Holocaust Forgotten - Five Million Non-Jewish Victims

by Terese Pencak Schwartz

  Holocaust Forgotten - Five Million Non-Jewish Victims

  By: Terese Pencak Schwartz

  Table of Contents

  Forward 5

  Acknowledgements 7

  Chapter 1 - Five Million Forgotten 8

  Chapter 2 - Who Were the Others - the Non-Jewish Victims? 10

  Polish Non-Jews - Hitler's First Target. 10

  Jehovah Witnesses - For Their Religious Beliefs - They Stood Firm 12

  Rom Gypsies - Executed for Their Race 13

  Afro-Europeans - Sterilization and Humiliation 13

  Homosexuals - Tagged and Tortured 14

  The Disabled - Put to Death Like Cats and Dogs 14

  Nazi Resisters from All Nations - Men, Women and Children 14

  Chapter 3 - Resistance Fighter from the Underground 16

  Chapter 4 - Dutch Teenager in Holland 19

  Chapter 5 - The Diary of Number 1067 24

  Chapter 6 - American Citizen and Holocaust Survivor 28

  Chapter 7 - Kidnapped and Deported 30

  Chapter 8 - French Survivor of Nordhuesen 32

  Chapter 10 - Righteous Gentiles - Heroes and Heroines of the Holocaust 36

  Chapter 11 - Zegota: Polish Secret Organization 37

  Irena Sendler a.k.a, Irena Sendlerowa 37

  Chapter 12 - She Hid Jews in a German Officer's Mansion 39

  Chapter 13 - Fake Epidemic Saves a Village 42

  Chapter 14 - Dutch Doctor and Member of the Underground 44

  Chapter 15 - The Legacy for the Next Generation 45

  Afterword 47

  Even though this book has been written, edited and published by the author, some of the stories were contributed by individuals who submitted manuscripts for inclusion.

  Individual contributors include:

  Grace de Ronde

  Susan Ost Perrone

  Zygfryd P. Baginski

  Joseph S. Wardzala

  Michel Depierre and Peter Branton

  Curtis M. Urness, Sr.

  Ryan Bank

  Copyright 2012

  Terese Pencak Schwartz

  4607 Lakeview Canyon Rd., Suite 367

  Westlake Village, California 91361

  U.S.A.

  Cover created by and copyrighted of Felix Stolhmann

  2012

  Forward

  Every semester, I ask my university students, "What was the first and last group of people the Nazis mass murdered?" They are confident of their reply. "The Jews," they say, without hesitation. Some, adopting an air that indicates that they imagine themselves privy to information others lack, report "Homosexuals," or "Communists." No one ever gets it correct. I ask others, as well, including the PhDs among my colleagues. They don't know, either. The first and last group that the Nazis murdered was handicapped people. When I tell my interlocutors this, they are shocked. They assume I am wrong. They promise me that they will Google this question. How could they be so misinformed about something so important?

  It makes perfect sense for the Nazis to have mass murdered handicapped people first and last. That mass murder is entirely in line with Nazi ideology. The Nazis, as Richard Weikart demonstrated in "Hitler's Ethic: The Nazi Pursuit of Evolutionary Progress," founded their genocides on a consistent ethic. Their ethic was inspired by atheism, neo-Paganism, and Scientific Racism. Their ethic was voiced before Hitler ever rose to power, by the Scientific Racists in the U.S. who reacted with horror to new, undesirable, peasant immigrants from places like Poland and Italy.

  We need to understand Nazism, and we will not do so until as many people who know the number "six million" also know the number "five million." We need to know that the five million were not killed "by accident" but very much in line with Nazi ideology. It is difficult to penetrate this thicket of hostility to the story of the Nazi victimization of non-Jews, but Terese Pencak Schwartz has done so, admirably. Terese Pencak Schwartz is a heroine in this battle for truth and understanding. Her success is to every one's benefit; without the kind of information that she insists on presenting, we cannot begin to understand what we do know of the Nazis, or of the Holocaust.

  Danusha V. Goska, PhD

  Dedicated to all the victims and their families, but especially to those that helped save a life during the Holocaust.

  Acknowledgements

  In addition to the contributors who have allowed me to include their stories in this book, there have been many others whose efforts and encouragement made this work possible including: Prof. Dr. Zdzislaw P. Wesolowski, Rabbi Harold M. Schulweis, Edward Lucaire, Stefan Korbonski, Richard C. Lukas, Robert Strybel, and my mother, Ewa Pencak.

  Chapter 1 - Five Million Forgotten

  Raised by parents who had survived the Holocaust, I heard many stories about the atrocities of this World War II horror. I learned how one of my family's homes in Poland was burned to the ground by Nazis. I learned that my uncle was shot in the head by Nazi soldiers because his family was hiding a Jewish woman. Painful as it was for them to speak about it, my parents [Frank and Ewa Pencak] felt it was important that I knew the stories of the Holocaust.

  It was only after I moved to the Los Angeles area several years ago that I realized that many people were not aware that millions of victims of the Holocaust were not Jewish. Outside the Polish community, I heard very little mention about the five million non-Jewish victims -- usually referred to as "the others".

