Poland's Holocaust: Ethnic Strife, Collaboration with Occupying Forces and Genocide in the Second Republic, 1918-1947 [Hardcover]

Tadeusz Piotrowski (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0786403713 | ISBN-13: 978-0786403714 | Publication Date: November 1997

Based on primary and secondary sources in numerous languages (including Polish, German, Ukrainian, Belorussian, Russian and English).

Editorial Reviews

Review

"[of] permanent value is Piotrowski's effort to make clear this dark and murky field as well as make more comprehensible the controversies pertaining to the last 100 years of East Central European history" -- periphery

"a clear, detailed textbook on Poland's Holocaust.... The book is an excellent source for students, as well as a valuable resource on Polish history...a must" -- News of Poland

"a valuable contribution" -- The Sarmatian Review

"an excellent book" -- Polish American Journal

"extensive index, table of abbreviations, appendix, and profuse documentation. All college and public libraries" -- Choice

"fills the gap" -- C&RL News

"impressive research...painstakingly relates how each ethnic group behaved" -- Polis Library News

About the Author

A native of Volhynia, Tadeusz Piotrowski and his family lived under both the Soviet and the German occupations of Poland's eastern territories until August 1943. He is a professor of sociology at the University of New Hampshire at Manchester where he received the Distinguished Professor Award for 1996-97. He is also the author of Vengeance of the Swallows (1995, winner of the Cultural Achievement Award from the American Council for Polish Culture).

Product Details

• Hardcover: 451 pages
• Publisher: McFarland & Company (November 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786403713
• ISBN-13: 978-0786403714
• Product Dimensions: 10.1 x 6.9 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,699,881 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

33 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Tells the Untold Story of the Holocaust, November 9, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Poland's Holocaust: Ethnic Strife, Collaboration with Occupying Forces and Genocide in the Second Republic, 1918-1947 (Hardcover)

Piotrowski masterfully discusses and documents many topics usually avoided in traditional Holocaust education. These include: the collaboration of Jews with both Nazis and Communists, the murder of 3 million Polish gentiles by the Germans, and the deportation of 1.5 million Polish gentiles to Siberia by the Russians (where most of them died--not in gas chambers, but from disease and starvation). Must read for anyone interested in then FULL account of the Holocaust.

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Comprehensive, November 17, 2002

By 

"markannette" (Ontario, Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Poland's Holocaust: Ethnic Strife, Collaboration with Occupying Forces and Genocide in the Second Republic, 1918-1947 (Hardcover)

If you are looking for a comprehensive overview of the atrocities committed on Polish territory during the 1939 to 1945 period you could not do too much better than Piotrowski's book. Those that don't like it (see above) are not interested in the facts coming out. The German's were not the only group committing atrocities and this book meticulously sets out the full narrative. My mother and father both lived through these times and were witness to many of these events. My mother was deported to Kazakhstan by the Russians and her father was taken away and murdered. This is one of the few books that tackles this crime. Much like the murder of Polish officers at Katyn woods which the Russians recently ackowledged, the Soviet "ethnic cleansing" of eastern Poland is a story that is slowly emerging from unneath the fog of Communist lies and deception. For those researching this topic Allen Paul's 1991 book, "Katyn-Stalin's Massacre and the Seeds of Polish Resurrection" is also a "must have".

57 of 67 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding and Balanced Source of Seldom-Heard Information, April 24, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Poland's Holocaust: Ethnic Strife, Collaboration with Occupying Forces and Genocide in the Second Republic, 1918-1947 (Hardcover)

This book has everything! If you think, for instance, that Poles refuse to ever admit any wrongdoing, you will be disappointed, as Piotrowski has an entire chapter on Polish collaborators (along with corresponding chapters on the collaborators of other nationalities). He also discusses the genocidal murder of some 100,000 innocent Polish civilians by the UPA (Ukrainian Insurgent Army) during World War 2. To say that this was a "war of liberation" of "Ukrainian lands" from "Polish colonialism" is a falsification of history. Fact is, these lands have had a mixed Polish-Ukrainian population for centuries, if not from antiquity. And to say that this was retaliation for the treatment of Ukrainians in interwar Poland is ludicrous in the extreme. In fact, the grand total of Ukrainian nationalists put to death during Polish rule (for acts of murder) comes out to a grand total of 29. And acts of Polish discrimination against individual Ukrainians have no moral or tactical parallel whatsoever with the systematic murder of 100,000 Polish civilians by Ukrainian fascists.