Revised january 30, 2009 a tangled web

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257 Yoran, The Defiant, 182–83, 188–90, 193–94. Compare with Wołkonowski, Okręg Wileński Związku Walki Zbrojnej Armii Krajowej w latach 1939–1945, 162–63, 206–207; Boradyn, ed., Armia Krajowa na Nowogródczyźnie i Wileńszczyźnie (1942–1944) w świetle dokumentów sowieckich, 180; Henryk Piskunowicz, “Działalność zbrojna Armii Krajowej na Wileńzczyźnie w latach 1942–1944,” in Boradyn, ed., Armia Krajowa na Nowogródczyźnie i Wileńszczyźnie (1941–1945), 50. According to a Soviet report, around 15 “White Poles” were killed and 20 were injured. The Poles reported their losses as follows: one killed, one drowned, and four captured. The Soviet partisan losses were many times greater.

258 Wołkonowski, Okręg Wileński Związku Walki Zbrojnej Armii Krajowej w latach 1939–1945, 208; Henryk Piskunowicz, “Działalność zbrojna Armii Krajowej w pierwszej połowie 1944 roku na Wileńszczyźnie,” in Wołkonowski, ed., Sympozjum historyczne “Rok 1944 na Wileńszczyźnie,” 167; Henryk Piskunowicz, “Działalność zbrojna Armii Krajowej na Wileńszczyźnie w latach 1942–1944,” in Boradyn, ed., Armia Krajowa na Nowogródczyźnie i Wileńszczyźnie (1941–1945), 50.

259 Arad, The Partisan, 161–62.

260 Levin, Fighting Back, 191. The Jewish partisans in Rudniki forest included a number of policemen from the Wilno ghetto, and at least five of them were executed by the Soviets as informers and German collaborators. Two of the policemen had participated in the liquidation of the Oszmiana ghetto, blowing up hiding places, revealing where Jews were hiding, and handing Jews over to the Gestapo. A Jewish partisan from Kaunas named Meishe Gerber was executed for treason. Ibid., 210, 280 n. 9; Kowalski, A Secret Press in Nazi Europe, 210, 280 n.9; Lazar, Destruction and Resistance, 144, 158–59; Alex Faitelson, Heroism & Bravery in Lithuania, 1941–1945 (Jerusalem: Gefen, 1996), 311–14; Cohen, The Avengers, 121–22; Anatol Krakowski, Le Ghetto dans la forêt: Résistance en Lituanie, 1939–1945 (Paris: Le Félin, 2002), Nathan Cohen, “The Last Days of the Vilna Ghetto—Pages from a Diary,” Yad Vashem Studies, vol. 31 (2003): 42 n.78. Chaim Lazar points out that non-Jewish partisans who had previously served in the German-sponsored police forces or had worked for the Gestapo, even those who had played an active role in killing Jews, were not subjected to such treatment. He also describes the executions of three Jewish partisans by Russian and Lithuanian partisans. See Lazar, Destruction and Resistance, 143, 169, 171. Anatol Krakowski mentions an execution of a Jewish partisan by the Soviets and frequent cases of Jewish partisans being killed due to mishandling of explosives and as casualties of “friendly fire” by fellow Jewish partisans. See Krakowski, Le Ghetto dans la forêt, 57, 58, 63–64, 69–70 (a Jewish partisan drowned), 79, 83, 87.

261 Arad, The Partisan, 161. Shmuel Krakowski lists some of the assaults on Jewish partisans in this area in Gutman and Krakowski, Unequal Victims, 131; however, he provides none of the necessary background or context to properly assess these cases. Yaffa Eliach’s writings are totally unreliable. Jewish memoirs, which are often contradictory, unreliable and full of hearsay, are quick to attribute Jewish losses to the Home Army without substantiating these claims. For example, Ruzhka Korchak claims that five fighters from Rudniki forest sent on a mission to Naliboki “all fell in the battle with the White Poles.” Alex Faitelson, who was part of that very mission, writes: “None of the fighters who were sent to bring weapons from Nalibok [sic] fell in battle. See Faitelson, Heroism & Bravery in Lithuania, 1941–1945, 363.

262 Joseph Stevens, Good Morning (Allendale, Michigan: Grand Valley State University, 2001), 92–96, 114–15, 144–45, 152–54, 160.

