Herman Marczak - May 12, 1982
The Polish Government
Lack of education.
Lack of education, lack of qualified people to lead that country. That was their biggest tragedy, and probably it is a tragedy 'til today. Because if the Polacks would have gone in for a policy like the Hungarians or like the Czechs or like, like all those other people, it would never had happened to us the tragedy what it happened. The tragedy happened because that Polish government they allied themselves--they were not intelligent enough to realize that they can't depend on help from Britain or France. We don't even have borders with those places. They have borders with Germany, with Russia. If they would have allied themselves with one of those two countries it would, it would never happen what happened. When the Germans came into Poland, and they make an agreement with the Russian take the country and to divide it in two parts, everything was worse in twenty-four hours. The country was practically ceased to exist in one single day. From the first, first shot...
Right.
...the country ceased to exist. In, in mine opinion that, that was because they will never have qualified leadership, they cannot lead a country. They probably have the same problems today.
That's interesting. That's very interesting.
Because after all, the people in Hungary, which was a very smaller population than in Poland...
Smaller Jewish population.
Smaller Jewish population than in Poland.
Mm-hm.
And their government was allied with the Germans up 'til 1943, '44. And they, they survived at least until then. Or in Romania, about three years over--I, I don't remember statistics, but I know that a much larger segment of the Jewish population survived the war than in Poland. And all the others remained in their countries because the governments they allied themselves with the Germans, they don't give 'em the opportunity to do what they could do in Poland. They didn't have such a fear like, like they had in Poland.
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