 
Gulag, where most died.

My point is that quoting gentlemen like Moczar and Michta verbatim 
without *any* commentary on their credibility regarding the AK is a 
serious error, particularly since the authors treat the pro-AK sources 
like Bor-Komorowski and Korbonski with utmost criticism and skepticism.

Quite incidentally, the two goons quoted by G/K happen to be the chief
instigators of the infamous March 1968 anti-Semitic purge in Poland, and 
in this role were joined by a certain Bogdan Hillebrandt, who is also 
quoted by G/K as a `historian of the anti-Nazi underground' (ref. 82 on 
p. 135). A bizarre coincidence indeed.


2. Even more significant point is not, what there *is* in the book, but 
what has *not* found its way into it. G/K display a very soft touch on 
the Communists which is easy to understand since, according to them, the 
Communists were the only organized underground group the Jewish 
partisans got assistance from.

However, it is a relatively common knowledge in Poland that the 
Communist underground engaged in killing Jews, too. There is a 
particularly grim story of an AL commander, a certain Grzegorz 
Korczynski, who ordered the execution of a whole Jewish partisan unit in 
the Lublin region in 1944. Korczynski became later general of the 
Polish People's Army, vice-minister of defence, and became `famous' 
once again in 1970, when he ordered a massacre of protesting shipyard 
workers in Gdansk.

I tried to find Korczynski's name in G/K book's index and failed. An 
overlook? Not quite. I have checked the index of another book of Shmuel 
Krakowski "The War of the Doomed: Jewish Resistance in Poland, 1942-44" 
(New York: Holmes and Meier, 1984) and there I found both Korczynski's 
name and the very incident, although described in a very veiled 
way. Somehow what was known by Krakowski has not found its way to the 
book of Gutman and Krakowski, despite the latter's broader scope.

Another important missing source is the person of Marek Endelman. I have 
checked the index, to no avail. Endelman is a survivor of the Warsaw 
Ghetto Uprising of a much higher rank than Gutman, being the second-in- 
command after Mordechaj Anielewicz. Just before the uprising was put 
down, he escaped to the "Aryan" side with the help of AK, and spent the 
rest of the war fighting the Nazis along with the AK. One would assume 
that such a valuable source should be consulted. 

Not by Gutman and Krakowski.

The omission of sources which might not suit the `these' of the book, 
while at the same time using rather suspect ones like Moczar and Michta, 
leave me to think that Gutman and Krakowski in their book "Unequal 
Victims" are not averse to at least some manipulation.

But, then, nobody expects a prosecutor to be even-handed...





--

Krzysztof Kniaz, University of Pennsylvania |Due to circumstances beyond
Lab for Research on the Structure of Matter |your control, you're master of 
Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA                |your fate and captain of your soul
Newsgroups: soc.culture.polish