Kto, kiedy i dlaczego? Ucieczki polskich Żydów przed Niemcami do Związku Radzieckiego jesienią 1939 i latem 1941 r. w perspektywie porównawczej
Who, when and why? Escapes of Polish Jews from the Germans to the Soviet Union in Autumn 1939 and Summer 1941 in a Comparative Perspective

Summary/Abstract: Using the example of five biographies of Polish Jews, in his article the author analyzes the motives and ways of the escapes from the Germans. The sources are journals, letters, memoirs, early reports, and interviews. Analyzing the motives and circumstances of the escapes, the author compares two stages. The first one was just after the beginning of the German and Soviet occupation of Poland in September 1939 and the other one began after the German invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941. This comparison shows that despite the many differences, the similarities in the escapes’ circumstances were more numerous. In both cases, the following factors constituted a matter of life and death: the timing of the escape, the geographical proximity to the front line, the financial resources, the familial factors that accompanied the making of the decision to escape, and, last but not least, the age and gender.

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