Contested Loyalties in War: Polish-Jewish Relations within the Anders Army A thesis submitted to The University of Manchester for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Faculty of Humanities 2019 Dominika Cholewinska-Vater School of Arts, Languages and Cultures List of Contents List of Abbreviations………………………………………………………………………………………..5 Abstract……………………………………………………………………………………………………………6 Declaration and Copyright Statement………………………………………………………………8 Acknowledgements………………………………………………………………………………………….9 Introduction…………………………………………………………………………………………………..10 Research Objectives and Questions……………………………………………………..18 Theoretical Framework and Concepts………………………………………………….22 Literature Review (Historiography)………………………………………………………28 Contribution of the Study…………………………………………………………………….42 Methods and Sources…………………………………………………………………………..44 Structure of the Thesis…………………………………………………………………………50 Historical Background………………………………………………………………………….54 Chapter One: Polish-Jewish relations in Palestine before the arrival of the Polish Army in the East…………………………………………………………………………………..57 Introduction……………………………………………………………………………………57 1. Wartime Refugeedom…………………………………………………………………….59 2. Wartime Palestine…………………………………………………………………………..71 3. Polish-Jewish Military Agreement………………………………………………..…88 4. Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………………….101 2 Chapter Two: Official Polish narratives concerning the desertion of Jewish soldiers in the Soviet Union………………………………………………………………………...105 Introduction………………………………………………………………………………….105 1. Jews as Bad Soldiers……………………………………………………………………..112 2. Jews as Disloyal…………………………………………………………………………….125 3. Jews as Pro-Communist…………………………………………………………….....130 4. Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………………….139 Chapter Three: Jewish Narratives on Jews and the Polish Army…………………..143 Introduction……………………………………………………………………………………….143 1. The Revisionist Faction and Military Values……………………………………….150 2. The Representation of Polish Jewry and Civic Equality……………………….161 3. The Yishuv and its Need for Pioneers and Soldiers……………………………..173 4. Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………………………186 Chapter Four: Official Polish Reactions to Desertions by Jewish Soldiers……..191 Introduction………………………………………………………………………………….191 1. The Polish Law on Desertions……………………………………………………….199 2. The Soviet Case…………………………………………………………………………….204 3. The British Case…………………………………………………………………………….208 4. Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………………….225 3 Chapter Five: Official Polish Reactions to Jewish Soldiers’ Desertions – Epilogue …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….229 Introduction………………………………………………………………………………….229 1. The Ethnic Inequality as the Sense of Justice…………………………………234 2. The Pressure of British Public Opinion and Political Elites……………..243 3. Polish Internal Crisis as a Source of Self-Examination……………………253 4. Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………………….263 Chapter Six: The Aftermath of Jewish Soldiers’ Desertions in Palestine……….267 Introduction………………………………………………………………………………….267 1. The Mainstream Zionists and the Jewish Legion……………………………272 2. Radical Movements in the Yishuv: Zionists-Revisionists and Communists………………………………………………………………………………….284 3. The Representation of Polish Jewry………………………………………………304 4. Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………………….312 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………………………………316 Bibliography…………………………………………………………………………………………………344 Word count: 80,637 4 List of Abbreviations AAN Archiwum Akt Nowych (Central Archive of Modern Records) C. in C. Commander in Chief CZA Central Zionist Archives IDF and MOD Israeli Defence Forces and Ministry of Defence WPP Wojskowy Przegląd Prawniczy (journal) 5 Abstract This thesis examines Polish-Jewish relations and the policies that shaped them during WWII outside occupied Poland within the deterritorialised Polish state in exile. It takes as its point of examination the case of mass desertions by Jewish soldiers from the Polish Army answerable to the exiled Polish government, and the impact it had on relations between Poles and Jews under the aegis of the Allies (particularly Britain, which held the mandate for Palestine in which most of the desertions took place in 1943). The question why the Jewish soldiers deserted the Polish Army en masse was not infrequently raised in post-war Polish historiography, either in Poland (both before and after the transition from communism to democracy) or in the Polish diaspora in the West. This thesis makes a novel intervention in this debate by restoring to relevant historiography the contextual yet universal condition of wartime refugeedom, which, as this thesis shows, preceded the ethnic operative categories of “Pole” or “Jew”. By doing this, this thesis