Alleged Voodoo Murder on the Polish Frontier, Aug 1939

[michael mills]

[This thread was split off from "Historical Accuracy and the IMT Aggressive War Judgment" at viewtopic.php?f=6&t=189354, and re-captioned by the moderator - DT]

I didn't see any "claim of voodoo-like practices by Germans" in this thread which could be attributed to Poland as a country, and many of our readers may not have seen it either. One doesn't have to study ignorance to recognize such claims as familiar propaganda devices, employed by the NS-regime and the governments of numerous other countries at various times to excite public opinion. The intelligent reader has to examine this sort of allegation with care, because of the large number of frauds and hoaxes associated with claims of this character.

Here is the source again:

http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/cgi-bi ... 01&isize=M

As you will see, the source is the official US Government publication "Foreign Relations of the United States", so unlikely to be a fraud or hoax (except to the extent that the State Department of the United States engages in frauds and hoaxes).

The document in question, starting on page 374 and continuing on page 375, is a report from US Ambassador Biddle in Warsaw to the State Department, sent at 4:00 PM on 26 August 1939, describing a meeting with Polish Foreign Minister Beck.

The relevant section is paragraphs 4 and 5 on page 375. In paragraph 4, Biddle addresses the issue of German accusations of Polish atrocities against the German minority in Poland, and dismisses them as gross exaggeration, giving an example of such an exaggeration.

Then in paragraph 5, Biddle makes this claim:

5. If Nazi treatment of Polish soldier killed on August 16 on Danzig-Polish frontier could be regarded as example of current day German methods then we may expect any Polish-German hostilities to involve frightful atrocities. (Official autopsy disclosed soldier's stomach had been ripped open and filled up with many extraneous articles of revolting character including a baby's skull).

Note that Biddle in no way questions the veracity of the alleged "official autopsy" that is supposedly the basis of the Polish claim of a voodoo-like action by Germans; he simply wonders whether it is typical of German methods.

I invite members of the Forum and Forum staff to confirm explicitly whether they believe the claim that Germans killed a Polish soldier on the Polish-Danzig frontier, ripped open his stomach and placed a child's skull inside it along with other objects of a revolting character.

If they do not believe it, I would ask them whether they agree that this lurid Polish claim indicates that the Polish side engaged in atrocity propaganda every bit as exaggerated as that disseminated by the German side.

[wm]

the inscription on the tombstone reads: Michał Różanowski, rifleman, inhumanly murdered on his post on 16.08.1939 by the nazi butchers.

[wm]

According to this page Michał Różanowski while on border patrol duty in dense fog, accidentally crossed the border and was shot to death.

On August 19, Kurier Poznański in the afternoon edition reported that he was killed by a Danzig custom official and the body was returned to his family on August 18.

kp19.jpg

The Polish periodical Problemy Kryminalistyki [Problems of Criminology] edition 270/2010, says that in Danzig the body was desecrated after the autopsy and the stomach cavity was filled with random autopsy waste.

[David Thompson]

Michael -- You wrote:

I invite members of the Forum and Forum staff to confirm explicitly whether they believe the claim that Germans killed a Polish soldier on the Polish-Danzig frontier, ripped open his stomach and placed a child's skull inside it along with other objects of a revolting character.

If they do not believe it, I would ask them whether they agree that this lurid Polish claim indicates that the Polish side engaged in atrocity propaganda every bit as exaggerated as that disseminated by the German side.

This sub-issue is too far off the topic of the historical accuracy of the IMT judgment for discussion in this thread. W're already 51 pages into the issue we already have. The voodoo story can be raised in a new and separate thread on that particular incident, or as part of a discussion on an alleged pre-war Polish propaganda campaign against Germany.

[michael mills]

The Polish periodical Problemy Kryminalistyki [Problems of Criminology] edition 270/2010, says that in Danzig the body was desecrated after the autopsy and the stomach cavity was filled with random autopsy waste.

What is the source of that lurid claim? Is that periodical simply repeating Polish propaganda made at that time?

The question is not whether a Polish soldier was killed in a border incident, but whether the body was desecrated in a voodoo-like way.

The report by Ambassador Biddle suggests that the official autopsy was carried out in Poland, not in Danzig.

It seems unlikely that the body of a Polish soldier killed in a border incident after straying into Danzig territory would have been autopsied in Danzig. There would have been no need to; it would have been obvious that he was killed by a gunshot.

In modern countries, the bodies of deceased persons are not generally autopsied unless the cause of death is not immediately obvious. If a body is brought to the morgue with a bullet wound to the head, there is no need to cut it open and examine the organs.

the inscription on the tombstone reads: Michał Różanowski, rifleman, inhumanly murdered on his post on 16.08.1939 by the nazi butchers.

