The Jews of Poland

[4thskorpion]

East Central Europe in the Modern World: The Politics of the Borderlands from Pre- to Postcommunism by Andrew C. Janos

Its that "obscure Yiddish word" NARAS again :roll:

East Central Europe in the Modern World.png (280.12 KiB) Viewed 806 times

[wm]

Please enough of this structuration

"Ruch Narodowo-Radykalny" ONR = 1670 Google hits
"Ruch Narodowo-Radykalny" NARA = 153 Google hits

The Falanga National Radical Camp (Polish: Oboz Narodowo Radykalny-Falanga, ONR-Falanga), was a minor Polish political grouping of the 1930s

The National Radical Camp (Polish: Obóz Narodowo Radykalny, ONR) was a Polish extreme right, anti-communist,[2] and nationalist political party

Obóz Narodowo-Radykalny (ONR) – narodowo-radykalne ugrupowanie polityczne

Ruch Narodowo-Radykalny Falanga, Falanga, pot. ONR-Falanga [...]
Sami działacze „Falangi” określali się często mianem „Ruchu Młodych”, a przez przeciwników politycznych nazywani byli od inicjałów przywódcy – Bolesława Piaseckiego – „bepistami”.

Obóz Narodowo-Radykalny ABC (ONR ABC) (nazwa umowna) – prawicowe, narodowe środowisko polityczne

onr.jpg (4.77 KiB) Viewed 801 times

[4thskorpion]

And yet despite all you have said and posted about "NARA" being some obscure Yiddish word here it is again but in a contemporary context and usage:

‘Christ of nations’ in London

As for the ‘neo-Nazi’ tag, it is not strictly true. More likely, United Emigrants London are a motley crew of football hooligans with loose ties to the National-Radical (aka NaRa) milieu around the National Movement coalition, which contains narodowcy (nationalist) groups such as the National Radical Camp (ONR) and the All-Polish Youth - the latter two harking back to pre-war organisations of the same name. Marching under the slogan “god - honour - fatherland”, NaRa is ideologically informed by hard-line Catholicism3 and the legacy of National Democracy (aka ND or Endecja), a Polish bourgeois movement originating in the late 19th century. National Democracy’s most illustrious leader was Roman Dmowski. The founder of the Camp of Great Poland, Dmowski was a political anti-Semite and Germanophobe of the highest order. It is he who coined the slogan, “I am Polish, therefore I have Polish duties” - words that also adorn the website of Patriae Fidelis, a Polish organisation in the UK to which we shall return later.4

With its core support at university campuses, historically NaRa represented a radical continuation of the ethnic and religious nationalism formulated by Dmowski. From 1934 onwards, it adopted the tropes and methods of European fascist movements, such as the ‘Roman salute’ and a fetish for stylish uniforms, and organised street violence against Jews and left activists. During World War II the NaRa camp was part of the underground resistance against the Nazi occupation, as well as constituting part of the Polish government in exile.

[wm]

What is the National-Radical? What a party or group?
Please note, almost all the organisations at that time had Obóz - Camp in their names, it's the key word there - they were proud of it.

If you see NARA a word which means goodbye in colloquial Polish - you can be certain that some primary-sources-shy historian is cribbing from the JTA - a group of men in New York compiling news from all around the world. Because they were using it (and maybe some memorial books, written much later).

[4thskorpion]

wm, I think you may have missed:

NARAs = NAtional RAdical camp

NARAs was a contemporaneous English language term used by more than one commentator in books and news reports of the day for the National Radical Camp in Poland and not some "obscure Yiddish word" as you described it. :roll:

From wiki:

National Radical Camp may refer to:

National Radical l Camp (1934)
National Radical Camp Falanga (1935-1939)
National Radical Camp ABC (1935-1939)
National Radical Camp (1993)

I think that draws a clear line under the meaning of NARAS.

