Cries of the Mob in the Pogroms in Rzeszów (June 1945),Cracow (August 1945),and Kielce (July 1946) as a Source for the State of Mind of the Participants
Restricted accessResearch articleFirst published online August, 2011
Cries of the Mob in the Pogroms in Rzeszów (June 1945),Cracow (August 1945),and Kielce (July 1946) as a Source for the State of Mind of the Participants
Although the starting point for all the Polish postwar pogroms (save for one) was a blood libel, this particular motif did not attract the historians’ attention until recently. Theories on plots devised by “Soviet advisors” or “Zionists” enjoyed an incomparably greater popularity. This article, based upon the documentation of the Rzeszów and Kielce pogroms, the most recent ethnographic resources (2005—2009), the documentation used in Marcel Łoziński’s documentary Świadkowie (The Witnesses; made in 1980s), and an intensive search at the National Remembrance Institute (IPN), reveals a uniform social-mental formation of those partaking in the pogroms—the attackers and militiamen disciplining them, public prosecutors, and judges. All of them—including militiamen and Security Service officers—were subject to a blood libel suggestion. Traces of this thread have survived till this day in some segments of Polish society—not only in the countryside population, despite any appearances. This article aims at showing how an anti-Jewish alliance was getting formed in the first years after the liberation, on the grounds of a gradually strengthening “Polish national socialism,” and along with it, a synthesis of religious anti-Semitism (Jew as a “kidnapper/bloodsucker”) and a modern anti-Semitism (Jew as a “capitalist/bloodsucker” and “Judeo-communists” contaminating a sound national/party organism).
Among Polish researchers of postwar pogroms, those who claim that pogroms were conditioned by the "blood legend" are in a decisive minority. The most important theorist who claims this interpretation is Krystyna Kersten, who called it "social dynamite" (Polacy, Żydzi, komunizm. Anatomia półprawd 1939-68 [Warsaw: Niezależna Oficyna Wydawnicza, 1992]; hereinafter, Kersten I). In the same vein, the legend was discussed by Anna Cichopek (Pogrom Żydów w Krakowie 11 sierpnia 1945 r. [Warsaw, 2000]; hereinafter, C); Bożena Szaynok (Pogrom Żydów w Kielcach 4 lipca 1946, [Wrocław, 1992]); and Marcin Zaremba ("Mit mordu rytualnego w powojennej Polsce. Archeologia i hipotezy," Kultura i Społeczeństwo 2 [2007]; hereinafter, Zaremba). Their arguments did not find wide interest. Journalists (Krzysztof Kąkolewski, Umarły cmentarz. Wstęp do studiów nad wyjaśnieniem przyczyn i przebiegu morderstwa Żydów w Kielcach dnia 4 lipca 1946 roku [Warsaw, 1996]), priests (J. Śledzianowski, Pytania nad pogromem kieleckim [Kielce, 1998]), and numerous historians persistently searched for a conspiracy. Verification of the conspiracy thesis was assumed in the twelve-year-long investigation by the IPN (Institute of National Remembrance), summarized in two volumes: Wokół pogromu kieleckiego, ed. Jan Żaryn, Łukasz Kamiński, vol. I (Kielce, 2006) (see particularly pp. 478, 471-2, etc.); vol. II (Kielce, 2008); hereinafter, respectively, Kielce I or II. NKVD conspiracy was searched for in Stalin’s file (NKWD o Polsce i Polakach. Rekonesans archiwalny, ed. Wojciech Materski and Andrzej Paczkowski [Warsaw, 1996]; Teczka specjalna J. W. Stalina. Raporty NKWD z Polski 1944-1946, ed. Tatiana Cariewskaja, Andrzej Chmielarz, Andrzej Paczkowski, Ewa Rosowska, and Szymon Rudnicki [Warsaw, 1998]). Józef Orlicki found that Zionists were searched for in it (Szkice do dziejów stosunków polskożydowskich 1918-1949 [Szczecin, 1983]). A similar hypothesis, though not restricted to Zionists, is elaborated by Bishop Czesław Kaczmarek, Raport biskupa Czesława Kaczmarka przekazany ambasadorowi USA wWarszawie Arthurowi Bliss Lane’owi, quoted in Kielce I, 191. Others, such as recently an employee of the Rzeszów IPN branch, Krzysztof Kaczmarski (Pogrom którego nie było. Rzeszów 11-12 czerwca 1945. Fakty, hipotezy, dokumenty [Rzeszów, 2008]; hereinafter, Kaczm), seem to have been persuaded by a modernized version of blood libel, which ascribes to the Jews the desire to "feed on" the blood of "Polish children" after the war.
2.
One could mention here the publications by authors listed in note 1, but only Marcin Zaremba’s study is entirely devoted to the issues in question.
3.
Victor Turner, Od rytuału do teatru. Powaga zabawy, transl. M. and J. Dziekanowie (Warsaw, 2005); hereinafter, VT), 110. Also Victor Turner, Schism and Continuity in an African Society (Manchester, 1957); Victor Turner, Gry społeczne, pola i metafory. Symboliczne działanie w społeczeństwie, transl. W. Isakiewicz (Kraków, 2005).
