The Publisher thanks all Contributors for kindly permitting to print their texts in this volume All rights reserved Cover and title pages design: Jacek Tofil Translated from Polish by Elżbieta Gołębiowska © Copyright by Oficyna Wydawnicza RYTM, 2012 Second edition Bibliographical Note: This is the second, revised and expanded edition of Inferno of Choices: Poles and the Holocaust, first published by Oficyna Wydawnicza RYTM, in 2011. Two new chapters have been provided for this edition. Proofreading: Oficyna Wydawnicza RYTM Layout and typeset by: Studio Graficzne Oficyny Wydawniczej RYTM [email protected] ISBN 978-83-7399-514-7 Print and binding: Łódzkie Zakłady Graficzne Sp. z o.o. Contents Acknowledgements ........................................................... 9 Introduction by Maciej Kozłowski ................................... 11 I. Documents .................................................................... 15 Announcement by the executive authority of the Jewish Re- ligious Community to the Jewish population of the town of Piotrków on the establishment of a ghetto. Piotrków, Octo- ber 1939 ..................................................................................... 15 A circular from senior SS and police commander for Warth- egau, Wilhelm Koppe on the plan for the resettlement of Jews and Poles to the General Government [excerpts]. Poznań, November 1939 ......................................................... 16 A Report from Waldemar Schön, Head of the Resettlement Department of the Office of the Governor of the Warsaw District on the Purposes of the Establishment of a Ghetto in Warsaw [excerpts]. Warsaw, January 1941 ............................ 18 Order No. 1 of Reinhard Heydrich to the Einsatzgruppen commanders on “self-cleansing” operations and the role to be played in the same by German military and police forces [excerpts]. Warsaw, June 1941 ................................................ 21 Order No. 2 of Reinhard Heydrich to the Einsatzgruppen commanders on involving Poles in anti-Jewish operations in newly occupied territories in eastern Poland [excerpts]. Warsaw, July 1941 ..................................................................... 22 Ban on joining auxiliary force assigned to guard barracks in labour camps for Jews, published in the underground Biu- letyn Informacyjny [Information Bulletin] of the Union of Armed Struggle. Warsaw, March 1941 .................................. 23 5 A report from the Warsaw Ghetto by “Jefim” [Icchak Cu- kierman] entitled “In the Labour Camp” published by an underground paper [excerpts]. Warsaw, May 1941 ............. 25 A denunciatory letter to the Gestapo about smuggling into the Warsaw Ghetto. Warsaw, June 1941 ................................ 28 Wire message No. 354 from the Union of Armed Strug- gle Chief Commander General Stefan Rowecki “Kalina” to Commander-in-Chief General Władysław Sikorski “Strażnica.” Warsaw, September, 1941 ................................... 29 Regulation of the General Governor Hans Frank prohibit- ing the Jewish population from leaving residential areas as- signed to them on pain of death penalty [excerpts]. Warsaw, October 1941 ............................................................................ 30 Minutes of a meeting of the cabinet of the General Govern- ment on the policy towards the Jews and plans for their total extermination [excerpts]. Cracow, December 1941 ............ 31 Protest! – an appeal by the underground Front for the Re- birth of Poland, by Zofia Kossak. Warsaw, August 1942 ..... 35 The mass extermination of Jews in German occupied Po- land. Note addressed to the Governments of the United Na- tions on December 10, 1942. London – Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland ............................................. 38 Statement by the Government’s Delegate/Plenipotentiary for Poland Jan Stanisław Jankowski. Warsaw, April 1943 ... 46 “Let’s Fight Blackmail” – article published in an under- ground paper Wolność – organ PPS (WRN) condemning the blackmailers and the indifference to Jews and calling for help for those in hiding. Cracow, May 1943 ......................... 48 Warning from the Directorate of Underground Resistance to blackmailers and extortionists. Warsaw, March 1943 ..... 50 6 “Preying on Greatest Tragedies” – article published by Rzecz- pospolita Polska, the underground paper of the Government Delegation for Poland. Warsaw, May 1943 ........................... 51 “The Jewish Issue” – report from the Foreign Affairs Sec- tion of the Government Delegation for Poland [excerpts]. Warsaw, July 1943 ..................................................................... 52 Wire message No. 1321 from Home Army Commander General Tadeusz Komorowski “Lawina” to Commander- in-Chief’s Staff in London. Warsaw, August 1943 ............... 