From a Yad Vashem article by Shmuel Krakowski:
http://www1.yadvashem.org/odot_pdf/Micr ... 206215.pdfThe position of the Jewish prisoners was made even more wretched by the
aggressive behavior of some of the Polish prisoners, who organized pogroms
in some of the camps, a phenomenon till then unprecedented. The pogroms,
although instigated partly by the German officers were also an outcome of the
antisemitic attitudes held by a large proportion of the Polish prisoners of war
and of the indifference of the majority. The most serious outbreaks took place
at camp I A at Stablack, the first during the process of segregation shortly
after the prisoners were brought to the camp. It was described as follows:
We were all made to form ranks and one of the German soldiers, Apel by
name, ordered in Polish: 'Jews, get out.' When we stepped out of the ranks he
told us to surrender our shoes, coats, uniforms, etc. to the 'Aryans', 'or they
would take them themselves.' This filled the Jews with despondency. Some of
them tried tearing holes in their coats, so that no-one would want them;
others, with the same object in mind, tried to exchange them for those of
inferior quality. Someone came up to me and demanded my good boots,
offering his light shoes in exchange. I did not hasten to conclude the deal,
luckily for me, because I suddenly heard someone shout out behind me: 'I'd
die rather than let you take the boots off him.' A Polish soldier I had known in
Warsaw was standing behind me. This support stiffened my resistance; I did
not give up my boots, thus saving myself many privations and illnesses.
After this official robbery Jews were formed into groups and allocated a
special tent area... it gradually grew colder and our fellow-prisoners would
increasingly frequently demand that their gear be supplemented at the Jews'
expense. Their forays were sporadic at first, but then became more frequent,
eventually turning into a full-scale pogrom. Large bands broke into our tents
taking not only warm clothing but also fountain pens, watches and other
items.47There was another riot on the Day of Atonement. This time the Jewish
prisoners organized their defence. Possibly as a result of this the German
guards intervened and opened fire from the watchtowers, killing one Jew.
After that the Jewish prisoners of war mounted regular guards in front of each
tent in an attempt to protect themselves from the sudden attacks of their
former comrades-in-arms, who outnumbered them by far.48
The fact that Jewish prisoners were not permitted to hold any position within
the camp, other than command of a Jewish company, led to serious difficulties
for them. The other tasks were frequently assigned to avowed antisemites,
who exploited every opportunity to abuse the Jews. Several noncommissioned
officers who were in charge of the field kitchen and were responsible
for the distribution of food made themselves conspicuous in this
regard. This is evident from the following description:
A few words about the distribution of food to Jews. The commandant of the
camp was a Polish soldier who saw that he could make a profit for himself by
exploiting our situation. Through intimidation, threats and beatings he induced
some of our number to attempt to ingratiate themselves by offering him gifts or
selling him objects of value at ridiculous prices. Loaves of bread at eight
marks a kilogram, as well as tobacco were offered for sale in the Jewish tents;
these items were stolen by the commandant from the allocations for the
Jewish tents... the Polish cooks could with impunity give the Jews the worst
food as well as the watery soup at the top of the pot, leaving the more
nourishing residue for their own people.49
At camp II A, Neu Brandenburg, the German commander issued instructions
as early as October 1939 to the effect that the 'Aryan' prisoners were entitled
to the uniforms and personal effects of the Jewish prisoners. Chaim Joseph
Kaplan writes of this:
We did not have to wait very long. The men who had been comrades-in-arms
the day before immediately fell upon their friends, tumbling them to the ground
and tearing off their coats, uniforms, shoes and hats without even allowing
them time to remove them themselves.50
Those men from whom the last remnants of army uniform had been stolen
were assigned separate tents; half-naked and barefoot they were sent to work
and many of them froze to death.
The same article has information about the release of the Polish POWs:
The Release of Prisoners of War from German-Occupied Territories
At the end of 1939 the first prisoners of war, residents of the German-occupied
areas, were released. The prisoners were despatched under terrible
conditions. They were usually provided with no dry rations whatsoever and
were given food at the stations after two or three days' travel. These rations
were smaller than those they had received at the camps, and usually
amounted to one warm ration per day (beetroot soup without meat or fat). The
prisoners were transported in unheated freight trucks, with temperatures
below 20° centigrade.51
The release of the prisoners extended over a period of several months, and
many were freed only in March 1940. In Stalag I A, Stablack, for example, a
selection was held on March 22, and only then were the prisoners from the
conquered areas released.52 The overall number of prisoners of war who were
released has been estimated at somewhere between 25,000 and 30,000.
They were in a state of total exhaustion, some were wounded or had frozen
limbs and many had contracted tuberculosis at the prisoner of war camps.53
The principal assembly points for released prisoners of war were Warsaw and
some of the large provincial towns. The released men were looked after by
the Jewish population and the Judenrate; considerable aid was also provided
by the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee.
I presume the above figure of 25,000 - 30,000 released POWs refers only to the Jewish POWs; that is what the context suggests.
It seems hard to imagine that ethnic Jewish POWs were eventually released while ethnic Polish POWs were not.
by JamesL on 16 Apr 2012 14:24 
