According to the Polish national anthem, "Poland is not dead whilst we live. What others took by force, with the sword will be taken back." Both Nazi and Soviet occupiers must have taken these words to heart as they set out thoroughly to crush the Polish population between September 1939 and June 1941. In Revolution from Abroad: the Soviet Conquest of Poland's Western Ukraine and Western Belorusssia, Jan T. Gross (New York University) draws on documents from Polish, German, Israeli, and U.S. archives to show with camera-like precision how ordinary Polish citizens at the grassroots level experienced the Soviet occupation of Poland and the mechanisms Soviet authorities used to induce their participation. U.S. citizens who have never known the horrors of foreign occupation will find this study especially sobering. Polish citizens never knew when a few Soviet soldiers might enter their houses and apartments, live there for several days or weeks, eat their food, and steal their possessions. If they resisted, they faced arrest, torture, and/or execution, often in full view of loved ones. As Soviet soldiers explained to the newly adopted Soviet citizens, "There are three categories of people in the Soviet Union: those who were in jail, those who are in jail, and those who will be in jail." (p. 230). Gross points out that, in sheer numbers, more Polish citizens suffered under Soviet occupation in the first two years of World World II (i.e. before the Nazis' mass annihilation of Jews began) than under German occupation. Whereas the Germans killed approximately 120,000 Poles, the Soviet security police (NKVD) nearly "matched that figure in just two episodes of mass execution" (viz., the mass murder of Polish prisoners of war in the spring of 1940, and the evacuation of prisons in the Western Ukraine and Western Belorussia during June and July 1941). (p. 228). However, despite the Soviets' greater victimization of Polish citizens in terms of loss of life, suffering inflicted by forced resettlement, and material losses through confiscation, Gross argues that, to the Polish and Jewish citizens, the Soviet occupiers seemed less "oppressive." They lacked the "discriminatory contempt" and "Übermensch airs" that the Nazis evinced so imperiously (p. 230). The author explains that perhaps one reason why the Soviet army seemed less oppressive at first is that it claimed to "liberate" Poland. Generally, the population was confused about Soviet intentions, and indeed, "nobody had warned the local community and the authorities that a Bolshevik invasion was possible and what to do in case it occurred" (p. 22). The deceptive slogans of national liberation soothed millions of wishful thinking Polish citizens-Jews, Ukrainians, Belorussians-who "could meet fellow ethnics" in the Red Army or the Soviet administration (p. 230). The stark contrast between soldiers in the Wehrmacht and those in the Red Army - the latter in coats of assorted lengths, with rags wrapped around their shoeless feet -- also made the Soviet occupiers seem less intimidating. Still another reason for the Red Army's cloddish image is the febrile rapaciousness with which the soldiers bought and consumed Polish goods. Expecting to hear discussions of lofty communist ideals, Poles instead saw "in the marketplace how these Soviet people ate eggs, shell and all, horseradish, beets, and other produce. Country women rolled with laughter" (p. 46). In a restaurant "a Red Army soldier might order several courses or a dozen pastries and eat them all on the spot" (p. 46). In comparison to Nazi Germany, then, the Soviet Union struck the Poles as a petty and materialistic "spoiler state."
In addition to these colorful descriptions in the first part of the book, Gross also raises a serious, but long neglected, topic in his final historiographical essay ("A Tangled Web"): Polish-Jewish relations during World War II. Why didn't more Polish citizens try to help the Polish Jews? To be sure, one faced severe penalties-torture and execution, often in front of one's family members. However, ignorance persists among Poles today about the ultimate fate of Polish Jews. Gross cites an opinion poll in which Poles were asked who suffered and died more, the Poles or Jews, during World War II? About 30% thought it was roughly equal. Almost no one realized that nearly all Polish Jews were killed. Gross also explains how anti-Semitism prevailed in Poland during the war and even after (Auschwitz) was revealed in all its horror (p . 248).
Revolution from Abroad thus makes an important contribution to a growing body of literature about the ignorance of the populations in Warsaw Pact countries of their countries' Nazi pasts. The Soviet-imposed myth about "communist heroes of resistance" enabled them for decades to avoid the painful questions faced long ago by other Western countries, West Germany in particular.

The main primary source of this book is a collection of thousands of handwritten statements collected by the Polish government in exile when they interviewed the surviving Polish citizens released after the 1942 "amnesty" of those detained by the Soviets after 1939. By careful research, crosschecking and comparison with other resources Professor Gross has been able to produce a work of exceptional clarity and importance in understanding the workings of Stalinism in particular and totalitarianism in general.

He provides an outline of Soviet occupation policy and methods. The whole process seems to have been well planned out, one phase setting up the conditions to implement the second, which in turn set up the conditions for the third, all this operating within an artificial atmosphere of fear, chaos and confusion. An initial period of lawlessness, promoted by the Soviets in order for a rapid collapse of the old order accompanied by the promoting of ethic hatreds among the four main groups- Poles, Ukrainians, Belorussians and Jews, was followed by rapid consolidation of police powers by those who owed their new won power to Soviet authority alone. In the process of laying out this interesting story, Gross adds many interesting insights.