[wm]

NARAs was a contemporaneous English language term used by more than one commentator

More than one and rather those least authoritative.

It is improper to create own acronyms or names for distinct phenomenons limited to a single language, like for example Wehrmacht or U-boot - or Ozon, Sanacja, Endecja, AK, AL. And to create an acronym in place of an initialism. All that only brings confusion.

And as I said ONR Falanga, ONR ABC were quite different and rival groups. It is a mistake to put them together under NARA, and usually means the author is not well-versed in Polish history. Or wants to simplify its complexity because he thinks in black-and-white terms.

[4thskorpion]

I am sure you will agree since most usage of the term "NARAs" for the Polish National Radical Camp in English language texts were contemporaneous i.e. used in the 1930s it was not Polish history its usage was of the day regardless whether it was "improper" or not.

Most current English language authors/historians use acronyms based on the Polish titles. However "improper" exceptions remain such as the common English use of the term "Home Army" in reference to the Armia Krajowa or AK and you and I will both know exactly what "Home Army" means in the context of Poland in WWII. However I do wish English language authors would not translate Polish street names into English...now that does make things confusing!

As an aside, I am sure that you will also know what American Kenneth Murray of the Polish 7th (Kosciuszko) Squadron meant when he uses the term "Bolos" in the context of the Polish-Bolshevik war (Wojna polsko-bolszewicka) 1919-1921.

BTW if you haven't read it I can highly recommend it...a great adventure story which also happens to be true: Wings over Poland : the story of the 7th (Kosciuszko) Squadron of the Polish air service, 1919, 1920, 1921 / by Kenneth Malcolm Murray.

[4thskorpion]

Naras Continue Bomb Drive Against Jews

May 7, 1935
Warsaw (May. 6)

The throwing of bombs into Jewish stores continued today as part of a general plan of terror mapped by anti-Semitic groups in Poland against the Jews.

Two women were injured today when a bomb was thrown into a Jewish grocery store in Dadosch, near Warsaw. The store was demolished. The terrorists succeeded in escaping before the police arrived.

The two women injured are the daughters of Alter Berman, proprietor of the store.

It is quite evident that the bomb was thrown by members of the Nara Party. It is also evident that the method of terrorizing Jews by throwing bombs into their houses was approved by the headquarters of this illegal party, since the bombing in Radosch is the fourth of its kind in the last week.

Frieda Welkowyska, a Jewish girl who was wounded Saturday during the bombing of a Jewish farm in Grochow, died today of the injuries. The Grochow bomb was thrown at a group of Jewish youths training for agricultural work in Palestine.

The Jewish press in Warsaw today demanded that the government take measures to crush the anti-Semitic terrorist organization. It was reported that the government intends to carry out mass arrests among Naras in the vicinity of Warsaw where the bombings have occurred.

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Warsaw Police Arrest Several in Lair of Naras

April 28, 1935
Warsaw (Apr. 26)

Police today discovered secret headquarters of the anti-Semitic Nara organization. Several were arrested when matrices and a mimeograph machine were found. The mimeographed material was confiscated.

The Maccabee sport stadium on the Vistula River was destroyed last night by a bomb explosion. Police authorities believe that the bomb was planted by the Naras.

The Court of Appeals in Kattowice today rejected the appeal of Editor Chowanski, who was sentenced by a lower court to seven months’ imprisonment for insulting the Jewish religion and printing false quotations from the Talmud.

In order to avoid disturbances, the proceedings of the court were conducted behind closed doors.

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Nara Bomb Kills Girl on Farm

May 6, 1935
Warsaw (May. 5)

Frieda Welkowyska, a Jewish girl, was fatally wounded yesterday and Abraham Rapaport received minor injuries when a bomb was thrown at a Jewish farm in the suburb of Grochow, where young Chalutzim (pioneers) are being trained as farm hands for work in Palestine.

The bomb was thrown by members of a non-Jewish organized group, four of whom were arrested by the police, Prior to the bombing the group attacked the farm with revolvers.

