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View No. 4 (2023)

No. 4 (2023)

ISSN:
2719-4086
eISSN:
2957-1413

Publication date:
2024-01-03

Cover

Sections

Studies

Reviews/Polemics

Chronicles

No. 4 (2023)

  • Introduction

    Tomasz Domański, Alicja Gontarek

    Polish-Jewish Studies, No. 4 (2023), pages: 9-12

    Abstract

    The papers collected in fourth issue of “Polish Jewish-Studies” are divided into three sections: Studies, Reviews/Polemics and Chronicles. The first section contains papers which are the result of the two academic conferences organised by the Institute of National Remembrance: „Czas okupacji i zniewolenia. Żydzi i Polacy w obliczu totalitaryzmów 1939–1956” („The Time of Occupation and Captivity. Jews and Poles Facing Totalitarisms 1939–1956”, Warsaw, 6–7 July 2021) and „Aktion »Reinhardt« i Zagłada polskich Żydów – w kręgu mechanizmów i sprawców” („Aktion »Reinhardt« and the Holocaust of the Polish Jews – in the Circle of the Mechanisms and Perpetrators”, Warsaw, 9 March 2022). The line of this volume is then set by the occupation topics and post-war settlements with the perpetrators of the crimes against the Jews.


Studies

  • The Socio-Demographic Picture of the Jewish Population in Poland in the Second Half of the 1930s

    Konrad Zieliński

    Polish-Jewish Studies, No. 4 (2023), pages: 15-75

    Abstract

    The Jewish community of the Second Polish Republic on the eve of the outbreak of war numbered 3.3–3.35 million people. Jews, who were the most urbanised ethnic and religious group in Poland, were spread out across the country. However, their highest concentration in proportion to the total population was in the central voivodeships, which encompassed the regions of the former Russian partition and Galicia. In 1939, there were more than 800 Jewish communities whose nature and financial condition varied greatly, but the latter usually deteriorated in the final years before the outbreak of the war. Even though unification efforts had been underway since 1918, by 1939, Polish Jewry was fragmented and lacked cohesion. In the latter half of the 1930s, this community, characterised by internal diversity and economic challenges, faced increasing hostility and anti-Semitic attacks. Despite political divisions and differing views on the future of Jews, the Polish Jewish community maintained a distinct identity and a sense of relative solidarity. The article outlines the demographic and socio-economic situation of the Jewish population in Poland in the second half of the 1930s, referring mainly to the results of the 1931 census and the available statistics from the later period.

  • The State of Research on Polish-Jewish Relations in Polish Lands Under the Soviet Occupation Between 1939 and 1941

    Marek Wierzbicki

    Polish-Jewish Studies, No. 4 (2023), pages: 76-100

    Abstract

    This article attempts to juxtapose, present and analyse the standpoints of Polish, Anglo-Saxon (Western) and Israeli historiography on the nature of Polish-Jewish relations in the territories of the Second Polish Republic during the Soviet occupation (1939–1941). It outlines the state of scholarly (historical) research on Polish-Jewish relations since the 1980s. It discusses the main research trends, publications, and views on the most important and controversial events related to this topic. Among other things, it demonstrates the presence of two competing schools of historical thought in Polish historiography, which interpret and evaluate the most important issues of Polish-Jewish relations in that period differently. The article’s conclusions contain research postulates that may further deepen the analysis and knowledge of the matter in question.

  • German Persecution and Repression of the Jewish Population in the Kreis Busko District Between 1939 and 1942: Selected Issues

    Karolina Trzeskowska-Kubasik

    Polish-Jewish Studies, No. 4 (2023), pages: 101-146

    Abstract

    The subject of this article is the German persecution and repression of the Jewish population in the Kreis Busko area between the autumn of 1939 and the summer of 1942. In 1941, 26,459 Jews lived in this area. The starting point of the publication is a discussion of the crimes committed by the Wehrmacht against the Jews in September 1939 on the territory of the pre-war county of Stopnica. The author presents the various forms of German persecution and repression: forced labour and the elimination of Jews from economic life, as well as restrictions on freedoms. Living conditions in the ghettos in the Kreis Busko area are also discussed. A separate section is devoted to the imprisonment of Jews in the Busko-Zdrój county jail and the Pińczów prison. An attempt was also made to estimate the number of deaths among the Jewish population in the Kreis Busko area between 1939 and 1942.

