A Midwife at Auschwitz

[swampfox]

Do you think Hollywood will take this story on? Sounds like a great project for Mel Gibson.
seattlecatholic.com/article_20050104.html

Midwife at Auschwitz
by Matthew M. Anger

The Gates of Auschwitz: “Work Makes One Free”

The Story of Stanislawa Leszczynska
If anything can be said of accusations against the Catholic Church in World War II it is that they are as predictable as they are monotonous. Far more interesting (and revealing) is the heroism of thousands of ordinary Catholics who suffered and died at the hands of Hitler’s reign of terror. The martyrdom of St. Maximillian Kolbe, who was put to death at the Auschwitz concentration camp, is well known. But such courage was not unique, as the revealed in the remarkable history of Stanislawa Leszczynska. The following is an abridged version of a study by Polish historian Prof. Maciej Giertych which provides some inkling of the horrors which Polish Catholics, and other Catholics throughout Europe, underwent during the Second World War. Sadly, such accounts — though they are numerous — are generally disregarded by modern academia and the media.

Slave Factories for the Reich
Auschwitz had all sorts of facilities, such as sleeping quarters, offices, kitchens and latrines. It also had a “sick ward” where, in atrocious conditions, sick prisoners were looked after by physicians who were prisoners themselves. Anyone who appeared unlikely to get well was killed. Thus the physicians were constantly concealing serious cases by falsifying records to permit a longer stay to those who otherwise would have been sent to the crematorium. Almost all survivors of Auschwitz suffered from typhoid, a disease that qualified inmates for liquidation, but was never reported thanks to the courage of the physicians. They were risking their lives since the punishment for breaking any rule in the concentration camp was death. Auschwitz also had a “maternity-ward.” Many of the women who arrived at the camp were pregnant. They were needed for work; their babies were not. One of the midwives working in the ward was Stanislawa Leszczynska.

Stanislawa’s Life
Born Stanislawa Zambrzyska in 1896, she married Bronislaw Leszczynski in 1916 and together they had two sons and a daughter. In 1922, she graduated from a school for midwives and began working in the poorest districts of Lodz. In pre-war Poland, babies were normally delivered at home. Stanislawa made herself available at any time, walking many kilometers to the homes of the women she helped. Her children recall that she often worked nights but she never slept during the day.

After the war, she returned to her job in Lodz. Her husband had been killed in the Warsaw uprising of 1944, but all of her children survived and, inspired by their mother’s example, went on to become physicians. Stanislawa supported their education, earning the family livelihood through a devoted service to childbirth.

In March 1957, as her retirement neared, a reception was organized to commemorate her 35 years in the profession. Her son, Dr. Bronislaw Leszczynski, remarked to her before the reception that she might be asked about Auschwitz. Until that time, she had said nothing about her work in the concentration camp. Her son began taking notes and later, during the reception when all the speeches were over, he stood up and told his mother’s story. What follows is taken from Maternal Love of Life: Texts About Stanislawa Leszczynska, edited by Bishop Bejz, 1988.

 

[swampfox]

Introduction to Hell
Stanislawa was arrested in Lodz on February 18, 1943, with her daughter and two sons. The sons were sent to the labor camp at Mathausen and Gusen to work in the stone quarries. She and her daughter, Sylvia, were sent to Auschwitz where they arrived on April 17, 1943. They were given the numbers 41335 and 41336, tattooed on their forearms. They would remain as mementos of the camp.

They were deprived of all possessions, stripped, shaven, and given camp clothing – striped overalls and some underwear. Sylvia recalls that she received two left-foot slippers and a slip. All of the clothing was infested with lice. Stanislawa spent two years in the women’s facility at Auschwitz, working as a midwife in three different blocks. The “sick-ward” in all of these was the same: 40-meter long bare wooden barracks heated by single brick stove. Because the camp was situated in a low-lying area, the barracks were frequently flooded with 2-3 inches of water. Within the sick-ward were three layers of bunks, lining both sides of the building. Up to three or four women would sleep on the filth-covered bunks at a time. The straw “mattresses”, ridden with vermin, had long ago been ground nearly to dust and thus provided little comfort. Most women were left to lie on nothing more than wooden planks.

Stanislawa recalls the conditions the sick inmates had to contend with: “In the winter, when the temperatures were very low, icicles formed on the ceiling from the breath and perspiration – one silvery rod next to another. When, in the evening, the lights were put on, they glittered beautifully. They looked like one great crystal chandelier. But under these icicles, people slept and sick women delivered their babies.”

