Dr. Shmuel Krakowski

Difficulties in Rescue Attempts in Occupied Poland

Much has been written on rescue activities in Poland during the German occupation in WWII. The articles on this topic comprise, for the most part, testimonies and chapters of memoirs produced by survivors, and sometimes rescuers. Despite this, only a few research studies dealing with this topic have been published, and it has yet to be researched in a systematic and extensive manner. The exact numbers of Jewish survivors in Poland by the time of liberation in May 1945 are unclear. Additionally,... Continue reading

The Fate of Jewish Prisoners of War in the September 1939 Campaign

This article is a first attempt to describe the fate of several tens of thousands of Jewish soldiers in the Polish Army, taken prisoner of war with the defeat of Poland in September 1939. This topic has not yet been explored by historians, with the exception of a few pages in Szymon Datner's book, "The Wehrmacht's Crimes Against Prisoners of War of the Regular Armies During the Second World War."1 There is very little documentary material available on the subject. The Polish Army, defeated in... Continue reading