4.
Sources: Kielce I; Kielce II; Antyżydowskie wydarzenia kieleckie 4 lipca 1946 roku. Dokumenty i materiały, vol. I., ed. Stanisław Meducki and Zenon Wrona (Kielce, 1992); vol. II, ed. Stanisław Meducki (Kieleckie Towarzystwo Naukowe, 1994); hereinafter, respectively, Meducki I and II. Materiały z filmu ‘Świadkowie’ Marcela Łozińskiego, recording transcript, unpublished manuscript; Zabić Żyda! Kulisy i tajemnice pogromu kieleckiego 1946, ed. Tadeusz Więcek (Kraków, 1992) hereinafter, ZŻ. Danuta BlusWęgrowska, "Pogrom kielecki," master’s thesis supervised by Prof. Marcin Kula (Warsaw: Uniwersytet Warszawski, 1994); hereinafter, Blus.
5.
Turner, Od rytuału do teatru, 9.
6.
See note 1.
7.
Zaremba, 91.
8.
Zaremba writes, "Characteristically, a virtually similar position that diminishes the significance of the ritual murder myth, can be found in Catholic historiography. J. Żaryn, "Hierarchia kościoła katolickiego wobec relacji polsko-żydowskich w latach 1945" (in Kielce I, 94-7), refuting charges formulated in Poland against the Church-namely, the lack of strong reaction on the part of the bishops to the spread of ritual murder stories after the war-pointed to those who invented the rumors and created a "certain psychosis" but also admitted that in the Catholic Church there was a "tradition that should not be neglected."
9.
Jan T.Gross, Fear: Anti-Semitism in Poland after Auschwitz ( Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2006), 245-6.
10.
See J. Tokarska-Bakir, Legendy o krwi. Antropologia przesądu (Warsaw, 2008), 411-54.
11.
Zaremba, 92. See also Kersten I, 118: "Even politicians from the former ONR milieu understood that . . . the blood murder rumor could not demonstrate that the Polish nation does not want communism, but only to show the terrifying ignorance of the Poles."
12.
"A slogan is a brief, apt formula, easy to repeat, polemical and most frequently anonymous, aimed at persuading the masses to some action and does so both through style as an element of self-justification, emotional or intellectual that it includes." Olivier Reboul, "Kiedy słowo jest bronią," in Język i społeczeństwo, ed. M. Głowiński (Warsaw, 1980), 299 f.
13.
A slogan (e.g., "Mourir pour Danzig?" the title of Marcel Déat’s article in Oeuvre [August 1939]) is true or false by virtue of a statement it must necessarily include, whereas a reclaimer (e.g., "Forward!") does not, in principle, contain such a statement. Reboul, Kiedy słowo jest bronią, 307. Manipulating the truth status of a statement, however, often blurs the difference between a reclaimer and a slogan.
14.
Statement of a civilian employee in the KW MO building in Rzeszów: "I would shoot all of them," Sprawozdanie z przebiegu zajść antyżydowskich w Rzeszowie, 12 June 1945, Sporządzonego przez zarząd Żydowskie Gminy Wyznaniowej w Rzeszowie dla CKŻP, quoted in Kaczm, 94; see also ibid., 97: "We have found out through practice what the attitude of our defenders is should the Jews find themselves in a critical position, which could be expressed in words of one militia man addressed to a Polish female friend: ‘We can’t do anything to them as long as the Soviets are [here]; I would shoot 100 myself.’"
15.
For example, "They transport coal to the Soviets, and from there [bring] carloads of Jews," Protokół przesłuchania podejrzanego Władysława Sobczyńskiego, 7 August 1946, quoted in Meducki I, 319.
16.
For example, "Beat the Jews!" Rzeszów pogrom: Zeznanie Leiba Kaplana, quoted in Kaczm, 76.
17.
Elias Canetti, Masa i władza, transl. Eliza Borg and Maria Przybyłowska, introduction Lech Budrecki (Warszawa, 1960/1996).
18.
Joanna Tokarska-Bakir, "The Figure of Bloodsucker in Polish Religious, National and Left-Wing Discourse in the Years 1945/1946. A Historical Anthropology Study," Polin (forthcoming).
19.
Protokół zatrzymania, 4 July 1946, quoted in Kielce II, 114.
20.
Nurowska, ZŻ, 62.
21.
Zeznanie w WUBP w Kielcach Marii Welfman, 6 July 1946, quoted in Kielce I, 161.
22.
Bishop Czesław Kaczmarek, Raport biskupa Czesława Kaczmarka przekazany ambasadorowi USA Warszawie Arthurowi Bliss Lane’owi, quoted in Kielce I, 191.
23.
Zeznanie w WUBP w Kielcach Marii Welfman, 6 July 1946, quoted in Kielce I, 161.
24.
Protokół przesłuchania podejrzanej Antoniny Biskupskiej, 5 July 1946, quoted in Meducki I, 129.
25.
Ibid.
26.
Protokół przesłuchania podejrzanego Ryszarda Sałapy, 24 July 1946, quoted in Kielce II, 216.