263 George Sten, Memoirs of a Survivor (Bondi Junction, New South Wales: n.p., 1996), 38–67.

264 Kahn, No Time To Mourn, 142–44.

265 Leon Kahn provides the following description of the Lenin Komsomol: “It wasn’t long before they established a reputation as thieves, drunks, and rapists in the farm country surrounding the forest. They were a thoroughly reprehensible group … They were led by a Russian Jew from Gorki whose name was Elia Grace. A soldier in the Russian army, he had been stationed in the Nacha [Nacza] forest when the Russians retreated. The men from Siberia, untrained but toughened by hardship, gathered about him. Grace named the group the Leninski Komsomol and taught them the skills of war.” Ibid., 88. The Davydov otriad also gained a reputation for drunkenness, excessive even by prevailing Soviet partisan standards, which was mentioned in a Soviet report from January 1944. See Boradyn, Niemen–rzeka niezgody, 87. According to Jewish sources, Davydov was himself Jewish and his company included Jews. See Kahn, No Time to Mourn, 127; L. Koniuchowsky, “The Liquidation of the Jews of Marcinkonis: A Collective Report,” YIVO Annual of Jewish Social Studies 8 (1953): 221–22. Moreover, it was not just the Russian partisans who had a bad reputation. A member of the Lenin Komsomol unit recalled: “Among us Jews there were also those who behaved like wolves; those wild men took from the villagers more food than was allowed. They also took clothing and other objects which were not necessary for our people. In those cases our superior [Stankevich] had to draw attention, especially to me, demanding that I not permit such behaviour. Once for such behaviour he put those greedy Jews to account; they were Prsach Manes, Zelman Mednicki and Berl Miler. Thanks to my intervention they were let off, but their weapons were taken from them.” See the testimony of Lejb Rajzer, Archive of the Jewish Historical Institute (Warsaw), no. 301/555/2. Rajzer also describes how armed Jewish partisans seized food supplies from villagers in the vicinity of Nacza forest, which prompted villagers from Kowalki to fight back. The partisans then murdered their “leaders” and some other villagers and burned down their homes, which in turn resulted in more retaliation. The commander of the Lenin Komsomol Brigade was Antoni Stankiewicz (transliterated from the Russian as Anton Stankevich), who was known for his friendly attitude toward Jews. Although a Pole by origin, he was not from the local population, but from the Minsk area of Soviet Belorussia. See Broadyn, Niemen–rzeka niezgody, 73.

266 Krajewski, Na Ziemi Nowogródzkiej, 205.

267 Boradyn, Niemen–rzeka niezgody, 120–21, 133. The incident in question was part of a series of attacks and counterattacks in this area which are chronicled in Zygmunt Boradyn’s “Kalendarium walk i potyczek oddziałów partyzanckich AK z partyzantką sowiecką w okresie okupacji niemieckiej,” in Boradyn, ed., Armia Krajowa na Nowogródczyźnie i Wileńszczyźnie (1941–1945), 146; Boradyn, Niemen–reka niezgody, 249–50.

268 Kahn, No Time To Mourn, 158.

269 WETA documentary There Once Was a Town, 2000.

270 Abraham Zeleznikow, “Danke and Imke Lubotzki,” in Kowalski, ed., Anthology on Armed Jewish Resistance, 1939–1945, vol. 2 (1985), 416; testimony of Abram Mieszczański, dated June 10, 1947, Archive of the Jewish Historical Institute (Warsaw), no. 301/2536; testimony of Mania Glezer, dated June 19, 1947, Archive of the Jewish Historical Institute (Warsaw), no. 301/2517.

271 Aviel, A Village Named Dowgalishok, 126–286.

272 Ibid., 135.

273 Ibid., 148.

274 Ibid., 133.

275 Ibid., 156.

276 Ibid., 166.

277 Ibid., 163–65.

278 Ibid., 189.

279 Ibid., 197.

280 Ibid., 205.

281 Ibid., 202.

282 Ibid., 208.

283 Ibid., 233.

284 Ibid., 205.

285 Ibid., 202.

286 Ibid., 213, 249. See also Eliach, There Once Was a World, 636, 638, who states that two of the partisans who murdered Ariovitz (Ariowitch) were Jews, thus undermining the charge that this was purely an anti-Semitic act.