  • The German Municipality-Level Administration in the General Government and its Surviving Records for the Study of Polish-Jewish Relations. The Example of the Radom District

    Tomasz Domański

    Polish-Jewish Studies, No. 4 (2023), pages: 147-176

    Abstract

    This article discusses the legacy of the records produced by German administrative bodies at the municipality level in the General Government, considering their applicability in the study of Polish-Jewish relations, as illustrated by a single district in the GG. In the numerous correspondence addressed by the starosts’ offices to the municipalities, one can find various examples of specific orders aimed at intimidating the conquered population and forcing it to participate in the implementation of German anti-Jewish policies. This is evidenced by the creation of peasant guards by the Germans or by making the village leader responsible for registering the traffic of the rural population. The examination of the remaining records confirms that the measures to be implemented by the Polish population against the Jews were part of a series of imposed standards. These standards, through effective fear management, aimed to transform the subjugated population into a submissive instrument serving to realise the objectives of the occupier.

  • Hipolit Aleksandrowicz and His Aid Activities for Poles and Jews During the Second World War

    Kinga Czechowska

    Polish-Jewish Studies, No. 4 (2023), pages: 177-195

    Abstract

    This article attempts to shed some light on Hipolit Aleksandrowicz and his aid activities during World War Two. By coincidence, he did not become one of the many victims of the Pomeranian Crime of 1939, and having been allowed to remain in his estate in Łochocin near Lipno, he used it to help the local population. Those in need included both the Polish population (threatened with expulsion) and Jews from the surrounding villages. Despite the scarcity of sources, the new information about Aleksandrowicz enriches our picture of the occupation in Pomerania, the extermination of the local Jews and the possibilities the Polish population had to help them.

  • The Trial of Willi Haase Before the Cracow Voivodeship Court in 1951

    Roman Gieroń

    Polish-Jewish Studies, No. 4 (2023), pages: 196-220

    Abstract

    In June 1951, Willi Haase, the former chief of staff of the SS and Police commander of the Cracow district, who was responsible for supervising Operation “Reinhardt” in this area, was tried before the Voivodeship Court in Cracow. The article characterises the person of the criminal and then his fate from the moment of his arrest, through his extradition to Poland, until his trial, with particular emphasis on the defence strategy adopted by the defendant. Both Haase’s crimes and the way they were handled by the justice system of “People’s” Poland in the early 1950s are described. The article shows how much valuable information about the crimes committed against the Jewish population was documented during these proceedings.

  • The Prosecution and Punishment of the Perpetrators of Crimes Committed Against Jews in Ponary and Other Execution Sites in the Vilnius Region