27.
Protokół przesłuchania podejrzanej Antoniny Biskupskiej, 5 July 1946, quoted in Meducki I, 131.
28.
Ibid.
29.
ZŻ, 10. Protokół przesłuchania świadka Mariana Nogaja, 15 October 2001: "An employee of the forgery [Ludwików Steel Mill] . . . ran around the plant departments with a metal bar in his hand . . . saying a Polish boy whom the Jews wanted to kill for matzo had escaped from a Jewish home," quoted in Kielce II, 122.
30.
Protokół przesłuchania Mojżesza Cukiera, 6 July 1946, quoted in Meducki I, 113-4.
31.
Notatka kpt. Braude, quoted in Kaczm, 134. Also Sprawozdanie w sprawie wypadków zaszłych w Rzeszowie w dniu 12 czerwca 1945, Wojewódzka Żydowska Komisja Historyczna, 16 June 1945, quoted in Kaczm, 100.
32.
Sprawozdanie w sprawie wypadków zaszłych, quoted in Kaczm, 99.
33.
Ibid.
34.
Protokół przesłuchania świadka Antoniego Nijakiego w WUBP, 14 August 1945, quoted in C, 150-1.
35.
Akt oskarżenia przeciw 25 uczestnikom pogromu w dn. 11 sierpnia, 5 September 1945, quoted in C, 212. Cf. a similar shouting in Kielce: "whose children are we going to raise, etc.," testimony of barber Tadeusza Kociałkowski, quoted in Blus, 53.
36.
Postanowienie o pociągnięciu do odpowiedzialności karnej Podstawskiego Jana i Bartosika Edmunda z dn., 22 July 1945, quoted in C, 81.
37.
Przesłuchanie Hilela Kleinera-agenta towarzystwa ubezpieczeniowego, quoted in C, 82, 157, 211. 38. See Arjun Appadurai, Fear of Small Numbers: An Essay on Geography of Anger (Durham, NC, 2006), 6: "Violence can create a macabre form of certainty and can become a brutal technique (a folk discovery-procedure) about ‘them’ and, therefore, about ‘us.’"
38.
Jan Vansina, Oral Tradition as History (London, 1985), 92.
39.
Isаiah Shachar, The Judensau: A Medieval Anti-Jewish Motif and Its History ( London, 1974), 3.
40.
This is in line with what we know about the importance of difference for the emergence of collective identities; see Józef Obrębski, Józef Obrębski, Problem grup etnicznych w etnologii i jego socjologiczne ujęcie, "Przegląd Socjologiczny," 4(1936):177-95; Fredrik Barth, ed., Ethnic Groups and Boundaries: The Social Organization of Culture Difference (Oslo: Universitetsforlaget, 1969).
41.
Thus, for example, during a PPR demonstration to condemn the Kraków pogrom of August 1945, Kraków did not follow the exhortations "To the University!" that were to direct "people’s anger" at the professors of the Jagiellonian University, accused by the communist authorities of having organized the pogrom. See Protokoły posiedzeń sekretariatu PPR 1945-1946, ed. A. Kochański (Warsaw, 2001: 221), 97: "The reclaimer ‘To the University!’ was not acted on by Drobner [deputy chairman of the Supreme Council of the PPS], but he did dissolve the rally. The workers were furious."
42.
Protokół spisany z ob. Zajdman Hanną, ur 1930 w Warszawie, 20 August 1945, AŻIH (Archiwum Żydowskiego Instytutu Historycznego [Archive of the Jewish Historical Institute]), 301/1582.
43.
Protokół przesłuchania świadka Artura Silbera, quoted in C, 165.
44.
Protokół przesłuchania podejrzanego Franciszka Bandysa w MUBP, quoted in C, 138.
45.
Postanowienie o pociągnięciu do odpowiedzialności karnej Podstawskiego Jana i Bartosika Edmunda z dn, 22 August 1945, quoted in C, 81.
46.
Postanowienie o pociągnięciu do odpowiedzialności karnej sierż. Jedynowicza Stanisława z dn., 22 August 1945, quoted in C, 83, 209.
47.
Protokół przesłuchania świadka Drzewieckiego Michała, posła do Krajowej Rady Narodowej z dn., 21 August 1945, quoted in C, 83.
48.
Protokół spisany z ob. Zajdman Hanną, ur 1930 w Warszawie, 20 August 1945, AŻIH, 301/1582.
49.
Ibid.
50.
Protokół przesłuchania świadka Dawida Rabera w MUBP, quoted in C, 135.
51.
Zeznanie współpracownika MUBP Edmunda Łukawieckiego o zachowaniu milicjanta Kucharskiego, quoted in C, 136.
52.
Ibid., in C, 206.
53.
Kalicki, ZŻ, 86.
54.
Quoted in Meducki I, 119.
55.
Drożdżeński, ZŻ, 29.
56.
Morawski, Pytlakowski, ZŻ, 104.
57.
Zeznanie Juliana Chorążaka, ślusarza, Protokół rozprawy Najwyższego Sądu Wojskowego na sesji wyjazdowej w Kielcach przeciw Antoninie Biskupskiej i współoskarżonym, quoted in Meducki I, 163.