287 Aviel, A Village Named Dowgalishok, 270–72.

288 Ibid., 243.

289 Ibid., 210–12.

290 Eliach, There Once Was a World, 638–39.

291 Aviel, A Village Named Dowgalishok, 263–67.

292 Ibid., 273–74.

293 Ibid., 279–85. See also Eliach, There Once Was a World, 649, for a somewhat different version which lacks important context.

294 Aviel, A Village Named Dowgalishok, 267, 268.

295 Ibid., 290.

296 Arad, The Partisan, 160.

297 Boradyn, “Stosunki Armii Krajowej z partyzantką sowiecką na Nowogródczyźnie,” in Boradyn, ed., Armia Krajowa na Nowogródczyźnie i Wileńszczyźnie (1941–1945), 91. Prawdzic-Szlaski lists some 158 military actions by the Home Army directed against the Germans, as opposed to 83 Home Army actions involving Soviet partisans. See Prawdzic-Szlaski, Nowogródczyzna w walce 1940–1945, 132–37. Overviews of military operations undertaken by the Polish underground in this region are impressive: Henryk Piskunowicz, “Działalność zbrojna Armii Krajowej na Wileńszczyźnie w latach 1942–1944,” in Boradyn, ed., Armia Krajowa na Nowogródczyźnie i Wileńszczyźnie (1941–1945), 7–70; Wołkonowski, Okręg Wileński Związku Walki Zbrojnej Armii Krajowej w latach 1939–1945, 154, 204, 212, 217–18, 220, 230, 240, 248, 252–53. A Wehrmacht report from April 26, 1944 counted 57 anti-German actions by Polish partisans between March 5 and April 21, 1944. The report considered the “disciplined and solidly trained” Polish units to constitute a “serious peril” and rated their potential much higher than that of the Soviet partisans. Ibid., 35; Litvin, Akuptsyia Belarusi (1941–1944), 152–53.

298 Silverman, From Victims to Victors, 254.

299 Piotrowski, Poland’s Holocaust, 85. Many sources mistakenly give Bronislav Kaminskii’s name as Mechislav and his birth place as Poznań. In fact, he was born near Polotsk, in Russia, and despite having a Polish father, considered himself a Russian. He enlisted in the Red Army in 1918 as a volunteer.

300 Silverman, From Victims to Victors, 113.

301 Walter Laqueur, The Terrible Secret: The Suppression of the Truth About Hitler’s “Final Solution” (Boston: Little/Brown, 1981), 106, 121, 200–201; Józef Lewandowski, “Gen. Sikorski a Zagłada,” Zeszyty Historyczne (Paris), no. 123 (1998): 226–33.

302 Guenter Lewy, The Armenian Massacres in Ottoman Turkey: A Disputed Genocide (Salt Lake City: The University of Utah Press, 2005), 148; based on Elizabeth F. Loftus and James M. Doyle, Eyewitness Testimony: Civil and Criminal, 3^rd edition (Charlottesville, Virginia: Lexis Publishing, 1997), 21–31.

303 Israel Gutman, “Uczmy się być razem,” Znak (Kraków), June 2000: 66. Gutman went on to accuse the Home Army of not accepting Jews into their ranks. This charge, however, in no way diminishes Jewish responsibility for taking part in crimes against Polish partisans and the civilian population. It is unfortunate that Gutman’s views are not known to Western historians, who continue to rely almost exclusively on Holocaust memoirs for their assessment of Polish-Jewish relations. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum also espouses an uncritical, and unscholarly, appraisal of the activities of Jewish partisans, stressing their singular heroism, to the exclusion of all else, and the vileness of their surroundings. According to Miles Lerman, the former chair of the United States Holocaust Memorial Council: “For some unexplainable reason, the Holocaust literature has failed to espouse sufficiently the heroic deeds of Jewish partisans. … The record must be set straight once and for all! This is the reason why the Holocaust Memorial Museum has decided to create the Center for the Study of Jewish Resistance. Our Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies is implementing special research projects, and is organizing scholarly symposiums to document and disseminate these findings throughout the world.” See “The Holocaust Museum: What Would You Have Done?” Miles Lerman Lecture, DePaul University, October 7, 1997.

304 Tec, Defiance, 151–53; Nechama Tec, In the Lion’s Den: The Life of Oswald Rufeisen (New York: Oxford University Press: 1990), 182–83.

305 Jewish Partisan Educational Foundation, Tuvia Bielski: Rescue is Resistance, Study Guide, 2008, Internet: