During the Second World War units of the Polish Army who had escaped from Nazi Europe were based in Scotland, protecting the North Sea coast from possible German invasion. They were joined by Jewish soldiers in Anders Army, freed after the German invasion of Russia, who reached Britain through Iran, Palestine and the journey round Africa. There were about a thousand Jewish soldiers in the Polish Army in Scotland and their bases were considered to be sovereign Polish territory. This is the story of the Jewish soldiers, their positive and negative experiences of these dark times.
Polish Soldiers in Scotland
In 1939, German forces overran Poland, defeating Poland’s armed forces in just 35 days. Gen. Władysław Sikorski, a former Prime Minister of Poland, travelled to Britain and formed Poland’s Government in Exile. This was crucial work, and Gen. Sikorski forged warm relations with the leaders of the Allied nations as well as the other heads of Governments in Exile whose lands were also being occupied by Nazi troops and governed by puppet leaders.
In June 1940, as Nazi Germany was in the last stages of overcoming France’s military and occupying most off Western Europe, Britain completed the largest evacuation of troops in human history: 340,000 Allied troops were brought from the French town of Dunkirk to safety in the United Kingdom.
Gens. Sikorski and Kukiel formed army bases around Scotland especially in areas facing the North Sea. They also established some army prisons and detention centers. The first center was near Rothesay on the Isle of Bute and they built another in the village of Tighnabruich, on Scotland’s mainland and later more at the towns of Kingledoors and Auchterarder.
Eventually, the Polish Government in Exile ran about half a dozen detention centers across Scotland. Many were forbidding prisons, surrounded by watchtowers and barbed wire and patrolled by armed soldiers. One, at Inverkeithing, was only eight miles from Scotland’s capital Edinburgh. Scottish locals were told that the prisons housed criminal elements and Communists, so that they wouldn’t feel sorry for the prisoners. Nevertheless, tales of horrible conditions began to leak out and be whispered about in the Scottish communities near the camps.
Some of the most high-profile Polish politicians in exile were imprisoned in these camps, including Gen. Ludomil Antoni Rayski, the former Commander of Poland’s Air Force, and former Polish Prime Minister Marian Zyndram-Koscialkowski. Some Polish nationals and homosexuals were imprisoned for drunkenness or other reasons. Some of the prisoners, however, were Jews.
Jewish Prisoners
One famous Jew who is known to have spent time in the camps was the noted Marxist poet and writer Isaac Deutscher. He travelled to Britain from Poland in 1939 to work for a newspaper. That assignment saved his life. Deutscher remained in Britain after Germany invaded Poland. When Britain mobilized troops to fight Hitler, he decided to travel to Scotland and volunteer to fight with the Polish Army in Exile that was based there. Deutscher managed to enlist but was soon arrested and imprisoned in the concentration camp at Rothesay. He was released in 1942 and was employed by British newspapers and journals.
On June 10, 1945, The New York Times announced that Dr. Jan Jagodzinski, the Jewish editor of Polpress, the Polish Government in Exile’s news agency in London, was “arrested” by plainclothes “officers” in London. These were officers of the Polish Government in Exile and they arrested Dr. Jagodzinski and took him north to Scotland, where they imprisoned him in the camp they were running in the small Scottish town of Inverkeithing. By this stage the Polish Government in Exile were aware that Stalin was likely to be setting up a Communist puppet regime in the country and this prompted the arrest and detention of well-known Communists like Jagodzinski. A British Foreign Office official described the arrest as “just an accident of police procedure” and called the targeting of Dr. Jagodzinski “most unfortunate”.
At least two other Jews are also known to have been removed from London by Polish forces: Benjamin and Jack Ajzenberg were brothers who were arrested by Polish officers in London – with the help of the British police – and imprisoned, without trial, before release after two months, in Scotland. Their fate was only made public in February 1941, when a Jewish MP, Samuel Silverman, asked about their fate during a debate in the House of Commons. All cases of alleged anti-Semitism were investigated by Ignacy Shvartzbart, a Jewish representative on the Polish Council in London and followed up with reference to the Polish authorities.
Brutal Treatment
Though it’s not entirely known just how many Jews and others were imprisoned and suffered from brutal treatment in these camps, some reports did get out. On October 29, 1940, at the camp in the rural Scottish area of Kingledoors, a Jewish prisoner, Edward Jakubowsky, was shot to death by a guard who justified his actions saying Mr. Jakubowsky had been “insolent”. As the camp was Polish territory the Scottish police were not informed at the time.