58.
Morawski, Pytlakowski, ZŻ, 104.
59.
Protokół przesłuchania podejrzanego Ryszarda Sałapy, 24 July 1946, quoted in Kielce II, 214. A similar story regarding "citizen Pardoła" is told by Antoni Sałaj, 5 July 1946, quoted in Meducki I, 117.
60.
Protokół rozprawy głównej przed Wojskowym Sądem Rejonowym w Kielcach, quoted in Meducki I, 287.
61.
Ibid., 288.
62.
Drożdżeński, ZŻ, 30.
63.
Ibid. According to witness Sobański, the words "Do not tarnish the uniform" were to have been uttered by an unknown boy scout, and the witness was to have repeated them; Protokół rozprawy głównej przed Wojskowym Sądem Rejonowym w Kielcach, quoted in Meducki I, 289.
64.
Kalicki, ZŻ, 86; see also Meducki I, 121. Cf. Władysław Sobczyński’s testimony: "Groups of civilian persons wandered around town searching for the Jews and checking documents," 11 July 1946, quoted in Meducki I, 317.
65.
Protokół przesłuchania świadka Hersza Gutmana, 5 July 1946, quoted in Kielce II, 121.
66.
Protokół przesłuchania Mojżesza Cukiera, quoted in Meducki I, 113-4.
67.
Protokół przesłuchania świadka Ewy Szuchman, quoted in Meducki I, 112.
68.
Wyrok Wojskowego Sądu Rejonowego w Kielcach w sprawie Mariana Antonkiewicza, 28 March 1947, quoted in Kielce II, 239. See also Wyrok Wojskowego Sądu Rejonowego w sprawie Antoniego Apajewskiego, Czesława Chojnackiego, Stefana Palczyńskiego, Józefa Kanasa, Zenona Kołpackiego, Jana Pompy i Ludwika Nowaka (all were Polish Army soldiers), 3 December 1946, quoted in Kielce II, 202-3.
69.
Materiały z filmu «Świadkowie« Marcela Łozińskiego, 17.
70.
Relacja Wacława Ziółka, 26 April 1990, quoted in Kielce II, 114.
71.
Protokół przesłuchania świadka Ewy Szuchman, quoted in Meducki I, 112.
72.
Protokół przesłuchania świadka Abrama Moszkowicza, 6 July 1946, quoted in Meducki I, 119.
73.
Protokół rozprawy Najwyższego Sądu Wojskowego na sesji wyjazdowej w Kielcach przeciwko Antonie Biskupskiej i współoskarżonym, quoted in Meducki I, 172.
74.
"I have some work to do," said Nowakowski, one of the killers of Regina Fisz and her little son. "The items of that killed Jewess were taken by Nowakowski, among them: money, 17 dollars and three rings." Protokół przesłuchania podejrzanego Stefana Mazura, 7 July 1946, quoted in Meducki I, 132.
75.
Wyrok Wojskowego Sądu Rejonowego w sprawie Antoniego Apajewskiego, Czesława Chojnackiego, Stefana Palczyńskiego, Józefa Kanasa, Zenona Kołpackiego, Jana Pompy i Ludwika Nowaka (all were Polish Army soldiers), 3 December 1946, quoted in Kielce II, 203.
76.
Protokół rozprawy Najwyższego Sądu Wojskowego na sesji wyjazdowej w Kielcach przeciw Antoninie Biskupskiej i współoskarżonym, 9 July 1946, quoted in Meducki I, 170.
77.
Protokół przesłuchania Eugeniusza Krawczyka, Kielce, 27 July 1946, quoted in Kielce II, 130. Krawczyk Eugeniusz (age fifteen, referred to in the judgment as an "MO functionary"), a runner of the Kielce WKMO . . . ran to 7 Planty Street, where he pushed his way through a crowd of people, took five kg of rice, two shirts, two towels, seven packs of tea, one pair of underpants, a blanket, a razor, some dried apricots, and walnuts from inside a suitcase he had found. Having packed it into the suitcase, he carried [it] onto Sienkiewicza Street, entered a shop, sold the rice, the tea, and the apricots for 1,150 zlotys. At the bazaar he sold to trader, whom he accidentally met, a towel for 30 zlotys, and another one for a bottle of lemonade and a cigarette. The rest of the things he took to the barracks, where he sold the razor. Having returned to the bazaar he noticed a man of Jewish origin led by militia men, whom he hit . . . ," quoted in Meducki I, 250.
78.
Protokół przesłuchania podejrzanego Stefana Mazura, 7 July 1946, quoted in Meducki I, 132.
79.
Skaz (Rus.), which carries the "forgotten voice of that time," is a term used by Henryk Grynberg to describe Bohdan Wojdowski’s writing (Prawda nieartystyczna [Warsaw, 2001], 263). Grynberg borrowed this term from Russian folklore studies. See J. Tokarska-Bakir, "Skaz antysemityzmu," Teksty Drugie 1:2(2009): 302-17.
80.
