Jews in the Polish Army
Some Jews served in the military of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and took part in the Polish insurgencies of the 19th century.[1][2][3] After Poland regained independence in 1918, the Second Polish Republic had a large Jewish minority. Many Jews served in the Polish Army over the next two decades; the army also had several full times rabbis in its ranks (lead by the chief rabbi), and operated several synagogues.[4] On the outbreak of World War II, Polish Army swelled to about one million; a tenth of that number were the Jews.[5]
Following the German invasion and occupation of Poland, as a prelude to The Holocaust, Polish POWs of Jewish origin were routinely selected and shot on the spot once Polish soldiers surrendered to the Germans.[6][7] The treatment of surviving Jewish POWs was harsher than that of gentile Polish POWs, and they were often assigned the most strenuous and degrading labor tasks. After the Germans solidified their control over Poland, most Jewish privates and NCOs were released into the general populace, with many subsequently perishing in The Holocaust. The fate of the Jewish officers was different. They remained in Oflags and majority of them survived the war.[8] (However, the Chief Rabbi of the Polish Army, Baruch Steinberg, perished in 1940 - murdered by the Soviets during the Katyn massacre; together with over 500 other Polish-Jewish officers and several thousands of gentile Polish officers).[9]
Jews also served in the Polish armed forces in exile (see Polish Forces in the West, Polish Forces in the East; see also Jewish Legion).[5] Some Jews were members of the Polish resistance.[10][11] Approximately 200,000 Polish Jews fought in various Polish formations during the war.[12]
Some Jewish soldiers and officers served in the Polish People's Army after the war, but most (c. 150) left or were forced to leave during the 1968 Polish political crisis.[13]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ "The American Assocation for Polish-Jewish Studies | Jewish Soldiers in Polish Armies 1794-1945". www.aapjstudies.org. Retrieved 2024-11-19.
- ^ Domański, Tomasz; Majcher-Ociesa, Edyta (2020). Żydzi i wojsko polskie w XIX i XX wieku (PDF). Kielce Warszawa: Instytut Pamięci Narodowej. ISBN 978-83-8098-894-1.
- ^ Gałęzowski, Marek (2021). Żydzi walczący o Polskę: zapomniani obrońcy Rzeczpospolitej (Wydanie I ed.). Kraków: Znak Horyzont. ISBN 978-83-240-5718-4.
- ^ Rezmer, Waldemar (2016-12-14). "Inter-religious Relations in the Polish Armed Forces 1918-1939". Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences. International Conference on Communication in Multicultural Society, CMSC 2015, 6-8 December 2015, Moscow, Russian Federation. 236: 374–378. doi:10.1016/j.sbspro.2016.12.057. ISSN 1877-0428.
- ^ a b "Jews in the Polish Army". www.yadvashem.org. Retrieved 2024-11-19.
- ^ Sudoł, Tomasz (2011). "Zbrodnie Wehrmachtu na jeńcach polskich we wrześniu 1939 roku" [Wehrmacht crimes against Polish prisoners of war in September 1939] (PDF). Biuletyn Instytutu Pamięci Narodowej. 8–9 (129–130). Archived (PDF) from the original on 28 December 2021. Retrieved 1 June 2023.
- ^ Krakowski, S. (1977). "The Fate of Jewish Prisoners of War in the September 1939 Campaign" (PDF). Yad Vashem Studies. 12: 300.
- ^ Grudzińska, Marta; Rezler-Wasielewska, Violetta (2008). "Lublin, Lipowa 7. Obóz dla Żydów-polskich jeńców wojennych (1940–1943)". Kwartalnik Historii Żydów (in Polish). 4 (228): 492. ISSN 1899-3044.
- ^ "Katyn Massacre Victims Remembrance Day. A memory of Rabbi Baruch Steinberg". Żydowski Instytut Historyczny. Retrieved 2024-11-19.
- ^ Zimmerman, Joshua D. (2015). The Polish underground and the Jews, 1939-1945. New York: Cambridge university press. p. 5. ISBN 978-1-107-01426-8.
- ^ Snyder, Timothy (2015). Black earth: the Holocaust as history and warning (First edition ed.). New York: Tim Duggan Books. p. 275. ISBN 978-1-101-90345-2.
{{cite book}}:|edition=has extra text (help) - ^ "Jews-Officers in the Polish Armed Forces 1939-1945". www.avotaynu.com. Retrieved 2024-11-19.
- ^ Anti-Semitic Purge in the Polish Army 1967–1968