Talk:Occupation of Poland (1939–1945)/Archive 2

Both occupying powers were equally hostile to the existence of sovereign Poland, her culture and the Polish people, aiming at their destruction?
I have an issue with the sentence Both occupying powers were equally hostile to the existence of sovereign Poland, her culture and the Polish people, aiming at their destruction. While sourced, it seems highly POV and doesn't hold up to scrutiny when looking at the facts.There is no denial that Soviet Union engaged in violence and mass murder against Poles,but it didn't pursue biological extermination of Poles like Nazi Germany did.Now, I know that Gross for example argued that the two regimes were similar in effectsup to 1941, but the crucial difference is that Soviet Union eventually allowed puppet and controlled Polish institutions and state to exist, foundations of which were created in years 1941-1945(so still under occupation).It also had diplomatic relations with Polish state in exile for a while(something the Nazis didn't), allowed Polish military formations to operate on its soil for some time, and then created its own puppet ones-again something very different from Nazi policies. I think we should remove this sentence as it seems very POV and really doesn't reflect the differences between two regimes(eventual acceptence of existence of some sort of Polish state by Soviets versus total genocide based on racist ideology on German side aiming at destruction of Polish nation as a whole). In exchange we should describe briefly both states attitude to Poles(which would include Soviet atrocities and murder as well).MyMoloboaccount (talk) 07:06, 21 May 2014 (UTC)
 * I'd rather expand it by clarifying that German hostility was on a higher level then Soviet. With refs, of course. The point here is not to treat Germans and Soviets as equal, but to make it clear from the beginning that it was not only the Germans who were hostile. Otherwise the reader may think that Germans tried to repress the Poles, but Soviets did nothing. --Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus&#124; reply here 09:07, 21 May 2014 (UTC)
 * There was no total genocide because there existed forced Germanization of millions, eg. drafting. Polish POWs weren't murdered. So genocide but not total. Xx236 (talk) 08:40, 22 May 2014 (UTC)

This discussion ended 5 years ago but the wrong sentence remains and now some interventionist editor is trying to preserve the wrong claim in blatant ignorance of this discussion, in which he has not participated. I'm miffed at the continuing arrogance of regular editors on this website, which forms both a low quality product and an unwelcoming environment for newcomers. 68.50.40.47 (talk) 05:03, 25 August 2019 (UTC)

IP removing material from article without a consensus to do so, and edit warring to keep it out
The following material was deleted froom the article:


 * Both occupying powers were equally hostile to the existence of sovereign Poland, Polish people, and the Polish culture aiming at their destruction.

As can be seen, the material is supported by a reliable source. This material was discuss previously, five years ago, but no consensus was reached, and certainly none that the material should be removed from the article. (see above).

What do other editors think? Were Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union equally hostile to Poland and the Polish people? I think perhaps the only problem with the sentence is "equally". Both the Germans and the Russians despised Poland, and saw them as inferiors, but the Nazis went a lot farther to destroy Polish culture, attempting to make a subservient race out of them by killing all the intelligentsia, politicians, priests, the aristocracy and anyone who might get in the way of their plans, as well as Most of Poland's Jews, of course. The Russians weren't as bad, in that respect, but that's only by comparison to the brutal inhumanity of the Germans. Still, one cannot forget that Stalin kept the Red Army on the other side of the Vistula while the Polish Home Army tried to revolt against the Nazis, and would not help in any way, even forbidding the Western allies to fly in arms and supplies. Then, one the revolt had been snuffed out, the Red Army destroyed what was left of Warsaw with artillery. The Soviets were certainly hostile to the Poles, and after the war made sure that the Polish Communist government would be as tightly uinder their thumb as no other country was, with the possible exception of East Germany.

Comments? Beyond My Ken (talk) 06:12, 25 August 2019 (UTC)
 * No one is advocating for forgetting what USSR or Stalin did in Poland. USSR obviously had a forceful preference for how Poland should be governed, and for how it should be positioned geopolitically (as a buffer against NATO, roughly).  But I have seen no evidence of any quality suggesting that USSR was hostile to the Polish people.  Even the famed Katyn massacre was allegedly targetted at Poland's military and government, not at its people.  Meanwhile, Nazi Germany explicitly engaged in a plan of genocide against the Polish people along ethnic and racial lines.  In 4 years, Nazi Germany executed 5.5M Poles, mostly civillians, and mostly for overtly racial reasons.  USSR roughly controlled the government of Poland for 45 years and there is no suggestion of crimes like this, even with a concerted propaganda campaign against USSR during that entire period.  One does not need to erase any of USSR's actions in order to see that it is a farce to say they are equal to Nazi Germany's, or that they flow from a similar motive.


