With the end of World War I, a new Republic of Poland emerged on the maps of Europe, made up of some of the territory from the first Polish Republic, including Wolyn and Wilno, and significant parts of Belarus, Upper Silesia, Eastern Galicia, and East Prussia. The resulting conglomeration of ethnic groups left many substantial minorities wanting independence.
The approach of World War II provided the minorities’ leaders a new opportunity in their nationalist movements, and many sided with one or the other of Poland’s two enemies—the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany—in hopes of achieving their goals at the expense of Poland and its people. Based on primary and secondary sources in numerous languages (including Polish, German, Ukrainian, Belorussian, Russian and English), this work examines the roles of the ethnic minorities in the collapse of the Republic and in the atrocities that occurred under the occupying troops. The Polish government’s response to mounting ethnic tensions in the prewar era and its conduct of the war effort are also examined.

Tadeusz Piotrowski is a professor of sociology at the University of New Hampshire in Manchester where he also teaches courses in anthropology and the Holocaust, and where he served as the Associate Dean of Faculty. He has received many awards including the Outstanding Associate Professor Award. He lives in Manchester.

Tadeusz Piotrowski
Format: softcover (7 x 10)
Pages: 451
Bibliographic Info: tables, appendix, notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2006 [1998]
pISBN: 978-0-7864-2913-4
Imprint: McFarland

Abbreviations     ix

Tables and Maps     xiv

Preface     1

Introduction     3

1 Soviet Terror     7

2 Nazi Terror     21

3 Jewish Collaboration     35

4 Polish Collaboration     77

5 Belorussian Collaboration     143

6 Lithuanian Collaboration     159

7 Ukrainian Collaboration     177

Conclusion     259

Appendix: Documents     263

Notes     293

Bibliography     389

Index     407

Winner, Literary Award from the Polish Socio-Cultural Centre of the Polish Library in London

• “ESolid…informative…detailed…the author is to be commended for synthesizing an enormous amount of information…valuable”—Journal of European Area Studies

• “Most welcome…. Professor Piotrowski’s study is a journey of discovery, told in the restrained language of a scholar who is less concerned with espousing philosophical viewpoints than recreating as accurately as possible the roles of several ethnic groups in the atrocities committed during Poland’s occupation…a landmark study…essential”—New Horizon

• “Excellent”—Polish American Journal

• “A valuable contribution”—The Sarmatian Review

• “Clear, detailed…excellent…valuable…a must”—News of Polonia

• “Impressive research…painstakingly relates how each ethnic group behaved”—Polish Library News

• “Highly recommended…indispensable…Piotrowski has rewarded the seriously interested an amazing amount of documentation, substantial, informational, and beautifully itemized—all the more reasons to own it as a one-of-kind professional reference.”—Argunners Magazine

• “[Of] permanent value is Piotrowski’s effort to make clear this dark and murky field as well as make more comprehensible the controversies pertaining to the last 100 years of East Central European history”—periphery