In 2016 Simon Webb published British Concentration Camps: A Brief History from 1900-1975 controversially describing the detention centres as Concentration Camps. He wrote that at the camp in Inverkeithing, reporters were finally able to talk to prisoners in 1945. A 23-year-old Jew named Josef Dobosiewicz told reporters that he’d previously fought with the Canadian army. He’d been held at Inverkeithing for over two months and had seen prisoners chained in their cells. Another prisoner told the journalists that he’d previously been held in a German POW camp, and the conditions there were better than in the Polish run camp in Scotland. The reporters also found that just two weeks prior, a prisoner had been shot while trying to escape and had died of his wounds.
Most complaints were hearsay and the confirmed cases mainly related to verbal anti-Semitic abuse. The Scotsman newspaper carried an article by Webb about his book where he acknowledged that the allegations of the existence of Polish Concentration Camps, as the term is now understood, had not been proved.
British MPs Raising Questions
In addition to Mr. Silverman, a few other British MPs raised concerns about the brutal tactics of Polish forces in Scotland. In 1942 the Scottish MP Adam McKinley asked a formal question about what was happening behind the prison walls on the Isle of Bute. Hoping to avoid any tension with their wartime ally, the British offered no information. The Allied Forces Act ensured that the British Government had no right to oversee what was going on in the Polish run prisons or on their bases, even in the few cases of alleged serious abuse. Nevertheless, the Poles were aware that Britain frowned on anti-Semitic behavior and tried, though not always effectively, to deal with those who were causing friction.
After World War II, the new British Prime Minister, Clement Attlee, pressured Polish authorities to shut down the prison camps. By the end of 1946 they were no longer operating. Britain’s and Poland’s wartime record deserves to be remembered. Though about a quarter of the Jewish soldiers in the Polish Army defected to the British Army alleging anti-Semitism, most remained loyal to the Polish Army and served gallantly in the final onslaught against the Nazis and liberating Europe.
For more information, read this related article: Poles and Jews in Wartime Scotland: Setting the Record Straight
(47) Michael, February 10, 2021 7:38 AM
Thank You AISH
I always heard that UK and the Scot had no love for people of the Jewish faith and Israel. I have never read anything about anyone of the Crown in UK visiting Israel. I am quite naive of these events, past and present.
Another story about kicking the ball around, and the Jewish people are the balls. Unreal dear readers.
It ' been said so many times, the Jew's run the media, and all financial issues of the world. We been call many slurs with outr alleged power of wealth and cheating others. The hate continues. The best one is when all else fails....just blame the Jews. Jewish people have given the world there knowledge, intellect, and money, all to benefit mankind. It is terrible that Jewish people are no longer treating people as Physicians like in the old days. But...they are the one' that are scientists working 16 hour days to help mankind survive the plague that is rampant in the world. Working 7 days a week, i venture to say, they are not doing their work for money !!
May the Almighty bless these great men and women of faith helping mankind to so many ways. As usual, Please G-d, bless all Jewish people and people of faith they love harmony.
I am an elder, And reading AISH' articles, is a true blessing.
Rachel, February 10, 2021 10:54 PM
You are mistaken
The Queen cannot visit any foreign country without permission of Parliament. That is why she has not gone to Israel.
While there are undoubtedly anti-Semites in Scotland, they are certainly not a majority.
(46) Anonymous, February 7, 2021 3:31 AM
SHAME
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(45) Veda Charrow, February 5, 2021 6:54 AM
This comes as a shock
I was horrified to find out about these Polish concentration camps in Scotland. Growing up in Montreal in a neighborhood full of British and Scottish immigrants, I became very fond of the Scots who lived and worked in my neighborhood. I am saddened to find out that The British allowed the Polish government in exile to create concentration camps in Scotland in which Polish Jews were interned and mistreated. It is an undeserved blot on Scotland’s reputation, and a very sad story. Also, I doubt that many people know about traditional Polish antisemitism, and this may open their eyes. Nor do many people know about Britain’s shameful history of Jew hatred in the middle ages, or their ambivalence toward Jews in more recent history. This entire story needs to be told and broadcast.
(44) Zosia Fraser, February 4, 2021 9:06 PM
Inaccurate sensationalist article
Request the author checks her facts . See
The Polish Institute and Sikorski museum
20 Princes Gate
Knightsbridge
London SW7 1PT tel : 00442075899249
Eli Willner, February 5, 2021 2:34 PM
Surely you jest!
You are actually citing a Polish source for fact-checking reports of Polish anti-Semitism???
