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Occupation by a Spoiler State: the Soviet Takeover of Eastern Poland

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Occupation by a Spoiler State: the Soviet Takeover of Eastern Poland Jan T. Gross. Revolution from Abroad: The Soviet Conquest of Poland's Western Ukraine and Western Belorussia. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2002. xxiv + 396 pp. $21.95, paper, ISBN 978-0-691-09603-2. Reviewed by Johanna Granville Published on H-Russia (May, 2003) Occupation by a Spoiler State: The Soviet tion will fnd Revolution from Abroad especially Takeover of Eastern Poland (1939-1941) sobering. Originally published in 1988, its conclu‐ According to the Polish national anthem, sions are sound and--with the exception, perhaps, "Poland is not dead whilst we live. What others of numbers of deportees--not starkly contradicted took by force, with the sword will be taken back" by documents discovered in archives after the ("Jeszcze Polska nie zginiela poki my zyjemy, co book's publication. nam obca przemoc wziela, szabla odbierzemy"). Revolution from Abroad consists of 274 pages Both Nazi and Soviet occupiers must have taken of actual text, plus endnotes, extensive bibliogra‐ these words to heart as they set out thoroughly to phy, list of abbreviations, separate name and sub‐ crush the Polish population between September ject indices, and twelve illustrations (war-time 1939 and June 1941. In Revolution from Abroad: posters unearthed in the archives). Divided tem‐ The Soviet Conquest of Poland's Western Ukraine porally into two key parts ("seizure" and "confine‐ and Western Belorussia (expanded edition), Jan T. ments"), the book's six chapters address distinct Gross draws on documents from Polish, German, thematic aspects of the Soviet occupation experi‐ Israeli, and U.S. archives to show with camera-like ence. Chapter 1 ("Conquest") discusses such topics precision how Polish citizens at the grassroots lev‐ as the Polish frontier defense corps' reaction to el experienced the Soviet occupation of Poland the Soviet campaign against Poland in September and the mechanisms Soviet authorities used to in‐ 1939, the initial hostilities, the formation of the duce their participation. A professor of politics Citizens' Guard, the ragtag mien of the Red Army and European studies at New York University, soldiers, the violence perpetrated by Ukrainians Gross has written several books, most recently and Belorussians against Poles in the eastern ter‐ Neighbors: The Destruction of the Jewish Commu‐ ritories before the actual Red Army occupation, nity in Jedwabne, Poland (2001). U.S. citizens who and Soviet propaganda campaigns before Septem‐ have never known the horrors of foreign occupa‐ ber 1939 (resulting in a sometimes friendly recep‐ H-Net Reviews tion at frst among the population). Since the Pol‐ Chapter 6 ("Deportations") is a useful analysis ish armed forces had been stationed on the west‐ of deportations and resettlements--an often ne‐ ern front by mid-September, the Soviet invasion glected topic, compared to the more conspicuous took them completely by surprise. They could not forms of persecution enumerated above. Gross organize any resistance. Indeed the Polish provides estimates of the numbers of deportees supreme commander actually issued orders not to and outlines the varieties of resettlement, regis‐ fight the Red Army (p. 17). The Soviet takeover tration of refugees, and house searches. was thus relatively simple. For a cost of fewer In the epilogue ("The Spoiler State"), Gross at‐ than 3,000 casualties (737 deaths), the Russians tempts to highlight his fndings regarding the So‐ acquired in a mere two-week period 200,000 viet occupation of Western Ukraine and Western square kilometers, 13.5 million new citizens, and Belorussia by "putting it in the context of the Nazi 250,000 prisoners of war (p. 17). occupation of Poland." Which regime--Soviet or Chapter 2 ("Elections") deals with the elec‐ Nazi--inflicted more suffering on the populations? tions carried out in the eastern territories in the Both Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union had di‐ first six months of occupation (in October 1939 vided Poland into nearly equal halves, and com‐ and March 1940). Since the clandestine 1939 Sovi‐ parisons of the two oppressive regimes must have et-German treaties make it clear that full incorpo‐ figured prominently in the minds of citizens who ration of the Soviets' partition of Poland was de‐ were debating whither to fee, across the river cided well in advance, one wonders why elections Bug and San? Realizing that this is an ambitious were even necessary. Gross explains that Soviet exercise, Gross offers several caveats. He does not leaders worried that Hitler might arrange yet an‐ intend to present a "full-fledged comparative other Pax Germanica, so they felt the need to "le‐ analysis" in this book, and he limits the compari‐ gitimize" their hold over the territory through bo‐ son to the period before the Holocaust. He con‐ gus elections. cludes that the Soviet Union inflicted more suffer‐ Chapters 3 ("The Paradigm of Social