Abstract
The Polish Army in the USSR was formed in the years 1943 to 1945 under the auspices of the Soviet authorities at the same time as the creation in Moscow of a new political centre, the Union of Polish Patriots (ZPP). In line with official declarations, the army was created ‘to enable the Poles to participate in the war against the Germans’. Events connected with its creation as well as its later activity testify, however, to the fact that the fight with fascism was not its primary concern nor an aim in itself but a means for realising definite political aims. The Soviet Union created, armed and equipped the army, which was to safeguard politically and militarily the operation of imposing a communist government on Poland.
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Notes
For more details see K. Nussbaum, Vehafah Lahem Leroreits (A Thorn in their Flesh), Tel Aviv, 1984, pp. 79–84.
F. Zbiniewicz, Armia Polska w ZSRR (The Polish Army in the USSR), Warsaw, 1963, p. 32.
F. Zbiniewicz, ‘Polska lewica demokratyczna w Związku Radziekim i jej rola w organizacji ludowych, regularnych sił zbrojnych w ZSRR’ (The Polish democratic left in the Soviet Union and its role in organising the people’s regular armed forces in the USSR) in Dwadziescia Lat Ludowego Wojska Polskiego, Warsaw, 1967, p. 222.
K. Sobczak, ‘Z genezy Armii Polskiej w ZSRR’ (From the genesis of the Polish Army in the USSR) in Wojskowy Przegląd Historyczny (hereafter cited as WPH), no. 3, 1973, p. 139.
C. Podgórski, ‘Zarys rozwoju organizacyjnego Polskich Sil Zbrojnych w ZSSR, maj 1943 — lipiec 1945’ (An outline of the organisational development of the Polish Armed Forces in the USSR, May 1943–July 1945) in WPH, no. 1, 1966. p. 5.
See S. Szulczyński, Bitwa pod Lenino (The Battle of Lenino), Warsaw, 1958.
See S. Pobog Malinowski, Najnowsza Historia Polityczna Polski (The most recent political history of Poland) vols. 1–3, Paris-London, 1953–58;
E. J. Rozek, Allied Wartime Diplomacy, A Pattern in Poland, New York, 1958;
S. Zabiełło, O Rząd i Granice (Government and Frontier), Warsaw, 1964.
K. Kersten, Repatriacja ludności polskiej po II wojnie swiatowej (The Repatriation of Poles after the Second World War), Warsaw, 1974, p. 62.
W. Wasilewska, ‘Komuniści-organizatorzy I Dywizji’ (The communist organisers of the First Division) in Nasza Myśl, no. 12, Warsaw, 1948, p. 12.
F. Zbiniewicz, Armia Polska, op.cit., p. 98; W. Sokorski, Polacy pod Lenino (The Poles at the Battle of Lenino), Warsaw, 1971, pp. 13–14 and 25.
J. Broniewska, Ludzie Pierwszej Armii (People of the First Army), Warsaw, 1946, p. 22.
S. Rutkowski, Zarys dziejów polskiego szkolnictwa wojskowego (An outline of the history of Polish military education), Warsaw, 1970, pp. 229–30.
Information obtained from lists of names of personnel in: S. Szulczynski, Bitwa pod Lenino, op.cit.; H. Hubert, Lenino, Warsaw, 1956;
J. Guterman, Z. Welfeld, Trzeci Berliński (The Third Berlin), Warsaw, 1966. These tables do not include officers holding platoon and equivalent commands. Only those Jews were included in the identification of names for whom there was total certainty that they were Jews.
I. Blum, Z dziejow aparatu politycznego Wojska Polskiego (From the history of the political apparatus of the Polish Army), Warsaw, 1957, p. 278.
J. Guterman, Jak to na wojence ładnie (How fine it was to be at war), Warsaw, 1966; H. Hubert, Lenino, op.cit.; J. Broniewska, Ludzie I Armii, op.cit.; S. Szulczynski, Bitwa pod Lenino, op.cit.; J. Guterman, Z. Welfeld, Trzeci Berlinski, op.cit.
S. Drzewiecka, Szlyśmy znad Oki (We came from the Oka), Warsaw, 1965, pp. 302–68.
Z. Załuski, Przepustka do historii (A pass to history), Warsaw, 1963, p. 142.
J. Margules, W szóstym Pułku (In the Sixth Regiment), Warsaw, 1958, a list of those decorated.
J. Przymanowski, Studzianki, Warsaw, 1966, pp. 246–9;
S. Karczower, Im divizya haszliszit (In the Third Division), Jerusalem, 1962, pp. 148–56; Lochamin yehudim bemilchama naged hanatsim, Tel-Aviv, (no date) p. 173.
P. Wattowa, ‘Paszportyzacja’ (Passportisation) in Zeszyty Historyczne, no. 21, Paris, 1972, pp. 148–69.
W. Sokorski, ‘Polacy pod Lenino, fragment pamietnika’ (The Poles at the Battle of Lenino, excerpt from memoirs) in Miesięcznik Literacki, no. 4, Warsaw, 1971, p. 105. In a later edition the cited excerpt was removed, probably because the author exposed Szczerbaków as an anti-semite.
E. Reale Raporty, Polska 1945–1946 (Reports, Poland 1945–1946), Paris, 1968, pp. 110 and 207; Polegli w walce o władzę ludową (They fell in the fight for the people’s authorities), Warsaw, 1970, pp. 470–563.
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Nussbaum, K. (1991). Jews in the Kościuszko Division and First Polish Army. In: Davies, N., Polonsky, A. (eds) Jews in Eastern Poland and the USSR, 1939–46. Studies in Russia and East Europe. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-21789-2_11
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