Roman Turski in "Secrets and Spies"

Otto Gross came across the excerpt, below, in the 1964 Reader's Digest book "Secrets and Spies: Behind the Scenes Stories of World War II."

Does anyone know anything more about this story, or the man, Roman Turski, telling it?

Thank you very much to Otto for bringing this otherwise obscure story to our attention. Otto's previous blog posts are here and here.

"The Evaders"

Roman Turski

I was born in Poland, where before the last war religious intolerance was not uncommon. In spite of my father's objection to my participation in anti-Semitic demonstrations in Warsaw, I often heaved stones at windows of stores owned by Jews. I had no qualms about my actions, and later it took months of hardship and persecution – and a Jew – to show me how to abide by the Biblical injunction: "Love thy neighbor as thyself."

When Hitler annexed Austria and war seemed imminent, I quit my job as instructor of a flying club in Lyons, France, and started for home. My plane developed engine trouble and I had to land at Vienna and stay there overnight to have it repaired.

The following morning, just as I stepped out of my hotel to buy a few souvenirs before checking out, a man who came running past the door bumped into me and sent me reeling. Outraged, I grabbed him and was about to give him a piece of my mind when I saw that his face was white with fear. Panting heavily, he tried to wrench himself from my grip and said, "Gestapo – Gestapo!" I knew only a little German but understood he was running from the dreaded German secret police.

I rushed him into the lobby and upstairs into my room, pointed to the foot of my bed and motioned him to lie down. I covered his slender, jack-knifed body with artfully draped blankets so that the tousled bed looked empty. Then I pulled off my jacket, tie, and collar so I could pretend I'd just got up if the Gestapo men came. In a few minutes they did. They examined my passport, returned it and shouted questions, to which I replied: "Ich verstehe es nicht – I don't understand," a phrase I knew by heart. They left without searching the room.

As soon as they had gone, I locked the door and lifted the blankets. The poor man let out a stream of rapid German. It was not necessary to understand a word to comprehend his gratitude.

I got out my flight chart and, by gesturing, and drawing pictures on the margin of the map, explained that I had a plane and could take him out of Austria. He pointed to Warsaw, and his expressive hands asked: "Would you take me there?" I shook my head and made him understand that I had to land for fuel in Cracow. I drew pictures of police and prison bars to illustrate that he would be arrested upon arrival at any airport, and made it clear that we would land in some meadow just over the Polish border and he could get off. He nodded with satisfaction, and his narrow face and dark-brown eyes again conveyed deep thanks.

The customs and immigration men at the airport waved us through when I told them my friend wanted to see me off. My plane was warmed up and ready for flight. We quickly climbed into it and took off. We crossed Czechoslovakia and soon saw the thin ribbon of the Vistula River and the City of Cracow. Landing in a large field by a wood near a country railroad station, I showed my companion where we were on the map, gave him most of my money and wished him luck. He took my hand and looked at me wordlessly, then walked rapidly into the woods.

When I arrived at the Cracow airport there was a detachment of police waiting beside the immigration inspector. One of the police said, "We have a warrant to search your plane – you have helped a man escape from Vienna."

"Go ahead and search it. Incidentally, what was the man wanted for?"

"He was a Jew!"

They searched my plane, and of course had to let me go for lack of evidence.

The war came, and after Poland's short and bloody struggle against the Germans, in which I served as a fighter pilot in the Polish Air Force, I joined the thousands of my countrymen who wanted to carry on the fight for freedom. We crossed the border in Rumania and were promptly caught and sent to concentration camps. I finally managed to escape and joined the French Air Force. After France collapsed I went to England and fought in the Battle of Britain. The following June I was wounded while on a fighter sweep across the English Channel, when the Luftwaffe hit us over Boulogne.

In those early offensive missions we were always outnumbered and outperformed by the Luftwaffe, and our only superiority was our morale.

As we started home I rammed a ME-109 and was hit by a piece of its sheared-off tail. I was half blinded with blood. My squadron covered my withdrawal across the Channel, but I was unconscious when my spitfire crash-landed in England. (I learned later that my skull had been fractured, and that I was so near death that the head surgeon of the hospital to which I was taken believed it would be almost useless to operate on me.)