deconstructs the politicized ethno-nationalist Polish and Jewish contemporary narratives, which subsequently came to underpin post-war mainstream Polish and Israeli historiographies on the subject, whose treatment of the desertions was fundamentally irreconcilable both morally and methodologically. The central argument of this thesis is that the desertions were a result of complementary Polish and Jewish policies: the former wished to push the Jewish minority outside the boundaries of the ethnically-defined Polish body politic, while the latter’s vested interest laid in encouraging Polish Jews to settle in the Palestinian Yishuv. The specific role of the societal beliefs informing these policies and the concepts developed on both sides in their wake is scrutinized in this thesis. This study identifies the Polish wartime regime as an ethnic democracy, using this term as an efficient analytical mechanism to explain the handling of the Jewish minority issue by the Polish government in exile which, in spite of its pretences to abide by the principles of liberal democracy in order to gain its rightful place among the Allies, ultimately spoke above all for the ethnic Polish majority. This government, and its diplomatic and administrative branches, encountered the leadership of the Jewish community in Palestine (the Yishuv), an encounter which highlighted certain key features of Polish-Jewish relations: majority-minority dynamics, sense of belonging, and inclusion versus exclusion from the body politic, in theory as well as in practice. 6 Declaration No portion of the work referred to in the thesis has been submitted in support of an application for another degree or qualification of this or any other university or other institute of learning. 7 Copyright Statement i. The author of this thesis (including any appendices and/or schedules to this thesis) owns certain copyright or related rights in it (the “Copyright”) and s/he has given The University of Manchester certain rights to use such Copyright, including for administrative purposes. ii. Copies of this thesis, either in full or in extracts and whether in hard or electronic copy, may be made only in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 (as amended) and regulations issued under it or, where appropriate, in accordance with licensing agreements which the University has from time to time. This page must form part of any such copies made. iii. The ownership of certain Copyright, patents, designs, trademarks and other intellectual property (the “Intellectual Property”) and any reproductions of copyright works in the thesis, for example graphs and tables (“Reproductions”), which may be described in this thesis, may not be owned by the author and may be owned by third parties. Such Intellectual Property and Reproductions cannot and must not be made available for use without the prior written permission of the owner(s) of the relevant Intellectual Property and/or Reproductions. iv. Further information on the conditions under which disclosure, publication and commercialisation of this thesis, the Copyright and any Intellectual Property and/or Reproductions described in it may take place is available in the University IP Policy (see http://documents.manchester.ac.uk/DocuInfo.aspx?DocID=24420), in any relevant Thesis restriction declarations deposited in the University Library, The University Library’s regulations (see http://www.library.manchester.ac.uk/about/regulations/) and in The University’s policy on Presentation of Theses. 8 Acknowledgements I acknowledge the help and support of the following individuals and institutions: Special thanks and credit go to my supervisor, Dr Ewa Ochman, for her guidance and patience. I also want to thank my co-supervisor, Dr Jean-Marc Dreyfus and my advisor, Dr Cathy Gelbin, for their help and support. I want also thank my husband, Dr Roman Vater, for his insightful suggestions and support, and Susan Kennedy for her diligent proofreading and copy-editing. I am indebted to the following institutions: Polish Institute and Sikorski Museum and Archives in London, Central Zionist Archives, Haganah Archives and Jabotinsky Institute in Israel. This research was made possible by the CEELBAS post-graduate studentship and the President’s Doctoral Scholarship. 9 Introduction The extermination of Jews that took place on Polish soil and in the presence of the Poles does not belong to Polish history and does not constitute part of the Polish fate, in the historical awareness of the dominant Poles… Polish Centre for Holocaust Research Institute of Philosophy and Sociology of the Polish Academy of Sciences This statement on the website of the Polish Centre for Holocaust Research reflects one of the central problems this thesis is addressing. The Polish-Jewish dynamics during the Second World War demonstrate