I know about German WWII crimes against Poles from my parents
not so much from “historians”
by Zbigniew Wojcik
Introduction
I know about German crimes against Poles from my parents. We still can pass on what we know about the German atrocities committed on innocent Poles from the stories told by our relatives, like our parents, who survived WWII. So far, Germany did not pay retributions for the murders and destructions they committed in Poland. Time is passing by, and only very few Poles who directly experienced WWII still live among us.
After WWII ended, during the very long occupation of Poland by the Soviets, Polish communists were interested in keeping their power in the center of Europe for what they emphasized “friendship” with Eastern Germany and avoided any publications on sensitive topics. The Soviet Union expanded its tight hold on all Central Europe’s so-called “independent countries”, including communist East Germany.
Today, German war crimes against Jews during WWII are well known, but horrible war crimes against Poles are almost unknown to the world, because after WWII Poland had no voice, was not independent, and Polish communists working for the Soviets had to follow the orders from Moscow. This attitude dominated Polish “historians” as most of them are the descendants of the Polish communist elite from the Soviet past. In the last few centuries, Germans and Russians (or Soviets) conspired and worked together against Poland to control the center of Europe.
For instance, the massive murder of Poles of any standing near Sochaczew, committed by Germans within a few weeks of the invasion of Poland, was hidden by Russian/Polish communists after the war ended. The total extermination of Polish intelligentsia and patriots took place throughout all Polish territory. What is known about other small cities and villages in Poland? Not much. I know this tragic truth from talks with my parents.
It is worth noting that the National Resemblance Institute (IPN) is making significant progress towards writing the “history” into true history. For instance, IPN’s research proved beyond any doubt that Lech Walesa was a paid communist agent providing information to Soviet communists in Poland who persecuted Polish patriots during the Cold War.
Below are fragments of the interview by Zbigniew Wojcik with the US intelligence officers in 1986/87 in Kansas, about German atrocity committed on Polish people, as published in his book: Zbigniew Wojcik, “Slaying the Soviet Beast. A True Story about How the Cold War was Won. What Next”, Liberty Hill, 2019.
Murdering Poles of any standing near Sochaczew
“Immediately after the invasion,” said Zbyszek, “the Germans rounded up all of the Polish intellectuals, including teachers, business people, landowners, and administrators, in the area where my parents lived. They took them to the Kozuszki forest near Sochaczew where they shot and killed them all. In the surrounding areas, the Germans exterminated any Poles who were educated or who held any professional positions within Polish society. I remember seeing the ditches in the Kozuszki forest at the end of the 1950s. My father survived because he had only a seventh-grade level education. The extermination of significant Poles was so complete that nobody ever came to claim the properties they left behind, though they had families in Poland before the War. There is one explanation for this fact: families who owned or could have inherited these properties were exterminated by the Germans throughout Poland. The Germans had precise information about the Poles living around Sochaczew because they knew exactly who could be used for slave labor and who would resist. So, they started their occupation by completely eliminating Poles of any standing.
My mother was hiding in a cellar all WWII
“What did your family do during the war?”
“My mother was almost an adult, not yet married. Throughout the war, she hid in a camouflaged cellar close to their house near Sochaczew, which is about fifty kilometers west of Warsaw. They had two cellars, a smaller one was beneath the house. The Germans were constantly looking for her. When a German asked where she was, the reply was always: “She is already in Germany.” They would capture girls for sex to produce German soldiers for Hitler. People knew this. She survived the war along with her parents. Her parents also had a goat which helped feed the children. They believed goat milk prevented tuberculosis.
The situation of the Jews, the Polish citizens, in Sochaczew, Poland, at the beginning of the WWII
“Did your parents tell you about the situation of Jews in Poland during the occupation?”
Yes. My father told me about a Jewish girl who, I believe, was his girlfriend. My father sold food in Warsaw, buying it near Sochaczew where we lived, and transporting it into the city. So he knew about the Warsaw Ghetto. He visited this girl, who lived with her family in a small, temporary Ghetto in Sochaczew. Interestingly, he was able to easily cross the fence surrounding the Sochaczew Ghetto to get in and out. He told me that when he saw only one German guard, he could cross the fence because, when he approached, the guard turned his face in the opposite direction. But when there were two guards, he could not get into the Ghetto. In other words, the Jews were also able to get out of the Sochaczew Ghetto, but they did not want. My father warned them that they would be transported to the Warsaw Ghetto from where no one could escape. But they remained in the local Ghetto.
