Quote:
Originally posted by Hanno Spoelstra
Indeed Poland seems to have this stigma.
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Hi Hanno one more time today
In the field of "Polish anti-semitism" I have good story.
Some time ago one of the historians wrote fantastic bullshit that according to the British Labour Party sabotage against the UK-based Canadian 1st Army (pre-Normandy period) some 200 Jewish quartermasters deserted of the Polish 1st Armoured Division, an element of the Canadian II Corps as we know. According to the historian this desertion was organized by the Labour Party to disorganize both Polish Division and Canadian Army and to delay their entering Normandy battlefield.
I interviewed then German born Jew who served in this division. He is my favourite veteran of this unit, very wise and open-minded man who helps me very much in my publicistic work. I asked very simply: "What?", "How?", "Where?", "Why?" and of course "Maybe under pressure of Polish anti-semitism?"…
The veteran mentioned is 2nd Lt. Willie Glaser who lives today in Canada and I quoted him in one of the MLU Forum thread earlier. Let's look:
Quote:
Originally written by 2nd Lt.Willie Glaser for Crewman's article only
I will state now very direct, I have never experienced any anti-semitism in any unit of the Polish army I served since 1941. […] The very fact, that I was accepted as a radio operator/gun loader when my Polish was not the best speaks for itself. Can you imagine a tank crew going into battle against German panzers with one or more members of the crew being ant-semitic against a Jewish crew member? You may compare a tank crew to a submarine crew, which were specially screened for harmonious living.
I had two friends, who like me were born in Germany of Polish parents, they came to England before the war and joined the Polish army, one was killed in action in France, the other friend came like me to Canada, he died several years ago, both my comrades were with the 24th Lancer Regiment, a tank regiment, as tank crew. Because all three of us came from Germany we met often, we had a lot in common, mostly about family left behind in Germany. Sometimes the question of anti-semitism came up, never, never did I hear a complaint about this subject from my friends.
There were six Jewish soldiers in the 10th Mounted Rifles Regiment, four were tank crew, (one died in action) the other three were drivers and other duties. I never heard a complaint about anti-semitism from them. So much as seen from a regimental level.
200 Jewish soldiers deserting from the Army?: There is something very wrong with this statement. I am not an expert how many soldiers make up a divisional quartermaster section, but for sure 200 is a an outrageous number […].
There were two Jewish army chaplains serving in the Polish army, Major Melcer, was the senior chaplain for all the Polish army in England, Captain Dr. Heszel Klepfisz was the Jewish chaplain with the 1st Polish Armoured Division. I met Captain Klepfisz a few times in France and Holland with other Jewish soldiers, the subject of a desertion with such great numbers of Jewish soldiers never came
up.
It is absolutely ridiculous to think that supposedly 200 Jewish soldiers of the quartermaster section messed up the invasion plans of an armoured division, let us remember the Polish 1st Armoured Division was an integral part of the 1st Canadian Army! I do not believe that 200 Jewish soldiers were concentrated in a comparetively small unit. […] I do remember all preperations for embarkation and landing in Normandy with the 10th Mounted Rifles Regiment were on time, I did not notice any delays. My final word, it is all a big hoax.
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A view to the "Polish anti-semitism".
Best regards
C.