Kosher Bookworm: A myth destroyed

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Perhaps one of the most nefarious myths of World War II was that Soviet leader Joseph Stalin was the one who liberated the Jews from the Nazi evil and ended the Holocaust.

I call this a myth because based upon three works not only was Stalin not the grand liberator as some of my friends regard him as, but the opposite is the historical reality. These books, “Stalin’s Other War: Soviet Grand Strategy, 1939 - 1941” (Rowman & Littlefield, 2002) by Albert L. Weeks, “The Dictators” (WW Norton 2004) by Richard Overy, and “WWII Behind Closed Doors: Stalin, The Nazis and the West” by Laurence Rees (Pantheon Books, 2008) prove that if not for Stalin there could never have been a Holocaust in that time and possibly not in any time.

Another irony: despite the hot rhetoric that both Hitler and Stalin spewed forth against each other throughout the 1930’s, both Nazism and Communism had more in common as governing ideologies than is commonly believed. These two totalitarian twins ruled much in the same fashion and their murderous ways set a new standard in the history of cruelty.

Seventy years ago this past Sunday, according to the Jewish calendar, Nazi Germany invaded Poland thus beginning the Second World War and the end of over three million Polish Jews.

None of this could have happened if the Communist dictator, Joseph Stalin, had not willed it. The Hitler-Stalin Non-Aggression Pact of August 1939 enabled the Nazis to invade Poland and divide the country with the Soviets, thus assuring a quiet eastern front so that Germans could better fight and vanquish the western European powers of England and France.

Without the guarantee that the Soviets would be neutralized in that conflict, the Nazis would have been unable to conquer Poland and thus come to liquidate the Polish Jews who would come under their immediate rule. That is a simple fact.

But, there is more. Not only were the Nazis enabled to start the Holocaust on the cusp of the Yomim Nora’im of 1939, the Nazis were assisted both economically and militarily by their newfound Stalinist Communist allies.

These three books published over the past decade touch upon this little-known historical irony, and it behooves us to consult these works and gain benefit from the scholarship of their gifted authors. By doing so, we will effectively inoculate ourselves from the false notions that anti-Semitism is an exclusive property of the political right, whereas in truth, the political left, unto this day, has much to commend itself in the field of Jew-hatred.

Each of these books cites specific information that state, in effect,  had it not been for Soviet assistance, any notion of a Holocaust would have remained a Hitlerian fantasy relegated to the “safe” pages of Mein Kampf.

Consider the following  gleaned from these books:

According to Weeks, “In 1933-34 Lev Lebedev, a Communist Party Central Committee apparatchik in Moscow, visited Berlin on a secret mission to study Gestapo techniques. This was followed by transfer to the Germans of the table of organization used by the Soviet Commissariat of Internal Affairs [NKVD] for establishing Soviet labor camps as well the design for mobile, poison gas ‘liquidation wagons’, invented in the USSR and used against recalcitrant peasants in Stalin’s collectivization drive.”

This transfer of technology enabled the Nazis to deploy the Einsatzgruppen units during the opening years of their occupation of Poland and later, the Baltic states and Ukraine. Further, the whole scheme for the establishment of slave labor camps comes from those shared Soviet plans.

According to Weeks, the Soviets provided the following food and materials to the Nazis during their occupation of Poland,  thus making said occupation more deadly to that country’s Jews.

They are as follows: [in part] “900,000 tons of phosphates; 100,000 tons of chrome ore; 500,000 tons of iron ore; and..... 1,000,000 tons of grain; 900,000 tons of mineral oil; 200,000 tons of cotton.”

Other items included huge quantities of lumber, rubber, and other raw materials.

Now fancy that. Indeed this was no humanitarian mission by Stalin, but rather a cold, calculating effort at assisting the Nazi war machine.

Overy, in his book, noted that a comprehensive trade treaty further supplemented the original military pact on February 11, 1940 involving the exchange of more Soviet raw materials and food to the Nazis, for German machinery and military equipment.

These agreements further solidified Nazi rule in Poland and represented the immediate doom of over one half the number of Jews who were to perish in the Holocaust.

Rees’ volume not only reiterates the above, but also goes into great detail as to the political dynamics that were being played out at this time by these two former adversaries. This dynamic, as seen in hindsight, only further serves to warn us as to what our enemies are capable of doing to us using the guile of diplomacy and deceit.

Finally, as if the above should fail to chasten us, may I suggest a good reading of “Kiddush Hashem: Jewish Religious and Cultural Life in Poland During the Holocaust” by Shimon Huberband, Hy”d, [Yeshiva University Press, Ktav, 1987].

This most sacred book details first-hand accounts of the perilous experiences of Polish Jewry during the first months of the Nazi invasion of their towns, homes and institutions.

Translated from the original Yiddish, these accounts go into great detail of the decimation, in stages, of the quality of the spiritual life of Polish Jews, especially in their observances of Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur and Sukkos. The author’s comments, notations of the human sufferings; the deprivations as well as the sacrifices made to observe the mitzvos of shofar, lulav, and esrog go right to the heart of any sensitive Jew at this time of year.

Taking all the above in perspective, if you have the opportunity, read and come to better appreciate the liberties we enjoy today in this blessed land. Also, as a lesson from the historical events detailed above, please come to appreciate our true friends, and be wary of those who in the depth of their hearts wish us only ill. We must forever guard ourselves from those who utter with ease, false platitudes disguised in eloquence and emotion, for from these are to be found our true enemies.