According to the indictment, he had contacts with the NSZ, quoted in C, 75, note 27, with a quotation from the indictment.
81.
Ibid., quoted in C, 206.
82.
Ibid., quoted in C, 206.
83.
Protokół przełuchania podejrzanego Franciszka Bandysa w WUBP, 15 August 1945, quoted in C, 163.
84.
Sprawozdanie CKŻP o zajściach antyżydowskich w Krakowie w sobotę dnia 11 sierpnia 1945; Julian Kwiek, "Wydarzenia antyżydowskie 11 sierpnia 1945 w Krakowie," Kwartalnik Historii Żydów 1:193(2000): 26, also C, 88.
85.
Zeznania świadków Sary Stern i Renaty Hiller w Komitecie Żydowskim, 13 August 1945, quoted in C, 140.
86.
Protokół przesłuchania podejrzanego Franciszka Bandysa w MUBP, 11 August 1945, quoted in C, 138.
87.
Protokół przesłuchania świadka, Ilji Chorowoja (Red Army soldier), 11 August 1945, quoted in C, 134.
88.
Quoted in C, 194; and Protokół przesłuchania podejrzanego Franciszka Kucharskiego w WUBP, 30 August 1945, quoted in C, 79.
89.
Postanowienie o pociągnięciu do odpowiedzialności karnej sierżanta Jedynowicza Stanisława z dn., 22 August 1945, quoted in C, 83.
90.
Protokół przesłuchania świadka Hilela Kleinera, quoted in C, 157, 82.
91.
Ibid.
92.
Protokół zeznania świadka Leiba Kaplana w sprawie wypadków w mieście Rzeszowie, quoted in Kaczm, 76.
93.
Sprawozdanie z przebiegu zajść antyżydowskich, quoted in Kaczm, 93.
94.
Sprawozdanie w sprawie wypadków zaszłych, quoted in Kaczm, 102.
95.
Protokół przesłuchania podejrzanego Edwarda Jurkowskiego, 5 July 1946, quoted in Meducki I, 122-3.
96.
S. Freud, "Psychologia zbiorowości i analiza ja," in Frued, Pisma społeczne (Warsaw, 1998), 74.
97.
Protokół przesłuchania oficera Informacji WP Józefa Lewartowskiego, 6 January 1994, quoted in Kielce I, 234.
98.
Raport funkcjonariusza PUBP w Kielcach Henryka Rybaka do szefa PUBP, 4 July 1946, quoted in Kielce I, 150. "The soldiers walked around the entire square and street mixing with the instigated crowd and ultimately yielded to the crowd’s agitation, e.g. the hitting of a Jew on the face by a soldier met with a great enthusiasm among the crowd, which shouted: ‘Long live the Polish Army!’" Raport Jana Jurkowskiego i Henryka Gutowskiego, pracowników Departamentu II MBP, będących na wyjeździe służbowym w Kielcach 4/7/1945 dla Ministra BP, Radkiewicza, quoted in Blus, 62-3.
99.
Sprawozdanie zastępcy szefa PUBP Alberta Grynbauma z przebiegu zajść antysemickich w Kielcach, Kielce, 6 July 1946, quoted in Kielce II, 117.
100.
Protokół przesłuchania w WUBP świadka Jury Mojżesza, 6 July 1946, quoted in Kielce I, 159-60.
101.
Protokół przesłuchania podejrzanego Ryszarda Sałapy, 25 July 1946, quoted in Kielce II, 218-9.
102.
Ibid.
103.
Zaremba, 96, 100, 102, 107, etc. Piotr Majer, Milicja Obywatelska 1944-1957 (Olsztyn, 2004), 23-272.
104.
Krystyna Kersten, Pisma rozproszone, ed. T. Szarota and D. Libionka (Toruń, 2006), 290; hereinafter, Kersten II. See also Sprawozdanie instruktorów KC PPR z pobytu w woj. kieleckim w czasie od 4 do 15 lipca 1946: "The militia and the army were not disciplined. Instead of liquidating the riots, they mixed with the crowd and yielded to the influence of the crowd," Meducki II, 137; "demands were made to withdraw the army and the MO, which got to close to the agitated crowd," quoted in Meducki II, 149. See also Blus, 62-3.
105.
"But the greatest influence on the course of the pogrom was the awareness of the militia men and soldiers sent to defend, the conviction that they would be told to defend the Jews who had murdered Polish children," Kersten II, 276.
106.
Niby (as if, were to) or the adverb rzekomo (allegedly), appear very seldom in interrogation transcripts. For example, see the statement of Albert Grynbaum, an employee of the Kielce WUBP: "I heard that the Jews were to have killed Polish children" (Protokół przesłuchania świadka ppor. Albert Grynbaum, an employee of the Kielce WUBP, 2 August 1946, quoted in Meducki, I 342). This is not to be found in a number of statements, where we would expect to find it. For example, in Kazimierz Golczewski’s story, who had accused in Kielce: "I don’t remember . . . if I heard then . . . that a child was detained by the Jews in a basement of a house at Planty St., to use his blood to ‘make matzo.’" The child survived, I don’t remember how. This, as I remember was the cause of those incidents." (Protokół przesłuchania prokuratora WPR w Kielcach, Kazimierza Golczewskiego, 10 March 1992, quoted in Kielce II, 243; see also Protokół przesluchania podejrzanego Władysława Sobczyńskiego, 7 August 1946: "Kuźnicki replied that one would have to examine what the matter looks like, because they have information that the Jews did kill," quoted in Meducki I 322.)