(43) David Olesker, February 3, 2021 7:09 AM
Article is better than the title
I read the article with interest, but I think the title is more than a little sensationalist. The camps were not, "concentration camps" even in the slightly less awful pre-WWII German sense. They were certainly not camps where Polish Jews were routinely sent for incarceration, mistreatment and murder.
They were prison camps run by the Polish Government in Exile. They were used primarily for the punishment of Polish soldiers who broke the rules. They were also used for the suppression of political dissent amongst Polish exiles and Jews who ended up in them were frequently treated more harshly than non-Jewish prisoners (a fact that should surprise no one). That the British refused to take any responsibility for the actions of their ally on British soil is a piece of cynical realpolitik that should also come as no surprise to anyone with knowledge of the history of "perfidious Albion".
Very large numbers of Jews fought in the Polish army including one Menachem Begin.
Anonymous, February 10, 2021 10:57 PM
I agree
Interesting article, sensational headline.
(42) Anonymous, February 2, 2021 3:35 PM
Scottish Irish antisemitism
Both countries have a nasty anti semitic under current. I will never forget a cabbie swearing me to secrecy 35 years ago when I asked where a kosher bakery is. Made my blood run cold. Both countries are anti israel pro Palestine.
(41) Bracha, February 2, 2021 10:12 AM
Not concentration camps!
Highly misleading use of the term "concentration camps". They were not killing machines and according to the article their function was to hold war prisoners
Yvette Alt Miller, February 2, 2021 1:19 PM
Conentration Camps
Bracha, thank you for your comment. In using the term concentration camp, I echoed the use of the term in British press reports on this network of prisons. While the term concentration camp widely can be used to mean any place where people are imprisoned because of ethnic or political affiliation (that is the sense in which it is used here) I do recognize that "concentration camp" is most often identified with the Nazi system of forced labor and death camps, of which these camps in Scotland were most certainly not a part.
(40) Alan Harris, February 2, 2021 9:22 AM
Polish antisemitism
What rights had the Poles to imprison Jews in concentration camps in Scotland.These Jews fought the nazis and came to England to regroup and go back to Europe to free their country fromnazo oppression. Instead their own countrymen þreated them like nazis and Britain allowed it.
(39) Masha Chaya Mastin, February 2, 2021 6:22 AM
sickening
it is sickening that a country that was fighting against this sort of thing allowed it on Scottish soil. They should look at more of their crimes by not allowing European Jews to go to Israel where they will be safe from this sort of stupidity.
(38) Samuel Hollander, February 1, 2021 11:58 PM
You write: "shameful blot on Britain’s and Poland’s wartime record".
The only 'fault' of the British authorities in the issue described was providing asylum to Polish troops and the government and granting this government autonomy over Polish nationals. Even though the British police was involved in arrests, it's because it considered the detainees to be under the jurisdiction of that government. In 1940, following the occupation of France, Britain proved to be the only state opposing the Nazi Germany. And I can imagine that inspecting the camps run by Poles was not among the priorities.
I think that the Polish government in exile is the only one responsible for these atrocities.
Anonymous, February 5, 2021 2:36 PM
The "only" fault???
Even if that were the "only" fault of the British government, isn't that sufficient for censure?
Samuel Hollander, February 9, 2021 1:57 AM
Please note, that I said - the fault in this issue. More so, I enclosed the word 'fault' in quotes. Indeed, the British that suffered of fierce bombardments and concentrated maximum efforts and resources on the front could hardly notice "misbehaviour" of the Polish ally on their own territory. The result is deplorable anyway, but we have to be careful in blaming whoever for whatever...
Mike, February 6, 2021 2:31 AM
Revolutions
Jews should refrain from making revolutions in foreign countries.
Unfortunately, the otherwise is true
(37) Oleg, February 1, 2021 9:35 PM
Deleted comment
This comment has been deleted.
A Cam, February 3, 2021 9:43 PM
Amen
I often wonder this! Particularly when Liberal Democrats are pro-Planned Parenthood, anti-Israel actions such as Obama's travesty of providing millions of dollars to publicly Islamic Terrorist leaders of Iran, etc. etc.
And now the ushering in of "new socialism" that is centered around promoting Muslim philosophies as wonderful and Jews as Rich Capitalist Villains.
It blows my mind!
(36) Robin, February 1, 2021 5:30 PM
I just read a bit on this and it’s rather disgraceful that this was allowed to go on in the U.K. at that time and I think the peoples that ran those types of camps and caused violence against peoples that didn’t do anything wrong should be held accountable for War crimes and thrown in jail for the rest of their lives
Anonymous, February 10, 2021 11:01 PM
The war ended 76 years ago
Anyone responsible and still living would be in their 90’s. Your call for their imprisonment is unlikely to be possible even were it possible to charge and convict them.