My father had a contact in the Polish underground military hiding in the Bolimow Forests (Lasy Bolimowskie) near Sochaczew, who told my father that they were recruiting young men to fight against the Germans. My father shared this information with the Jewish family, who also had a son who could have become a soldier in the Polish underground army. But they refused, saying they would only leave the Ghetto as a whole family. My father also told me that, for years, the Jewish communities amassed money in Swiss banks, not in Poland, and they never bought weapons for their own defense, even though they knew about the impending German invasion of Poland. They did not provide financial support to the Polish military either. The money they deposited in Swiss banks was then used by Hitler for killing. The rumor was that Jewish communities were directed by their leaders to remain passive and quiet. One day, my father’s girlfriend and her family were quietly transported to the Warsaw Ghetto. My father also said that, at the beginning of the occupation, the Germans—who were stationed around the Sochaczew area—wanted Poles to join Hitler in attacking the Soviet Union. The orders of the underground Polish army, however, were a definite “no.”
“Where did the Polish military near Sochaczew come from?”
“They were there since the beginning of the war. They were the remaining soldiers from the main 1939 campaign against the German invasion at the Battle of the Bzura River, which was obviously lost. Those troops later converted into the underground Home Army.”
“They recruited fighters, not families,” Chad noted.
“They had a military presence throughout the war.”
“My aunt, who was a small child during the war, witnessed the execution of a rich German farmer, for whom Poles worked very hard, from dawn until nighttime, every day. My aunt, this young child, also worked hard all day. One day two young men appeared with guns in the field. They first shot the dog accompanying the farmer, and then they shot the farmer.”
“How did the Germans investigate the killing?”
“They interrogated all the workers, including my aunt, the child, but everyone said they did not see or hear anything. Luckily nothing happened to them.”
“Did any members of your family fight against the Germans during the war?”
“When I was a boy, I witnessed the visit of a man from a village near Plock, which is west of Warsaw. He was, perhaps, my grandfather’s cousin or brother. He told us that after his father was arrested by the Gestapo, he sent a letter to a high-level German commander, stating he would kill Germans systematically if they do not release his father. And indeed, he shot many of them on the road between Plock and Warsaw during the war. He became a member of a military organization fighting against the Germans and he had a team of soldiers working with him. They controlled the Berlin – Warsaw route. He remained in hiding throughout the war.”
“What did the Germans do with his father?”
“He never saw his father again.”
“Were books about Jews published in Poland during Hitler’s occupation?
“Yes, I read one called ‘David Rubinowicz’s Memoir.’ From the beginning of the German occupation, a young Jewish boy wrote in his journal while he lived at home with his family. One day, his writing stopped. He and his family were transported by the Germans for extermination. His notes survived and were published after the war.” “And you read this?” “Yes, I read it all.”
The attitude of Polish clubs in the US towards German WWII reparations
THE POLISH HERITAGE CENTER (PHC) IN TEXAS PRESENTS THE GERMAN PROPAGANDA AGAINST POLAND. IT PORTRAYS GERMANS AS THE VICTIMS OF THE POLISH GOVERNMENT AT THE END OF WWII. PHC REGRETS that millions of Germans were expelled by Poland after WWII.
THIS TYPE OF PROPAGANDA IS HOSTILE TO POLES AND POLAND. ALSO, IT STRENGTHENS GERMAN-RUSSIA COLLABORATION AGAINST POLAND.
Explanation: POLAND WAS OCCUPIED BY THE SOVIETS IMMEDIATELY AFTER WWII AND POLES WERE EXCLUDED FROM MAKING ANY DECISIONS ABOUT THEIR FUTURE AFTER THE WAR.
Also, PHC glorifies Walesa as a national hero without mentioning he was a paid communist agent working for Soviet communists, who harmed many members of the Solidarity Movement.
