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Night Without End (history book)

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First edition (Polish)
Publ. Centrum Badan nad Zaglada Zydow

Dalej jest noc: losy Żydów w wybranych powiatach okupowanej Polski ("Night without End: The Fate of Jews in Selected Counties of Occupied Poland"), co-edited by Jan Grabowski and Barbara Engelking, is a two-volume study published in 2018 by the Polish Center for Holocaust Research in Warsaw, Poland. The 1,600-page study contains nine chapters, each covering a county in occupied Poland in 1939–1945—Bielsk Podlaski, Biłgoraj, Bochnia, Dębica, Luków, Miechów, Nowy Targ, Węgrów, and Złoczów[1]—in the General Government area established by Germany in World War II. The study identifies small Polish towns as "death traps" for Jews in hiding.[2] An abridged English-language version of the study is forthcoming.[3]

Reception

Several scholars, mainly associated with Poland's Institute of National Remembrance, have criticized Dalej jest noc for using unreliable sources, for ignoring the context of Germany's draconian occupation policies and practices, for some authors' alleged personal interests, for selective treatment of witness statements (questioning Polish witnesses' statements, while taking at face value witness statements that were in line with authors' theses), and for presenting rumors and gossip as actual proven facts.[4][5][6][7][8] Historian Jacek Borkowicz writes in the Polish newspaper Rzeczpospolita that, using data from the book, he concludes that the actual number of Jewish victims of Poles was much lower, at most 40,000, while around 50,000 and possibly as many as 100,000 Jews were saved by Poles.[9] Tomasz Domański writes in Rzeczpospolita that the authors speak of a "Polish-German administration", whereas there was no Polish administration in German-occupied territories, and that the authors' use of materials is tendentiously selective. He also criticizes the misleading use of the expression "Polish Police" (the Blue Police was a German-run entity based on conscripted prewar Polish police officers) and the lack of a common definition of "county".[10]

Historian Piotr Gontarczyk charges the book with "scholarly mystification". As an example of gross inaccuracy, Gontarczyk gives the book's description of events in the Bochnia Ghetto in German-occupied Poland. Gontarczyk writes that the book "makes the Jewish Ghetto Police disappear, replacing it with Polish police." The Bochnia Ghetto, he says, witnessed "scenes out of Dante, with the participation of the Jewish Ghetto Police (Jüdische Ordnungstdienst); there were no Polish police [inside Jewish ghettos], but the book... says the bunkers [in which some Jews hid, hoping to escape deportation to German extermination camps] were searched by Polish police."[11][12] One of the book's authors, Dagmara Swałtek-Niewińska has replied that Gontarczyk is incorrect, and that the book discusses the Jewish Ghetto Police in numerous places, and she in turn charges Gontarczyk with not having read the book thoroughly and with drawing incorrect conclusions from a cursory reading.[13]

Historian Jacek Chrobaczyński [pl] writes that the study is based on solid analysis of sources. He notes the naming of perpetrators and co-perpetrators – individuals who took over Jewish property – and participation by the Polish Blue Police, Baudienst, fire brigades, and military guards. He writes that the study is important in deconstructing some political myths and propaganda in Polish history writing, journalism, church pronouncements, and politics. He concludes that the two volumes are "solid and reliable scholarship".[14]

Karolina Koprowska, writes that the book focuses on micro-history studies and case-study analysis. She calls it a unique book with both a clear scholarly goal and a political message, taking a clear stance in the ongoing discussion in Poland about Polish-Jewish historical relations. She writes that the book is valuable for its solid methodology, rare and personal focus on micro-history, and demonstration of how significant were varying local characteristics, which resulted in widely different and not fully generalizable circumstances that Jews faced in different parts of occupied Poland. She does note that the book may, however, lack an overarching methodological conclusion and does not attempt a new grand theory of Polish-Jewish wartime history.[15]

Beth Holmgren writes that Dalej jest noc is a "highly detailed, systematically organized, data-based analysis of how and by whom the Holocaust was perpetrated in nine separate Polish counties".[16]

Tomasz Roguski's review of the book focuses particularly on the chapter by Jan Grabowski. Roguski writes that the book deals with an interesting topic that needs further research. He commends the authors for pioneering work but criticizes some of its methodology, its use of some primary sources to the neglect of others, its too narrow focus, and its statistical conclusions.[5]