107.
See Kaczm, 35.
108.
"To children of kindergarten age . . . in the villages, towns and suburbs, the word ‘Jew’ brought associations of a man in a black gabardine stretching to the ground, in a black hat or cap, with a sack on his back, and necessarily with a cane or umbrella in his hand. A cane, or rather a kind of stick were sometimes used by this man to chase away dogs, which were particularly fierce toward him. . . . When such a figure appeared a shout was usually heard: ‘There goes a Jew with a sack!’, to which shout groups of children vanished from the streets as if frightened sparrows. . . . How any times have I heard it spoken to me or about others: ‘You’ll see! A Jew will kidnap you and put you in a sack.’ Or: ‘You’ll see, I’ll sell you to a Jew, and he’ll put you in a sack.’" Franciszek Kotula, Tamten Rzeszów czyli wędrówka po zakątkach i historii miasta (Rzeszów, 1985), 379.
109.
Relacja kanclerza Kurii Diecezjalnej Kieleckiej ks. Henryka Peszko na temat pogromu kieleckiego, 1981, quoted in Kielce I, 210-1. Jerzy Daniel (Żyd w zielonym kapeluszu. Rzecz o pogromie 4 lipca 1946 [Kielce: Scriptum, 1996], 78) noted a charactersitic interpretation of the issue in a proclamation signed by the Kielce Province Governor Eugeniusz Wiśnicz-Iwańczyk and Bishop Czesław Kaczmarek: "No shot was fired at people [i.e., at non-Jews]." Comment in Gross, Strach [Fear], 189.
110.
Raport funkcjonariusza PUBP w Kielcach Henryka Rybaka do szefa PUBP, 4 July 1946, quoted in Kielce I, 151. Similar false testimonies were given by soldiers in Kraków. Raport radzieckich służb specjalnych [Report of Soviet security services] mentions the following incident with the militia participating: "They introduced themselves as soldiers of the Kraków Military District and gave their names: Wasilewski Jan, Perek Tadeusz, and Gacek Roman. They stated that they had witnessed the four Jews they brought murdering Polish Jews in the synagogue." S. Kriwienko,"Raporty z Polski," Karta 15 (1995): 31-2; 30 August 1945, Soobszczenije Seliwanowskowgo NKWD SSSR Berija, d. 98 (336-7a), quoted in C, 73.
111.
Protokół przesłuchania świadka Zbigniewa Niewiarowskiego, 5 July 1945, quoted in Kielce II, 113.
112.
Postanowienie Najwyższego Sądu Wojskowego w sprawie skarg i wniosku rewizyjnego na wyrok uniewinniający Jana Rogozińskiego, Ludwika Pustułę i Franciszka Furmana, 12 March 1947, quoted in Kielce II, 250-1.
113.
Protokół przesłuchania świadka Zbigniewa Niewiarowskiego, 5 July 1946, quoted in Kielce II, 116.
114.
Franciszek Jonkisz testified about this: "The crowd gathered outside the Provincial J[ewish] C[ommittee] at 7 Planty St. threw people out of the window, and from the mezzanine the Jewish population living at 7 Planty St. while others shouted that the Jews with grenades and automatic weapons were getting ready for a fight with the people gathered outside the building immediately killed the Jews that had been thrown out. Personally I can state what is in concordance with the fact that from the building, i.e., on the part of the Jewish population, there were no shots, and most shots came from the MO [i.e., Milicja Obywatelska, the Citizens’ Militia]," Protokół przesłuchania świadka Franciszka Jonkisza, 7 July 1946, quoted in Meducki I, 115. See a second-hand story that contradicts this opinion in a testimony of the Kielce Province Governor, E. Iwańczyk-Wiśnicz, quoted in Kielce I, 273. On the Jews firing shots, see also the testimony of Ryszard Sałapa: "Witnessing the raging crowd murdering Jews, I was so dizzy that I thought it some honor, telling Wróbel that I was still in the building and next to me they were shooting at the Jews lying in bed, and on the other hand saying that the Jews also were shooting at us," Protokół przesłuchania podejrzanego Ryszarda Sałapy, 25 July 1946, quoted in Kielce II, 218-9. A similar rumor triggered a wave of violence during the Kraków pogrom. The shooting was interpreted according to views regarding the nature of the clashes. The Jewish Press Agency (Żydowska Agencja Prasowa) informed people that the army and the militia had been fired on twice, without specifying by whom. The NKVD claimed that soldiers fired a few shots for the sake of provocation, although there were rumors that it was the Jews who fired the weapons. Among those who believed that the Jews were guilty, the dominant view was that of the Jews firing shots from the rooftop. The news echoed in the Grodna Wandersagen of 1920, September 1939, and August 1944-the shooting is mentioned together with pouring hot water or hot vinegar (see Tokarska-Bakir, "The Figure of Bloodsucker in Polish religious, national and left-wing discourse in the years 1945/1946"). According to WiN sources, the Jews were to have fired pistols or even a heavy machine gun from the neighboring houses.