 * Further, I don't see how anyone could possibly find the source to be reliable. It is a quote in a book review.I suspect if you read the book itself, you'd find that even as it goes to some length to emphasize USSR's evilness, it agrees with the facts you well know -- that USSR's interest in Poland was extremely different from Nazi Germany's. 68.50.40.47 (talk) 06:26, 25 August 2019 (UTC)


 * A neutral pointer to this discussion has been placed on the talk pages of all the WikiProjects listed above. Beyond My Ken (talk) 06:41, 25 August 2019 (UTC)
 * I'm pinging who participated in the previous discussion about this material, to notify them of the current discussion. Beyond My Ken (talk) 10:09, 25 August 2019 (UTC)


 * The sentence is wrong and should be removed. To distill the entirety of decades of events into that one sentence is just not possible. AFAIK, the motives, actions, and results of Hitler's and Stalin's actions in Poland were largely different, as discussed in detail in the article and elsewhere. The quote above is either out of context or the author is wrong. IMO, of course. —[ Alan M 1 (talk) ]— 13:05, 25 August 2019 (UTC)


 * I am ok with removing the adjective equally. Such things are hard to measure and quantify, hence, compare, objectively. --Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus&#124; reply here 13:29, 25 August 2019 (UTC)


 * Remove. Piotrowski is at the fringes of scholarship on this topic, and in this case our text subscribes to the well known double-genoicde myth or revisionism - Katz, Dovid. "Is Eastern European ‘Double Genocide’ Revisionism Reaching Museums?." Dapim: Studies on the Holocaust 30.3 (2016): 191-220.. Soviets were hostile to the Polish state as a sovereign entity (at least prior to 1944-6 - when they actually setup a Polish communist state), but they did not go as far as the Nazis. Furthermore, a book review is generally not a reliable source (it is usually a reliable source for the attributed opinion of the author of the review, but book reviews themselves are usually not peer reviewed). Icewhiz (talk) 13:49, 25 August 2019 (UTC)
 * Is there a more mainstream scholar, mTERIAL from whom would support a more nuanced view, similar to the one in my inItial comment in this thread? Beyond My Ken (talk) 17:22, 25 August 2019 (UTC)
 * Sources abound on WWII history - including on the Soviet occupation of Poland. Most sources, however, refrain from comparing and contrasting Soviets and Germans - such comparisons tend to be made by POVish sources. Icewhiz (talk) 17:44, 25 August 2019 (UTC)
 * I know that sources about WWII are abundant, I have many of them myself, but I do not specialize in the effect of the war on Poland, so I was hoping that someone more familiar with that specific subject matter would have some additional information. I find it rather difficult to believe that the damage done to Poland and the Poles has not been thoroughly examined, and the relative harm to the country and its peoples by the Nazis and the Soviets has not been, as you say, "compared and contrasted".  I have no doubt that the Nazis were the outright "winners" in that sinister competition, but I don't believe that the damages by the Russians was negligible. Surely there must be a mainstream source that deals with the comparison? Beyond My Ken (talk) 20:35, 25 August 2019 (UTC)
 * I mainly see this in sources refuting the Double Genocide revisionism (more of an issue in the Baltics, less so in Poland). The areas taken by the Soviets (mostly, Białystok being an exception) did not remain Polish - annexed to Lithuania, Belarus and Ukraine, they remained in USSR post-war. Sources that are not Polish-centric often treat them in the USSR/Belarus/Ukraine context.Icewhiz (talk) 20:59, 25 August 2019 (UTC)

In the previous discussion, in which the IP posted (section above), there was already an indication that editors saw that "equally" misrepresented the situation and probably the source. I've gone ahead and removed the "equally" which does not appear to be supported by the quote. Some further work is probably needed to bring this into conformance with more mainstreams points of view. Dicklyon (talk) 15:35, 25 August 2019 (UTC)
 * As of February, 2020 there has been a renewed edit war about inclusion of 'Poland's Holocaust' as a source. I suggest there must be scholarly reviews of this book that might be used to reflect on its conclusions about comparing the Soviets and the Nazis. EdJohnston (talk) 20:34, 17 February 2020 (UTC)


 * The source provided (Judith Olsak-Glass (January 1999). "Review of Piotrowski's Poland's Holocaust".) is a book review. It's suitable as a source about the book but not for matters of history. --K.e.coffman (talk) 00:38, 18 February 2020 (UTC)