That inscription is itself Polish propaganda of a chauvinist nature.

If this soldier had strayed across the Danzig border in a situation of extreme tension, then his shooting by a Danzig customs officer, while regrettable, was entirely understandable under the circumstances, and was a legal act by a government official, in no way murder. Presumably the Danzig customs officer who saw a Polish soldier emerging out of the mist on the Danzig side of the border thought it was a deliberate incursion, perhaps the start of a Polish invasion.

If the tomb inscription had simply said that the Polish soldier was the victim of an unfortunate incident, then that would not have been chauvinist. But the inscription that exists does represent a chauvinist way of thinking.

[waldzee]

The Polish periodical Problemy Kryminalistyki [Problems of Criminology] edition 270/2010, says that in Danzig the body was desecrated after the autopsy and the stomach cavity was filled with random autopsy waste.

What is the source of that lurid claim? Is that periodical simply repeating Polish propaganda made at that time?

The question is not whether a Polish soldier was killed in a border incident, but whether the body was desecrated in a voodoo-like way.

The report by Ambassador Biddle suggests that the official autopsy was carried out in Poland, not in Danzig.

It seems unlikely that the body of a Polish soldier killed in a border incident after straying into Danzig territory would have been autopsied in Danzig. There would have been no need to; it would have been obvious that he was killed by a gunshot.

In modern countries, the bodies of deceased persons are not generally autopsied unless the cause of death is not immediately obvious. If a body is brought to the morgue with a bullet wound to the head, there is no need to cut it open and examine the organs.

the inscription on the tombstone reads: Michał Różanowski, rifleman, inhumanly murdered on his post on 16.08.1939 by the nazi butchers.

That inscription is itself Polish propaganda of a chauvinist nature.

If this soldier had strayed across the Danzig border in a situation of extreme tension, then his shooting by a Danzig customs officer, while regrettable, was entirely understandable under the circumstances, and was a legal act by a government official, in no way murder. Presumably the Danzig customs officer who saw a Polish soldier emerging out of the mist on the Danzig side of the border thought it was a deliberate incursion, perhaps the start of a Polish invasion.

If the tomb inscription had simply said that the Polish soldier was the victim of an unfortunate incident, then that would not have been chauvinist. But the inscription that exists does represent a chauvinist way of thinking.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Please answer the serious queries that have been raised .Mr Mills.
to repeat:

Well, as I beleive we have pointed out repeatedly, you are Imagining a polish offensive military in 1939 that simply did not exist.
Poland lacked modern dive-bombers, & its fighter aircraft were obsolete. Poland had a handful of useful twin-engine light bombers. & approx. 170 light tanks of all descriptions.

The Polish army was mainly light infantry, anti-aircraft & anti-tank guns, & mobile mounted Calvary- all useful for a 1939 defense, but not for an offensive ‘push ‘into its neighbours. Many bicycles.
I have pointed this out before, &, Mr. Mills, you keep ignoring it. Then you repeat the same ‘Polish fantasy army’ claim.
No offensive army - no agressive war.

[wm]

What is the source of that lurid claim? Is that periodical simply repeating Polish propaganda made at that time?

I don't know that but it is unlikely that the dossier of this obscure case survived the war. The source probably is the Chodacki's letter, as it was reported on August 25, 1939 by Dziennik Poznański:

The Danzig bestiality.
Minister Chodacki submitted a letter to Mister President of Danzig Greiser - as a human to a human. In this letter Minister Chodacki presented his own reflections and the results of the autopsy of the killed by the Danzigers the Polish border guard late Rożanowski. The body have been returned to his family only lately. The autopsy report of the body of this Danzig bestiality victim reads:

The Polish Commission performing the body's post-mortem examination found a case of an incredibly profanation. The autopsy performed by a doctor working for the Tchew Municipal Court confirmed the profanation and proved that the body was dissected on the territory of the Free City.
The Polish Commission found that the 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th ribs and the diaphragm are missing. Furthermore inside the abdominal cavity random placed foreign organs were found, those were namely: cancer-disfigured uterus, another uterus with oviducts and vagina, lungs altered by tuberculosis, a placenta, child's breastbone, pieces of child's skull, spine altered by a disease, four kidneys of different persons, two tongues with esophaguses and tracheas, liver, a lot of brain tissue, pieces of various tissues, pieces of straw and wood, ear of rye, sawdust, six pieces of paper with insulting inscriptions.