(35) Jackie Schwarz, February 1, 2021 5:04 PM
My father, a Polish Jew born in 1920, left Begium just before its invasion by Nazi Germany. in May 1940. He told me when I was young that he had arrived from France with other Polish soldiers 1940/1941 and they were put in a camp in Scotland. He never mentioned that it was a Polish run camp. He told me that he did not get on with a British Captain who was in charge. Eventually he and his friend were given money for a train ticket from Edinburgh to London. I am wondering if there are any lists of names.
Anonymous, February 4, 2021 4:55 PM
Find out
Contact ushmm and also the british govt
(34) Witold Wrzosinski, February 1, 2021 4:16 PM
Wow! "By the end of World War II in 1945, a majority of the Polish troops in Scotland had previously fought alongside German forces" Really??? That is a groundbreaking revelation that undermines the whole history of international WW2 scholarship! Up until now no historian has even heard of a single report, piece of evidence or testimony that would suggest a similar view, quite the opposite. I can't wait to see the paperwork behind that daring discovery. Dr. Yvett Alt Miller is very brave to throw away decades of Polish, Israeli, German and British scholars' research on that subject. Strange I haven't seen her name yet. Perhaps she just spent many quiet years on perfecting her expertise and collecting otherwise unknown sources.
Yvette Alt Miller, February 1, 2021 6:54 PM
Thank you for your comment.
Witold - thank you for your comment. The history of Polish soldiers in World War II is a complex one. By some estimates, up to half a million Polish soldiers were conscriptd into the Wehrmacht. Many more, of course, fought with the Allies. One book that might be helpful is "No Simple Victory: World War II in Europe, 1939-1945" by Norman Davies.
Witold Wrzosinski, February 1, 2021 10:13 PM
Dear Yvett, have you actually read the book you're recommending? It doesn't really seem so. Let me assure you that after invading Poland and suppressing the desperate defense of the Polish Army, the last thing Wehrmacht would do was to invite their fierce enemies into their own ranks. Most of the Polish soldiers (out of those who survived) went Underground and created Armia Krajowa that kept fighting with the occupant guerilla style (say, have you ever heard of the Warsaw Uprising?). Others were ruthlessly persecuted, kept in many camps by the Germans and never let out. There was not even one Polish military unit that fought alongside the Germans, except the renegades from the tiny Brygada Swietokrzyska, who were denounced by everybody else for that very reason. What you are writing is not only ignorant, bug also extremely disrespectful to all those people who sacrificed their lives fighting against the Wehrmacht. And - to be clear - I'm writing this as not only a Jew, but also as a grandson of Polish Jewish communists who left Poland in 1968 because of antisemitism. Still, it just so happens, that I cannot stand such blatant ignorance, especially when so many books are so easily available for people who cannot help themselves from speaking on those sensitive subjects. Please read them before you decide it's time to produce yourself again.
Samuel Hollander, February 2, 2021 4:16 PM
Witold, you asked Dr. Art Miller to refer to her sources of information. She did. Have you checked out the source she suggested? Does it confirm the facts - or it does not???
Anonymous, February 5, 2021 2:39 PM
Another Polish progandist
Poland has teams of propagandists that troll the Internet, and especially Jewish cites, in an attempt to hide the vicious and often murderous anti-Semitism displayed by much of the Polish population during WW II. Evidently this fellow Witold fellow is one of them.
Anonymous, February 6, 2021 2:44 AM
"Polish troops" but German nationals
According to my husband who was raised in Western Poland there were many Polish citizens of German descent who didn't even speak Polish. On the street where my husband's family lived there were only 2 Polish families and 12 German families before WWII. When Nazi Germany invaded the area most of those Polish Germans (who were called Volksdeutsche) were recruited by Wehrmacht and fought alongside German forces. These must be the "Polish soldiers" the article talks about and is very misleading.
(33) Jason, February 1, 2021 4:11 PM
Isaac Deutscher??
Isaac Deutscher was NOT there because he was Jewish. This fellow tried everything he could to stand up for ruthless Communism, and was the biographer of Stalin and Trotzky! He was imprisoned because he was an enemy to anyone who loved democracy. I don't know about this "Concentration Camp" that imprisoned Jews, but this article is surprisingly misleading. Dr. Miller, you can do better than this.