Stalin’s role in the beginning of the Second World War

By Alan Jay Gerber Issue of September 11,  2009 / 22 Elul 5769 Perhaps one of the most nefarious myths of World War II was that Soviet leader Joseph Stalin was the one who liberated the Jews from the Nazi evil and ended the Holocaust. I call this a myth because based upon three works not only was Stalin not the grand liberator as some of my friends regard him as, but the opposite is the historical reality. These books, “Stalin’s Other War: Soviet Grand Strategy, 1939 - 1941” (Rowman & Littlefield, 2002) by Albert L. Weeks, “The Dictators” (WW Norton 2004) by Richard Overy, and “WWII Behind Closed Doors: Stalin, The Nazis and the West” by Laurence Rees (Pantheon Books, 2008) prove that if not for Stalin there could never have been a Holocaust in that time and possibly not in any time. Another irony: despite the hot rhetoric that both Hitler and Stalin spewed forth against each other throughout the 1930’s, both Nazism and Communism had more in common as governing ideologies than is commonly believed. These two totalitarian twins ruled much in the same fashion and their murderous ways set a new standard in the history of cruelty. Seventy years ago this past Sunday, according to the Jewish calendar, Nazi Germany invaded Poland thus beginning the Second World War and the end of over three million Polish Jews. None of this could have happened if the Communist dictator, Joseph Stalin, had not willed it. The Hitler-Stalin Non-Aggression Pact of August 1939 enabled the Nazis to invade Poland and divide the country with the Soviets, thus assuring a quiet eastern front so that Germans could better fight and vanquish the western European powers of England and France. Without the guarantee that the Soviets would be neutralized in that conflict, the Nazis would have been unable to conquer Poland and thus come to liquidate the Polish Jews who would come under their immediate rule. That is a simple fact. But, there is more. Not only were the Nazis enabled to start the Holocaust on the cusp of the Yomim Nora’im of 1939, the Nazis were assisted both economically and militarily by their newfound Stalinist Communist allies. These three books published over the past decade touch upon this little-known historical irony, and it behooves us to consult these works and gain benefit from the scholarship of their gifted authors. By doing so, we will effectively inoculate ourselves from the false notions that anti-Semitism is an exclusive property of the political right, whereas in truth, the political left, unto this day, has much to commend itself in the field of Jew-hatred. Each of these books cites specific information that state, in effect,  had it not been for Soviet assistance, any notion of a Holocaust would have remained a Hitlerian fantasy relegated to the “safe” pages of Mein Kampf. Consider the following  gleaned from these books: According to Weeks, “In 1933-34 Lev Lebedev, a Communist Party Central Committee apparatchik in Moscow, visited Berlin on a secret mission to study Gestapo techniques. This was followed by transfer to the Germans of the table of organization used by the Soviet Commissariat of Internal Affairs [NKVD] for establishing Soviet labor camps as well the design for mobile, poison gas ‘liquidation wagons’, invented in the USSR and used against recalcitrant peasants in Stalin’s collectivization drive.” This transfer of technology enabled the Nazis to deploy the Einsatzgruppen units during the opening years of their occupation of Poland and later, the Baltic states and Ukraine. Further, the whole scheme for the establishment of slave labor camps comes from those shared Soviet plans. According to Weeks, the Soviets provided the following food and materials to the Nazis during their occupation of Poland,  thus making said occupation more deadly to that country’s Jews. They are as follows: [in part] “900,000 tons of phosphates; 100,000 tons of chrome ore; 500,000 tons of iron ore; and..... 1,000,000 tons of grain; 900,000 tons of mineral oil; 200,000 tons of cotton.” Other items included huge quantities of lumber, rubber, and other raw materials. Now fancy that. Indeed this was no humanitarian mission by Stalin, but rather a cold, calculating effort at assisting the Nazi war machine. Overy, in his book, noted that a comprehensive trade treaty further supplemented the original military pact on February 11, 1940 involving the exchange of more Soviet raw materials and food to the Nazis, for German machinery and military equipment. These agreements further solidified Nazi rule in Poland and represented the immediate doom of over one half the number of Jews who were to perish in the Holocaust. Rees’ volume not only reiterates the above, but also goes into great detail as to the political dynamics that were being played out at this time by these two former adversaries. This dynamic, as seen in hindsight, only further serves to warn us as to what our enemies are capable of doing to us using the guile of diplomacy and deceit. Finally, as if the above should fail to chasten us, may I suggest a good reading of “Kiddush Hashem: Jewish Religious and Cultural Life in Poland During the Holocaust” by Shimon Huberband, Hy”d, [Yeshiva University Press, Ktav, 1987]. This most sacred book details first-hand accounts of the perilous experiences of Polish Jewry during the first months of the Nazi invasion of their towns, homes and institutions. Translated from the original Yiddish, these accounts go into great detail of the decimation, in stages, of the quality of the spiritual life of Polish Jews, especially in their observances of Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur and Sukkos. The author’s comments, notations of the human sufferings; the deprivations as well as the sacrifices made to observe the mitzvos of shofar, lulav, and esrog go right to the heart of any sensitive Jew at this time of year. Taking all the above in perspective, if you have the opportunity, read and come to better appreciate the liberties we enjoy today in this blessed land. Also, as a lesson from the historical events detailed above, please come to appreciate our true friends, and be wary of those who in the depth of their hearts wish us only ill. We must forever guard ourselves from those who utter with ease, false platitudes disguised in eloquence and emotion, for from these are to be found our true enemies.