Racism in Poland

Racism in Poland in the 20th and 21st centuries has been a subject of extensive study. Ethnic minorities made up a greater proportion of the country's population from the founding of the Polish state through the Second Polish Republic than in the 21st century, when government statistics show 94% or more of the population self-reporting as ethnically Polish.^[1]^[2]

Beginning in the 16th century, many Jews lived in Poland, so much so that it was referred to as the center of the Jewish world. Occasional pogroms, such as in Kraków in 1494 and Warsaw in 1527, punctuated a period of material prosperity and relative security for Polish Jews. 30,000 Jews were killed in the Cossack Chmielnicki Uprising in Ukraine.^[3] After the second partition of Poland, Frederick the Great, considering the Prussian-occupied territory a new colony and its people to be like the Iroquois of North America, began a Prussian colonization campaign aimed at replacing Polish language and culture with German.^[4]^[5]

During World War II, Poland was occupied by Germany and subsequently was the main scene of the Jewish Holocaust, the Porajmos (Romani genocide), and Nazi atrocities against the Polish nation. These genocides varied in how, when, and where they were applied; Jews and Romani were targeted for immediate extermination and suffered the greatest casualties, while the Poles were targeted for destruction and enslavement within 15–20 years.^[6] Robert Gellately has called the Nazi racial policy of cultural eradication and mass extermination of people based on ethnicity a serial genocide, since in its broader formulation it targeted multiple ethnic groups whom the Nazis deemed "sub-human", including Ukrainians, Belarusians, Poles, and Jews.^[7]^{: 253, 256}

^ Główny Urząd Statystyczny, Wyniki Narodowego Spisu Powszechnego Ludności i Mieszkań 2011 Archived 21 October 2012 at the Wayback Machine, Warszawa 2012, pp. 105-106
^ Polish population census 2002 nationalities tables 1 or 2
^ Cite error: The named reference Ducreux was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ Carroll P. Kakel III (2013). The Holocaust as Colonial Genocide: Hitler's 'Indian Wars' in the 'Wild East'. Palgrave. doi:10.1007/978-1-137-39169-8. ISBN 978-1-349-48303-7.
^ Blackbourn, David; Retallack, James N. Localism, Landscape, and the Ambiguities of Place: German-speaking Central Europe, 1860–1930. University of Toronto 2007. In fact, from Hitler to Hans Frank, we find frequent references to Slavs and Jews as 'Indians.' This, too, was a long-standing trope. It can be traced back to Frederick the Great, who likened the 'slovenly Polish trash' in newly reconquered West Prussia to the Iroquois.
^
- Naimark, Norman M. (2017). Genocide: A World History. Oxford University Press. p. 78. Hitler's genocidal policies in Poland were directed both at the Poles and at the Jews
- Wiatr, Jerzy J. (2014). Polish-German Relations: The Miracle of Reconciliation. Verlag Barbara Budrich. p. 18. doi:10.2307/j.ctvddzfqg. ISBN 9783847402909. Third, ethnic Poles were also victims of Nazi genocide, more than two and a half million of them – mostly civilians – were killed by the Nazis.
- "2010 Education Working Group Paper on the Holocaust and Other Genocides" (PDF). UN Holocaust Education, Remembrance, and Research Task Force. The Holocaust is the name given to one specific case of genocide: the attempt by the Nazis and their collaborators to destroy the Jewish people. Other genocides committed by the Nazis during the Second World War were the genocides of Poles and Roma.
- Snyder, Timothy (5 October 2010). "The fatal fact of the Nazi-Soviet pact". Comment is Free (America). When the Germans shot tens of thousands of Poles in 1944, with the intention of making sure that Warsaw would never rise again, that was genocide, too. Far less dramatic measures, such as the kidnapping and Germanisation of Polish children, were also, by the legal definition, genocide.
- Nicholls, David; Nicholls, Gill (2000). Adolf Hitler: A Biographical Companion. p. 201. The Generalgouvernement was initially seen by Hitler as a reservation for Poles, but here too Nazi policies of economic exploitation and the eradication of Polish culture foresaw the extermination of the Poles as a nation. Some 2 million men and women were deported to the Reich to work in German agriculture and industry, while the rest suffered starvation (p. 201)
- Rutherford, Phillip T. (2007). Prelude to the final solution: the Nazi program for deporting ethnic Poles, 1939-1941. University Press of Kansas. Nazi Germanization schemes demanded the complete elimination of Poles and Jews from the incorporated eastern territories. (p. 6)
- Lemkin, Raphael (1944). Axis Rule in Occupied Europe: Laws of Occupation, Analysis of Government, Proposals for Redress. Berghahn Books. The incorporated areas are subject to an especially severe regime, involving genocide for the Polish population
- Frank Robert Chalk; Jonassohn, Kurt; Montreal Institute for Genocide Studies (1990). The History and Sociology of Genocide: Analyses and Case Studies. Yale University Press. Bauer argues that Lemkin was most likely thinking of what was happening to the Poles when he defined genocide. (p. 20)
- The United Nations War Crimes Commission (1948). Law-Reports of Trials of War Criminals (Volume VII) (PDF). UN War Crimes Commission. pp. 1–26.
- Marcin, Marcinko (2014). "The concept of genocide in the trials of Nazi criminals before the Polish Supreme National Tribunal" (PDF). In Bergsmo Morten; Wui Ling Cheah; Ping Yi (eds.). Historical origins of international criminal law. FICHL Publication Series; 21. Vol. 2. Torkel Opsahl Academic EPublisher. pp. 639–696. ISBN 978-82-93081-13-5.
- Travis, Hannibal (2013). Genocide, Ethnonationalism, and the United Nations. Exploring the Causes of Mass Killing Since 1945. Routledge. pp. 78–80.
- Stiller, Alexa (2012). "Semantics of Extermination. The Use of the New Term of Genocide in the Nuremberg Trials and the Genesis of a Master Narrative". In Kim C. Priemel; Alexa Stiller (eds.). Reassessing the Nuremberg Military Tribunals Transitional Justice, Trial Narratives, and Historiography. Berghahn Books. pp. 104–133. ISBN 9780857455307. JSTOR j.ctt9qd0zg.10.
- Berghahn, Volker R. (1999). "Germans and Poles 1871–1945". In Bullivant, K.; Giles, G. J.; Pape, W. (eds.). Germany and Eastern Europe: Cultural Identities and Cultural Differences. Rodopi. p. 32. ISBN 978-9042006881.
^ Gellately, Robert (2003). "The Third Reich, the Holocaust, and Visions of Serial Genocide". In Robert Gellately; Ben Kiernan (eds.). The Specter of Genocide: Mass Murder in Historical Perspective. Cambridge University Press. pp. 241–264. doi:10.1017/CBO9780511819674.011. ISBN 9780521527507.

[stat1-1] Główny Urząd Statystyczny, Wyniki Narodowego Spisu Powszechnego Ludności i Mieszkań 2011 Archived 21 October 2012 at the Wayback Machine, Warszawa 2012, pp. 105-106

[census2002-2] Polish population census 2002 nationalities tables 1 or 2

[Ducreux-3] Cite error: The named reference Ducreux was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[Kakel-4] Carroll P. Kakel III (2013). The Holocaust as Colonial Genocide: Hitler's 'Indian Wars' in the 'Wild East'. Palgrave. doi:10.1007/978-1-137-39169-8. ISBN 978-1-349-48303-7.

[5] Blackbourn, David; Retallack, James N. Localism, Landscape, and the Ambiguities of Place: German-speaking Central Europe, 1860–1930. University of Toronto 2007. In fact, from Hitler to Hans Frank, we find frequent references to Slavs and Jews as 'Indians.' This, too, was a long-standing trope. It can be traced back to Frederick the Great, who likened the 'slovenly Polish trash' in newly reconquered West Prussia to the Iroquois.

[genocide-6] 
Naimark, Norman M. (2017). Genocide: A World History. Oxford University Press. p. 78. Hitler's genocidal policies in Poland were directed both at the Poles and at the Jews

Wiatr, Jerzy J. (2014). Polish-German Relations: The Miracle of Reconciliation. Verlag Barbara Budrich. p. 18. doi:10.2307/j.ctvddzfqg. ISBN 9783847402909. Third, ethnic Poles were also victims of Nazi genocide, more than two and a half million of them – mostly civilians – were killed by the Nazis.

"2010 Education Working Group Paper on the Holocaust and Other Genocides" (PDF). UN Holocaust Education, Remembrance, and Research Task Force. The Holocaust is the name given to one specific case of genocide: the attempt by the Nazis and their collaborators to destroy the Jewish people. Other genocides committed by the Nazis during the Second World War were the genocides of Poles and Roma.

Snyder, Timothy (5 October 2010). "The fatal fact of the Nazi-Soviet pact". Comment is Free (America). When the Germans shot tens of thousands of Poles in 1944, with the intention of making sure that Warsaw would never rise again, that was genocide, too. Far less dramatic measures, such as the kidnapping and Germanisation of Polish children, were also, by the legal definition, genocide.

Nicholls, David; Nicholls, Gill (2000). Adolf Hitler: A Biographical Companion. p. 201. The Generalgouvernement was initially seen by Hitler as a reservation for Poles, but here too Nazi policies of economic exploitation and the eradication of Polish culture foresaw the extermination of the Poles as a nation. Some 2 million men and women were deported to the Reich to work in German agriculture and industry, while the rest suffered starvation (p. 201)

Rutherford, Phillip T. (2007). Prelude to the final solution: the Nazi program for deporting ethnic Poles, 1939-1941. University Press of Kansas. Nazi Germanization schemes demanded the complete elimination of Poles and Jews from the incorporated eastern territories. (p. 6)

Lemkin, Raphael (1944). Axis Rule in Occupied Europe: Laws of Occupation, Analysis of Government, Proposals for Redress. Berghahn Books. The incorporated areas are subject to an especially severe regime, involving genocide for the Polish population

Frank Robert Chalk; Jonassohn, Kurt; Montreal Institute for Genocide Studies (1990). The History and Sociology of Genocide: Analyses and Case Studies. Yale University Press. Bauer argues that Lemkin was most likely thinking of what was happening to the Poles when he defined genocide. (p. 20)

The United Nations War Crimes Commission (1948). Law-Reports of Trials of War Criminals (Volume VII) (PDF). UN War Crimes Commission. pp. 1–26.

Marcin, Marcinko (2014). "The concept of genocide in the trials of Nazi criminals before the Polish Supreme National Tribunal" (PDF). In Bergsmo Morten; Wui Ling Cheah; Ping Yi (eds.). Historical origins of international criminal law. FICHL Publication Series; 21. Vol. 2. Torkel Opsahl Academic EPublisher. pp. 639–696. ISBN 978-82-93081-13-5.

Travis, Hannibal (2013). Genocide, Ethnonationalism, and the United Nations. Exploring the Causes of Mass Killing Since 1945. Routledge. pp. 78–80.

Stiller, Alexa (2012). "Semantics of Extermination. The Use of the New Term of Genocide in the Nuremberg Trials and the Genesis of a Master Narrative". In Kim C. Priemel; Alexa Stiller (eds.). Reassessing the Nuremberg Military Tribunals Transitional Justice, Trial Narratives, and Historiography. Berghahn Books. pp. 104–133. ISBN 9780857455307. JSTOR j.ctt9qd0zg.10.

Berghahn, Volker R. (1999). "Germans and Poles 1871–1945". In Bullivant, K.; Giles, G. J.; Pape, W. (eds.). Germany and Eastern Europe: Cultural Identities and Cultural Differences. Rodopi. p. 32. ISBN 978-9042006881.

[7] Naimark, Norman M. (2017). Genocide: A World History. Oxford University Press. p. 78. Hitler's genocidal policies in Poland were directed both at the Poles and at the Jews

[8] Wiatr, Jerzy J. (2014). Polish-German Relations: The Miracle of Reconciliation. Verlag Barbara Budrich. p. 18. doi:10.2307/j.ctvddzfqg. ISBN 9783847402909. Third, ethnic Poles were also victims of Nazi genocide, more than two and a half million of them – mostly civilians – were killed by the Nazis.

[9] "2010 Education Working Group Paper on the Holocaust and Other Genocides" (PDF). UN Holocaust Education, Remembrance, and Research Task Force. The Holocaust is the name given to one specific case of genocide: the attempt by the Nazis and their collaborators to destroy the Jewish people. Other genocides committed by the Nazis during the Second World War were the genocides of Poles and Roma.

[10] Snyder, Timothy (5 October 2010). "The fatal fact of the Nazi-Soviet pact". Comment is Free (America). When the Germans shot tens of thousands of Poles in 1944, with the intention of making sure that Warsaw would never rise again, that was genocide, too. Far less dramatic measures, such as the kidnapping and Germanisation of Polish children, were also, by the legal definition, genocide.

[11] Nicholls, David; Nicholls, Gill (2000). Adolf Hitler: A Biographical Companion. p. 201. The Generalgouvernement was initially seen by Hitler as a reservation for Poles, but here too Nazi policies of economic exploitation and the eradication of Polish culture foresaw the extermination of the Poles as a nation. Some 2 million men and women were deported to the Reich to work in German agriculture and industry, while the rest suffered starvation (p. 201)

[12] Rutherford, Phillip T. (2007). Prelude to the final solution: the Nazi program for deporting ethnic Poles, 1939-1941. University Press of Kansas. Nazi Germanization schemes demanded the complete elimination of Poles and Jews from the incorporated eastern territories. (p. 6)

[13] Lemkin, Raphael (1944). Axis Rule in Occupied Europe: Laws of Occupation, Analysis of Government, Proposals for Redress. Berghahn Books. The incorporated areas are subject to an especially severe regime, involving genocide for the Polish population

[14] Frank Robert Chalk; Jonassohn, Kurt; Montreal Institute for Genocide Studies (1990). The History and Sociology of Genocide: Analyses and Case Studies. Yale University Press. Bauer argues that Lemkin was most likely thinking of what was happening to the Poles when he defined genocide. (p. 20)

[15] The United Nations War Crimes Commission (1948). Law-Reports of Trials of War Criminals (Volume VII) (PDF). UN War Crimes Commission. pp. 1–26.

[16] Marcin, Marcinko (2014). "The concept of genocide in the trials of Nazi criminals before the Polish Supreme National Tribunal" (PDF). In Bergsmo Morten; Wui Ling Cheah; Ping Yi (eds.). Historical origins of international criminal law. FICHL Publication Series; 21. Vol. 2. Torkel Opsahl Academic EPublisher. pp. 639–696. ISBN 978-82-93081-13-5.

[17] Travis, Hannibal (2013). Genocide, Ethnonationalism, and the United Nations. Exploring the Causes of Mass Killing Since 1945. Routledge. pp. 78–80.

[18] Stiller, Alexa (2012). "Semantics of Extermination. The Use of the New Term of Genocide in the Nuremberg Trials and the Genesis of a Master Narrative". In Kim C. Priemel; Alexa Stiller (eds.). Reassessing the Nuremberg Military Tribunals Transitional Justice, Trial Narratives, and Historiography. Berghahn Books. pp. 104–133. ISBN 9780857455307. JSTOR j.ctt9qd0zg.10.

[19] Berghahn, Volker R. (1999). "Germans and Poles 1871–1945". In Bullivant, K.; Giles, G. J.; Pape, W. (eds.). Germany and Eastern Europe: Cultural Identities and Cultural Differences. Rodopi. p. 32. ISBN 978-9042006881.

[7] Gellately, Robert (2003). "The Third Reich, the Holocaust, and Visions of Serial Genocide". In Robert Gellately; Ben Kiernan (eds.). The Specter of Genocide: Mass Murder in Historical Perspective. Cambridge University Press. pp. 241–264. doi:10.1017/CBO9780511819674.011. ISBN 9780521527507.

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