| The largest source of aid to the Jews, which far surpassed Zegota, and the spontaneous efforts given randomly by groups or individuals, was the Polish Underground State. Its' organization, along political, military and civilian divisions, was devoted to the restoration of Polands freedom and independence. Among its activities was the mission to provide the Jews with a means of escape and shelter from Nazi persecution. In 1940-41, the Polish government-in-exile and the Underground State were the first to report the news of the persecution of the Jews in Poland. Initially, the British government received the reports with a great deal of skepticism, believing that the Poles may have exaggerated. It was difficult for the British to comprehend how German Kultur could descend to such depths of depravity. Irregardless of British stonewalling, Polish interventions were immediately set into motion. Diplomatic meetings were held in Britain, and the U.S., resolutions were drawn up and submitted to the United Nations. Ambassador Papee made several visits to the Vatican, meeting with Secretary of State Cardinal Maglione, and Monsignor Tardem and Montini. He presented them with a memo from Prime Minister Sikorski, in which he discussed the persecution of the Poles and Jews under Nazi occupation, and requested the intervention of Pope Pius XII. Issues of the Black Book were also submitted. Papee also met with the General of the Jesuit Order, Father Wlodzmierz Ledochowski to discuss using the Church and its agencies to shelter Poles and Jews in Poland. The Polish Foreign Office published a White Book entitled, " The German Occupation of Poland ", printed in English, French and Spanish. There were also two Black Books; Volume I " The German Invasion of Poland " described the September Campaign. Volume II, " The German New Order in Poland " described the German administration in Poland and the Soviet-German war of June 1941. It provided details concerning the fate of the Jews, German regulations, descriptions of German atrocities, the burning of synagogues, locations of burials and names of victims, confiscation of Jewish property, loss of freedom and rights, forced labor, ghettoes, and death camps. Included were 30 photographs illustrating in graphic detail, life in the ghetto, as well as copies of German decrees. This book was widely distributed in Great Britain and the US. Copies were sent to press agencies and newspapers around the world. Prime Minister Sikorski made several visits to the US as well as to London, and the Polish Embassy in Washington, D.C. A flurry of telegrams between London and Warsaw document the extent of Polish efforts in pressuring the Allies for military assistance. In 1941-42, Sikorski asked for an American declaration condemning German oppressive policies against the Poles and the Jews. The US was unresponsive. As time passed, the situation\ grew more ominous, Sikorskis appeals became more frequent and urgent. Poles and Jews demanded that Britain execute Germans in reprisal for Nazi atrocities committed against the Polish nation. The British refused to intervene because it was not within the scope of their political objectives. The American Jewish Congress and the World Jewish Congress were receptive to Sikorskis arrival in the US, and expressed hope for the liberation of Poland, but they quickly resorted to a litany of accusations of Polands pre-war administration. They accused the Polish military of anti-semetism and referred to the periodical issued by the ONR, entitled " Jestem Polakiem " ( I am Polish), that was radically nationalistic. Its circulation lasted only from August 4, 1940 to May 15, 1941, at which time the Sikorski govenment called a stop to its publication, declaring it to be detrimental. Sikorski tried to assure the Allies that the governments position was strongly opposed to anti-semetism and considered it foreign to its government. He stated that " the common suffering has created a community of spirit between Poles and Jews" The Jewish Morning Newspaper did acknowledge that the Sikorski government was moderate, but instead chose to focus entirely on the fact that a few of its members were National Democrats. Many criticisms were made purely on hearsay - as one by Jozef Tennenbaum, President of the American Federation of Polish Jews. He claimed that tens of thousands of Poles helped the Germans to exterminate the Jews - it is completely unsubstantiated. Jews were frequently at odds even with each other over the issue of anti-semetism. Rabbi Z. Babad, who represented the Polish Agudists in Great Britain, condemed the Jews who made irresponsible generalizations about Polish actions towards the Jews. He was a loyal supporter of the Sikorski government, and he criticized foreign Jews, especially Zionists, for interfering in Polish internal affairs. Ludwik Grosfeld, a Polish Jew, was appointed Minister of Treasury by Prime Minister Mikolajczyk. Grosfeld was severely criticized by the Jews who accused him of being an " assimilationist " After the Germans invaded Russia, the attacks on the Jews intensified. The Polish government countered German propaganda by issuing a Declaration, entitled, " Instruction No. 2 ", dated June 23, 1941. It read as follows: " The government lays great stress on the necessity of warning the nations not to give in to German baiters and not to adopt an active anti-Jewish attitude in the territories freed from Soviet occupation. This is imperative for reasons of principle and political ones such as actions would be bound to make it terribly difficult for the government to profit from the situation in the international field. " On Jan 13, 1942, Sikorski attended an inter-allied conference of nine countries ( which had been occupied by Germany ), including delegates from Britain and the US. A resolution was made calling for the prosecution of Germans who violated international law by committing violent crimes against civilians. Britain and the US refused to sign it on the grounds that there was no verification that the reports were true. The Polish Underground reported on the increase in German killings. One of many memos read as follows: " I inform that the news about the murder of several thousand Jews in eastern Galicia is true. Mass murder of Jews were also committed in the Wilno province, in Byelorussia, and in the Lublin province. In Wilno alone, about sixty thousand Jews were murdered.... Delegate, April 8, 1942 " As the massacres began to spread throughout eastern Poland into the General Gouvernement, Prime Minister Sikorski sent dispatches to the Allied govenments reporting that : " Extermination of the Jewish population is taking place at an unbelievable extent...mass slaughter of tens of thousands of Jews is being carried out. In the ghettos of Warsaw and Krakow, mass executions are being carried out every day. Jews ill with typhus are being shot. The Jews of Poland are suffering the most terrible persecution in the entire history..." |
| POLISH-JEWISH RELATIONS |
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