Forgotten Survivors: Polish Christians Remember the Nazi Occupation by Richard C. s> Lukas (review)

Abstract

772 SEER, 84, 4, 2006 Although largely confined to an examination of Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany, this is an often insightfulwork which makes an admirableattempt to broaden the debate on fascism.It places fascistmovements in their historical and political contexts and argues that pragmatic decisions made both by the fascistleadersand by traditionalpower holderstell us more about fascism in power than an examination of fascism's ideological roots. Nevertheless, Paxton is ultimately forced to make a stab at his own 'fascist minimum' (P. 2I8) which, owing to its length, is unlikely to supersede Roger Griffin's more pithy definition. Paxton's final discussion of fascism is, moreover, marred by his reluctance to engage with the currentreappraisalof the totalitarian interpretation of fascism which posits that fascism and communism have much in common. Paxton rejectsthis on the groundsthat fascismsought supremacy of the master race while communism sought 'universalequality'. Paxton argues that while Stalin killed 'whomever his paranoid mind decided were "class enemies" (a condition one can change)', Hitler 'killed "race enemies",an irremediableconditionwhich condemns even newborns'(p. 213). This statement is not only unoriginalbut also deeply disturbing,since it suggests that people should be preparedto 'change' their social 'condition'at the behest of the bully. The kulaksand other 'classenemies' should, presumably, have seen the error of their ways and sought to 'change' their 'condition'by readilygiving up their propertyand any other sign of their social statusin the name of the apparentlybenign 'universalequality' sought by Stalin. School of Slavonic andEastEuropean Studies REBECCA ANN HAYNES University College London Lukas, Richard C. (ed.). Forgotten Survivors: PolishChristians Remember theNazi Occupation. University Press of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, 2004. xviii + 232 pp. Map. Illustrations.Notes. Bibliography.Index. $29.95. As the title Forgotten Survivors indicates, Richard Lukas intends to redressthe balance:he is convinced that the experience of Polish Catholics is overlooked or marginalized,particularlyin the extensive scholarlyliteratureon, and public memorialization of, the Holocaust. This collection of personal memories sets out to both honour those rememberingand educate readersby providing a microview of the Polish Christianexperience under the Nazis' (p. I). Twenty-eight survivors(twenty men and eight women) powerfully recall their experiences of occupation, forced labour (in Poland and in Germany) and concentrationcamps. The testimoniesare largelyleft to speak for themselves , save for a brief biographicalnote at the end of each testimony ancl a handful of explanatorynotes by the editor. Many contributorsreflect on t;he impact the war had on family and community ties. Younger contributors recall their strugglesto continue their education after the Nazis had closed down schools. Older contributorsrecall the early days of Auschwitzas a concentrationcamp and involvement in the Polish resistance(particularlyduring the WarsawRising) and Zegota, the Council for Aid toJews. REVIEWS 773 As a memorial volume, the text workswell, aided by the inclusion of photographsof each survivor(then and now) and eight pages of sketchesof life in Auschwitz by the survivorJan Komski. To be fully effective as a historical text, this book really needs to be read alongside a more detailed study. The editor provides a brief historicalintroduction, outlining the context for these memories,but this is not reallyadequatein termsof providinga clear sense of either the historicalor the historiographicalcontext. For example, a subtext that runs throughout the book concerns Polish-Jewishrelations. In his introduction , the editornotes the existenceof two majorcurrentsin Polishattitudes towards the Jews, philosemitism and antisemitism(p.2). Lukas insists that a 'smallminorityof Poles openly approvedof German policies toward theJews and [.. .] activelyaided the Nazis', while otherswere 'passivehumanitarians', and some actively assistedPolishJews. This is undeniablytrue and a number of intervieweesrecount their horrorat German treatmentof theJews and/or their efforts to offer assistance. While we should never forget that primary responsibilitylies with the German occupiers, Lukas neverthelesspresents a somewhat simplistic picture in his introduction, making no mention of the recent controversyover Polish involvementin the massacresatJedwabne and elsewhere,or of more criticalassessmentsof the role of Polish clergyin hiding Jewish children (in terms of their attitudesin some cases to attemptsby relatives or representativesof the Jewish community to retrieve these children after the war). An additionalproblem, from an academic perspective,lies in the uncritical approach to testimony: it is unclear how these testimonies have been constructed .The majorityare based on interviewswith the editor;some are based on interviewswith family...