Selected text
It was only in 1968 that the whole thing started. Then all the Jews there felt it. Even those who hadn't admitted to being Jewish, and there were two of them. Absolutely! Apparently nobody was supposed to know about it, but military information knew - that was this kind of military secret security. But in all, in the whole brigade, there were more of us Jews.
I can count them on my fingers and give names. The ones who were there at the beginning were two brothers, they'd come straight from the front: Wilk and Wolf. One had changed his surname to a Polish one. They were from Cracow. One in the rank of lieutenant, the other a major. When I came to the WOP, they were already serving there. They were transferred elsewhere before March [1968]. There were also: Szechner, my good friend - he came from Sambor -, Bard, and Berchard - this guy who served on the border. I was always friendly with them.
Our brigade commander was even Jewish, Banski his name was. He was transferred to Warsaw later, but he used to come to see us all the time. The brigade commander before him had been Jewish, too. Wasilkowski Roman, his name was changed, I think he'd been called Wasyl Berg before. After that he transferred to Szczecin and had terrible unpleasantness there. They made an Israeli spy out of him, fired him from the army and threw him out of the party.
That was simply the kind of atmosphere that was reigning. There was a purge in the army, the police - everywhere. A big purge, because the intelligence bodies were in charge of it. They were doing the same as the Nazis, checking people to the nth generation. Yes, they were firing third- generation [Jews]. Absolutely. If there was a mixed marriage like ours, forget it. They were always saying things, digging at my wife there at work. But she wasn't dismissed from her post.
They created such moods, such anti-Jewish propaganda in our brigade, that they said: 'Let's not let Jews into our barracks here any more.' And I was very well liked in the army. Very. But the reports that I'd sent before then gave me trouble. They reminded me: 'What do you mean, you wanted to go to Israel...' By then they were throwing everybody out, not just from the army, but from the party too. Well, nearly everybody. And because I was at the time party secretary and they didn't have any particularly compromising material on me, a Pole even had to come from Warsaw - incidentally, our close friend. Antoni Krasicki. He was the chief party secretary for the whole of the WOP. Before that he'd been in our unit, in Luban, and when he'd moved to Warsaw, we got his apartment, a larger one.
So that Krasicki came and simply dismissed me, because those were his orders. Because he had the command to dismiss all the Jews. But he did it all in such a way that I could resign from my post, and that's what I did. I resigned from my post, because I was ill, because this, because that, because I wanted to set myself up differently. I had to say that. And he did it all amicably, he defended me in a way, he didn't let them throw me out of the party. I'd been honest all the time, and that was another reason why they didn't throw me out of the party, they didn't have anything on me.
If I'd been thrown out of the party that would also have been the loss of half my pension. And that was a lot. They had these guidelines: throw Zionists out of the party first of all for their views. They couldn't always prove that someone had such views, but then they simply fabricated evidence against him. They wanted to deny people their right to a pension. If someone had served 25 years, he got a full pension. After being thrown out of the party you got only half your pension, and for being thrown out of the party and dismissed from the army on disciplinary grounds your pension was taken away altogether. I was dismissed in July 1968, and I went into the reserves. I stayed in the party.
But I remember how, still in the unit, I was isolated from the officer corps - literally. They'd greet me, but they didn't want to stand even for a moment and exchange a few words, because they were afraid. And because I was still a party member, they sent me to the district PZPR conference in Luban. It was my lot to speak publicly that time. That was at the time of the battles between Israel and the Arab countries. I had no choice but to stand up and condemn the Israeli aggression. It was all so artificial, but I had to do it.
I can count them on my fingers and give names. The ones who were there at the beginning were two brothers, they'd come straight from the front: Wilk and Wolf. One had changed his surname to a Polish one. They were from Cracow. One in the rank of lieutenant, the other a major. When I came to the WOP, they were already serving there. They were transferred elsewhere before March [1968]. There were also: Szechner, my good friend - he came from Sambor -, Bard, and Berchard - this guy who served on the border. I was always friendly with them.
Our brigade commander was even Jewish, Banski his name was. He was transferred to Warsaw later, but he used to come to see us all the time. The brigade commander before him had been Jewish, too. Wasilkowski Roman, his name was changed, I think he'd been called Wasyl Berg before. After that he transferred to Szczecin and had terrible unpleasantness there. They made an Israeli spy out of him, fired him from the army and threw him out of the party.
That was simply the kind of atmosphere that was reigning. There was a purge in the army, the police - everywhere. A big purge, because the intelligence bodies were in charge of it. They were doing the same as the Nazis, checking people to the nth generation. Yes, they were firing third- generation [Jews]. Absolutely. If there was a mixed marriage like ours, forget it. They were always saying things, digging at my wife there at work. But she wasn't dismissed from her post.
They created such moods, such anti-Jewish propaganda in our brigade, that they said: 'Let's not let Jews into our barracks here any more.' And I was very well liked in the army. Very. But the reports that I'd sent before then gave me trouble. They reminded me: 'What do you mean, you wanted to go to Israel...' By then they were throwing everybody out, not just from the army, but from the party too. Well, nearly everybody. And because I was at the time party secretary and they didn't have any particularly compromising material on me, a Pole even had to come from Warsaw - incidentally, our close friend. Antoni Krasicki. He was the chief party secretary for the whole of the WOP. Before that he'd been in our unit, in Luban, and when he'd moved to Warsaw, we got his apartment, a larger one.
So that Krasicki came and simply dismissed me, because those were his orders. Because he had the command to dismiss all the Jews. But he did it all in such a way that I could resign from my post, and that's what I did. I resigned from my post, because I was ill, because this, because that, because I wanted to set myself up differently. I had to say that. And he did it all amicably, he defended me in a way, he didn't let them throw me out of the party. I'd been honest all the time, and that was another reason why they didn't throw me out of the party, they didn't have anything on me.
If I'd been thrown out of the party that would also have been the loss of half my pension. And that was a lot. They had these guidelines: throw Zionists out of the party first of all for their views. They couldn't always prove that someone had such views, but then they simply fabricated evidence against him. They wanted to deny people their right to a pension. If someone had served 25 years, he got a full pension. After being thrown out of the party you got only half your pension, and for being thrown out of the party and dismissed from the army on disciplinary grounds your pension was taken away altogether. I was dismissed in July 1968, and I went into the reserves. I stayed in the party.
But I remember how, still in the unit, I was isolated from the officer corps - literally. They'd greet me, but they didn't want to stand even for a moment and exchange a few words, because they were afraid. And because I was still a party member, they sent me to the district PZPR conference in Luban. It was my lot to speak publicly that time. That was at the time of the battles between Israel and the Arab countries. I had no choice but to stand up and condemn the Israeli aggression. It was all so artificial, but I had to do it.
Period
Year
1968
Interview
Leon Glazer