  Whenever I mentioned that my parents were survivors of the Holocaust, people would look at me oddly and say, "Oh, I didn't know you were Jewish?" I realized that most people were not aware of any other Holocaust victims except Jews.

  I am Jewish. I converted in 1978 after studying at the University of Judaism one year before marrying a Jewish man. I belonged to a temple where my daughter attended religious school. I love the Jewish religion and I admire the Jewish community. In no way do I want to diminish the enormous magnitude of the victimization and murder of the 5,860,000 Jewish people. The Jews were singled out by the Nazis for total extermination -- a significant fact that I do not repudiate, nor want to diminish in any way. The Jewish people have done an extraordinary job of making the younger generation around the world aware of their persecution and the immense tragedy of the Holocaust.

  But what about "the others"? There were five million of them. Who were they? Whose children, whose mothers and fathers were they? How could five million human beings have been killed and forgotten?

  After studying carefully-documented books, and interviewing non-Jewish survivors, I found more information about the five million forgotten than I had ever imagined -- information that most people are not aware of. Polish citizens suffered enormously during the Holocaust -- Jews and non-Jews.

  Eleven million precious lives were lost during the Holocaust of World War II. Six million of these were Polish citizens. Half of these Polish citizens were non-Jews.

  While there is no argument that Hitler abhorred the Jews and caused almost six million to be ruthlessly killed, often non-Jewish victims are tragically forgotten from Holocaust remembrances. Eleven million precious human lives were lost during the Holocaust. Five million of these were non-Jewish. Three million were Polish Christians and Catholics. It would be very sad to forget even one precious life extinguished so ruthlessly. It would be a tragedy to forget five million.

  Chapter 2 - Who Were the Others - the Non-Jewish Victims?

  Of the 11 million people killed during the Holocaust, six million were Polish citizens. Three million were Polish Jews and another three million were Polish Christians and Catholics. Most of the remaining mortal victims were f
rom other countries including Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Ukraine, Russia, Holland, France and even Germany.

  First we need to examine Hitler's egocentric and maniac ideology. Hitler, who was Chancellor of Germany during the Holocaust, came to power in 1933 when Germany was experiencing severe economic hardship. Hitler promised the Germans that he would bring them prosperity and that his military actions would restore Germany to a position of power in Europe.

  Hitler had a vision of a Master Race of Aryans that would control Europe. He used very powerful propaganda techniques to convince not only the German people, but countless others, that if they eliminated the people who stood in their way and the degenerates and racially inferior, they - the great Germans would prosper.

  Polish Non-Jews - Hitler's First Target.

  Hitler's first target was Germany's closest neighbor to the east, Poland, an agricultural country with little military power. Hitler attacked Poland from three directions on September 1, 1939 and in just over one month; Poland surrendered -- unable to defend itself against the powerful German prowess.

  "All Poles will disappear from the world.... It is essential that the great German people should consider it as its major task to destroy all Poles." Heinrich Himmler

  In Poland, Hitler saw an agricultural land in close proximity to Germany, populated by modest but strong and healthy farmers. Hitler quickly took control of Poland by specifically wiping out the Polish leading class -- the Intelligentsia. During the next few years, millions of other Polish citizens were rounded up and either placed in slave labor for German farmers and factories or taken to concentration camps where many were either starved and worked to death or used for scientific experiments.

  The Jews in Poland were forced inside ghettos, but the non-Jews were made prisoners inside their own country. No one was allowed out. Many Polish men were forced to wear a patch with the letter "P" - much like the Star of David patches that their Jewish neighbors wore.

  The Germans took over the ranches, farms and Polish factories. Most healthy citizens were forced into slave labor. Young Polish men were drafted into the German army. Blond haired children were "Germanized" and trained from an early age to be Nazi supporters.

  Jehovah Witnesses - For Their Religious Beliefs - They Stood Firm

  Every European country, even Germany, had those who did not believe in the Nazi ideology and who were willing to die for their beliefs. Perhaps no other group stood so firmly in their beliefs as the Jehovah Witnesses. Hitler felt particularly threatened by this strong group of Christians because they, from the very beginning, refused to recognize any God other than Jehovah. When asked to sign documents of loyalty to the Nazi ideology, they refused.

  Thousands of Jehovah Witnesses were imprisoned as "dangerous" traitors because they refused to take a pledge of loyalty to the Third Reich, refused to join the German workers union, to serve in the military or even raise their arms in the Heil Hitler salute.

  Witnesses were among and earliest victims sent to concentration camps such as Sachsenhausen, Buchenwald and Ravensbruck. The Watchtower History Archive of Jehovah s Witnesses in Germany has registered over 4200 Witnesses of different nationalities who were locked up in a concentration camp. They were often considered 'voluntary prisoners', because the moment they recanted their views, they could be freed.

  Those that were put into concentration camps, suffered in other ways. Forced to wear purple armbands, many lost their jobs and their pensions. Children of Jehovah's Witnesses were ridiculed by teachers, expelled by principals and bullied by their classmates. Some children were even forcefully removed from their homes and sent them to orphanages or private homes to be brought up as "good Germans".

