Crime Without Punishment: The Extermination and Suffering of Polish Children During the German Occupation, 1939–1945

274 Pages·2021·15.473 MB·English

by  Janina Kostkiewicz

T
h
e
When a person having a certain degree of knowledge on historic events in Europe E
x
t
listens to the contemporary academic, publicist, or political discourse, they are faced e
r
m
with a great lie on the topic of World War II, which consists, among others, in narra- i
n
a
tives using the phrase “Polish death camps” and accuse Poles of participation in the t
i
o
Holocaust of Jews. This assumption, held by modern Western people, contradicts n
a
historic facts and yet appears to be so common that even the President of the United n
d
S
States, Barack Obama, spoke of “Polish death camps”. The Western world of the pres- u
ff
ent day does not seem to notice that these camps were built by the Germans within e
r
i
Polish territory under occupation; that it was the Germans who exterminated, first n
g
and foremost, Polish citizens. ofCrim
P
oe
The present book aims to provide a comprehensive outline of the issues of extermina- l w
i
tion, Germanization, and the suffering of Polish children under the German occupation. sh Citho
The authors realize that German crimes against Polish children were accompanied by hilut
d P
crimes against Poles committed by Soviets and Ukrainians (the massacre of Poles in reu Crime without Punishment…
nn
Volhynia and Eastern Galicia lasted from 1943 until 1947). dish
um
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With this monograph, we wish to pay tribute to Polish child victims of World War II. ine The Extermination and Suffering
gn
The whole world knows about the child victims of the Jewish Holocaust and justly tt…
h
e of Polish Children
commemorates them. Yet, the world has remained silent on the holocaust of Polish G
e
children, silent on the subject of their extermination and martyrdom. Will the world r
m during the German Occupation 1939–1945
still refuse to know? a
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from The Introduction c
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a
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1 Edited by Janina Kostkiewicz
9
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Jagiellonian
University Press
Crime without Punishment…
The Extermination and Suffering
of Polish Children
during the German Occupation 1939–1945

Crime without Punishment…
The Extermination and Suffering
of Polish Children
during the German Occupation 1939–1945
Edited by Janina Kostkiewicz
Jagiellonian University Press
Reviewer
Prof. dr hab. Zenon Jasiński
Cover designer
Sebastian Wojnowski
Proofreading
Matthew Dundon
Atominium Specialist Translation Agency