54 “For People’s Active Stance” – article published in Głos Demokracji, the Polish Democratic Alliance’s underground paper. Warsaw, September 1943 ............................................. 55 Official announcement by the Directorate of Underground Resistance on the execution of a death sentence for deliver- ing Jews to the German police. Warsaw, September 1943 .. 57 Poster – announcement by the Directorate of Underground Resistance of the execution of the first death sentence against a blackmailer of Jews. Warsaw, September 1943 ..... 58 Zofia Kossak, Today’s Face of the Rural Areas [excerpts] ...... 59 *** Władysław Bartoszewski, Warsaw Under Occupation: A Ti- meline [a compilation of texts abridged and selected form the book Warsaw: 1859 Days]. ............................................... 66 II. Interpretations ............................................................ 115 Grzegorz Berendt, The Price of Life: Economic Determinants of Jews’ Existence on the “Aryan” Side ..................................... 115 Barbara Engelking, “Dear Mr. Gestapo”: Denunciatory Let- ters to the German Authorities in Warsaw, 1940–1942 ........ 166 7 Andrzej Żbikowski, Antisemitism, Extortion Against Jews, Collaboration with Germans and Polish-Jewish Relations Under German Occupation ........................................................ 182 Elżbieta Rączy, Help Given by Poles to the Jewish Population of the Rzeszów Region in 1939–1945 ............................................... 236 Marcin Urynowicz, Organised and Individual Help Provided by Poles to Jews Exterminated by the German Occupiers during World War II ................................................................. 271 Jan Grabowski, Rescue for Money: Paid Helpers in Poland, 1939–1945 ................................................................................. 312 Marcin Zaremba, Szaber Frenzy ............................................. 364 Index .......................................................................................... 409 Acknowledgements This book owes a lot to individuals and institutions whose names we wish to mention here in order to thank them. We want to express our genuine gratitude and apprecia- tion to several extraordinary people who – as native speakers of English – helped us with copyediting and did that pro bono: Eli Gur, our great friend from Tel Aviv, and Filip Ślipaczek, a friend but also a singularly active supporter of Polish-Jewish dialogue in Great Britain, someone who has dedicated his life to building mutual understanding between Poles and Jews and who, as a one-man orchestra, has assisted us in so many cases that it would be impossible to mention them all. Their help has been invaluable. We would also like to thank Vera Hannush, Michael Newman and Graham McCabe who were very helpful at the last stage of preparing the book for publication and did a marvellous job working under very tight time constraints. Our deep thanks go also to Ms. Aleksandra Piątkowska who has been associated with the project to publish this book from its very inception and who always encouraged us and supported our efforts. We also thank the RYTM Publishing House for its keen interest in the book and for its willingness to cooperate; in par- ticular we would like to thank Ms. Dorota Świderek for her dedication to the project and her readiness to help and advise us on issues we would have otherwise not known how to cope with. Editors Warsaw, October 2011 Maciej Kozłowski Introduction Holocaust research has a special significance in Poland. Of the almost six million Holocaust victims, three million were Polish citizens. It was on Polish soil that the Germans located their annihilation industry. All the death camps: Kulmhof, Bełżec, Sobibór, Treblinka, Majdanek, and Auschwitz-Birk- enau (which in time has become the symbol of the Holocaust), were built on the territory of Poland. In these death camps per- ished Polish Jews and Jews brought from afar – from Western Europe, Greece, Norway, and North Africa. The history of the Holocaust and of the relations between Poles and Jews during the German occupation is an integral part of the history of Poland, no less important than the history of the Polish resistance movement, of the Polish armed effort on the different fronts of World War II, or of the hecatomb of Polish civilians during the Warsaw Rising of August 1944. How does this volume differ from the thousands of other publications in the field of Holocaust studies? There are several answers to this question. Firstly, part of the book contains a voluminous selection of authentic docu- ments from the period of German occupation of Poland. They are both German and