    Monika Tomkiewicz

    Polish-Jewish Studies, No. 4 (2023), pages: 221-253

    Abstract

    The Ponary massacre, the majority of whose victims were Polish citizens of Jewish nationality, was the subject of criminal proceedings in several legal systems: Polish, German, Lithuanian, Soviet and Austrian. Its aspects were also dealt with at the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg in the so-called “Trial of the Major War Criminals.” The defendants were accused of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity in viola- tion of the Hague Convention of 1907, the Geneva Convention of 1929 and the general principles of criminal law derived from the laws of all civilised nations. On 20 December 1945, the Allied Control Council issued the Law On the Punishment of Persons Guilty of War Crimes, Crimes against Peace and Crimes against Humanity. On its basis, France, the United Kingdom, the United States and the Soviet Union were able to set up courts to try war criminals in their respective occupation zones. The first trials of the perpetrators of the Ponary crime before Polish courts took place in 1949 after the extradition of the perpetrators and the recognition that their acts had been committed on Polish territory. These were the proceedings of the Court of Appeals in Warsaw against Eugen Faulhaber and the Court of Appeals in Warsaw against Arkadiusz Sakalauskas. Subsequent trials – before the Voivodeship Court in Warsaw in 1974 against Jan Borkowski, Władysław Butkun and Józef Miakisz, and before the Voivodeship Court in Olsztyn in 1976 against Wiktor (Witold) Gilwiński – concerned the crimes that had been committed on the territory of the LSSR. Law no. 13 of the Allied Control Council of 1 January 1950 lifted the restrictions imposed on German courts. From then on, they could also adjudicate crimes committed against persons other than German citizens. The German Democratic Republic, on the basis of a constitutional provision, introduced the rule that the principles of international law apply to domestic law. Its Criminal Code of 1968 included a provision on the non-applicability of statutory limitations to crimes against peace, crimes against humanity and crimes against human rights, which also included criminal sanctions for the perpetration of individual acts. The Federal Republic of Germany, contrary to international law, did not acknowledge the war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during the Hitler era as being of a unique or extraordinary nature. These crimes were treated as ordinary crimes. In the face of protests coming from all over the world, the German authorities extended the deadline for the prosecution of Hitlerite crimes from the end of 1969 to the end of 1979. Poland, on the other hand, was one of the first countries to issue a special criminal law, namely the Decree of 31 August 1944, “On the Punishment of Fascist-Hitlerite Criminals.” Under this law, the punishment of perpetrators of Hitlerite crimes is still in force today. The ques- tion of the USSR’s responsibility for both aggression and crimes committed during World War Two is entirely different. Due to the artificially introduced principle that “the victors are not judged,” this issue was not discussed in the great powers’ post-war agreements. The Soviet Union, as the main victorious state in World War Two, was treated exception- ally in the international arena. The Lithuanians, on the other hand, paid a considerable price – they lost their territorial and political integrity to the USSR and were sovietised in their entirety. Lithuania continues to have a big problem with coming to terms with its past. Condemnation and punishment of the still-living perpetrators of crimes committed against Jews and representatives of other nationalities during World War Two encounters resistance from the public. The issue of applicability of the statute of limitations to the crime of genocide has become a political problem, as can be seen from the criminal trials against commanders of the Lithuanian Security Police, which had been ongoing for many years. In Austria, too, several criminal trials were held in which direct perpetrators of the Ponary massacre and members of Einsatzkommando 3 of Einsatzgruppe A sat in the dock.

  • “Yes, I Plead Guilty.” The Murder of Jankiel Lieberman in the Village of Rogów on 1 February 1943: A Case Study

    Maciej Korkuć

    Polish-Jewish Studies, No. 4 (2023), pages: 256-292

    Abstract

    The story of the murder of Jankiel Lieberman, a Jewish resident of the village of Rogów near Miechów, who was hiding from the Germans. The crime was committed on 1 February 1943 by Aleksander Kuraj, a peasant from Rogów, who risked his life by selflessly helping Lieberman. This happened under the conditions of the psychosis of fear that gripped the inhabitants after the massacre in the neighbouring villages of Wierzbica and Wolica. There, a captured Jew led German officers to all the families who had illegally helped the Jewish population persecuted by the Germans. Once identified, the families were murdered one by one. The text shows the specificity of the German state terror in the General Government and the far-reaching effects of Germany’s criminal policy towards the Jewish and Polish populations. After the war, Aleksander Kuraj was tried for the murder of Lieberman. Holocaust survivors of Lieberman’s family reported the crime. After becoming familiar with the circumstances of the case, they wrote a letter to the court requesting his exemption from criminal responsibility.

  • Anti-Jewish Collective Violence in Rzeszów and Cracow in 1945: A Comparison in the Context of Criminal Prosecutions

    Roman Gieroń

    Polish-Jewish Studies, No. 4 (2023), pages: 254-286

    Abstract

    This article attempts to compare the course of two acts of collective anti-Jewish violence that occurred in post-war Poland, first in Rzeszów on 11–12 June 1945 and two months later on 11 August in Cracow, and criminal proceedings launched in relation thereto. Actions by law enforcement agencies and the administration of justice, taken in the 1940s and after 1989, are discussed. In the latter period, the Rzeszów and Cracow tumults were investigated by the District Commission for the Investigation of Crimes Against the Polish Nation and later by the Branch Commission for the Prosecution of Crimes Against the Polish Nation.