With the fi nancial support of the Institute of Pedagogy, Faculty of Philosophy at the Jagiel-
lonian University in Kraków
© Copyright by Janina Kostkiewicz & Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego
First edition, Kraków 2020
All rights reserved
No part of this book may by reprinted, or reproduced, or utilised in any form or by any
electronic, mechanical, or other means now known, including photocopying and re-cor-
ding, or in any information storage, or retreival system without prior permission in writing
from the Publishers.
ISBN 978-83-233-4806-1
ISBN 978-83-233-7093-2 (e-book)
Jagiellonian University Press
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction (Janina Kostkiewicz) ......................................................................................... 7
Janina Kostkiewicz, Th e German Policy of Extermination and Germanization
of Polish Children during World War II ........................................................................ 13
Andrzej Kołakowski, A Crime without Punishment: Th e Extermination of Polish
Children during the Period of German Occupation from 1939 to 1945 ................ 31
Helena Kubica, Polish Children and Youth in Auschwitz .................................................. 45
Beata Gola, Dorota Pauluk, Suff ering of Children in Auschwitz – Biological
and Mental Extermination ................................................................................................ 71
Beata Kozaczyńska, When Th ere Were No More Tears Left to Cry: Th e Tragic Fate
of the Polish Children Displaced from the Zamość Region in 1942–1943 ............ 99
Magdalena Gajderowicz, Ryszard Skrzyniarz, Children of the Zamość Region
in the Majdanek Camp (in Selected Archive Files and Personal Accounts) ........... 115
Krzysztof Ledniowski, Beata Gola, Th e German Camp for Juvenile Poles in Łódź
at Przemysłowa Street ....................................................................................................... 131
Dawid Wieczorek, Th e Role of Gaukinderheim Kalisch in Germanization during
World War II ....................................................................................................................... 151
Danuta Drywa, Th e Germanization of Polish Children and Youth in Gdańsk
Pomerania and the Role of the Stutthof Concentration Camp ................................. 163
Aldona Molesztak, Children’s Experiences in the German Displacement and Forced
Labor Camp in Potulice and Smukała – Memories of Female Prisoners ............... 179
6 Table of Contents
Elwira Kryńska, Th e Fate of the Children of Białystok under Soviet and German
Totalitarianism during World War II ............................................................................. 197
Adam Massalski, Extermination of Juvenile Scouts in the Lands of Poland during
the German Occupation of 1939–1945 .......................................................................... 225
Andrzej Ryk, Th e Fate of Polish Children in Allied-occupied Germany in the Years
1945–1950 ........................................................................................................................... 247
Małgorzata Michel, Th e Returns of Polish Children from German Lands and
Scouting Activity at the Transitional Center in Munich. Th e Polish West State
Banner Established by Władysław Śmiałek and Its Role in Simplifying the Fate
of Polish War Orphans ...................................................................................................... 257
INTRODUCTION
“Crime without punishment”1… a laconic description of German crimes
against Polish children presented in the second chapter of the present
monograph by Andrzej Kołakowski. Crime without punishment would not
be possible if it was not for Th e Forgotten Holocaust2 of the Polish Nation
during World War II.
When a person having a certain degree of knowledge on historic events
in Europe listens to the contemporary academic, publicist, or political dis-
course, they are faced with a great lie on the topic of World War II,
which consists, among others, in narratives using the phrase “Polish death
camps” and accuse Poles of participation in the Holocaust of Jews. Th is
assumption, held by modern Western people, contradicts historic facts
and yet appears to be so common that even the President of the United
States, Barack Obama, spoke of “Polish death camps”. Th e Western world
of the present day does not seem to notice that these camps were built by
the Germans within Polish territory under occupation; that
it was the Germans who exterminated, first and foremost,
Polish citizens of various ethnic origins: Polish, Jewish, Roma, and
others; it is also hardly ever mentioned that the fi rst prisoners of Auschwitz
were Poles.
German historical policy, implemented during the period of enforced
communism in Poland, resulted in the fact that the Germans have “shared”
their responsibility for waging World War II… with the nation they
harmed the most, the Poles. At present, German publicists, academicians,
and politicians hardly ever protest against lies assigning guilt to the Polish
1 Th e title of our book refers to the well-known Fiodor Dostojewski’s novel Crime and
Punishment (see e.g. F. Dostojewski, Crime and Punishment, transl. Philip McDonagh.
Dublin: Arlen House 2017).
2 Th is is a reference to Richard C. Lukas’ book titled Th e Forgotten Holocaust: Th e Poles
under German Occupation 1939–1944 (1986).
8 Introduction
nation3, which had been attacked militarily, exterminated, ruined, and robbed
and which had been the fi rst to fi ght against the German conquest, for the