When I returned to consciousness, I gradually realized that a narrow face with large brown eyes was looking down at me.

"Remember me?" their owner said. "You saved my life in Vienna." He spoke with only a trace of a German accent.

His words ended my confusion. I recalled this sensitive face and managed to say, "How did you find me?" I noticed his white smock. "Do you work here?"

"It's a long story," he replied. "After you dropped me off I made my way to Warsaw, where an old friend aided me. Just before the war I escaped and reached safety in Scotland. When one of your Polish squadrons distinguished itself in the Battle of Britain, I thought you might be in it, so I wrote to the Air Ministry and found you were."

"How did you know my name?"

"It was written on the margin of your map. I remembered it."

His long fingers felt cool on my wrist. "Yesterday I read the story in the newspapers about a Polish hero shooting down five enemy planes in one day and then crash-landing near this hospital. It said your condition was considered hopeless. I immediately asked the Royal Air Force at Edinburgh to fly me here. "

"Why?"

"I thought that at last I could do something to show my gratitude. You see, I am a brain surgeon – I operated on you this morning."

Bieganski on Imus in the Morning

On the morning of Monday, July 30, 2012, I was listening to Imus in the Morning, a very popular rush-hour radio program.

Imus' guest, if I heard correctly, was Carl Jeffers.

Here's a description of Carl Jeffers from his website:

***

He's Your...

Voice. Insight. Guidance.

Carl Jeffers is a nationally renowned and respected Speaker featured regularly on television networks such as CNN, MSNBC, and FOX as a political analyst, radio talk show host, lecturer and consultant. Jeffers' energy, keen insight, and engaging style has (sic) made him a “show favorite” throughout the networks. 

Jeffers is also an editorial contributor to both the HUFFINGTON POST, and he has been an editorial contributor to The Seattle Times. Jeffers is a political analyst for KIRO radio, one of the top rated stations in the Seattle market and the CBS affiliate for that market. In addition to providing political analysis and commentary on various formats and shows on the KIRO line-up, Jeffers now appears weekly in the “Week in Review” segment of the top rated Dave Ross show. Jeffers has also provided political analysis and commentary for radio stations KABC in Los Angeles and KLSD in San Diego, and has “guest hosted” on KABC, the ABC affiliate in Los Angeles, one of the top two stations in the number two radio market in America today.

The above activity commitments establish Carl Jeffers as someone very much “keyed in” to the pulse of the nation, and that connection and broad reach provides a voice and geographic perspective that provides significant commentary balance from both an ideological and geographical perspective.

***

This morning, Jeffers brought up the 1936 Berlin Olympics. He said, and this is a paraphrase of what I remember him saying, "At the time of the 1936 Olympics, there were a lot of pogroms in Eastern Europe, but the Holocaust had not begun yet."

This is an example of Bieganski: the transference of responsibility for the Holocaust from Nazi Germany to Eastern Europe in general, Poland in particular, and Polish, Catholic peasants in the extreme.

We must correct this, and a good place to start would be for us to consider the suggestions in the blog post on the Crisis in Polonian Leadership, Organization, and Vision.

Comment Moderation

Please DO posts comments. Comments contribute much to the blog. 

Comments are moderated.

Your comment is more likely to be posted if:

Your comment includes a real first and last name.

Your comment uses Standard English spelling, grammar, and punctuation.

Your comment uses I-statements rather than You-statements.

If you don't know about I-statements and You-statements, it is to your benefit to learn about them. You can visit this website or many others to learn about I-statements and You-statements and their importance in conflict resolution.

Your comment states a position based on facts, rather than on ad hominem material. What is ad hominem? Wikipedia offers an excellent discussion of ad hominem commentary here.

Your comment includes readily verifiable factual material, rather than speculation that veers wildly away from established facts.

T'he full meaning of your comment is clear to the comment moderator the first time he or she glances over it.



You comment is less likely to be posted if:

You do not include a first and last name.

