Domen
Misico dux Vandalorum
In some of Western history books as well as in popular culture (for example the 2001 movie "Uprising" by Jon Avnet) we can find information that Polish reistance movement was refusing to sell weapons to Jewish Ghetto insurgents in 1943 and a hidden suggestion, that the main reason for this was anti-Semitism.
In 2001 "Uprising" there is actually a scene when the Home Army (AK) openly refuses to sell weapons to Jewish insurgents.
The reality was different.
AK smuggled into Ghetto - despite the fact that its own inventory of weapons was very limited - at least 1 heavy machine gun, 1 machine pistol, over 50 pistols and 600 hand grenades. AK also carried out 7 major attacks against German forces (SS-men and Police) around the Ghetto to help the insurgents. Also Gwardia Ludowa was helping, attacking German forces - it even smuggled into Ghetto a unit 18 partisans strong under command of Henryk Iwański (3 of them were KIA).
Gwardia Ludowa (GL) - Polish leftist resistance group - as well smuggled some weapons into Ghetto.
Sabotage-sapper unit of AK under Cpt. Józef Pszenny attempted to demolish the wall of the Ghetto along Bonifraterska street.
In the night from 28 to 29 April 1943 Polish partisans organized escape from Ghetto of ca. 40 Jews. Similar action took place on 10 May.
Unit of AK under Cpt. Zbigniew Lewandowski attacked and killed 4 SS officers who were driving in their cars towards one of gates of the Ghetto. Another AK unit under Zbigniew Stalkowski attacked 2 German outposts outside of Ghetto walls, killing 2 SS-men and wounding one Blue Policeman.
Etc., etc. - there were also other examples of help.
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This amount of weapons smuggled by AK given above, may look small. But when we compare this to total inventory of AK it appears a considerable help. AK did not have enough weapons to arm itself - even in 1944, one year later, when it was much stronger than in 1943. For example battalion "Wigry" of AK on 7 August 1944 (during the 1944 Uprising) had 401 men, while being armed with just 6 rifles, 15 pistols, 1 machine pistol and some hand grenades...
Another thing is, that it was very hard to smuggle anything larger than a pistol / hand grenade to the other side of the Ghetto wall.
In Warsaw District of AK (which included not only the city of Warsaw itself, but also large areas surrounding the city) there could be up to 20,000 - 30,000 members of resistance movement in 1943. Of them only up to around 10% could be armed (most just with pistols). Keep in mind that in 1943 AK had a much smaller amount of weapons than one year later (for example most of production of home-made weapons by AK - apart from hand grenades, which had been produced already since May 1940 - started in the Winter of 1943 / 1944). Even during the Warsaw Uprising of 1944 only 10% of all AK troops had firearms (but also number of troops was bigger). In the website linked below you can find detailed numbers of Warsaw District of AK weaponry in the Spring of 1944 and before the "W" hour (not all of this weaponry could actually be used by units which fought in the uprising):
http://www.info-pc.home.pl/whatfor/baza/uzbrojenie_AK.htm
It also should be noted that - as a matter of fact - giving weapons to Jewish insurgents inside Ghetto = giving weapons to Germans, because the Ghetto uprising had no chance to succeed and Germans were going to capture most of weapons after breaking the nests of Jewish resistance.
As Lt. Bolesław Nanowski "Zadora" from counterintelligence of AK in Warsaw reported:
"(...) We cannot count on efficient enough Jewish resistance, for supporting which it would be worth to give them weapons. German casualties are not going to match and equate the value of weapons provided to their enemy. (...)"
Despite such assessment (surely correct) of Lt. "Zadora", AK still did provide a relatively large amount of weapons to Jewish insurgents.
Any weapons sold or given for free to Jewish fighters, was sold or given due to moral and humane reasons.
Because it was well-known, that Germans were going to capture or destroy those weapons.
Purely pragmatic and practical reasoning would suggest that it was against logic to provide weapons to those brave Jewish strugglers.
In 2001 "Uprising" there is actually a scene when the Home Army (AK) openly refuses to sell weapons to Jewish insurgents.
The reality was different.
AK smuggled into Ghetto - despite the fact that its own inventory of weapons was very limited - at least 1 heavy machine gun, 1 machine pistol, over 50 pistols and 600 hand grenades. AK also carried out 7 major attacks against German forces (SS-men and Police) around the Ghetto to help the insurgents. Also Gwardia Ludowa was helping, attacking German forces - it even smuggled into Ghetto a unit 18 partisans strong under command of Henryk Iwański (3 of them were KIA).
Gwardia Ludowa (GL) - Polish leftist resistance group - as well smuggled some weapons into Ghetto.
Sabotage-sapper unit of AK under Cpt. Józef Pszenny attempted to demolish the wall of the Ghetto along Bonifraterska street.
In the night from 28 to 29 April 1943 Polish partisans organized escape from Ghetto of ca. 40 Jews. Similar action took place on 10 May.
Unit of AK under Cpt. Zbigniew Lewandowski attacked and killed 4 SS officers who were driving in their cars towards one of gates of the Ghetto. Another AK unit under Zbigniew Stalkowski attacked 2 German outposts outside of Ghetto walls, killing 2 SS-men and wounding one Blue Policeman.
Etc., etc. - there were also other examples of help.
===================================
This amount of weapons smuggled by AK given above, may look small. But when we compare this to total inventory of AK it appears a considerable help. AK did not have enough weapons to arm itself - even in 1944, one year later, when it was much stronger than in 1943. For example battalion "Wigry" of AK on 7 August 1944 (during the 1944 Uprising) had 401 men, while being armed with just 6 rifles, 15 pistols, 1 machine pistol and some hand grenades...
Another thing is, that it was very hard to smuggle anything larger than a pistol / hand grenade to the other side of the Ghetto wall.
In Warsaw District of AK (which included not only the city of Warsaw itself, but also large areas surrounding the city) there could be up to 20,000 - 30,000 members of resistance movement in 1943. Of them only up to around 10% could be armed (most just with pistols). Keep in mind that in 1943 AK had a much smaller amount of weapons than one year later (for example most of production of home-made weapons by AK - apart from hand grenades, which had been produced already since May 1940 - started in the Winter of 1943 / 1944). Even during the Warsaw Uprising of 1944 only 10% of all AK troops had firearms (but also number of troops was bigger). In the website linked below you can find detailed numbers of Warsaw District of AK weaponry in the Spring of 1944 and before the "W" hour (not all of this weaponry could actually be used by units which fought in the uprising):
http://www.info-pc.home.pl/whatfor/baza/uzbrojenie_AK.htm
It also should be noted that - as a matter of fact - giving weapons to Jewish insurgents inside Ghetto = giving weapons to Germans, because the Ghetto uprising had no chance to succeed and Germans were going to capture most of weapons after breaking the nests of Jewish resistance.
As Lt. Bolesław Nanowski "Zadora" from counterintelligence of AK in Warsaw reported:
"(...) We cannot count on efficient enough Jewish resistance, for supporting which it would be worth to give them weapons. German casualties are not going to match and equate the value of weapons provided to their enemy. (...)"
Despite such assessment (surely correct) of Lt. "Zadora", AK still did provide a relatively large amount of weapons to Jewish insurgents.
Any weapons sold or given for free to Jewish fighters, was sold or given due to moral and humane reasons.
Because it was well-known, that Germans were going to capture or destroy those weapons.
Purely pragmatic and practical reasoning would suggest that it was against logic to provide weapons to those brave Jewish strugglers.
