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

~ (Author)

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

Product Description

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

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 437 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.com Sales Rank: #2,269,147 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 28 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

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.

52 of 60 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 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.

25 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very refreshing perspective on the Holocaust in Poland, September 14, 1999

By A Customer

In my opinion, the main value of this book lies in its uncompromising debunking of the Holocaust propaganda which is so prevalent in many other treatments of this historical event. After reading Piotrowski's lucid, grounded in facts presentation, no sane person can believe in the "Polish complicity" in the Holocaust, or in the total innocence of the Polish Jewish minority. This book should be made required reading for the Holocaust studies everywhere in the world.