My Polish Jewish grandmother spent the war in a work camp and said that while the Germans were methodical, the Polish were zealous. What do we know about Polish complicity in the holocaust?

by butt_nutter

Was her experience an exception or broadly supported by historical evidence?

EDIT:

I know that many people were forced to be unpleasant towards Jews, including other Jews. But did the Poles behave any different from other unwilling participants in Poland or elsewhere.

Were there instances of Poles killing Jews independent of Nazi orders? More, the same, or less than in other occupied territories?

Were the Poles, on the whole, less, equal, or more cooperative in rounding up the Jews than other nations?

HEBushido

I'm on mobile and don't really have the time to give a detailed answer. But I can steer you in the right direction. I'm a third year student minoring in history and recently studied this in my WWII in Europe course.

Basically the situation was extremely complex and can only be understood under those extreme conditions. You're grandmother had a limited view as she was not able to see the greater Polish situation. Many of the non German camp guards were criminals. Prisoners whom the Nazis used to maintain order in the camps. These men were obviously already violent and prone to inhumane activity as they had been used to it before the war. Besides them there were other Poles who collaborated with the Nazis. This was usually because the situation pressured them to work with thier oppressors. When choosing between beating a Jew or having your family executed most would choose the former. So you have to understand that the zealousness that some Poles exhibited was not entirely based on belief in Nazism. In fact the Nazis viewed Poles as inferior people. They collaborated to help themselves survive. I think your grandmother's view rules out the fact that the Poles were victims of the General Plan East. They suffered massively and the fact that some of them were able to resist is almost a miracle. I'd also avoid making broad generalizations about the Polish people at the time because you can't explain the events in that. Different Poles reacted in different ways. The only commonality is that all of them felt the extreme and brutal pressure of Nazi occupation.

Source: Donald Niewyck: The Holocaust: Problems and Perspective in Interpretation(Fourth edition) (Wadsworth / Cengage, 2010)

jschooltiger

Hello everyone,

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deedubs87

If you are curious about Polish complicity during the Holocaust, someone already mentioned Bloodlands which is fantastic on the subject but speaks more broadly across Eastern Europe.

For specifics, please read Neighbors: The Destruction of the Jewish Community in Jedwabne, Poland. It deals with a Polish community who turns on their Jewish neighbors and massacres them.

And one more, because I am currently finishing it. The Buthcher's Tale: Murder and Anti-semitism in a German Town is a good exploration of the roots of anti-semitism in that Germany/ Poland (the book focuses on a small town in Prussia).