Control") ing for reasons explained below. and 4 ("Socialization") move beyond the period The fnal section of Revolution from Abroad, immediately following the Soviet invasion to con‐ which distinguishes this expanded edition from centrate on the various mechanisms by which the the original edition published in 1988, is entitled Soviets imposed a specifically Soviet international "Historiographical Supplement: A Tangled Web." order. Chapter 4 explores the socialization of the Here Gross raises a serious, but long neglected, youth, since--as Gross explains--a special place topic: Polish-Jewish relations during World War II. was given to the youth in the blueprint of commu‐ Gross piques the reader's interest, particular‐ nist revolution (p. xxiii). He intended this chapter ly in the frst chapter, by stating that the Soviet oc‐ to serve as a "steppingstone in the analysis from cupiers seemed less "oppressive" to the Polish and the process of subjugation to that of social con‐ Jewish citizens at frst. The Russians lacked the trol" (p. xxiii). Nazis' "discriminatory contempt" and "Uebermen‐ Chapter 5 ("Prisons") is an especially painful sch airs" (p. 230). The author explains that per‐ chapter to read, detailing as it does the massive haps one reason why the Soviet army seemed less arrests, overcrowding of prisons, conditions of de‐ oppressive at frst is that it claimed to "liberate" tention, interrogations in the middle of the night, Poland. Generally, the population was confused use of torture, deaths (either from torture or sui‐ about Soviet intentions, and indeed, "nobody had cide) and escapes into insanity while in prison, warned the local community and the authorities evacuations, and executions. that a Bolshevik invasion was possible and what 2 H-Net Reviews to do in case it occurred" (p. 22). The deceptive tion. As they established control, they proudly slogans of national liberation soothed millions of bruited about the aphorism, "There are three cat‐ wishful-thinking Polish citizens--Jews, Ukrainians, egories of people in the Soviet Union: those who Belorussians--who "could meet fellow ethnics" in have been in jail, those who are in jail, and those the Red Army or the Soviet administration (p. who will be in jail" (p. 230). So gripped by fear 230). Moreover, a quasi civil war broke out: ethnic were the inhabitants that some even begged to be Ukrainians and Belorussians versus Poles. The arrested, just to end the prolonged suspense. Red Army had cleverly proliferated leaflets be‐ Many reported feeling relieved when they were f‐ forehand, urging the former ethnic groups in east‐ nally arrested "as if the threat, being realized, was ern Poland to "rectify the wrongs they had suf‐ removed" (p. 144). The NKVD could track individ‐ fered during twenty years of Polish rule" (p. 35). uals with radar-like accuracy. Gross recounts sto‐ One popular slogan was "Poliakam, panam, ries of men who, when forewarned that they sobakam--sobachaia smert'!" (To Poles, landown‐ might be arrested, fed to faraway towns for ers, and dogs--a dog's death!). months. When they returned to their homes just The stark contrast between soldiers in the for one night to collect their belongings and bid Wehrmacht and those in the Red Army--the latter farewell to their families before crossing the bor‐ in coats of assorted lengths, with rags wrapped der, the NKVD arrested them on the spot (p. 148). around their shoeless feet--also made the Soviet Poles dubbed the dreaded NKVD "Nie wiadomo occupiers seem less intimidating, Gross explains. Kiedy Wroce do Domu" ("impossible to tell when I One reason for the Red Army's cloddish image is will return home"). the febrile rapaciousness with which the soldiers NKVD officials were also adept at exploiting bought and consumed Polish goods. Expecting to the evil in human nature. As one interviewee hear discussions of lofty communist ideals, Poles wrote, "Whoever had a grudge against someone instead saw "in the marketplace how these Soviet else, an old feud, who had a grain of salt in his people ate eggs, shell and all, horseradish, beets, eye--he had a stage to show his skills, there was a and other produce. Country women rolled with cocked ear, willing to listen. Posters encouraged laughter" (p. 46). In a restaurant "a Red Army sol‐ people to bring denunciations" (p. 120). dier might order several courses or a dozen pas‐ Thus, despite the Red Army's unkempt ap‐ tries and eat them all on the spot" (p. 46). pearance, the Soviet occupiers proved to be--ac‐ This massive buying spree was itself a public cording to Gross--greater victimizers than the relations campaign. According to one source, Red Nazis. He argues that, in sheer numbers, more hu‐ Army soldiers received as much as three months' man beings (regardless of ethnic background-- salary in advance with instructions to bestow it Jews, Poles, Ukrainians, Belorussians, etc.) suf‐ generously among the Polish villagers (pp. 28-9). fered under Soviet occupation between Septem‐ In this way Poles would see that life is good in ber 1939 and June 1941 (i.e., before the Holocaust Russia.
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