is the fact that the “Union of the Godless”450 consisted almost exclusivelyof Jews.
In the spring of 1941, a propaganda film screened in Vilna, titled The Wind from the East.451 The film told the story of how the Bolsheviks occupied and liberated Polish lands. Images showed the escape and disarming of Polish soldiers, and Jews watching the film expressed their delight by applauding, provoking indignation and increasing hatred of Poles. A week before the outbreak of the war, the Soviet authorities in Vilna and surrounding areas carried out mass arrests and deported approximately 50,000 Poles and Lithuanians. Also in this operation the Jewish Komsomol played a prominent role, indicating to the Bolsheviks who should be deported.
For all these reasons Polish hatred of the Jews increased significantly. They were not able to express it freely for fear of reprisals by the Soviet government; however, there were instances when Poles [7] would hit their Jewish colleagues on the head when the boss was not around. There was also the secret Polish Patriotic Organisation,452 which, among other things,published leaflets released in Vilna on 11 November 1940 that proclaimed “Down with Judeo-Communism”, “Death to Jewish lackeys”, and so on. In addition, there were Poles who understood that not all Jews behaved in thesame way, and that the whole Jewish community could not be held respon-sible for such behaviour. In one of the warehouses in Vilna, there worked a Polish woman (intelligent, socially conscious), who lived on the best pos-sible terms with some comrades – Jews. What is characteristic is that afterthe German invasion she often helped Jews (although she had previously suf-fered unpleasant situations because of them), saying that it was not the timeto settle the score.