  • Review of English-Language Studies of the Kielce Pogrom: 1946–1992

    Mateusz Lisak

    Polish-Jewish Studies, No. 4 (2023), pages: 287-346

    Abstract

    The study of the Kielce pogrom accounts enjoys unfailing interest, but little attention has been given until now as to how the pogrom was remembered and interpreted outside Poland. This article intends to introduce the reader to the literature about the pogrom published in English until 1992 and analyse the sources used therein. Moreover, the article discusses why English-language historical writing took an interest in the subject and how a specific view of the pogrom developed in it.


Reviews/Polemics


Chronicles

  • Symposia Proceedings Stan badań nad pomocą żydom na ziemiach polskich pod okupacją niemiecką – przegląd piśmiennictwa, ed. by Tomasz Domański and Alicja Gontarek

    Michał Siekierka

    Polish-Jewish Studies, No. 4 (2023), pages: 433-442

    Abstract

    Report on succeeding presentations of publication Stan badań nad pomocą Żydom na ziemiach polskich pod okupacją niemiecką – przegląd piśmiennictwa [State of research on help for Jews in the Polish lands under German occupation] (ed. Tomasz Domański, Alicja Gontarek), that took place in Autumn and Winter of 2022 in Warsaw, Gdańsk, Cracow,  Rzeszów, Bydgoszcz, Łódź, Kielce, Wrocław, Białystok, Lublin. Publication was prepared in the course of activities of Institute of National Remembrance Central Research Project „Dzieje Żydów w Polsce i stosunki polsko-żydowskie w latach 1917–1990” ["History of Jews in Poland and Polish-Jewish Relations in 1917–1990"].

  • “Lest We Forget The Victims”. Report On The Activity Of The Institute Of National Remembrance Branch In Cracow In Connection With The Eightieth Anniversary Of The Aktion Reinhardt

    Roman Gieroń

    Polish-Jewish Studies, No. 4 (2023), pages: 443-450

    Abstract

    Report of activities of the Institute of National Remembrance Cracow Branch commemorating the Holocaust victims and connected to those activities publications, media, research and educational events, in first place on celebrations co-organised by Institute of National Remembrance and State Museum Majdanek commemorating the victims of “Aktion Reinhard’, held in Museum and Place of Remembrance in Bełżec. The Institute of National Remembrance Cracow Branch employees co-organised also the events and anniversaries honouring the victims in Tarnów and Zbylitowska Góra (12 and 17 June), Olkusz (8–14 June), Wadowice (2 July), Maków Podhalański (17 August), Myślenice (22 August), Nowy Sącz (23–28 August), Bochnia (24 August), Skawina (2 September), Słomniki (2 September), Miechów (4 September), Wolbrom (5 September), Brzesko (10–11 September), Tuchów (13 September), Dąbrowa Tarnowska (16 September), Żabno (20 September), Pińczów (26 October 2022) and Zakliczyn (26 January 2023). The IPN employees were also invited by organisers (local authorities, associations and foundations) of events to participate in celebrations in Bobowa (12 August), Stary Sącz (17 August), Limanowa (18 August), Gorlice (19 August), Biała Niżna (21 August), Mszana Dolna (22 August), Wieliczka and Niepołomice (26 August) and in Rabka (28 August 2022). The detailed information on the commemoprative events were published on the IPN Cracow branch website in the folder entitled „80. rocznica Akcji Reinhardt” (“80th Anniversary of Aktion Reinhardt”) oraz on Facebook.

  • Proceedings from the Conference “Warszawo Ma … – 79th Anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising,” Warsaw, 14 April 2022

    Dawid Chomej

    Polish-Jewish Studies, No. 4 (2023), pages: 451-463

    Abstract

    Report of the academic conference „»Warszawo ma…«. 79. rocznica Powstania w Getcie Warszawskim” („»O my Warsaw...«. 79. anniversary of Warsaw Ghetto Uprising”, held on 14 April 2022 in Independence Museum in Warsaw.


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Evaluation points allocated by MInistry of Education and Science
40 (2023) (20 - in the list in force in 2021) 

Fields: history, archival studies
Disciplines: history, security studies,  political and administration studies, international studies 

Editor-in-Chief: Grzegorz Berendt PhD habil.

Editorial Team

Licencja CC BY-NC-ND

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