The brick stove, says Stanislawa, “served as the only place for deliveries, because no other. . . arrangement for the purpose was available. The oven was only lit a few times during the year. . . Thirty bunks nearest the oven constituted the so-called maternity ward.”

Stanislawa goes on to describe the misery of life in the camp: “In general the block was dominated by infections, stench and all kinds of vermin. Rats were abundant. . . . The victims of the rats were not only sick women but also the newborn children.” There were 1,000 to 1,200 patients on average in the sick-ward. Of these at least a dozen died each day.

“In these conditions,” explains Stanislawa, “the fate of the women in labor was tragic, and the role of the midwife extremely difficult. There were no antiseptics, no dressings, and no medicine, other than a small quota of aspirin.” The food, such as it was, consisted mainly of “decayed, boiled greens.” Initially, Stanislawa had to manage on her own, with occasional help from her young daughter. “The German camp physicians – Rhode, Koenig and Mengele – could not, of course, ‘soil’ their medical vocations by giving help to non-Germans…” Later, she was aided by female physicians who were themselves prisoners. As evidence of Stanislawa’s deep humility, she placed very little emphasis on her own remarkable work. Rather, she spoke of the “greatness of the doctors, their devotion, [which] is frozen in the eyes of those who, tormented with the bondage of suffering, will never speak again. . . . The physicians did not work there for fame, approval, nor for the fulfillment of professional ambitions. All these motives were put aside. There remained only the medical duty of saving life in every case and in every situation, compounded with compassion for human suffering.”

 

[swampfox]

The illness afflicting most inmates was dysentery. Typhus also swept through the camp and, for a time, Stanislawa herself fell victim to the disease. She says that “the incidence of typhoid fever was, as far as possible, concealed from the Lagerarzt [the SS camp physician] usually by writing on the sick-list that the patient had the ‘flu,’ since those sick with typhoid were immediately liquidated . . . .”

Small Miracles Amid the Squalor
During her imprisonment, Stanislawa helped deliver over 3,000 babies. But there was something even more remarkable than her trying to cope amidst these hostile conditions. As she explained to her son, the Lagerarzt ordered her to make a report on the infections and mortality rate for mothers and infants. She replied, “I have not had a single case of death, either among the mothers or the newborns.” The Lagerarzt’s response was a look of disbelief. “He said that even the most perfectly handled clinics of German universities cannot claim such success. In his eyes I read anger and envy.” In a self-deprecating manner, Stanislawa attributed this to fact that “the emaciated organisms were too barren a medium for bacteria.” However, her children and fellow inmates ascribe this miraculous record to causes more than natural.

Planned Parenting in Auschwitz
When time for delivery approached, the already famished mother had to give up her bread ration for a time in order obtain a sheet which would be used to make diapers and clothing for the child. Needless to say, the Nazis did not provide such things. To make things worse, there was no running water in the barracks which made cleaning diapers a risky experience, since inmates were not permitted to move freely in the block. Any cleaning had to be done surreptitiously. Finally, there was no extra food or milk allocated for the infants. But simple neglect apparently did not satisfy the camp administrators. Thus, criminal inmates were employed to dispose of the troublesome infants.

Until May 1943, all the children born in Auschwitz were drowned in a barrel. These operations were performed by Schwester [sister] Klara, a German midwife who was imprisoned for infanticide. “As a Berufsverbrecherin (one guilty of occupational crime), and thus forbidden to practice her profession,” says Stanislawa, “she was entrusted with a function to which she was more suited.” Later, Klara was aided by a German prostitute, the redheaded Schwester Pfani. “After each delivery, the mothers were able to hear the characteristic gurgle and splashing water” as their babies were disposed of.

The situation changed somewhat in May 1943. “Aryan-looking” children, with blue eyes and fair hair, were spared Schwester Klara’s treatment and sent to a center in the town of Naklo to be “de-nationalized.” There they would end up in orphanages or were placed with German parents.

“Hoping that in the future it would be possible to recover these children, to bring them back to their mothers,” Stanislawa explains, “I organized a method of marking the children with a ‘tatoo’ that would not be recognized by the SS guards. Many a mother was comforted by the thought that some day she would be able to find her lost happiness.” Meanwhile, the fate of those left behind was hardly improved. The infants slowly died from malnutrition. Among the countless tragedies witnessed by Stanislawa, one in particular, stands out.