Your comment is not in Standard English, with enough errors in spelling, punctuation and grammar to make the comment's meaning difficult to discern.

Your comment includes ad hominem statements, or You-statements.

You have previously posted, or attempted to post, in an inappropriate manner.

You keep repeating the same things over and over and over again.

You single out any and all Jews for blame. If an individual who happens to be Jewish engages in negative stereotyping, by all means please feel free to talk about that. But please refrain from posting messages that single out Jews as a group as responsible for Polonia's problems. This position is indefensible and it is abhorrent, and this blog has taken a stand against it. There is no need to continue to debate repeated posts that attempt to stir up anti-Semitism. Doing so is not to Polonia's benefit. To defeat Bieganski, we must stop blaming the Jews and start working on the matters outlined in the three-part blog post devoted to the Crisis in Polonian Leadership, Organization, and Vision.

Thank you, and please do post comments.

Nazi Chic in Asia, England, and Eastern Europe: Which is Scary?

"Bieganski" talks about why the repugnance an ethically normal person might be expected to feel in reaction to Nazi crimes is often directed, not at actual Nazis, but rather at Poles, specifically, Polish, Catholic, and other Eastern European, peasants. There are many posts on this blog addressing that question in small bites; the book addresses the question in full.

Readers of "Bieganski" will understand the significance of Nazi chic in Asia to the book's addressing of this question.

I thank blog reader Hanna for drawing our attention to the above two photos, just two examples of Asian Nazi chic.

The tendency to feel repugnance and panic in relation to Eastern Europeans, while remaining blind to other groups' dabbling in Nazi chic, is not limited to non-Poles. This past spring, on a web-based discussion forum for Polish-Americans, someone posted a link to a panicky article about those scary, primitive Eastern European Bieganskis who were all fired up Neo-Nazis. The article was Salon's "Eastern Europe's Hitler Nostalgia" by Michael Goldfarb, appearing on April 2, 2012.

I responded with a post that said, more or less, "Why is nostalgia for Hitler scarier in Eastern Europe than anywhere else?"

I don't think I received a reply.

Because, I would have to guess, even to the Polish-American who posted the link, alleged Eastern Europe "Hitler nostalgia" is inherently scarier than neo-Nazi trends elsewhere.

Back in December 2011, Otto Gross posted "Ripples of Sin," a blog post here about having grown up with a father who was a Nazi. Otto's dad beat him with a Nazi army belt. I wanted a picture to illustrate the blog post. I did a google search and found countless websites featuring close-up photos of Nazi belts … uniforms … insignia … sabers … all these websites actively staffed, monitored, visited, by rabid enthusiasts of Nazi paraphernalia. As far as I could tell, most of these Nazi-enthusiasts were American. Probably none of them were in Eastern Europe.

Again, the question is, why is the Polish Catholic, or the Latvian or other Eastern European peasant, more repugnant, more blameworthy, than the actual Nazi, or the American who has a basement full of authentic Nazi gear he buys on the web, or the British politician or member of the British royal family who is overt in his dabbling in Nazi chic?

My answer is in "Bieganski."

Prince Harry in Nazi gear. Not Eastern European; therefore, not scary. 

Recently Aidan Burley, a British politician, was exposed as dabbling in Nazi  gear. But it's okay. He's English, not Eastern European. 

Prayer Request

Angel of Compassion by one of my favorite artists, Vie Dunn-Harr. Her webpage. 

This is a polite request that, if blog readers feel so moved, they pray for a miracle for me.

I won't go into details on the blog, but if you just shoot a prayer heavenward and say you are praying for a miracle for that Polish-American woman who can't shut up about Polish-Jewish relations, God will know exactly how to process your prayer.

Further: I ask that you consider directing your thoughts to Wiktoria Ulma, the martyred Polish woman from Markowa. As regular blog readers know, I was lucky enough to speak in Markowa last year. There's a blog entry about that visit here. I loved my trip to Markowa, and I prayed for the Ulmas, and I got a real special sense about Wiktoria. The Ulmas are candidates for sainthood and a miracle would help that process along.

