Secret City (book)

Secret City: The Hidden Jews of Warsaw 1940–1945

Author	Gunnar S. Paulsson
Country	United States
Language	English
Subject	Holocaust in Poland
Publisher	Yale University Press
Publication date	2002[1]
Pages	328
ISBN	9780300204773

Secret City: The Hidden Jews of Warsaw 1940–1945 is a 2002 book by Gunnar S. Paulsson. It was translated to Polish in 2008.^[2]

Secret City is a social history of the Jews who escaped from the Warsaw ghetto and tried to survive, living illegally "on the Aryan side".

Contents

Paulsson used memoirs and statistics to analyze the circumstances and fate of the approximately 28,000 Jews who escaped the Warsaw Ghetto and found refuge on the outside.^[3] He estimates that out of the city's population of about one million, about 70,000 to 90,000 gentile Poles were involved in helping those Jewish escapees, while between 3,000 to 4,000 Polish criminals and profiteers, known as szmalcowniks, preyed on those Jews and their helpers, blackmailing them or betraying them to the German occupiers.^[3][4] Paulsson finds that about 11,500 or 40% of the Jewish escapees survived (in fact, 17,000 or about 60% were alive before the Warsaw Uprising decimated the city), a number comparable to the Jewish survival rate in Western Europe.^[3][4] The Jews who survived where safeguard in the titular 'secret city', a loose network of Polish helpers, including the underground organization known as Żegota, or the Council to Aid Jews.^[4]

More controversially, Paulsson notes that the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, while heroic, was more of a failure as a solution to protect Jewish ghetto inhabitants, and speculates that if the Ghetto uprising did not occur, or was delayed, more Jews of Warsaw would have survived.^[3][4] He also discusses whether antisemitism in Poland might not have been too exaggerated, both in the past and present, and whether fears of antisemitism and resulting betrayal by Poles collaborating with the Nazis might have not negatively impacted the survival of the Jews of Warsaw, some of which might have chosen to stay in the doomed Ghetto, incorrectly believing that escaping and seeking aids from the Poles was not likely to result in survival.^[3][4]

Awards

In its original form as his doctoral thesis, it was awarded the Fraenkel Prize in Contemporary History (1998).^[5][6] The English edition was awarded the biennial biennial Polish Studies Association Prize in 2004,^[7] and the Polish edition, Utajone Miasto: Żydzi po "aryjskiej" stronie Warszawy 1940–1945 (Znak, 2008) was awarded the inaugural Kazimierz Moczarski Historical Prize in 2009.^[8]

Reception

The book received a number of generally positive reviews in academic literature and mainstream press.

According to Gabriel N. Finder's review in East European Politics and Societies, Paulsson's study covers a neglected dimension in Holocaust studies, the study of Jews in hiding, which has remained to date peripheral in Holocaust historiography. According to Finder, the book was bound to draw fire as estimates in the book exceed those in historical literature, Paulsson's positive views of the attitudes of Polish society towards Jews, and Paulsson's questioning of the wisdom of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising. Finder sees Paulsson's book as diametrically opposed to Jan T. Gross's approach. Finder concludes by saying that there is much to commend in the book, as it covers a worthy topic, will stimulate scholars in the field to revisit the topic, and the narrative skillfully conveys he fortitude of thousands of Jews who survived – or perished – by hiding.^[4]

According to Samuel Kassow's review in The Journal of Modern History, the book was a milestone in the study of Polish-Jewish relations, being both controversial and seminal. According to Kassow, the book contradicts what most Jewish survivors and leaders have said and thought about the Holocaust. According to Kassow, Paulsson shows that some 27,000 Jews were in hiding in Warsaw at some point and that these hiding Jews relied on at least 90,000 Polish helpers and facilitators – about a tenth of the city's population, this despite the pervasive antisemitism which Paulsson describes as well. While Kassow does question Paulsson's reliance on hindsight in his analysis of the decisions of Jewish leaders, he sees the book as a masterful contribution to the history of the Holocaust.^[1]

Jack Fischel, writing in Shofar: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Jewish Studies, called the book a "riveting study", and wrote that Paulsson challenges a generalization of Polish antisemitism, which while certainly present, was not as widespread as many have thought, both back then and since.^[3]

Shimon Redlich writing in The American Historical Review wrote that "Paulsson's story of the hidden Jews of Warsaw is a most significant addition to the immense Holocaust literature [that may] Paulsson's prompt at least some Jews to reexamine their attitudes toward Poles."^[9]

Anita Shelton in History: Reviews of New Books concluded that "overall, Paulsson’s Secret City impresses with its careful scholarship and restrained presentation of a controversial set of propositions".^[10]

Jeremy D. Popkin in Judaism praises the book for being original, a rare contribution in the field of Holocaust historical studies, although he notes that Paulsson might have underestimated the importance of familial and communal ties in his analysis of why Jews did not seek refuge on the Polish side.^[11]

John Radzilowski in an H-Net review, wrote that the book is well-written, important, path-breaking, and a welcome addition to the Holocaust literature, with its "basically solid research, its revision of received wisdom, and its condemnation of the spurious comparisons that are still too often made by some Holocaust scholars between supposedly "good" nations and "bad" ones", though he noted that the book has one major problem, which is Paulsson's willingness to engage in unnecessary polemics, in particular what he finds as unnecessary and unconvincing criticism of Jan T. Gross' book Neighbors.^[12]

Joanna Michlic, writing in Holocaust and Genocide Studies, was more critical, noting that while the book contains "skillful quantitative analysis and valuable observations about the phenomenon of survival itself", it "fails to address consistently certain major interpretive problems". She argues that he fails to address some issues, such as the experiences of Jews who survived without help of others by successfully "passing" for an ethnic Pole. She concludes that "for all its strengths Paulsson’s work cannot be seen as the last word on this important and troubling subject" ^[13]

Leo Cooper, writing in Slavic Review, wrote that Paulsson's book is filled with contradictions and faulty statistics.^[14] Following the review, Paulsson sued Leo Cooper and the Slavic Review for libel in Ontario.^[15] His action was dismissed following a jury trial in 2015 and an application to appeal was finally dismissed in 2018.^[16]

References