was one common enemy, and that it should be opposed by a unified front of
the whole society to maximise the impact. The so far intensive and incessantly
fierce anti-Jewish propaganda of the anti-Semitic press calmed down to some
extent. It had enjoyed great esteem and popularity among the followers of
Endecja [2] and the even more anti-Semitic society of the town. Now [different]
considerations took priority. Most Poles knew [that] Germany was a powerful
enemy with a well-equipped army. Nonetheless, they trusted the power of the
Polish army and believed that the rest would be taken care of by the martial
spirit of the Polish soldier, and that it would tip the scale of victory in favour
of the Poles. Jewish society also pinned its hopes on the coming war. Aside
from the attitude which the Jews had toward Germany on account of being
citizens of the Polish state, which that enemy wished to invade, they regarded
a war against Hitlerism as tantamount to a fight against the movement, which
had struck such a painful blow on the existence of hundreds of thousands of
their fellow believers and whose savage attitude toward the Jewish issue and
inhumane attitude toward the German Jews had sparked genuine outrage all
over the world. Moreover, Polish Jewry saw Hitlerite Germany as an example
of the use of anti-Semitic methods. The example was followed by the Polish
Endeks, who tried to emulate those methods with the zeal and meticulousness
worthy of a better cause. If we add to that the negative attitude of a large percentage of the conscious Jewish society toward the fascist regime of the Third
Reich, the opinion Polish Jewry had regarding the coming war will become
clear. Jewish society saw the war as an opportunity to combat the enemy of
the Polish state and a chance to crush Hitlerism, which was so hostile to the
Jewish soul. It also regarded it as an opportunity for the collapse of the fascist
regime, whose influence was quite acutely felt even in Poland. Finally,
Jewish society hoped that that war would deal the final blow to the fiercely
anti-Semitic policy of the Polish Endeks, who would change [3] their attitude
toward Jews after the fall of Hitlerism.
The majority of society was deeply convinced that the war would end in
the defeat of Germany. Both the Poles and the Jews thought that Hitler would
not be able to resist the strength of the Polish army supported by England,
France, and the United States on the one hand, and by Russia and Romania
on the other.
Therefore, the Jews took great interest in the course of events. They manifested
their hostile attitude toward Hitlerism whenever they could and they