[wm]

bestialstwo gdańskie.jpg

[wm]

That inscription is itself Polish propaganda of a chauvinist nature.

In a few first months of the German occupation of the relatively small territory of the so-called Polish Corridor fifty thousand Poles was executed there simply because they were Polish teachers, priests, officials, activists. Tens of thousands were sent to the concentration camps and never returned, 150 thousand were evicted from their homes after very short eviction notice.
So maybe we could forgive them for using a few harsh words on this inscription...

[michael mills]

So the only source of the lurid Polish claim of voodoo-like practices by Germans is a report in a Polish newspaper.

What was the political connection of the "Dziennik Poznanski"? If it was published in Poznan, it is possible that it was politically connected to Endacja, given that the Poznan area was where that party was strongest.

The claim that the described body parts were "autopsy waste" is unlikely. The only reason why body parts are removed at an autopsy is to determine the cause of death; afterwards those body parts are replaced for burial or cremation, unless they are retained for forensic purposes.

The most likely explanation for the story in the "Dziennik Poznanski" is that after the body of Rozanowski had been returned by the Danzig authorities, in accordance with normal practice, somebody involved in the production of Polish propaganda decided that the unvarnished story of Rozanowski's death in a border incident was not sufficent to whip up anti-German feeling in the public, since after all Rozanowski had strayed into Danzig territory, and the reaction of the Danzig biorder guards, while regrettable, was not unreasonable under the circumstances, and therefore decided to invent a story of profanation of the corpse.

If Chodacki really did write a letter to Greiser, and the whole thing was not a fabrication by the newspaper, it would be interesting to know what Greiser's response was.

What is most significant is that US Ambassador Biddle did not express any reservations about the Polish claim, but accepted it and passed it on to the US Government as an example of German "beastliness". It is noteworthy that Biddle's report was sent on 26 August, ie after the publication of the report in the Polish newspaper; presumably someone had brought the newspaer article to Biddle's attention.

[wm]

So the only source of the lurid Polish claim of voodoo-like practices by Germans is a report in a Polish newspaper.

As you said himself the source was Beck who had probably an entire list of other German unpleasantries.
And it wasn't a voodoo thing, we have civilization here you know. This is a typical example of brutal black humor of the auxiliary personnel working in this field, like for example inserting a piece of human skin into a coworker sandwich to augment his protein intake.

What was the political connection of the "Dziennik Poznanski"? If it was published in Poznan, it is possible that it was politically connected to Endacja, given that the Poznan area was where that party was strongest.

It was a Sanacja supporter, the earlier "Kurier Poznański" was supporting Endecja. I had to "switch sides" because Kurier carried only the beginning of the story (from our own corespondent), the Dziennik only the voodoo part (source unknown).

The claim that the described body parts were "autopsy waste" is unlikely. The only reason why body parts are removed at an autopsy is to determine the cause of death; afterwards those body parts are replaced for burial or cremation, unless they are retained for forensic purposes.

This is correct. It should be various human bits and pieces laying around there in large numbers usually obtained from cadavers of individuals whose bodies became property of the state and operation theaters waste (no you can't take your just removed cancer-disfigured kidney as a souvenir home, but we will use it as a teaching aid instead).

The most likely explanation for the story in the "Dziennik Poznanski" is that after the body of Rozanowski had been returned by the Danzig authorities, in accordance with normal practice, somebody involved in the production of Polish propaganda decided that the unvarnished story of Rozanowski's death in a border incident was not sufficent to whip up anti-German feeling in the public, since after all Rozanowski had strayed into Danzig territory, and the reaction of the Danzig biorder guards, while regrettable, was not unreasonable under the circumstances, and therefore decided to invent a story of profanation of the corpse.

There wasn't any whipping up campaign, the press (and the Border Guard) was asked to show restrain.
It is visible even in this story, the word "killed" instead of the more proper "murder" is used and the voodoo story is printed on page 9.
Even at the last days of peace you could find reportage encouraging to visit Danzig and praising the friendliness of people there. The tone of the press was subdued and non confrontational.

If Chodacki really did write a letter to Greiser, and the whole thing was not a fabrication by the newspaper, it would be interesting to know what Greiser's response was.

The war would begin in a few days, he almost certainly didn't have time to respond.

What is most significant is that US Ambassador Biddle did not express any reservations about the Polish claim, but accepted it and passed it on to the US Government as an example of German "beastliness". It is noteworthy that Biddle's report was sent on 26 August, ie after the publication of the report in the Polish newspaper; presumably someone had brought the newspaer article to Biddle's attention.

Maybe he had his reasons to trust the Polish side and its sources...