The Holocaust: Forgotten Victims

Don’t Forget the Polish

Melanie Atwell

Dual Credit College English

Mr. Larry Neuburger

March 5, 2009
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Everybody knows World War II contained one of the most horrific periods of time called

the Holocaust, where an evil, delusional man named Adolf Hitler killed millions of people. He

killed them all by gas, starvation, hard labor, medical experiments, executions, and anything he

could think of. Most believe this killing rampage only targeted Jews which is not entirely true,

millions of non-Jews also died, Hitler hated the Polish.

According to Terese Schwartz, on August 22, 1939, Hitler commanded his troops to, “…

Kill without pity or mercy all men, women, and children of Polish descent or language…”

(“Half”, par. 1) He also states; Hitler invaded Poland on September 1, 1939. He went in by three

ways: west, north, and south. By October 1939, Hitler controlled Poland. He took away the rights

of all Polish Jews and non-Jews. Hitler quickly set up a rationing system, which only gave the

very bare necessities of food and medicine. Hitler forbade the Polish language, renamed cities

and towns in German, burned libraries and bookstores, liquidated the press, closed secondary

schools and colleges, burned churches and synagogues, sent priests to concentration camps,

forced young men into the German army, and destroyed all traces of Polish history, art, and

culture (“Half”, par. 2). Hitler wanted to terrorize the Polish so they would do what he wanted no

matter what.

Hitler executed the majority of Poland’s leading class because he knew that if he got rid

of them it would make the rest of the Polish easier to control. He executed hundreds of Polish

leaders, such as mayors, priests, judges, doctors, and teachers, in front of the public. He sent the

rest of Poland’s leading class to concentration camps, where they also died. The first mass

execution of the war happened in Wawer, Poland on December 27, 1939. For the execution they

took 107 non-Jewish men from their homes at night, and shot them. This execution began a
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string of mass executions and street roundups, both of which continued throughout the whole

war (“Half”, par. 3-5).

Poland lost the largest amount of life and property compared to any other conquered

country during World War II. It lost 45 percent of the doctors, 57 percent of the attorneys, 40

percent of the professors, 30 percent of the technicians, 18 percent of the clergy, and the majority

of the journalists (“Half”, par. 11). Approximately 11 million people lost their lives throughout

the Holocaust, of those 11 million, Poland lost 6 million, and non-Jews made up half of them

(Five”, par. 6).

Polish victims began Auschwitz’s career as possibly the most notorious death camp from

the Holocaust. Polish Christians and Catholics became the first victims at Auschwitz. For the

first 21 months after it was put into business Auschwitz, almost exclusively, dealt with non-

Jewish Polish victims. Polish non-Jews had over 100,000 deaths at Auschwitz. The first Polish

victim died in Auschwitz in June 1940 and the first Jewish victim died in there in October 1942

(“Five”, par. 15).

Looking Aryan might have kept people from becoming victims of Auschwitz. The Nazi’s

classified the Polish people based on their racial characteristics. An Aryan looking person got

sent to Lodz for further examination (“Five”, par. 15). The Nazis took Polish children who

possessed Aryan characteristics from their homes and families. After they took them they would

give them to a German family, who would raise them like a German. They sent most of the

others who did not look Aryan to slave labor camps in Reich. The Nazi’s deported about two

million Polish gentiles into labor for the Third Reich.

Along with the German Nazi’s the Soviet Union Russians also terrorized the Polish

during the war. Hitler’s troops already invaded Poland by the west, north, and south, so the
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Soviet Union went in through the east. They and Germany divided Poland in half. The western

half became a new German territory and Russia incorporated the eastern half into it. The Polish

who lived in the eastern half became Soviet citizens. The Russians drafted the young, polish,

men into the Soviet Army. Also, the Russians deported about 1.7 million Polish non-Jews to

Siberia. They forced them, without warning, from their homes. Then, they transferred them in

cattle cars, during freezing weather, and on the way many died (“Half”, par. 6,9).

Because of all these hardships, a resistance formed with a purpose of trying to fight back.

Polish men-grandfathers, fathers, and sons, all fought back, side by side. They used what they

could find and did what they could to stop the Nazis. They fought with Polish pistols and

German sub-machine guns, and some of them even wore German uniforms, all of which they

stole or bought from the Nazis. The only form of identification they made consisted of a red and

white armband they wore (“Irek”, par.1-2).

They worked through the city sewers. They used the sewers as Headquarters and

passageways. Soldiers would run through the sewer tunnels, smuggling supplies and passing

messages and orders. One night an order went out to switch their armbands from the left arm to

the right arm, because Germans had infiltrated them. In the morning they shot anyone wearing

the band on the left (“Irek”, par. 3).

When the Nazis invaded Poland they destroyed the Polish press, which destroyed the

only way for the Polish to inform the world of the things happening to them. The Nazis took

advantage of this and started a campaign of propaganda to convince the world of Poland’s

weakness and inferiority, and Germany’s invincible power and superiority (“Five”, par. 16).

When thinking about the Holocaust it is hard not to think that maybe the Nazis succeeded

some in making the world believe what they wanted it to. Most people do not really think about
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the Polish when thinking about the Holocaust. Usually our thoughts go right to the Jewish, but

never do they wander to the Polish or to any other forgotten victims. Let us not forget them, they

suffered just as much pain, heartache, and grief as everyone else did.
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Bibliography

"Polish Victims." USHMM.org. 2008. 2 Sep. 2008

<http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/article.php?ModuleId=10005473>.

Schwartz, Terese P. "Five Million Forgotten." Remember.org. 1997. 2 Sep. 2008

<http://www.remember.org/forgotten/>.

Schwartz, Terese P. "Half of These Holocaust Victims Were Non-Jews."

Holocaustforgotten.com. 2008. 2 Sep. 2008 <http;//www.holocaustforgotten.com/poland.htm>.

Schwartz, Terese P. "Irek From the Underground." Holocaustforgotten.com. 2007. 4 Sep.

2008 <http://www.holocaustforgotten.com/irek-e.htm>.

"Victims." A Teacher's Guide to the Holocaust. 2005. 2 Sep. 2008

<http://fcit.usf.edu/holocaust/people/victims.htm>.