Sideshow (heading inserted by BMK to separate non-substantive discussion from substantive discusssion)
In the previous discussion, in which the IP posted (section above), there was already an indication that editors saw that "equally" misrepresented the situation and probably the source. BMK declined to join that discussion and went straight to having the IP blocked instead. ... Dicklyon (talk) 15:35, 25 August 2019 (UTC)
 * The previous discussion dates from 5 years ago and was no longer active. In any case, as a comparison of our contribution lists will indicate, I was in the middle of drafting the AN/I report when the IP posted to it, so there was no way I could have been aware of it, and the IP had already said on my talk page that they wouldn't (in factm was not required to) discuss their edit.  As usual, the devil is in the details. Beyond My Ken (talk) 17:14, 25 August 2019 (UTC)
 * Please see IP's actual contributions to BMK's user talk page User_talk:Beyond_My_Ken Galexander (talk) 18:09, 25 August 2019 (UTC)
 * Participants in this discussion should please note that the IP which made the second comment above (right after my initial comment), 68.50.40.47, claimed on their talk page to have the account User:Galexander. . If this is the case, then it appears that the editor behind both the IP and Galexander is attempting to create the impression that two different people are involved in this discussion, a violation of WP:Sockpuppet, and, because the IP is blocked, block evasion. Normally, I would strike out the comments of a sockpuppet, but I will not do that here as I am involved, and the IP could have not been telling the truth about their account name. Beyond My Ken (talk) 20:29, 25 August 2019 (UTC)
 * In the interval, Galexander has been blocked by Berean Hunter as a checkuser block, so I have struck their comment. Beyond My Ken (talk) 20:43, 25 August 2019 (UTC)

Frankly the whole article is written in emotive language based primarily on Polish sources and thus can hardly be said to present a WP:NPOV. But I suspect even an attempt to place a neutrality tag on it would result in an edit war and any attempts to achieve balance are likely to be futile. Bermicourt (talk) 10:10, 11 September 2019 (UTC)

www.projectinposterum.org + dubious statement
please elaborate why www.projectinposterum.org is reliable, and why you think the statement of "Some three million Polish citizens perished during the course of the war" is not dubious. Estimates I know are 5 to 6 million dead Polish citizens, of which 3 million were Jewish citizens. MozeTak (talk) 20:48, 18 November 2019 (UTC)


 * Please explain why you call this "abominable sourcing removed". No word why this source is bad. No need for removal as multiple sources are allowed. The Banner  talk 22:03, 18 November 2019 (UTC)
 * It is a blog by an advocacy group. Please see: Arbitration/Requests/Case/Antisemitism in Poland this fails by a mile. The book The way of my cross that is cited in projectinposterum is a quasi religious book, not scholarship. You also reverted my dubious tag on "Some three million Polish citizens perished during the course of the war" - this is a dubious statement. According to United States Holocaust Memorial Museum: "the Germans killed between 1.8 and 1.9 million non-Jewish Polish civilians during World War II. In addition, the Germans murdered at least 3 million Jewish citizens of Poland.", so almost 5 million Polish citizens. Saying only three million is too low.MozeTak (talk) 22:28, 18 November 2019 (UTC)
 * Do you have proof that it is a blog of a advocacy group? The Banner  talk 22:31, 18 November 2019 (UTC)
 * It says it itself? "A nonprofit, public benefit organization, created to preserve and popularize lesser known Central and Eastern European WWII stories". I think you should prove it is reliable, I see a website run by anonymous people pushing a narrative. MozeTak (talk) 22:37, 18 November 2019 (UTC)
 * That is no proof that it is an advocacy group. Not every history group is also an advocacy group. WP:AGF and so. The Banner  talk 11:32, 19 November 2019 (UTC)
 * I read AGF you link to. It tell we assume good faith towards Wikipedia editors. It does not mean we assume good faith towards odd partisan websites. I read Wikipedia policy:, it tells we require proof sources are reliable, not proof that a website is unreliable. MozeTak (talk) 11:06, 22 November 2019 (UTC)

A Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion
The following Wikimedia Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion: Participate in the deletion discussion at the nomination page. —Community Tech bot (talk) 06:33, 17 June 2020 (UTC)
 * Warsaw Uprising by Deczkowki - Wacek Platoon - 15911.jpg

Extended-confirmed-protected edit request on 1 May 2021
There is no "Further reading" section. Section needs to be created, and a few books need to be added:

Poland Under Nazi Occupation https://archive.org/details/PolandUnderNaziOccupation

German Occupation of Poland https://archive.org/details/GermanOccupationOfPoland/page/n1/mode/2up

The New Order in Poland https://archive.org/details/TheNewOrderInPoland Republic0 (talk) 19:18, 1 May 2021 (UTC)
 * "Further reading" sections are not mandatory, and the entries you've suggested are more appropriate for the "External links" section. Beyond My Ken (talk) 00:52, 2 May 2021 (UTC)