Thank you in advance for your prayers.

PS: There may be a period when I am not able to blog as frequently. If you've ever considered posting a guest blog here, now would be a good time. Please feel free to email me with any proposals or essays, and please be patient with any delays. Thank you.

How to pray.

May the Poles Burn

I just read this in a facebook post.

I want to repost it, because it is such a succinct summary of one understanding of the Bieganski stereotype. Here it is:

***

"My father, who lost his entire family in Poland, told me: 'For a thousand years we lived there -- and still they turned us in. May they all burn.'

Racial policies against Jews were in place years before the German occupation. Limits on Jewish life was not a German invention. The Germans picked Poland for the location of the death camps because they knew that country was a fertile ground for Jew hatred.

What I find the most loathsome is the Polish idea of their own victimhood. OMG, at least hide your head in shame and shut up, hoping no one will notice.

And, incidentally, how do you explain the pogroms against Jews AFTER the poor muselmen came back from the ovens to their home towns? Who forced those on your poor Poles?"

***

My answer to this gentleman's concerns can be found in "Bieganski."

I think everything said here is important and needs to be addressed. I attempt to address it in the book. Perhaps this gentleman will read it and report back how confronting another point of view has affected his conclusion that all Poles should burn.


A follow up added after the author of the above post responded in the comments section, below:

Yori, I'm fascinated by your initial post because it is so short and yet it sums up so very much of the Bieganski stereotype. My book addresses your every point, and I hope you read it.

What you say, Yori, MANY people say, and believe. Not just Jews. Regular readers of this blog know that I have reproduced material even from Catholic publications that support these anti-Polish views. I have met college professors and average Americans who are not Jewish who are 100% invested in the very view you express here.

The Bieganski stereotype is very powerful and very widespread and I hope Polonia will join me in combatting it.

What I understand as your points, in sum, is below. Obviously this is my paraphrase of your main points:

***

Poles are essentially guilty of unspeakable atrocities and therefore they deserve our hate and they deserve to suffer.

We are righteous to hate them and to wish Poles ill.

I can say this because I am a victim of Poles' hate. My suffering justifies my position.

There was a teleological inevitability of the Holocaust. Even with a thousand years of history, it was inevitable that Poles would kill off all the Jews.

Poles are so essentially guilty that any according of sympathy to them for their suffering is itself an obscenity. Poles must be denied victim status at all costs.

Poles are so very bad that they are the only nation on earth that killed Jews after the Holocaust.

***

Indeed, every one of these powerful assertions is debated head-on in "Bieganski." I hope you will read it and get back to the blog and tell us what you think.

***

Yori, thank you for following up with a post in the comments section.

You and I have a lot in common.

You are deeply invested in your Jewish ancestry.

I am deeply invested in my Polish and Slovak ancestry, and my Catholic faith.

You have a grudge against Poles.

As regular readers of this blog know, I have a grudge against Germans. If I had had the power, after World War II, I would have used nuclear weapons against Germany. I would not have done that out of any just or strategic reason. I would have done that out of hatred of Germans and Germany.

Otto, a contributor to this blog, slightly nudged my mind on my hatred of Germans, in his blog post "Ripples of Sin."

I know what it is to feel what you feel, Yori.

Yori, you wrote, "My hatred is not based on stereotypes."

I will politely disagree.

Yori, you wrote, "All I have is a black hole where my family used to be." Please accept my human condolences for your human sorrow. We are both human and we both know what it is to grieve and we both know what it is to care and we both know what it is to make amends and to work for a better future. We can do all these together, both as individuals and as peoples.

Yori, you wrote: "I pray for a fire that will start at the Ural Mountains and sweep across the plains and burn down your cursed Europe where our Jewish shadows are roaming in the night air."

I can certainly understand that righteous anger.

I will say, though, that as I read these words, I feel concern for your eternal soul.

God did say, in Deuteronomy, "It is mine to avenge; I will repay."

We are not God. It is not ours to avenge in the manner you recommend.

It is ours to understand, and to seek forgiveness where possible, and to find humanity in our fellow humans.