  Rom Gypsies - Executed for Their Race

  Like the Jews, the Rom Gypsies were chosen for total annihilation just because of their race. Even though Jews are defined by religion, Hitler saw the Jewish people as a race that he believed needed to be completely annihilated. Like the Jews, the Rom Gypsies also were a nomadic people that were persecuted throughout history. The Germans believed both the Jews and the Gypsies were racially inferior and degenerate and therefore worthless. Half a million Gypsies, almost the entire Eastern European Gypsy population, was wiped out by the Nazis.

  But, the Gypsies who survived were ignored as Holocaust survivors and not even allowed to receive war reparations. The Romani community has struggled to get any recognition as victims for their persecution and near-annihilation. To this day they continue to fight for commemoration. In late 2007, Romanian President, Traian Basecsu, apologized publicly for his nation's role during the Holocaust and ordered that the Porajmos (the name used by the Romani community for their Holocaust of World War II) to be taught in schools.

  Today, there are at least two permanent museums, the Museum of Romani Culture in Czech Republic and the Ethnographic Museum in Poland which have exhibits memorializing the Gypsies for their losses.

  Afro-Europeans - Sterilization and Humiliation

  Prior to World War I, there were very few dark-skinned people of African descent in Germany. But during World War I, black African soldiers were brought in by the French during the Allied occupation. Most of the Germans, who were very race conscious, despised the dark-skinned "invasion". Some of these black soldiers married white German women that bore children referred to as "Rhineland Bastards" or the "Black Disgrace". In Mein Kampf, Hitler said he would eliminate all the children born of African-German descent because he considered them an "insult" to the German nation.

  "The mulatto children came about through rape or the white mother was a whore," Hitler wrote. "In both cases, there is not the slightest moral duty regarding these offspring of a foreign race."

  The Nazis set up a secret group, Commission Number 3, to organize the sterilization of these "Rhineland Bastards" to keep intact the purity of the Aryan race. In 1937, all local authorities in Germany were to submit a list of all the mulattos. Then, these children were taken from their homes or schools without parental permission and put before the commission. Once a child was decided to be of black descent, the child was taken immediately to a hospital and sterilized. About 400 children were medically sterilized -- many times without their parents' knowledge.

  Homosexuals - Tagged and Tortured

  Because Hitler's plan for a great Master Race had no room for any homosexuals, many males from all nations, including Germany, were persecuted, tortured and executed. Hitler even searched his own men and found suspected homosexuals that were sent to concentration camps wearing their S.S. uniforms and medals.

  The homosexual inmates were forced to wear pink triangles on their clothes so they could be easily recognized and further humiliated inside the camps.

  At least ten percent of the more than one million homosexual Germans were arrested under the Third Reich's anti-homosexuals laws. Others were imprisoned in government run mental hospitals. Hundreds were reportedly castrated by court order. Between 5,000 and 15,000 homosexual men were incarcerated in concentration camps, according to the International Association of Lesbian and Gay Children of Holocaust Survivors.

  The Disabled - Put to Death Like Cats and Dogs

  The Nazis decided that it was a waste of time and money to support the disabled. During Hitler's "cleansing program", thousands of people with various handicaps were deemed useless and simply put to death like dogs and cats. It's estimated that about 400,000 were sterilized because their illnesses were regarded to be inherited. They established the T-4 Euthanasia Program in order to maintain the "purity" of the so-called Aryan race by systematically killing children and adults with physical deformities or mental illness. Between 75,000 to 250,000 people were killed from 1939 through 1941.

  Nazi Resisters from All Nations - Men, Women and Children

  Every European nation had its courageous resisters. Poland's Underground army - made up of children, teenagers, and regular men and women - was responsible for defending the lives of thousands of its Jewish and non-Jewish citize
ns. Many were killed for their acts of courage against the Nazis. Even though most German citizens were supportive of Hitler's plan to control Europe, there were German citizens who died because they refused to go along with Hitler's plan.

  Hitler wanted not only to conquer all of Europe, but Hitler also wanted to create a new religion and to replace Jesus Christ as a person to be worshipped. Hitler expected his followers to worship the Nazi ideology. Since Catholic priests and Christian pastors were often influential leaders in their community, they were sought out by the Nazis very early. Thousands of Catholic priests and Christian pastors were forced into concentration camps. A special barracks was set up at Dachau, the camp near Munich, Germany, for clergymen. A few survived. Some were executed, but most were allowed to die slowly of starvation or disease.

  Many husbands and wives of Jews in Germany were forced to choose between divorce and concentration camps. Hitler would not allow "interracial" marriages. Those that chose to remain married were punished by imprisonment in camps where many died.

  Chapter 3 - Resistance Fighter from the Underground

  Most knew him as Tadeusz Borowski. Only the Polish resistance fighters knew him by his pseudonym, "Irek". As 2nd Lieutenant in the Polish Home Army, (Armia Krajowa), Irek was responsible for men with names like: "Szczur", "Ludwik", "Jurek", and "Chawcki". He took his orders from "Waligora", a.k.a. Major Jan Tarnowski, commander of "Wola" Region in Warsaw.