|
Engelking, Barbara: "Dear Sir Gestapo": denunciation to the German authorities in Warsaw and its surroundings in the years 1940-1942.
Delation and denunciation are commonplace in each epoch. The authorities have been always informed about instances of breaking the law and there has always been a desire “to bring someone to justice” using the authorities and thus, remaining in the shadow. Delation invariably flourishes in a police state, and in authoritative and totalitarian systems. This occurs at times when the police gain an unprecedented power, and obedience becomes the touchstone of citizens’ spirit. Such circumstances are likely to bring about delation which can be used to settle accounts, to take revenge on enemies, to show “vigilance” and remain faithful to the authorities. Although such conduct is abhorrent and should be always condemned, there are times when delation acquires particularly abominable dimension.
This applies to the period of WW II when the principle of maintaining honour and dignity of Poles appeared as one of the most significant forms of contact with the occupant. In the Code of Civic Morality, drawn out in 1941, it was emphasized that “anyone who denounces his fellow-countrymen to the enemy is to be subjected to the death penalty”. Yet, despite this threat issued by The Underground State, denunciation became so widespread that conspiratorial networks needed to be set up. They operated in post-offices, and they were launched exclusively to snatch denunciatory letters addressed to the Gestapo. Barbara Engelking managed to reach 255 denunciation letters from Warsaw and its surroundings, which were written between 1940 and 1941. Examination of the data provided her with the material for the book, which is frightening in its force.
It portraits a Pole who differs considerably from one depicted in the hitherto publications, films and novels. On the contrary - it outlines attitudes which had never been brought to light before. The texts of letters disclose not only villainy and moral abasement, but also flattery fraught with servility towards Germans, Gestapo, and Hitler, who, in one of these texts is called The Most Illustrious Lord.
|
The author distinguished three major themes of denunciation letters: political, racial and economic ones. In politically-oriented letters, denunciators informed about clandestine printing presses and publishing houses, about the fact that neighbours were listening to the radio (even where exactly Gestapo could find the radio set), they also informed that illegal lessons or conspiratorial meetings were taking place at some flat. Sometimes only suspicion sufficed to inform the authorities: “I had suspicions about the figure of the professor himself. I suppose he is listening to the radio, too and he is reading banned magazines. Unable to turn a blind eye on this matter, I submit the issue into your hands, sirs, which I find the most sensible solution” (original text).
Denunciation concerning economic offences draws Gestapo agents’ attention to illegal slaughter, bootleg alcohol production, smuggling and fencing. It needs to be emphasized that the instance of breaking the law was not a real reason for writing a denunciation letter, but it was the fact that someone else could have thus gained wealth. There were letters informing about treasuring gold and valuables, safes filled with money were being revealed, some gave hints where the items destined to “the black market” could be spotted.
Denunciation letters aimed at Jews, despite their „mixed” character, (when an informer disclosed illegal business made in cooperation with Jews), mostly dealt with the persons hidden on the “Aryan side”. The surnames of those who offered hiding or assistance to Jews were frequently revealed.
While methods, used by Gestapo agents on the arrested were not a secret to anyone, suggestions found in denunciation letters were particularly scary: “beat one properly and he will tell where the printing press and leaflets are”, “press one against the wall and he will tell everything, “hit one - then he will reveal much more”…Denunciation letters were thus written with awareness of future tortures and abuse which victims were bound to suffer.
We cannot guess motifs of such conduct. It can be only surmised that sickening legalism, hatred towards others and a sense of uncontrolled power over them, or cowardice, were to blame.
You are welcome to discuss about "Engelking, Barbara: "Dear Sir Gestapo": denunciation to the German authorities in Warsaw and its surroundings in the years 1940-1942."
|
| Around the Kielce Pogrom, ed. Łukasz Kamiński and Jan Żaryn |
| Bartoszewski W., Polish-Jewish Triptych |
| Bergman E., The Jews of Warsaw |
| Birenbaum H., Echa dalekie i bliskie |
| Brzoza C. (ed.), Zydowska mozaika polityczna w Polsce 1917-1927: Wybór dokumentów |
| Bulat, M., Krakow's Jewish Theatre |
| De Vries, Rituals and Symbols of the Jews |
| Eisler, Jerzy: The Polish Year of 1968 |
| Eliasberg, A., Legends of the Polish Jews |
| Engelking, Barbara: "Dear Sir Gestapo": denunciation to the German authorities in Warsaw and its surroundings in the years 1940-1942. |
| Fuks, M., Book of Famous Jewish Musicians |
| Gebert, K., 54 Commentaries on the Torah |
| Gnatowski M.(pub.), Jews and Polish-Jewish Relations in the Lomza Region during the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries: Studies and Materials |
| Grabowski, Jan: "I know this Jew!": blackmail of the Jews in Warsaw between 1939 and 1943 |
| Halkowski H., Jewish Life |
| Kac D., Wilno Was Jerusalem: On Abraham Sutzkever |
| Kiełbasiewicz, Sylwester: A Portrait of a Jew in the Polish Historiography of the Inter-war Period |
| Kott, J.: Caddish. Pages about Tadeusz Kantor |
| Krajewski S., 54 Commentaries to the Torah for Even the Least Religious among Us |
| Kumaniecka J., Saga of the Slonimski Family |
| Lachendro, Jacek: To Destroy and Plough...? |
| Maciejewski, Marek: From the Pub to the Subversive Organization. Nazism from 1919 to 1924 |
| Mello A., Judaism |
| Michalowska A. (ed.), Jewish Communities in the Old Commonwealth: A Selection of Primary Sources |
| New Judaist Lexicon, ed. Juliusz Schoeps |
| Pakalski Z., From the History of One of Warsaw’s Polish and Jewish Streets |
| Pardes Lauder: The Torah in Polish |
| Piekarski P., Sing to Me in Yiddish |
| Piekarski P., Textbook of Yiddish Writing |
| Pilarczyk K., Jewish Literature |
| Prayer-Book for Children |
| Rigg, Bryan Mark: The Jewish Soldiers of Hitler. |
| Schafft G., From Racism to Genocide: Anthropology in the Third Reich |
| Sidur Szaarej Teszuwa |
| Spiewak P., Book of Books: Midrashim |
| Stern M., What is Judaism? Answers to the Most Frequently Asked Questions |
| Swiebocki H., People of Goodwill |
| Symchowicz S., Stepson on the Vistula |
| Sztetl - the Common Heritage: Essays on the History of the Jewish population in South-Eastern Europe |
| Vincent I.: Bodies and Souls |
| Warsaw Yiddish Avant-garde: an Anthology of Texts ed. Karolina Szymaniak |
| Willenberg S., Revolt in Treblinka |
|