“I vividly recall a woman from Vilno, sent to Auschwitz for giving help to the partisans. Immediately after giving birth to a child her number was called out. . . I went to excuse her. This did not help but merely intensified anger. I realized she was being called out to the crematorium. She wrapped the child in a dirty piece of paper, pressed it to her breasts. . . Her lips moved noiselessly. She tried to sing her baby a song, as mothers often did there, murmuring to their infants various lullabies with which they tried to compensate them for the piercing cold and hunger, for their misery. However, she did not have the strength. . . she was unable to emit a sound . . . only large copious tears came from under her eyelids, flowing over her unusually pale cheeks and falling onto the head of the tiny child condemned to death.”

Stanislawa Leszczynska concludes her brief but terrible memoir with the following remarks: “All of the babies were born alive. It was their purpose to live.” Of the infants who remained at Auschwitz, “scarcely thirty survived the camp. Several hundred were sent to Naklo. . . . About 1,500 were drowned by Schwester Klara and Pfani. More than 1,000 died of cold and hunger.” These figures cover the period from April, 1943, when Stanislawa arrived, to the liberation of the camp in January, 1945.

 

[swampfox]

Other Accounts
In view of Stanislawa’s reticence, we must rely on family members and fellow inmates to give us a more complete picture of her heroic activities. Her son, Bronislaw, reports that upon her arrival in the camp she tried to conceal her midwife identity card. “With this in hand, she stopped a German doctor in the camp, which was an act of courage in itself, punishable by death. She showed him her document. . . He thought about it for awhile and decided that she would perform the function of midwife in the so-called ‘maternity ward.’” There she met the aforementioned Schwester Klara who informed her that each child delivered was to be declared “still-born,” leaving it up to her as to how to “dispose” of the baby. Says Bronislaw, “She later beat my mother on the head. . . for not abiding by her instructions. . . She was then called to the Lagerarzt and he ordered her to perform infanticide if she wanted to survive. He was surprised when this small, weak woman, who he could crush with his boot, replied: ‘No, never.’ Why they did not kill her then, no one knows.”

Her son goes on to recall Stanislawa’s encounter with the notorious Dr. Mengele (who performed medical experiments on the inmates). Despite the gruesome setting, the following account is not without some humor. "When my mother opposed Mengele, who ordered her to kill babies being born in Auschwitz, he became furious. Describing this, my mother said: 'I only saw his long boots jumping back and forth. . . and I heard him shout: ‘Befehl ist befehl’ [an order is an order]. “Recalling these words many years later, I realized that since my mother was quite small and she had the habit of looking down when she thought about something. . . she stood with lowered eyes and saw his long boots nervously jumping in front of her… Was this terrible murderer (he was a physician after all) trying to explain away his order to kill newborn babies? In any case, neither then nor at any other time, did he raise his murderous hand against my mother.” On another occasion, Dr. Mengele entered the maternity ward. Seeing Stanislawa busy with deliveries, he said: “Mutti [Mother], you have earned a lot of money today. You must stand a beer.” “How is one to understand this joke?” asks her son. “Mengele no doubt knew that the suffering inmates treated Stanislawa Leszczynska as a mother and commonly referred to her as ‘Mother’. If consciously, or unconsciously, he referred to this, he at the same time showed respect to the maternal love and moral force which Stanislawa personified there.”

One of the more fortunate inmates, Maria Saloman, gives us her impressions of Stanislawa: “For weeks she never had a chance to lie down. She sometimes sat down near a patient on the oven, dozed for a moment, but soon jumped up and ran to one of the moaning women. . . . When Mrs. Leszczynska first approached me, I knew that everything would be alright. I do not know why, but this was so. My baby managed to last three months in the camp, but seemed doomed to die of starvation. I was completely devoid of milk. ‘Mother’ somehow found two women to wet-nurse my baby, an Estonian and a Russian. To this day I do not know at what price [she did this]. My Liz owes her life to Stanislawa Leszczynska. I cannot think of her without tears coming to my eyes.”

