Unequal Victims: Poles and Jews During World War Two [Hardcover]

Yisrael Gutman (Author), Shmuel Krakowski (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1988 | ISBN-10: 0896040550 | ISBN-13: 978-0896040557

Gutman and Krakowski examine in depth the story of Polish-Jewish relations during the Holocaust. The tas is vitally important because one faces, on the one hand, a united choir of historical falsification emerging, attempting to deny Polish anti-Semitism and the largely indifferent or negative wartime attitude of the Polish population toward the Jews, and, on the other hand, Jewish anti-Polish sentiment tending to dney the heroic help extended to some Jews by what one is tempted to describe as the best elements of Polish society. The authors pick their way carefully amid conflicting evidence. Tehy analyze Polish attitudes toward Jews both regionally and by social classes. Tehy avoid the pitfalls of facile generalizations by pointing out exceptions and contradictions to the general conclusions they reach. The picture that finally emerges is not a very pleasant one. There were som Poles who helped... Some paid with their lives for their identification with their Jewish neighbors; some Polish partisans cooperated with Jews and accepted them into Polish units. But the majority, and that included the official underground armed forces, were either indifferent or were actively hostile. Against that background, it must be remembered, the minority that helped stands out the more. The authors not only describe the situation, but also try to explain the reasons for it

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: English, Hebrew (translation)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 399 pages
• Publisher: Holocaust Pubns (September 1988)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0896040550
• ISBN-13: 978-0896040557
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 1.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,466,264 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars This book is biased, May 19, 2007

By 

W. Paul Gessner (Arvada, CO United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Unequal Victims: Poles and Jews During World War Two (Hardcover)

Although it is certainly true that Jews were in much worse situation than Poles in German occupied Poland during WW II, in Hitler's plans both ethnic groups were to be in long run exterminated. During WW II Poles were executed on a daily basis, frequent round ups were taking place, and Poles captured that way were sent in thousands to labor camps and concentration camps.

Although millions of Jews lost their lives in concentration camps, millions others killed there were not Jews, but other ethnic groups (approx. 50 % were Jews, and other 50 % other ethnic groups). This book stresses the horrible fate of Jews during years of Holocaust, but does not provide with true facts regarging fate of Poles in German occupied Poland during WW II.

11 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Does Not Tell the Full Story of What Took Place, December 8, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Unequal Victims: Poles and Jews During World War Two (Paperback)

As part of their argument, the authors deny that Polish gentiles were ever slated for total extermination by the Nazis. This is contrary to historical fact. The Germans did plan to kill most of the Slavic peoples--not by mass gassings and shootings but by slower, more indirect methods such as forced sterilization, overwork, etc.