On the 83rd anniversary of the outbreak of World War II, Poland last week issued a $1.3 trillion claim of damages from Germany for its occupation of Poland during the war. The Polish claim included demands for compensation for crimes committed by Poles against their Jewish neighbors without German involvement. Germany rejected the claims, stating that reparations had already been paid in the past for war losses.A three-volume report written by a Polish parliamentary committee was published, entitled “Report on Losses Suffered by Poland as a Result of German Aggression and Occupation during World War II 1939–1945.”
The report details demographic, material, economic and cultural damage incurred by Poland between 1939 and 1945, the years of Germany’s occupation of the country, and estimates the cost at $1.3 trillion. The sum is based, among other things, on the fact that 5.2 million Poles, about 3 million of them Jewish, were murdered and killed during this time by Germans. The Poles are demanding 76 percent of the total amount for loss of human life.
The report however glosses over the fact that a percentage of the Jews killed were murdered by their Polish neighbors without the involvement of Germans. Canadian-Jewish historian of Polish origin, Prof. Jan Grabowski, discovered this when reading the third volume of the report, which includes a list of 9,292 places where Germans committed atrocities against Poles in occupied Poland between 1939 and 1945. According to the report, the list is intended to “commemorate the Polish citizens who were killed by Nazi Germany in World War II.”
One of the sites listed in the report is Jedwabne, where 1,650 Jews were listed as murdered. However hundreds of these Jews were murdered in a Polish pogrom in 1941, which is well documented based on historical research of archives as well as eyewitness accounts.
Prof. Grabowski was surprised to find the victims of Jedwabne in a report meant to deal with German crimes against the Poles in World War II. Writing on Facebook, Grabowski said he was “dismayed” that the “Polish authorities would actually ask the Germans for compensation” for the Jews murdered by Poles in 1941. “To say that the whole situation is grotesque is to say nothing at all,” he wrote. “It’s unbelievable. If you thought you knew the history of the Holocaust, you were wrong! It is being re-written right now, in Poland, as we speak,” Grabowski wrote on Facebook.
“What kind of restitution does Poland want from the Germans for 200,000 Jews murdered by the Poles or with Polish participation?” he asked in Polish on Twitter, drawing angry responses from Poles.
Grabowski, who lives and teaches in Canada, is a prominent Holocaust historian who focuses on Polish involvement in the persecution and murder of Jews in the Holocaust.
Grabowski’s book, “Hunt for the Jews: Betrayal and Murder in German-Occupied Poland” was published in Hebrew a few years ago. A book that he co-edited, “Night Without End” was recently published in English. Both works comprehensively document crimes committed by Poles against Jews. According to Grabowski’s estimates, which have sparked harsh debate in Poland, where he has been denounced as an “enemy of the people,” 200,000 Jews were murdered with the help of Poles or by Poles during World War II.