 

[swampfox]

Stanislawa displayed as much common sense as courage. One survivor tells how she would procure water and, on occasions, an herbal brew which she used to wash the infants. Having to use the same water for all the babies, Stanislawa washed the healthy children followed by the sick ones so as not to infect the former. Kazimera Bogdanska explains that she was unable to nurse her tiny daughter. Nevertheless, Stanislawa informed her that she should still give the child an empty breast “so the glands would not stop working.” “Mother was right,” says Kazimera, “How lucky I was that I believed her. When liberty came in January 1945 and I was taken to a real hospital (since I had typhoid fever) the doctor allowed me to continue to give my child my breast devoid of milk. After some time milk returned. My daughter began to gain weight. . . . She started to become round and rosy cheeked. . . . Mother’s wisdom and faith saved my only child.”

Above all things it was Stanislawa’s great piety which sustained her and which she always tried to impart to others. According to Maria Saloman: “Before making a delivery, [Stanislawa] made the sign of the cross and prayed. She whispered a prayer in which she sought not only help and hope, but found strength to sustain her in her inhuman toil. She worked for us alone, day after day, night after night. Without a moment’s rest, without any replacement.” One of the female physicians, Elzbieta Pawlowska, remembers that Stanislawa “was able to organize her prayers in such a manner that she got others to participate. . . . We would sit on the bunks. ‘Mother’ would start some prayer and then we would sing. We sang quietly. It was not possible otherwise. It was only a moment – some 15 or 30 minutes – but all was peaceful. There was an atmosphere she was able to create. I remember Russian women from nearby wards coming to participate.”

Maria Oyrzynska says that one day, while assisting Stanislawa with a delivery, the latter took the baby, washed it, wrapped it in paper and a blanket and said: “Now the most important thing. We shall baptize the child.” “I was the godmother,” Maria recalls, “this was my first godchild. . . [Stanislawa] poured some water on the baby’s head and said: ‘I baptize you, Adam, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.’ As godmother I took my responsibility very seriously and looked after Adam. Considering the camp conditions he lived relatively long. A whole three weeks.”

Growing Devotion to Polish Midwife
Since she passed away in 1974, there has been growing devotion to Stanislawa Leszczynska in Poland. Pilgrimages are organized to her grave, while materials are being compiled as evidence for her process of beatification. She was commemorated in a “Chalice of Life,” offered to the famous Czestochowa shrine at Jasna Gora by Polish women in May 1982, and in 1983 the Krakow School for Obstetricians was named in her honor. Numerous people have attested to favors obtained through her intercession, particularly in connection with child-birth problems. As Prof. Giertych concludes, “The life of Stanislawa Leszczynska is that of an exemplary mother and devoted midwife. Thus she is especially suited to be a patron of the fight for life against the child murderers who, just as in the concentration camps, continue to ply their deadly trade.”

---

Matthew Anger is a freelance journalist who has written essays on history, philosophy and literature from a Catholic perspective. He lives with his wife and seven children in the Richmond, Virginia area, where he is employed as a web/multimedia designer. In addition to Seattle Catholic, he contributes to The Latin Mass and Homiletic & Pastoral Review.

---

St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle…

 

[Lance]

I consider myself a pretty tough old guy, who has seen a lot in my time. I can read almost anything and see some God awful stuff and not get weepy. I will freely admit I had tears in my eyes when I finished reading this. Just think what the Nazi’s would have done if we had not stopped them, and as thanks we get France and Germany and even a lot of the Brits throwing stones at us. We don’t fight the bad guy for the thanks we will get but because it is the right thing to do, just as this lady knew no one would thank her, she just did the right thing.

 

[St.James]

swampfox:

The following is an abridged version of a study by Polish historian Prof. Maciej Giertych which provides some inkling of the horrors which Polish Catholics, and other Catholics throughout Europe, underwent during the Second World War. Sadly, such accounts — though they are numerous — are generally disregarded by modern academia and the media.

Thank you swampfox for bringing attention to this issue. Due to the stranglehold which the Jewish community posseses on any information related to WWII, the suffering of all groups other than Jews during this period recieves no attention.

It’s time to reverse that trend.

 

[Lance]

St. James:

Thank you swampfox for bringing attention to this issue. Due to the stranglehold which the Jewish community posseses on any information related to WWII, the suffering of all groups other than Jews during this period recieves no attention.

It’s time to reverse that trend.

Let me add anti-Semitic to the list of things I don’t like about you.

 

[Lonevoice]

St. James:

Thank you swampfox for bringing attention to this issue. Due to the stranglehold which the Jewish community posseses on any information related to WWII, the suffering of all groups other than Jews during this period recieves no attention.

