Historical perspective of the relations/fear of the Bolshevik party & Poland

Can someone offer a historical perspective of the relations/fear of the Bolshevik party & Poland. I have come across some opinions & wanted to back track them.

For example: Here's how part of the problem arose: During the Second World War, Jews and Poles in Poland were at each other's throats for several reasons. Although they lived relatively in peace with each other since the 13th century, when Polish kings allowed Jews all their rights and even had them working for them as accountants and tax collectors in government, WW2 soured their relations. During the war, the Jews took the side of the Bolsheviks (Communists) and were more than happy to join the Soviet Red Army troops that were invading Poland in the East in 1939 while Germany was invading from the West. Poles felt betrayed, and violence erupted on both sides. Poles couldn't believe that their long time neighbours, the Jews who lived beside them for centuries, would join the Soviets. I often read and heard stories, from my mother and grandfather among others, how Jews in their hometown of Przemysl on the Eastern borders, were throwing flowers on Soviet tanks as they invaded Poland and were telling Poles "Ha! Now you'll see! We will have power now!" There's a big reason for the hatred of Jews in Poland, just like there is for Jews to hate Poles.

Here's an Israeli source about Jewish actions against Poles in WW2:
Israeli historian, Dov Levin, writes:

"... Various accounts attest to the joyous welcome that the Red Army received almost everywhere. When the Jews of Kowel [Wolhynia] were informed that the Red Army was approaching the town, they "celebrated all night". When the Red Army actually entered Kowel, "the Jews greeted [it] with indescribable enthusiasm"...

In Baranowicze, "People kissed the soldiers' dusty boots. ... Children ran to the parks, picked the autumn flowers, and showered the soldiers with them. ... Red flags were found in the blink of an eye, and the entire city was bedecked in red".

Historically, I think the implacable animosity that Poland had toward the Muscovites/Bolsheviks (and vice versa) can be traced back to Poland's image of itself as the Bulwark of Christendom, and the notion that the Muscovites were a Eurasian horde seeking to take over Western Europe, and Poland.

Whilst neighbours, the two countries were, historically, completely different in terms of their attitudes toward government and civil liberty, amongst other things. These differences were irreconcilable. The reincarnation of Russia as the paragon of Bolshevism was merely another link in the chain of Russia's further descent to despotism and Poland's struggle to re-establish itself as a modern, democratic society. I do not think it was Bolshevism per se, but rather the fact that it was still the same old Russia but under a different political guise. Poland's victory over the Muscovites in 1920, and her subsequent failure to capitalise on same, is redolent of Poland's greatest attribute, and failing.


I would caution against gross generalisations of what the Polish Jews may or may not have done during WW2 as against Catholic Poles. There were a far greater majority of Polish Jews who served their country without fear and without regard to the fact that they were of a different faith to their fellow Poles. Let's focus on that. To focus on the minority is to afford them the attention that they do not deserve. Silent scorn is the response more richly deserved.


Children are just that - children. They shouldn't be included in any type of negative argument regarding the purported actions of their parents. Anyone who cites the actions of children in support of a negative argument against the group to which the children belong needs to look inside themselves and realise just how disgusting that type of argument is.

I'm not being critical of you here Marcin, but I simply can't stand hearing these things about children as though they have some sort of blameworthiness here.


I regret to hear that they experienced these things and hope they survived the war and flourished after it. It's always been my view that whilst it may be therapeutic to talk about these things, the best things that Poles (and those of Polish descent like myself) can do is do the best you can in your life, be honourable, be wise and just, excel professionally and remain true to those traditional virtues of the szlachta. To be the best you can be, and to be 'better' than those around you, is the truest symbol that the biological substance of Poland, no matter how far flung around the world, has survived and flourished, and the sacrifices made by our descendants have not been in vain.