Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Introduction
- The German Policy of Extermination and Germanization of Polish Children during World War II
- A Crime without Punishment: The Extermination of Polish Children during the Period of German Occupation from 1939 to 1945
- Polish Children and Youth in Auschwitz
- Suffering of Children in Auschwitz – Biological and Mental Extermination
- When There Were No More Tears Left to Cry: The Tragic Fate of the Polish Children Displaced from the Zamość Region in 1942–1943
- Children of the Zamość Region in the Majdanek Camp (in Selected Archive Files and Personal Accounts)
- The German Camp for Juvenile Poles in Łódź at Przemysłowa Street
- The Role of Gaukinderheim Kalisch in Germanization during World War II
- The Germanization of Polish Children and Youth in Gdańsk Pomerania and the Role of the Stutthof Concentration Camp
- Children’s Experiences in the German Displacement and Forced Labor Camp in Potulice and Smukała – Memories of Female Prisoners
- The Fate of the Children of Białystok under Soviet and German Totalitarianism during World War II
- Extermination of Juvenile Scouts in the Lands of Poland during the German Occupation of 1939–1945
- The Fate of Polish Children in Allied-occupied Germany in the Years 1945–1950
- The Returns of Polish Children from German Lands and Scouting Activity at the Transitional Center in Munich. The Polish West State Banner Established by Władysław Śmiałek and Its Role in Simplifying the Fate of Polish War Orphans
Introduction
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 November 2021
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Introduction
- The German Policy of Extermination and Germanization of Polish Children during World War II
- A Crime without Punishment: The Extermination of Polish Children during the Period of German Occupation from 1939 to 1945
- Polish Children and Youth in Auschwitz
- Suffering of Children in Auschwitz – Biological and Mental Extermination
- When There Were No More Tears Left to Cry: The Tragic Fate of the Polish Children Displaced from the Zamość Region in 1942–1943
- Children of the Zamość Region in the Majdanek Camp (in Selected Archive Files and Personal Accounts)
- The German Camp for Juvenile Poles in Łódź at Przemysłowa Street
- The Role of Gaukinderheim Kalisch in Germanization during World War II
- The Germanization of Polish Children and Youth in Gdańsk Pomerania and the Role of the Stutthof Concentration Camp
- Children’s Experiences in the German Displacement and Forced Labor Camp in Potulice and Smukała – Memories of Female Prisoners
- The Fate of the Children of Białystok under Soviet and German Totalitarianism during World War II
- Extermination of Juvenile Scouts in the Lands of Poland during the German Occupation of 1939–1945
- The Fate of Polish Children in Allied-occupied Germany in the Years 1945–1950
- The Returns of Polish Children from German Lands and Scouting Activity at the Transitional Center in Munich. The Polish West State Banner Established by Władysław Śmiałek and Its Role in Simplifying the Fate of Polish War Orphans
Summary
“Crime without punishment”… a laconic description of German crimes against Polish children presented in the second chapter of the present monograph by Andrzej Kołakowski. Crime without punishment would not be possible if it was not for The Forgotten Holocaust of the Polish Nation during World War II.
When a person having a certain degree of knowledge on historic events in Europe listens to the contemporary academic, publicist, or political discourse, they are faced with a great lie on the topic of World War II, which consists, among others, in narratives using the phrase “Polish death camps” and accuse Poles of participation in the Holocaust of Jews. This assumption, held by modern Western people, contradicts historic facts and yet appears to be so common that even the President of the United States, Barack Obama, spoke of “Polish death camps”. The Western world of the present day does not seem to notice that these camps were built by the Germans within Polish territory under occupation; that it was the Germans who exterminated, first and foremost , Polish citizens of various ethnic origins: Polish, Jewish, Roma, and others; it is also hardly ever mentioned that the first prisoners of Auschwitz were Poles.
German historical policy, implemented during the period of enforced communism in Poland, resulted in the fact that the Germans have “shared” their responsibility for waging World War II… with the nation they harmed the most, the Poles. At present, German publicists, academicians, and politicians hardly ever protest against lies assigning guilt to the Polish nation, which had been attacked militarily, exterminated, ruined, and robbed and which had been the first to fight against the German conquest, for the holocaust of the Jews in the first place.
Particularly painful was the German crime against children, Polish citizens, committed during the occupation years of 1939–1945. This is a tragic period in the history of childhood in the Europe of the modern era. The present book focuses on children of Polish ethnicity, since extermination of children of Polish citizens of Jewish origin has been discussed in great detail by numerous sources released all over the world within the scope of research on the Holocaust of the Jewish nation.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Crime without PunishmentThe Extermination and Suffering of Polish Children during the German Occupation 1939–1945, pp. 7 - 12Publisher: Jagiellonian University PressPrint publication year: 2022