It’s time to reverse that trend.

Yup, no one knows anything about WWII and the camps except the Jews. They kept it all secret, you know…

I wasn’t raised to act hateful, but what you said was just wrong.

(not to mention and stupid, ill-informed, and ignorant. I wish you the best of luck.)

Sheesh, whattamaroon!!!

 

[Norwich]

How sad, heres a story of a woman who has no pretensions, no snap judgements, whose one aim in life is to help others IRRESPECTIVE of race, religion and creed. And what happens on this board, a number of people use it to air their own personal grievences or hang ups.

Tell me fella’s how are you going to explain that when God asks you how you treated ALL his children?

A beautiful story about a remarkable person, I wonder what she would think reading the comments?

 

[bapcathluth]

I also had tears in my eyes when I read this. How could human beings do this to others is always my question when I read about the camps. I was in Poland and visited Majdanek, a concentration camp, and it was one of the most moving and sad experiences of my life.

Contrary to what Mr. St. James said, it is very well-documented about other people who died in the camps. Again, I will say that his comments about the Palestinians would be met with more openess by me if he did not always make unecessary and hateful remarks about Jews.

Norwich, why don’t you call St. James on these comments?

 

[Lilyofthevalley]

Unfortunately, St.James is right to a certain point about this situation. When one hears about the Holocaust people mention 6 million Jewish people. People often do not hear about the 6 million “others”. It’s very sad these 6 million others are remembered as “others”. Not as Poles, Slovaks, Gypsies, Jehovah Witnesses, people who disagreed with the fascists, etc.

 

[puzzleannie]

I worked extensively with primary and secondary sources on the Holocaust in grad school, and to say that documentation on sufferings of non-Jews at the hands of the Nazi machine has been obscured or deliberately withheld is simply not true, either on the part of Jewish scholars and organizations, nor of any other reputable academics. What is true is that there is still, astonishingly, a body of people who deny that the holocaust ever happened, and still manage to get a hearing.

It is true that Jewish organizations and scholars, in Israel and elsewhere, have gone to great lengths to discover and preserve sources of information about the holocaust, including interviews and primary source documents, both for war crimes prosecutions and for memorial and historical record. Quite naturally they have gone to great length to document the treatment of Jews, the primary target of the Nazi machine. Without their efforts a great deal of what we know about the treatment of non-Jews would have been lost, forgotten or buried.

 

[bapcathluth]

Lilyofthevalley:

Unfortunately, St.James is right to a certain point about this situation. When one hears about the Holocaust people mention 6 million Jewish people. People often do not hear about the 6 million “others”. It’s very sad these 6 million others are remembered as “others”. Not as Poles, Slovaks, Gypsies, Jehovah Witnesses, people who disagreed with the fascists, etc.

I don’t believe as St James’ said, that the Jews have a “stranglehold” on this issue. They were almost wiped off the face of the Earth and almost all Jewish people in the US had family members who were killed. They immigrated later and kept ties to the old country. I am a quarter Polish and a quarter German descent. I didn’t have any family members killed but my family came to the US about 150 years ago. I am also Irish and Danish.

When I was in Poland the Polish tour guide said that only the Jews were sent for a “final solution.” There is no doubt that many other millions were killed there and I certainly have heard about them.

Furthermore, almost all of St. James’ posts contain hateful comments about Jews so that it seems like a sickness.

 

[Lilyofthevalley]

Thank you swampfox for bringing attention to this issue. on any information related to WWII, the suffering of all groups other than Jews during this period recieves no attention.Due to the stranglehold which the Jewish community posseses
That is why I stated he was right to a certain point. I don’t believe The Jews don’t have anymore of a hold on the media than any othe group , but St. James is right to a certain point. It wasn’t until recently the “others” are mentioned. Hitler viewed the Gypsies the same way he viewed the Jews.

---

Neighboring Poland - The First Target: “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

---

 

[Norwich]

I think all those who complian about the jews and their reaction to the holocaust should go to the newly opened “Holocaust Museum” in Nuhrenberg. Occupying the site Hitler has earmarked for his “Coliseum”, an attempt to emulate his Roman hero’s, it is a hard hitting indictment of Nazi Germany and pulls no punches at all. Built by the German nation itself it is a revelation, praised by Jews, Muslims, Eastern European and all ethnic groups that suffered under Hitler. The only ones to oppose it were the so called Nazi Leugue, a small bunch of nutters from UK, France, Germany and the USA.

