English
Polish
Who, When, and Why? Escapes of Polish Jews from the Germans to the Soviet Union in the Fall of 1939 and Summer of 1941 from a Comparative Perspective
Zagłada Żydów. Studia i Materiały, No. 18 (2022), pages: 19-47
Publication date: 2023-03-11
Abstract
Using the example of five biographies of Polish Jews, in his article the author analyzes the motives and ways of the escapes from the Germans. The sources are journals, letters, memoirs, early reports, and interviews. Analyzing the motives and circumstances of the escapes, the author compares two stages. The first one was just after the beginning of the German and Soviet occupation of Poland in September 1939 and the other one began after the German invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941. This comparison shows that despite the many differences, the similarities in the escapes’ circumstances were more numerous. In both cases, the following factors constituted a matter of life and death: the timing of the escape, the geographical proximity to the front line, the financial resources, the familial factors that accompanied the making of the decision to escape, and, last but not least, the age and gender.
Keywords
escapes, refugees, Soviet occupation, German occupation, Herman Kruk, Simon Davidson, Artur Szlifersztejn, Fayvel Vayner, Benjamin Harshav
References
Źródła archiwalne / Archival sources
Archiwum YIVO
RG 1464, Box 4, Folder 41, Jerzy Gliksman Papers, Jerzy Gliksman, Jewish Exiles in Soviet Russia (1939–1943), Part I (1947)
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