Maus II

I just got done finishing Maus II. I liked the first one better, NOT THE POINT. I want to discuss in this blogg the other groups who were persecuted besides the Jews in the concentration camps.
I have a fascination with the persecution of the Polish people because it seems such a mystery as to why they were placed in these camps. The Jews we know were treated this way because they were 'ethnic minorities' but even this circulates debate among historians. Once again...NOT THE POINT.

I wanted to talk about the Polish people because they were not really ethnically different, both are considered middle European nations. Looking back on Polish-German History, the 2 countries have been fighting with each other since their origins in the 900s. I have always believed that from this ancient problem between the 2 countries came the situation from WW2, that being the Polish peoples persecution under the Nazis.

As I read Maus 2, I started to question my assumption so I consulted a reliable source, an old college professor who specialized in Eastern European relations. The man is a genius. I want to be him some day. He said that although the 2 countries were pretty much fighting throughout History the primary time is was especially bad, (which consequently caused Polish persecution), was what happened after WW1.

I knew EXACTLY what he was talking about now! After WW1, the Treaty of Versailles decided that Germany would be punished immensely for the war. They had to pay money, their army was cut to barley enough people, and they also had to give up important land, like Danzig which was an important port city. The Germans gave up most of this land to...YOU GUESSED IT, TO THE POLES! Danzig was actually considered a free city/country where Germans and Poles shared the wealth but that didn't last long because Hitler attacked Danzig therefore stretched to other Polish occupied lands. Hitler brutally attacked Poland out of jealousy. Now I just realized that this does not answer the question that I was trying to ask before and that was, WHY were the poles persecuted.

I already established some anger issues coming from Germany on the Poles but also there are other reasons such as differences in culture and especially religion considering Poland is very Catholic and Germany, under Hitler, was not any type of religion. Not to mention, Poland had the leading numbers in Jewish population which caused even more hatred from Hitler. So the poles were indeed considered ethnic minorities.

Any questions?! Have I mentioned how much I LOVE history!!