 

[sarcophagus]

Not mentioning the autrocious comments by st. james, I think this was an excellent documentation on this women’s life and works. She definatley deserves to be canonized.

 

[St.James]

If anything can be said of accusations against the Catholic Church in World War II it is that they are as predictable as they are monotonous.

This is a clear reference to the ADL and the “literary work” of Jewish hack authors such as Daniel Jonah Goldhagen, Paul Gottleib, Israel Shamir, David Kertzer, ad nauseum, all of whom assert that the Catholic religion itself bears responsibility for the Holocaust, Gottlieb going so far as to state that non-Catholics (see-Jews) should run the Catholic church.

All of the books written by these hacks have been thoroughly discredited by Christian as well as Jewish scholars yet new books of the same anti-Catholic bent follow in their wakes every year.

Perhaps some of you agree with the assertions of these “authors.”

The following is an abridged version of a study by Polish historian Prof. Maciej Giertych which provides some inkling of the horrors which Polish Catholics, and other Catholics throughout Europe, underwent during the Second World War. Sadly, such accounts — though they are numerous — are generally disregarded by modern academia and the media.

There is no lack of Holocaust studies courses and books in modern academia. There is no lack of movies and documentaries on the Holocaust in the media, if anything there is a preponderance of them, but there is a serious lack of information on the suffering of people other than Jews during WWII.

All of the many holocaust museums such as the Simon Weisenthal center focus exclusively on Jewish suffering. The holocaust museum in Washington D.C., financed with US tax funds, focuses exclusively on Jewish suffering.

Many millions of people other than Jews were killed during WWII. Why is this period being sold to us as a time of exclusive Jewish suffering?

The story of the millions of Christians who were killed in Russia in numbers that dwarf the holocaust before, during, and after WWII remains yet to be told. There isn’t even a book written that specifically addresses this matter, much less mega million dollar budget Hollywood movies, documentaries or university courses.

Why this disparity?

Aren’t we seeing a double standard here?

 

[swampfox]

Lilyofthevalley:

Unfortunately, St.James is right to a certain point about this situation. When one hears about the Holocaust people mention 6 million Jewish people. People often do not hear about the 6 million “others”. It’s very sad these 6 million others are remembered as “others”. Not as Poles, Slovaks, Gypsies, Jehovah Witnesses, people who disagreed with the fascists, etc.

6 million Poles were killed by the Nazis–3 million were Jews and 3 million were Catholics

 

[swampfox]

St. James:

This is a clear reference to the ADL and the “literary work” of Jewish hack authors such as Daniel Jonah Goldhagen, Paul Gottleib, Israel Shamir, David Kertzer, ad nauseum, all of whom assert that the Catholic religion itself bears responsibility for the Holocaust, Gottlieb going so far as to state that non-Catholics (see-Jews) should run the Catholic church.

All of the books written by these hacks have been thoroughly discredited by Christian as well as Jewish scholars yet new books of the same anti-Catholic bent follow in their wakes every year.

Perhaps some of you agree with the assertions of these “authors.”

There is no lack of Holocaust studies courses and books in modern academia. There is no lack of movies and documentaries on the Holocaust in the media, if anything there is a preponderance of them, but there is a serious lack of information on the suffering of people other than Jews during WWII.

All of the many holocaust museums such as the Simon Weisenthal center focus exclusively on Jewish suffering. The holocaust museum in Washington D.C., financed with US tax funds, focuses exclusively on Jewish suffering.

Many millions of people other than Jews were killed during WWII. Why is this period being sold to us as a time of exclusive Jewish suffering?

The story of the millions of Christians who were killed in Russia in numbers that dwarf the holocaust before, during, and after WWII remains yet to be told. There isn’t even a book written that specifically addresses this matter, much less mega million dollar budget Hollywood movies, documentaries or university courses.

Why this disparity?

Aren’t we seeing a double standard here?

There’s no doubt that Jews were the primary target of the Nazi machinery of death, but the fate of other victims of the Nazis is often overlooked or in some cases consciously minimized.

see Forgotten Holocaust: The Poles Under German Occupation 1939-1944
by Richard C. Lukas, Norman Davies
amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0781809010/ref=ase_holocausforgotte/002-1685057-7803248?v=glance&s=books