Litigation against editors

Dalej jest noc accuses Edward Malinowski, sołtys of the Polish village of Malinowo, of having been responsible for the deaths of dozens of Jews who, during World War II, were in hiding from the Germans. His 94-year-old relative Filomena Leszczyńska is suing Professors Engelking and Grabowski, the book's editors, in Warsaw court for defaming Malinowski, asserting that, on the contrary, he had assisted Jews, at the risk of his own life and the lives of his family.[17][18]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Dalej jest noc. Losy Żydów w wybranych powiatach okupowanej Polski". Academia.edu.
  2. ^ "Study says Polish neighbors betrayed many more Jews than previously thought". Jewish Telegraphic Agency, 11 May 2018.
  3. ^ Frydel, Tomasz (2018). "The Ongoing Challenge of Producing an Integrated Microhistory of the Holocaust in East Central Europe". Journal of Genocide Research 20(4): 624–631. doi:10.1080/14623528.2018.1527091
  4. ^ Tomasz Domański, "Korekta obrazu? Refleksje źródłoznawcze wokół książki Dalej jest noc. Losy Żydów w wybranych powiatach okupowanej Polski" ("A Corrected Picture? Reflections on Use of Sources in the Book, Dalej jest noc. Losy Żydów w wybranych powiatach okupowanej Polski", IPN, Polish-Jewish Studies, 2019, 72 pp.
  5. ^ a b Tomasz Roguski, "Dalej jest noc. Losy Żydów w wybranych powiatach okupowanej Polski, red. Barbara Engelking i Jan Grabowski", Glaukopis, no. 36, pp. 335–356.
  6. ^ [1] "Ukazały się kolejne trzy recenzje IPN na temat publikacji [Three More IPN Reviews Have Appeared of] Dalej jest noc", Dzieje.pl 21.02.19.
  7. ^ Dawid Golik, "Nowatorska noc. Kilka uwag na marginesie artykułu Karoliny Panz" ["Innovative Night: Some Remarks about Karolina Panz's Article"], Zeszyty Historyczne WiN-u nr [no.] 47, 2018, pp. 109–34.
  8. ^ Jacek Borkowicz, "[2] "Wraca spór o zagładzie" ["Argument over Genocide Returns"], Rzeczpospolita, 10 February 2019.
  9. ^ [3] Jacek Borkowicz, "Pogruchotana pamięć o Zagładzie" ["Mangled Memory of Genocide"], Rzeczpospolita: Plus Minus, 17 May 2018.
  10. ^ [4] Wraca spor o udzial w Zagladzie
  11. ^ Piotr Gontarczyk, "Między nauką a mistyfikacją, czyli o naturze piśmiennictwa prof. Jana Grabowskiego na podstawie casusu wsi Wrotnów i Międzyleś powiatu węgrowskiego" ("Between Scholarship and Mystification: On the Nature of Professor Jan Grabowski's Writings, Based on the Cases of the Villages of Wrotnów and Międzyleś in Węgrów County"), Glaukopis, no. 36, pp. 313–323.
  12. ^ "Piotr Gontarczyk zarzuca publikacji Centrum Badań nad Zagładą Żydów "naukową mistyfikację"" (in Polish). polskieradio.pl. 10 March 2019. Retrieved 10 March 2019.
  13. ^ Swałtek-Niewińska, Dagmara (22 March 2019). "Piotr Gontarczyk i tygodnik "Sieci" złapani na kłamstwie, czyli nowa szkoła polemiki o Zagładzie". wyborcza.pl. Retrieved 29 February 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  14. ^ Chrobaczyński, Jacek. "Osaczeni, samotni, bezbronni... Refleksje po lekturze książki Dalej jest noc. Losy Żydów w wybranych powiatach okupowanej Polski (Polish with English abstract), T. I, II, pod redakcją Barbary Engelking i Jana Grabowskiego, Warszawa 2018." Res Gestae 6 (2018): 266–301.
  15. ^ Koprowska, Karolina (2018). "Nocne i dzienne historie: doświadczenie Zagłady na polskiej prowincji. (O książce „Dalej jest noc. Losy Żydów w wybranych powiatach okupowanej Polski")". Wielogłos (in Polish) (36): 161–174. ISSN 1897-1962.
  16. ^ Holmgren, Beth. "Holocaust History and Jewish Heritage Preservation: Scholars and Stewards Working in PiS-Ruled Poland." Shofar 37.1 (2019): 96–107.
  17. ^ [5] Sławomir Cedzyński, "Pozew przeciwko Engelking i Grabowskiemu. Zarzut: publikacja zmyślonych informacji" ("Court Summons for Engelking and Grabowski. The Charge: Publication of Fabricated Information"), TVP INFO, 20 May 2019.
  18. ^ [6] "The RDI [Polish League against Defamation] Backs the Family of Edward Malinowski in Their Lawsuit against Prof. Barbara Engelking and Dr. Jan Grabowski", Polish League against Defamation, 21 May 2019.
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