115.
Drożdżeński, ZŻ, 28.
116.
Protokół przesłuchania świadka Tadeusza Lisa, Kielce, 4 July 1946, quoted in Kielce II, 116.
117.
"Zeznanie Bronisława Tchórza," Protokół rozprawy głównej przed Wojskowym Sądem Rejonowym w Kielcach, quoted in Meducki I, 285.
118.
Antoni Kręlicki’s statement: "The crowd began to gather during the clash between the UB functionaries and militia men," quoted in Kielce II, 121.
119.
On animosities or even hostility between the militia and "[state] security" during 1944-1946, see, for example, Piotr Majer, Milicja Obywatelska 1944-1957 (Olsztyn, 2004), 60-75. Also Blus, 57, and others.
120.
Kielce II, 452.
121.
Kalicki, ZŻ, 69.
122.
Kalicki, ZŻ, 80.
123.
Drożdżeński, ZŻ, 28.
124.
Zeznanie kpt. Jana Muchy, kierownika Wydziału II PUBP w Kielcach, 3 August 1946, quoted in Meducki I, 351.
125.
Zeznanie Zdzisława Sitka, Protokół rozprawy Najwyższego Sądu Wojskowego na sesji wyjazdowej w Kielcach przeciw Antoninie Biskupskiej i współoskarżonym, 9 July 1946, quoted in Meducki I, 250.
126.
Protokół przesłuchania Czesława Konarskiego, Kielce, 4 July 1946, quoted in Kielce II, 122.
127.
Zeznanie współpracownika MUBP Edminda Łukawieckiego o zachowaniu milicjanta Kucharskiego, quoted in C, 136.
128.
C, 83. See also Akt oskarżenia przeciwko 25 uczestnikom pogromu w dniu 11 sierpnia, quoted in C, 214.
129.
Protokół przesłuchania funkcjonariusza Departamentu III MBP Henryka Gutowskiego, 9 August 1996, quoted in Kielce I, 386.
130.
Drożdżeński, ZŻ, 28.
131.
Nurowska, ZŻ, 60.
132.
Kraków, Protokół przesłuchania świadka Hilela Kleinera, quoted in C, 82.
133.
Kielce, Protokół przesłuchania świadka Jana Mańturza, 7 July 1945, quoted in Meducki I, 116.
134.
Kielce, Protokół przesłuchania podejrzanej Antoniny Biskupskiej, 5 July 1946, quoted in Meducki I 131.
135.
Raport funkcjonariusza PUBP w Kielcach Henryka Rybaka do szefa PUBP, 4 July 1946, quoted in Kielce I, 150.
136.
Kielce, Protokół przesłuchania podejrzanej Antoniny Biskupskiej, 5 July 1946, quoted in Meducki I, 131.
137.
Raport funkcjonariusza PUBP w Kielcach Henryka Rybaka do szefa PUBP, 4 July 1946, quoted in Kielce I, 150.
138.
Kraków, Postanowienie o pociągnięciu do odpowiedzialności karnej sierżanta Jedynowicza Stanisława z dn., 22 August 1945, quoted in C, 83.
139.
Earlier: "I explain that the blood on my clothes came by splashing off on me from the [beaten] Jew," Protokół przesłuchania podejrzanego Stanisława Rurarza, 5 July 1946, quoted in Meducki I, 124-7.
140.
R. Girard, Des choses cachées depuis la fondation du monde. ( Paris: Grasset, 1978), 171.
141.
See Tokarska-Bakir, Legendy o krwi, 183 f.
142.
"Zeznanie St. Rurarza," Protokół rozprawy Najwyższego Sądu Wojskowego na sesji wyjazdowej w Kielcach przeciw Antoninie Biskupskiej i współoskarżonym, 9 July 1946, quoted in Meducki I, 166.
143.
Biographical entry in Protokół rozprawy głownej przed Wojskowym Sądem Rejnowym w Kielcach, quoted in Meducki I, 263.
144.
"Zeznaje Janina Safian, zeznanie potwierdza Edward Brandemburg," Protokół rozprawy głównej przed Wojskowym Sądem Rejonowym w Kielcach, quoted in Meducki I, 285. Another form of shouting, "Down with the Jews! We don’t want Jews in Poland! Death to the PPR men! Long live Sanation Poland!" is cited by Stanisław Rurarz, quoted in Blus, 86.
145.
The above issue will be discussed in my book, dealing with the careers of Kielce and Rzeszów militiamen, employees of the state security offices, and other pogrom participants, taking into consideration their postwar trials. The background of the process was outlined by Jan Tomasz Gross in Strach, in the chapter entitled "Kooptacja radykalnych nacjonalistów."
146.
