ANTIPOLONISM

Over the years and lately on Facebook and Twitter I have repeatedly encountered accusations of Polish collaboration and antisemitism that are not only false, but deeply ironic, as some of the loudest sources of these claims come from groups and individuals whose own collaboration with German and Soviet occupiers has been historically documented and, in certain cases, formally punished. These individuals caused immense pain for the Polish people but sadly these crimes were politically correct and hid away.

These accusations did not arise just organically from evidence. They emerged in a postwar environment in which Poland, trapped behind the Iron Curtain, was denied the ability to defend its record, publish freely, or correct distortions in Western discourse. During that long silence, malicious narratives hardened into accepted myths, often written without access to Polish archives, testimony, or the lived reality of occupation in Poland. Poland was once again betrayed by words and painfully it was too often by the very same they saved. Jerzy Kosinski is a prime example. As a Jewish boy of wealth a Polish family hid him not for money but because of decency. His father would later betray many Poles to the Communist UB for illegal trade to get a cut. Jerzy would emigrate to the U.S. and wrote a grotesque fictional account of the Polish that gave many Jews the stereotype or animalistic rapists – these the very people who saved him. We must wonder how many other Jews told such stories and were betrayed. Is this the moral compass used?

Still these narratives can be dismantled through documentation alone. The historical record shows that Poland did not collaborate as a state, or rarely as individuals, had no quisling government, and operated the largest underground resistance movement in occupied Europe. More importantly, it shows that Poles, despite facing the harshest occupation conditions on the continent, did more to aid Jews than any other national group. This assistance was given without protection, without legal cover, and under a death penalty uniquely imposed on Poles for even minimal help. The persistence of collaboration myths is therefore not the result of new evidence, but of old falsehoods left unchallenged for decades. When examined honestly, the record is unequivocal. No nation sacrificed more, or risked more, in aid of Jews during the Holocaust than Poland.

The repeated accusation that Poland collaborated in the Holocaust is not merely inaccurate. It constitutes a slander against the Polish nation and against tens of millions of Poles worldwide whose families endured annihilation, enslavement, and systematic terror under German occupation.

Poland suffered more severely at German hands than any other occupied nation. Germany deliberately chose Poland as the primary geographic site of the Holocaust, not because Poles controlled events there, but because Poland was conquered, stripped of sovereignty, and reduced to a killing ground administered entirely by German authority. More than 6 million Polish citizens perished during the war as a direct result of German actions. Of these, approximately 3 million were Polish Jews. In total, Germany murdered roughly 6 million Jews across Europe, while simultaneously killing millions of Poles and other groups. This doesn’t even cover the hundreds of thousands killed by Stalin.

What is often omitted from public discussion is that Germany’s long term objective was not limited to the extermination of Jews. The German state openly planned the eventual destruction of the Polish nation itself – General Plan OST, Poles were subjected to daily executions, mass deportations, forced labor, starvation, and cultural eradication for over five years. Catholic Poles were murdered not incidentally but deliberately, including through special execution protocols designed specifically for those who aided Jews. In occupied Poland, assisting a Jew in any form was punishable by death, frequently extended to the helper’s entire family. No other occupied country faced such a law.

It is therefore historically incoherent to claim that Poland collaborated with Germany while Germany was simultaneously slaughtering Polish civilians on a massive scale. Collaboration presupposes alignment of interests. Poland had none. The Polish state ceased to exist under occupation, its government operating in exile, its military fighting underground, and its population subjected to terror without reprieve.

Three additional facts must be stated plainly.

First, Germany was not the sole occupier of Poland. Soviet Russia invaded Poland in coordination with Germany and occupied nearly half the country for a significant portion of the war. During this period, more than one million Poles were deported to Siberia and other remote regions as forced laborers. Tens of thousands never returned. At the same time, approximately twenty three thousand Polish officers, professionals, and intellectuals were systematically executed on Stalin’s direct orders in what is now known as the Katyn massacre. Poland endured dual totalitarian occupation by two genocidal regimes simultaneously.

Second, Poles constitute the largest national group recognized for rescuing Jews during the Holocaust. To date, 7,280 Poles have been honored as Righteous Among the Nations (which is the lowest estimate). This distinction is especially significant given the uniquely lethal conditions under which Polish rescuers operated. Unlike in Western Europe, where penalties varied, in Poland even the smallest act of assistance carried a mandatory death sentence. That thousands still chose to help despite this reality speaks to moral courage, not complicity.

Third, Polish armed resistance against German terror was both organized and sustained. On February 1, 1944, the Polish underground carried out the assassination of the German SS commander responsible for mass executions in Warsaw. His forces had overseen the daily killing of Polish civilians, often in the hundreds. In retaliation, Germany executed hundreds more Poles and imposed collective financial punishment on the entire city. This was the pattern of occupation. Resistance was met with annihilation, not negotiation.

Poles even created their own group dedicated to aiding Jews Zegota. Hundreds of Poles were killed but no one ever broke.

Finally, despite the scale of devastation inflicted upon Poland, Germany has never paid reparations to Poland. Entire cities were destroyed, most notably Warsaw, which was deliberately leveled after the uprising in an act of punitive annihilation. Poland lost irreplaceable cultural heritage, infrastructure, and human capital. A 2022 Polish government report estimated the cost of these losses at approximately 1.5 trillion euros. Germany’s position remains that the matter is closed.

History does not support the claim that Poland was a collaborator nation. The evidence shows the opposite. Poland was a victim of coordinated genocidal aggression, a center of mass murder imposed by force, and a society punished with death for acts of humanity. To ignore these facts is not an oversight. It is a distortion and a lie.

Edward Reid on Facebook

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An example of antipolonism…

Roman Dmowski Institute has been abolished by hostile entities.

The Institute was established on February 17, 2020 by the Minister of Culture and National Heritage, Piotr Gliński, and ended its activity on June 19, 2024.

The full name of the institute is the Institute of National Thought Heritage. Roman Dmowski and Ignacy Jan Paderewski. Its aim was to promote Polish socio-political thought, with particular emphasis on national, Catholic-social and conservative thought. In place of this institute, a new one was established – the Institute of Political Thought. The aim of the new institute is now to conduct research on Polish political thought from the 19th century to the present day.

Roman Dmowski was a prominent nationalist leader known for his significant role in the country’s fight for independence and his influence on the national identity of Poland in the early 20th century. His life and work would come to shape the political landscape of Poland, particularly in the years leading up to World War I and the subsequent re-establishment of Polish sovereignty in 1918. His work resonated with most Poles who longed for national autonomy and dignity, and he quickly became a leading voice in the struggle for independence from the occupiers; Russia, Germany, and Austria, who partitioned Poland between themselves. Dmowski’s most significant political achievement came during World War I.

He lobbied tirelessly in international forums, particularly at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919, where he represented the Polish National Committee. His diplomatic efforts culminated in the recognition of Poland’s sovereignty by the Allied powers, and he played a key role in the establishment of Poland’s borders. Dmowski advocated for a Polish state that would include territories with Polish populations as a mojority, believing that a strong and unified Poland was essential for its survival and prosperity. After Poland regained independence, Dmowski continued to be active in politics, serving as a member of the Polish parliament and advocating for policies that aligned with his vision of a strong, homogeneous Polish state.

Today he is celebrated by ethnic Poles for his role in the fight for Polish independence and his diplomatic achievements.