Police authorities are under the impression that those arrested are all members of the anti-Semitic Nara Youth Organization which has been suppressed by the government but which is continuing its activities illegally.

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17 Seriously Injured in New Polish Attacks; 11 Hurled from Train

March 26, 1936
WARSAW (Mar. 25)

Seventeen Jews were seriously injured in new anti-Jewish rioting that broke out in several parts of Poland today.

Eleven of them sustained injuries when they were hurled from a speeding train on the Warsaw to Skerniewitz line. Attacks by Nationalist Endeks on Jewish passengers have become increasingly frequent, today’s being the fourth such recorded in the last few days.

Renewed anti-Jewish disorders in Karczev, scene of a number of excesses recently, brought serious injuries to six Jews.

The Warsaw railway station was the scene of another attack when Endek youths fell upon a rabbi, Shloime Berghauser, of Rembertower. His assailants escaped by boarding a moving train.

Meanwhile, the outlawed Nara Party (National Radical) returned to the open war on the Jews, issuing proclamations which urge confiscation of Jewish capital and property in Poland. The proclamations propose that the property be divided among Poles and the capital be used to finance public works.

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Naras Slay Youth, Bomb Town’s Lone Jewish Shop

December 17, 1937
WARSAW (Dec. 16)

ANTI-SEMITES TODAY FATALLY SHOT A JEWISH YOUTH AND WITH A BOMB DESTROYED HIS FATHER’S SHOP, THE ONLY JEWISH STORE IN THE VILLAGE OF CZARNA, NEAR WARSAW. POLICE ARRESTED THREE MEMBERS OF THE OUTLAWED TERRORIST ANTI-SEMITIC NATIONAL RADICAL PARTY UPON IDENTIFICATION BY WITNESSES AS THE MURDERERS. THE BOY, WOLF MIEDZILEWSKI, 16, DIED OF HIS WOUNDS IN A HOSPITAL.

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Naras Beat Jews in Warsaw Demonstration

March 8, 1938
WARSAW (Mar. 7)

Two thousand members of the anti-Semitic National Radical Party demonstrated against the Jews today in connection with the murder of a catholic priest in Lubon, District of Poznan, by a Christian Communist. The demonstration followed a mass meeting against “Communists, Jews and freemasons.” The rioters beat up Jewish pedestrians and broke windows of Jewish shops on the main streets.

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Drop in Anti-jewish Agitation Noted in Poland As Reaction to Fate of Czechs

March 22, 1939
WARSAW (Mar. 21)

Jewish newspapers today noted a decrease in agitation against the Jews of Poland as a result of Germany’s subjugation of Czecho-Slovakia. The rising spirit of unity in Poland has caused even such pronouncedly anti-Semitic papers as the National Democratic (Endek) Warszawski Dziennik Narodowy and the National Radical (Nara) A.B.C. to subdue their incitement against Jews, declared the Yiddish daily Haint in an editorial.

A small selection of Jewish Telegraph Agency reports of "Naras" (National Radicals) in Poland 1930's

[henryk]

http://www.thenews.pl/1/9/Artykul/22553 ... ote]Polish Episcopate condemns anti-semitism as 'a sin'
PR dla Zagranicy Nick Hodge 20.10.2015 09:26

The Polish Episcopate has published an extensive condemnation of anti-semitism on the 50th anniversary of a landmark Vatican declaration on relations with non-Christian religions.

Head of the Polish Episcopate Archbishop Stanislaw Gądecki. Photo: wikimedia commons/bialo-zielony

In a special pastoral letter entitled 'The shared spiritual heritage of Christians and Jews', the Episcopate stressed that “anti-semitism and anti-Judaism are sins against the love of thy neighbour.” The letter notes that the Church organises an annual 'Day of Judaism', affirming however that “Christian-Jewish dialogue must never be treated as 'the religious hobby' of a small group of enthusiasts, but it should increasingly become part of the mainstream of pastoral work.”