Poles Organizing??? A Guest Post and a Response

A guest blog entry by Mietek de Woldan

For sure, the Bieganski stereotype surfaces from time to time outside North America. Examples: recently in Argentina a minister speaking about ‘stupid Polish farmers’; in Germany the media from time to time reporting on the ‘thieving nature of Poles’; in the UK some of the media seeing Poles (among others) as the ‘source of social problems’ through their drinking and rowdy behaviour; some of the Israeli press seizing every opportunity to imply to the world the ‘anti-Semitism inherent in all Poles’; the assertions by the UK’s BBC before the Euro 2012 football about ‘extreme racism’ in Poland. But, since there is no consistency of perception that applies across all of these countries, each 'incident' has to be addressed 'on its merits' as it arises.

Add to that the existence of specific local problems. Examples: Lithuania and Belarus - where the very identity of Polish minorities, their culture and organisations are under threat; Holland - where there is a powerful anti-Polish (anti-immigrant generally) ‘hate’ campaign instigated by a political party; Germany - where Polish children are being ‘germanised’ if taken into the care of the state. These are vital issues that need action ‘today’ - and local Polonian organisations are fully engaged in addressing them. Within resource constraints it is difficult to expect these same organisations to also address the more general matter of ‘defending Poland’s good name’ as their top priority.

The UK situation is different. When the 1944/46 uproar against recent allies - now called ‘Polish fascists’ - subsided, the British establishment on the surface ignored these embarrassing reminders of betrayal - yet discrimination was real but covert. Organisations that once reminded the world about Poland’s right to freedom, now offer support to the influx of Poles seeking work in the UK. ‘Defending Poland’s good name’ is perhaps lower priority against these urgent practical demands.

And then, some might contend, there are anti-Polish elements in Poland itself. Is the German Historical Institute simply a tool of German policy to enmesh Poles in 'joint responsibility' for the holocaust? Paradoxically, why do some people see the activities of the Jewish Historical Institute as having a similar effect? Why are some publications of the IPN (Institute of National Remembrance) thought to be motivated more by political expediency and less by the search for impartially verifiable facts? If this is the reality who, other than the authorities in Poland, can possibly deal with it?

Against this background, Bieganski the blog recommends that we must become activists. But, who are 'we' precisely? Outside North America, apart from well-known exceptions, the Polish diaspora consists of several waves of migration from 1939 onwards. For each new wave, the 'patriotic' basis has been weaker and the 'material incentive' greater, such that latest arrivals have little appetite for 'political activity'. In any case, even those with more 'patriotic' leanings found that securing basic needs took most of their time and energy - few had the means to be 'politically active'. In my view 'we' - who now have the means - are now aged 50 to 60+ (possibly 40 to 50). This is a narrow and thinly spread group.

The vision of Bieganski the blog then recommends that activists must 'organise'. Indeed, we have the example of 'organiczna praca' of the 19^th century positivist movement as our inspiration. But are we really suffering from a lack of 'organisation'? It is sufficient to access the website of Wspolnota Polska to see there is no shortage - every major country has at least one, and the list does not include more 'informal' or 'specialist' networks or internet communities. For interest, the "Rada Polonii Świata" (World Polish Council, domiciled in Chicago) appears to be defunct; the "Europejska Unia Wspólnot Polonijnych" (Union of Polish Communities in Europe, domiciled in London – has anyone ever heard of them?) has a 'Commission to Defend Poland's Standing' (it also has Commissions for Education, Media etc). So, perhaps the issue is that some need waking up from their slumbers or others need to convert from being a 'talking shop' into a spearhead for action? Bieganski the blog has the answer - an umbrella organisation of paid specialists to make 'the case for Poland' on the world stage. But excuse me for my presumption in suggesting it exists already - it is the Polish government with its worldwide network of embassies and consulates, whose staff might tackle anti-Polish issues … but then they do that already, albeit in a more limited manner than some of us may prefer.

