Polish-Jewish relations in Landkreis Bielitz during the Second World War

Some research problems

Abstract

Research into Polish-Jewish relations during the Second World War, particularly as regards the lands which had formed a part of prewar Poland and following 1939 were incorporated into the Reich, encounters a multitude of problems. First of all, it is necessary to analyze these associations in a broad socio-political context and introduce references to the interwar period. In the main, since Silesian Jews were connected with the German culture and language, and were also strongly assimilated, we cannot refer to them as “Polish Jews”, but rather as “German Jews”. Their interrelations with Poles during the war were frequently limited, if only because Poles constituted a minority in the region. Secondly, extant archival materials do not always depict the truth about the survival strategies employed by Jews. The author sets forward the difficulties which he experienced while working on a text concerning the fates of Jews from Bielsko and Biała Krakowska during the war, and concomitantly calls for the broadest possible verification and substantive critique of wartime and postwar sources.