Discussion of social control, prisons and deportation, NKVD interrogation methods (including use of female interrogators) and much more provides a well rounded sketch of this particularly brutal episode of Polish history. I found his analysis of the "privatization of the public realm", "the spoiler state", "totalitarian language", and Soviet use of family networks to insure discipline and control illuminating.

Actually the only short coming of this very interesting book is that is was published in 1988 just before the end of the Soviet Union and thus produced without the use of the since partially-opened Soviet archives. He only has limited information on the Katyn massacres for instance. While this should not affect his conclusions or insights, it may give more accurate statistics than those quoted. Perhaps a new revised edition is called for. In the meantime, this book should be a welcome addition to any library on Polish history, Soviet history or the history of World War II.

"Neighbors: The Destruction of the Jewish Community in Jedwabne,
Poland" is a controversial book whose reputation suffers the more
independent research is done on it. Gross' number of 1600 victims has been reduced to 400 or less, as the mass graves were investigated by authorities with Rabbis standing by.

(In comparison 3,000,000 Polish-Jews were killed in the rest of Poland by Nazis. Notably also 2,000,000 (half by Soviets) non-Jewish Poles died at the same time. How many at the hands of the hundreds of (well documented) Jewish Commissars? Probably many times more than 400.)

By his own admission in recent interviews; Gross concludes that his exploration of the evidence was "incomplete", as the presence of German soldiers everywhere was brought out by witnesses some from as far away as Israel. What was the purpose of this book - one could speculate - self hatred?

It's a narrowly (amateurishly) researched book, long on drama short on verity. Many exist significantly more broadly based.

This book is worthwhile for those who need apparent support for their anti-Polish prejudices. It includes the Germans, who would be all too happy to try to dilute their guilt, as well as western Europeans (notably the French, Norwegians, etc.) who were the big league collaborators with the German Nazis. Even if Gross was entirely correct, many more Jedwabnes would be needed for the Poles to even approach the level of guilt of the western Europeans. No wonder that positive reviews of this book were written by buck-passing western Europeans. It also serves as one more symptom of how Holocaust education has departed from historical truth. The fact that some politically-correct Poles may support it does not change this fact. However, the most striking thing about this book is the lack of logic in several of Gross' arguments. For instance, Gross tries to deny the extensive Jewish involvement in Communism by pointing out the (correct) fact that many Jews were deported to Siberia along with the Poles. This would negate the large Jewish collaboration with the Communists only if one Jew would never betray another Jew. Using the same illogic, one could argue that the Judenrat never existed vis a vis the German-made Holocaust. Gross' selective presentation of evidence to support his position is little better than his logic.

Some readers of Polish heritage find it hard to accept and are surprised, that Poles, and not Nazis, killed Jews in a village. Sadly, they have a knee jerk reaction, they deny it and insult this book's author. Many Americans were surprised to read about the white pogroms against blacks in Tulsa Oklahoma and Rosewood Florida decades ago. But at least they never called these events lies.

This book presents a generalized discussion on how Poles, with Nazi prodding, burned 1,600 Jews alive in a barn in the northern Polish town of Jedwabne (85 mile NE of Warsaw) in July 1941. Deniers will say it wasn't 1,600, but suffice it to say, at least 200 bodies were recently dug up in part of the barn in June 2001. Seven Jews survived, hidden by a Polish woman. The book tells us how the mayor exceeded the Nazi command of July 10, 1941 to kill the Jews, but spare some tradesmen. The villagers killed nearly everyone, and not just those that may have supported the Soviets, if any (see Gross's "Revolution from Abroad" for a study of pre War Soviet atrocities in Poland). It followed massacres of Jews in two neighboring villages (probably under the leadership of SS-Obersturmfuhrer Hermann Schaper). Polish documents listed some 92 Jedwabne villagers by name who participated in the murders. Some villagers played music while the Jews screamed and burned. The massacre was planned by the town's city council and mayor. It was so grotesque that the town butcher declined to participate. Some Poles brought wagons to carry away Jewish booty. The book contains about 30 pages of photos and 47 pages of footnotes.

The book has sparked a national debate in Poland. The massacre was never fully investigated, although perfunctory trials were held after WWII. The book tells how a monument was erected that blamed the Nazis and Gestapo for the murders, even though in 1949, 22 Poles were arrested for the murders. Another trial was held in 1953. Older Poles continue to think it was the work of "bandits." Poland's Prime Minister Jerzy Buzek and President Aleksander Kwasniewski have read the book and asked the nation to ask for forgiveness (although Deputy Antoni Macierewicz is now suing the President for defamation to take back the lie that Poles killed Jews). Because of this book’s publication, in May 2001, the head of the Catholic Church in Poland, Jozef Cardinal Glemp, acknowledged Polish involvement in the crime, but of course, Cardinal Glemp also said that the Jews should apologize for bring Communism to Poland (what?). Cardinal Glemp will pray at All Saints Church on Grzybowski Sqaure in Warsaw, across from Warsaw’s synagogue, but maybe he will have All Saints get rid of some of the books they sell in their store, books like “Spot the Jew” and “Jews and Freemasons Working Together.” By the way, in June 2001, due to this book, the barn was exhumed and in it was found the charred remains of a statue (as the book mentions, a statue of Lenin was burned with the Jews), as well as many many house keys and the effects of men, women and children.