holocaust of the Jews in the fi rst place.
Particularly painful was the German crime against children, Pol-
ish citizens, committed during the occupation years of 1939–1945. Th is
is a tragic period in the history of childhood in the Europe of the modern
era. Th e present book focuses on children of Polish ethnicity, since exter-
mination of children of Polish citizens of Jewish origin has been discussed
in great detail by numerous sources released all over the world within the
scope of research on the Holocaust of the Jewish nation.4 However, publica-
tions and research on the extermination, Germanization, and the suff ering
of children of Polish ethnicity are scarce.
Researchers devoted to the subject of the extermination of Polish
children write that the losses during World War II “totalled no less than
2,225,000 children” (Hrabar, Tokarz, Wilczur, 1979, p. 190). Th is number in-
cludes Polish child citizens of Jewish, Polish, Roma, and other nationalities.
In order to be able to speak of extermination and suff ering of Polish
children, we must remember that this took place within the scope of the
forgotten holocaust of the Polish nation. Before we can discuss this,
the background situation of Poles during World War II should be recalled.
Let’s begin with the Munich conference (1938), after which the world soon
realised that the Germans wanted war. Th is was confi rmed by the Mol-
otov-Ribbentrop Pact (August 1939), whose confi dential part described
a joint aggression on Poland and division of its territory between Germany
and the Soviet Union. Th en, there came the German aggression on Poland
3 A German newspaper, “Frankfurter Rundschau”, has been ordered by Warsaw dis-
trict court to issue an apology to Maciej Świrski for publishing an article in which
the Poles were accused of collaboration with the Germans and participation in the
Holocaust (https://kresy.pl/wydarzenia/polska/sad-nakazal-niemieckiej-gazecie-pub-
likacje-przeprosin-za-posadzenie-polakow-o-udzial-w-holokauscie/?utm_source=no-
tifi cation&utm_medium=browser) (access: 25.06.2019).
4 Th e list of sources on the suff ering of Jewish children is long: see for example: I. Olejnik
(2018), Bibliografi a getta łódzkiego 1945–2017, Kraków: Zakład Wydawniczy “Nomos”.
Retrieved from: https://docplayer.pl/113528234-2-bibliografi a-getta-lodzkiego.html (ac-
cess: 20.06.2019); A. Buchowska (2006), „Te dzieci są moje!” Losy białostockiego transportu
dziecięcego z 5 października 1943 roku w relacjach świadków. „Studia Podlaskie”, vol. XVI,
pp. 179–208; Zagłada Żydów, https://pamiec.pl/pa/edukacja/wystawy/ii-wojna-swia-
towa/zaglada-zydow/39136,Siostry-matkami-zydowskich-dzieci-Siostry-Franciszkan-
ki-Rodziny-Maryi-wobec-Zagl.html (access: 20.06.2019); R.C. Lucas (2018), Dziecięcy
płacz. Holokaust dzieci żydowskich i polskich w latach 1939–1945, Warszawa, Replika.
Introduction 9
on September 1st 1939 and the USSR’s aggression on Poland on September
17th 1939. Th e armed resistance of Polish armies lasted until October 3rd
1939; the Polish government fl ed to London; and in the spring of 1940, Sta-
lin shot approximately 22,000 Polish offi cers – POWs (in Katyn, Kozielsk,
Starobilsk, Ostashkhov, Mednoye, Bykivnia). Th e Polish lands remained
under occupation, a solely German occupation from June 22nd 1941 until
the end of the war (after the German aggression on the USSR).
Under the German occupation, Poles organised the Polish Underground
State which had no matching equivalent in the world. Th e State featured
a secret judiciary, secret educational system, postal service, organisations
providing aid, and, fi rst and foremost, the largest underground (secret)
army in the world, known as the Home Army (established on February 14th
1942, disbanded on January 19th 1945), consisting of roughly 380,000 sworn
members, the National Armed Forces (1942–1947), and state authorities in
exile (President, government, military authorities). Each activity of these
bodies which was discovered was punished by the Germans by means of
mass public executions of civilians.
Th e Poles fought against the German and Soviet occupiers unaided.
Treaties signed before September 1st 1939 on mutual military aid were
breached both by England and France. After this breach of faith, these coun-
tries were bold and immoral enough to accept military aid from the Poles:
the military intelligence of the Home Army (including decoding the Enigma
encryption device), diversionary and sabotage actions against the Germans,
participation of Polish soldiers and Polish military units in a number of
battles of World War II, for example the contribution of Polish pilots to
the Battle of Britain (despite which repayment for fuel and equipment was
demanded from the ruined Poland), participation in the battle for France,
the Normandy landings, and the battle of Berlin. It was the Polish army to
whom the victorious outcome of the Monte Cassino, Tobruk, and a number
of other battles should be assigned. An army formed in the USSR by Polish
exiles in Siberia marched alongside Soviet armies from Lenino to Berlin;
General Anders’ army marched along a trail of combat through Asia, Africa,
Italy, Belgium, and the Netherlands. Th e Poles constituted Europe’s fourth
largest allied army.
During the Yalta conference (February 1945), Roosevelt, Churchill, and
Stalin handed Poland over to be governed by a communist international
represented by Stalin. Th e allies did not permit the Polish army to participate
in the victory parade in Berlin. Th e levy paid in Polish blood that contrib-
uted to the victory over Nazism was disregarded (until the present day, the