According to Max Glucksman’s theory (Analysis of Social Situation in Modern Zululand [Rhodes Livingstone Paper 28, Manchester, 1958]), the roots of sudden outbursts of violence can be found in the violation of dominant cleavages, that is, the relations between the main factions of society. Some of them, albeit those more wealthy and better educated, remain, as the Jews in prewar Poland, in a subordinate position. When this system is violated, social opposition and violence follow.
147.
In Thompson’s index-motif V361; Stith Thompson, "Motif-Index of Folk-Literature: A Classification of Narrative Elements in Folk-Tales, Ballads, Myths, Fables, Mediaeval Romances, Exempla, Fabliaux, Jest-Books, and Local Legends," FF Communications 106 (Helsinki 1932).
148.
"What do the rulers want, what do the vampires want? / They suck out the worker’s last [drop of] blood / And then you’ll know what it means to be exploited / And to look for a better life for yourself / The workers’ fight carries on and on / Stand up and fight for the working class / And then you’ll learn what [it] means to be exploited / [And] to fight for a better life for yourself."
149.
See the manipulation of the Bloodsucker figure after the Kielce pogrom by the communist authorities. "On 11 July a joint conference of the PPR and the PPS was held in Kielce. At the conference it was decided that arersts among parasytic elements be launched, ‘entertainment homes’ closed, and thus vacated space [was] offered to workers. Ours and all PPS agitators pointed to the oppressors of the people in the form of restaurant owners and social activists [?]. At all the mass rallies the people shifted their indignation from the Jews onto parasitic elements in general. The action was well received because it had corresponded with the animated mood of the disenchanted. A view was formed that finally the Party is looking for and pushing oppressors of the people." Sprawozdanie instruktorów KC PPR z pobytu w województwie kieleckim od 4 do 15 lipca 1946, quoted in Meducki II, 142.
150.
Benedict R. Anderson, Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism, rev.ed. (London: Verso, 1991), 224.
151.
Max Gluckman, Analysis of Social Situation in Modern Zululand, Rhodes Livingstone Paper 28, Manchester, 1958.
152.
Biographical entry in Kaczm, 69.
153.
Raport sytuacyjny Michała Kołacza, 14 June 1945, quoted in Kaczm, 81.
154.
Kaczm, 81.
155.
See Hanna Segal, Marzenie senne, wyobraźnia i sztuka, transl. P. Dybel (Kraków, 2003). The operation of a symbolic equation consists in a pathological "equation (identification) of a symbol with the object it represents. As a result of this process, an actual object with a (unconscious) symbolic meaning ceases to be identified by the individual as what it actually is . . . but literally transforms into what it symbolizes." "Wywiad z Hanną Segal," Gazeta Wyborcza/Wysokie Obcasy, 7 February 2004.
156.
Kaczm, 70.
157.
Kersten I, 90. Ibid., 134, on the pogrom in Velke Topolany in Slovakia, where the "crowd attacked with knives a physician who vaccinated," which also happened in pogroms in Hungary.
158.
See A. Cała, Wizerunek Żyda w polskiej kulturze ludowej, 52: "the suckers of our blood."
159.
J. Kwiek, Żydzi, Łemkowie, Słowacy w województwie krakowskim w latach 1945-1949/50 (Kraków, 1998), 74.
160.
It must have been a strong folklore topos because as late as 2005 it was noted during ethnographic research in the Sandomierz region. It appeared in the so-called "memrat," in a story of a witness (or a person close to him), who, during a visit in a Jewish home, was to have seen a "Pole hanging upside down in a closet"; see statement in Artur Żmijewski’s film Polak w szafie (Pole in a Closet; 2007), featuring students who had taken part in my research near Sandomierz in 2005: "[a student tells the informant whose uncle] opened the door of the cupboard and found a Pole hanging with his throat slit! The woman gave us graphic details, with beneath him a bowl for the blood. This was for the confection of matzo bread, she told us."
161.
For a biographical entry of Rabbi Leib Thorn, who resided at 12 Tannenbauma Street, and for some time was also an army chaplain in Warsaw, see Kaczm, 78. For the later fate of Lejb [Leib?] Thorn, who several days after the pogrom was said to have visited Rzeszów, see Gross, Strach, 79-82.
162.
Arieh Kochavi, "Polscy biskupi, Watykan i Żydzi polscy w czasie przejmowania władzy przez komunisów na podstawie brytyjskich raportów dyplomatycznych," Zagłada Żydów, vol. 5 (Warsaw, 2009), 159. An analysis of diplomatic correspondence between the British and the Vatican shows that "the Vatican totally accepted the fabrication that the child in Kielce, whom it referred to as ‘Enrico Baslzozyk’ (in fact, his name was Henryk Błaszczyk) had been kidnapped for his blood."
163.
Raport Brygad Wywiadowczych, jesień 1945 Załącznik do raportu Okręgu Rzeszowskiego Brygad Wywiadowczych, 15[?] September 1945, quoted in Kaczm, doc. 33.
164.
Tokarska-Bakir, Legendy o krwi.
165.
Kersten I, 132.
166.
Jan Vansina, Oral Tradition as History (London, 1985), 6-7.