The Polish clerics also acknowledged that the Holocaust, which was planned by “Nazi Germany and largely carried out on the territory of occupied Poland,” nevertheless “sometimes met with indifference among certain Christians.” According to the Episcopate, “if Christians and Jews had practised religious brotherhood in the past, more Jews would have found help and support from Christians.” In that respect, the Espiscopate particularly praises the 'Righteous among Nations' who “risked their lives and those of their loved ones, heroically rescuing Jews” during the war. Under the Nazi occupation, giving shelter to Jews by Poles was punishable by death.

“In many places in our country there are no Jews, only traces of their religion and culture, often in neglected cemeteries,” the letter notes. “The Love of thy neighbour, and the spiritual bond with our older brothers in the faith obliges us to care for the places that bear witness to the centuries-long presence of Jews in Poland and the memory of their contribution to the culture of our multinational and multireligious country.”
The document pays tribute to the conciliatory efforts of previous members of the Roman Catholic Church, including Polish pontiff Pope John Paul II, who was the first pope to visit a synagogue, and a committed leader of dialogue with Jews. The so-called 'Nostra aetate' (In our time) declaration made during the Second Vatican Council 50 years ago under Pope Paul VI is regarded as a breakthrough regarding relations with non-Christian religions.

Thaw
During the communist era, academic debate concerning the Holocaust was largely frozen in Poland. An anti-Zionist campaign led by the government in 1968 compelled several thousand Polish Jews who had survived the war to emigrate. After that, Jewish issues were taboo in many aspects of officially endorsed Polish culture. It was not until the 1980s that a reassessment of Polish-Jewish relations began in earnest, a trend that gathered pace following the collapse of communism in 1989. Previously little discussed stains on Poland's wartime treatment of Jews have been highlighted in recent years, owing to books such as Jan Gross's Neighbours (2001), which focused on what had been a largely forgotten massacre of Jews by ethnic Poles in the town of Jedwabne, north eastern Poland. Such issues remain highly emotive and divisive in Poland. (nh/rk)[/quote]

[4thskorpion]

A Jewish man wearing a "star" emblem on his chest is savagely clubbed and beaten by two youths.

Taken in German occupied Poland the attackers are obviously not peasants but well dressed youths are wielding clubs or similar. The disturbing image is matched by the equally despicable caption on the reverse written in German and reads:

‘You must be punished, you little Jewish pig.’

[wm]

Well, peasants in Poland didn't look like those in Disney movies. They more or less looked like those people.
But anyway it was most likely taken in one the numerous working camps for the Jews - supplied with workforce on a rotating basis by Judenrats. Germans, sometimes Jews themselves were functionaries in those camps. Sometimes Poles I suppose but I'm don't know that as a fact.

[Piotr Kapuscinski]

Nice short documentary about the destruction of the Jewish cemetery in Wilno / Vilnius:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7SG8wYwG6s

Well, peasants in Poland didn't look like those in Disney movies. They more or less looked like those people.

Typical Polish peasant, according to Hollywood:

[4thskorpion]

Typical refugee Polish peasant family:

[michael mills]

I would guess that Polish peasants in the western areas of Poland that had formerly been part of Germany would not look all that different in terms of dress from German peasants.

On the other hand, Polish peasants living in the east of the country probably resembled the Ukrainian and Belarusian peasants among whom they lived.

That is only a guess however.

Where did the refugee family shown in the photograph come from? Their costume suggests somewhere in the East.

[wm]

Typical Polish peasant, according to Hollywood:

That man is passably believable. But his daughter certainly not, no girl would dress like that.
And that house built from flimsy planks, wooden but not an old house would suggest serious poverty and that man doesn't look that poor.


Random pictures of pre-war "Eastern" peasants from the NAC archive:

From the village Niewiadówka:

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