Then here I am, faced with: a multiplicity of disconnected anti-Polish phenomena across the world; nationally based Polonian organisations that have vital matters needing their attention, including their Polonia's continued existence; some Polonian umbrella organisations that need to be strengthened by more dynamic leadership from the Polish government. I do what any activist should do - along with like minded people, select and 'freeze' an issue and work on it until it 'disappears'. So please don't berate or lecture me on seeking correction of 'Polish concentration camps' - it is one of the issues that requires focus. And, as an aside, it is not a 'chauvinistic' activity but a straightforward defence of the truth against a creeping tide of disinformation.

I am aware that my analysis is incomplete - it is impossible to comment on every country where Poles reside, even if I knew their situation. In particular I have avoided saying anything about North America. Why? Because it is a context in a category of its own due to its history and ethnic mix. I especially do not wish to challenge Danusha's Bieganski analysis, since there is no reason to doubt it. But I do suggest that the analysis and solutions put forward in the blog are more relevant to North America than elsewhere.

One of the many points where Bieganski the blog and I meet is on the need for a dynamic 'worldwide' organisation. I suggest that Danusha and colleagues should summarise the "Bieganski concept" in a booklet on four sides of A4 in Polish, for every member of the Polish Sejm and Senate to get a copy, and then to be lobbied incessantly until they take full responsibility for the mission to inject leadership and funds to tackle the particular issue(s) pertinent to different countries.

Mietek de Woldan

***

I'm very grateful for the above guest blog post.

I will politely and briefly disagree with a few points.

My own work, such as it is, is focused on the Bieganski, Brute Polak stereotype. Many readers won't know what that is, because many blog readers have yet to purchase and read "Bieganski."

Again and again, I see posts on internet sites devoted to negative stereotyping of Poles. These posts all say the same thing. "Golly, gee, where did this stereotype of Poles come from? Why does it exist? Why do people engage in it? What can we do about it?"

In the absence of answers, posters are encouraged -- and yes I see these posts repeatedly -- to blame the Jews. I even recently saw a post in which a poster said she was reading The Protocols of the Elders of Zion in an effort to better understand stereotyping.

Polonians frequently write to me to complain about the cost of "Bieganski." The most recent Polonian to do so was a journalist with a Polish publication. What does it say about our priorities that even a Polish journalist for a Polish publication resists the purchase of a book on a Polish topic?

I ask you -- how much MORE expensive is it to fill one's mind with the poison of a book like the Protocols?

After blaming the Jews, posters are encouraged to feel powerless. "That lobby is so powerful. We can't do anything. We can just write our little emails to this or that publication that says something we don't like."

Yes. I see these posts repeatedly. It is only my own discretion that prevents me from giving names, dates, and websites where Polonians repeat these canards over and over.

It is not to Polonia's benefit to continue re-asking the same questions over and over, and never to avail itself of the one scholarly book that addresses those questions.

It is not to Polonia's benefit to, in its own self-imposed ignorance, blame an ethnic group that is not responsible for the problem.

It is not to Polonia's benefit to tell itself it is powerless.

It is not to Polonia's benefit to stumble in the dark.

Our guest poster inadvertently trivializes the work of this blog in the phrase, "Defending Poland’s good name." Such a narcissistic, chauvinist, and trivial enterprise has ever been what this blog is about. One would have only to read it to discover that.

Our guest poster writes, "Bieganski the blog recommends that we must become activists. But, who are 'we' precisely? Outside North America, apart from well-known exceptions, the Polish diaspora consists of several waves of migration from 1939 [sic] onwards."

EVERY group faces the exact same diversity. There is no monolithic group of Blacks or Jews or Italians or Women or Homosexuals. And yet Blacks and Jews and Italians and Women and Homosexuals manage to organize effectively across generations, borders, and incomes. I know because I've been involved in groups focused around all these identities and more.

It's time for Polonia to stop making excuses like this, to stop blaming others (primarily Jews, but, lately, as in a couple of recent books, Jews and Leftists). It's time for Polonia to overcome its own resistance to organization and effective action.

But all of this has been said before. The best response to the above guest blog entry is the three-part blog post, "The Crisis in Polonian Leadership, Organization, and Vision."