344 GOLGOTA
The brute statistics speak for themselves. In six years of the war, the popula-
tion of the former Polish Republic was reduced by 6,028,000. Of these, some 2.9
million were Polish Jews. Some 644,000 Polish citizens (10.7 per cent) lost their
lives as the direct result of war operations. A total of 5,384,000 citizens (89.3 per
cent) were killed in executions, in pacifications, and above all in the camps. Of
an estimated 18 million Nazi victims of all nationalities, over 11 million died in
the occupied Polish lands. Of these, over 5 million were Jews. Sadly enough, the
statistical breakdown of these terrible totals continues to be a subject to dis-
pute.^29 Jewish investigators tend to count Jewish victims. Polish investigators
tend to count Polish victims. Neither side wishes to stress the fact that the largest
single category of victims was both Polish and Jewish. Not everyone, it seems,
is content to count human beings. The Soviet performance was particularly mis-
leading. Statements issued long after the war claimed that 20 or 27 million Soviet
citizens had perished. They were often reOformulated in western reports as
'twenty (or twenty-seven) million Russian war dead'. In round terms, these fig-
ures were perfectly credible. But, unglossed, they cleverly concealed the fact that
the victims in the main were not Russians, that they related to millions mur-
dered by Stalin as well as Hitler, and that the largest categories of civilians
included Ukranians, Poles, Byelorussians, and Jews.^30
The Resistance Movement flourished from the start. For the Poles, there was
no question of collaboration. There was never any Polish Quisling, for the sim-
ple reason that in Poland the Nazis never really tried to recruit one. The Poles
were given the stark choice: to submit completely, or to resist. When it was seen
that no advantages were gained by submission, increasing numbers turned to
resistance. In the early months of the war, scores of separate partisan bands took
to the woods; hundreds of conspiratorial cells 'were formed spontaneously in
the towns. They took their orders from no one: but they knew their task with-
out telling; to harry and distract the enemy, both Nazi and Soviet, at every
opportunity. One such 'lone ranger' was Major Henryk Dobrzanski
(1896-1940), known as 'Hubal', who met his death on 30 April 1940 in a village
near Kielce, after a winter of stirring adventures. He was the first of many.^31
The foundations of an organized Resistance were laid before the end of the
September Campaign. On 27 September 1939, a group of army officers under
General Karasiewicz-Tokarzewski formed the 'Polish Victory Service' (SZP) to
continue the fight under cover. Somewhat later, in November, the 'Union of
Armed Struggle' (ZWZ) was created by the new Govemment-in-Exile, to sub-
ordinate Resistance activities to the plans of the Western Allies. These two orga-
nizations gave rise in due course to the Armia Krajowa (Home Army), the AK,
which could fairly claim to be the largest of European resistance formations.
They were joined in 1941-2 by the numerous Bataliony Chtopskie (Peasant
Battalions), the 'Be-Cha', formed to oppose the German deportation and
pacification programmes, and by various right-wing groups such as the
'National Military Organization' (NOW), and more loosely, by the diminutive,
communist-led Gwardia Ludowa (People's Guard, GL). The disbanded Polish