(32) Pat Mott, February 1, 2021 1:02 PM
So terrible
Unbelievable, we were told recently that Guernsey was the only place where the Nazis had a camp because Guerney had taken over...now this. A TV program must be made about these camps &, how they were more than tolerated by the British Government for years! Also why pretty well no one knows about this!
(31) Anonymous, February 1, 2021 8:27 AM
Thank you! It´s quite incredible!
(30) Anna Stevenson, February 1, 2021 6:06 AM
Many good comments here that I totally agree with. This must have been an agreement between Westminster and the Poles, Scotland never had any say in anything back then. Their land was used as seen fit by the government and their men put in the front lines of battle every time. Especially the Highlanders. The author obviously does not know anything about the Scottish history.
Anonymous, February 10, 2021 11:07 PM
Good point
These were camps permitted by the British government that were located in Scotland. It’s similar to US government internment camps that housed Japanese that were located in California.
At least Aish removed the original artwork that accompanied this article.
(29) Anonymous, February 1, 2021 3:33 AM
This is about Poles imprisoning Jews due to Churchill not about Scots imprisoning Jews!
Yes this is horrible. But why did you choose a picture of a Scottish Highlander with a swastika on his sporran to illustrate it? My family is from the Scottish Highlands though we now live in Canada. My father fought in World War 2 against the Nazis. His father fought in World War 1 against the Germans. Churchill - and Englishman - placed these Poles in Scotland. Why did you not choose a picture of Churchill who gave the Polish general and his evil antisemitic soldiers he gave the power to - instead of visually implying that it Scots who manned these terrible concentration camps, as it clearly says in your article. The article clearly says that the English , who have been occupying Scotland for centuries, gave the Polish general carte blanche and that his bases were legally in Poland though geographically surrounded by Scotland. they were not Scotland's concentration camps - they were run by Poles on the leave of the English. You have bookended your article in misleading terms by starting with that slanderous picture and ending with "Scotland's brutal concentration camps" when the horrible things were placed in their not by the will of the Scottish people. May HaShem bless you with some sort of discernment here!
Anonymous, February 2, 2021 4:59 PM
I am very pleased that the photo you mentioned was finally removed. Apart from that, it doesn't seem that the article directly blames the people of Scotland. Moreover, the author says that local people have heard rumours that terrified them and then spread information. The author also mentions the Scottish MP Robert McIntyre, who was really concerned of inspection.
I understood the phrase "the brutal concentration camps of Scotland" more like "camps located in Scotland", but I agree, it sounds ambiguous...
Samuel Hollander, February 2, 2021 6:47 PM
[the same, not anonymous, please replace the previous]
I am very pleased that the photo you mentioned was finally removed. Apart from that, it doesn't seem that the article directly blames the people of Scotland. Moreover, the author says that local people have heard rumours that terrified them and then spread information. The author also mentions the Scottish MP Robert McIntyre, who was really concerned of inspection.
I understood the phrase "the brutal concentration camps of Scotland" more like "camps located in Scotland", but I agree, it sounds ambiguous...
(28) anthony s Lefco, February 1, 2021 2:07 AM
Struggle between Communist and Non-Communist Poles
The Communists in Poland were doing everything they could to destroy the non-Communist forces. The final destruction of Warsaw by the Nazis was facilitated by the Red Army which was located adjacent to Warsaw while the Nazis killed the Polish non-Communist resistance. When the Red Army came in to Warsaw after the crushing of the Nationalist Poles, they attacked any left and installed Communist poles in power. Some Jewish Poles were Communists and as such got in the middle of a struggle which was not theirs.
(27) Anonymous, January 31, 2021 11:08 PM
Release this article to the Polish media. Let's see their reaction.
(26) Mike, January 31, 2021 11:00 PM
Methinks ...
... that after Poland’s pays all the repairs to the Holocaust Industry, as the rest of the Europe did, you won’t hear these stories anymore. Just saying
Dvirah, February 1, 2021 9:07 PM
Not So
Stories about Germany are still told even though they pay "compensation" for stolen Jewish property. History is not dependent on money.
(25) Linda Rivera, January 31, 2021 10:31 PM
Poland's & Britain's Government Must Publicly Ask for Forgiveness
I'm native English. I'm shocked, horrified and disgusted to learn about this great evil. I don't understand how these evil Polish fiends from hell were given Scottish land and allowed to build concentration camps and given complete authority and control over, G-d forbid, actual concentration camps. Poland was considered an ally? An ally that built and ran brutal concentration camps in Britain? That's a dangerous enemy, not an ally.
(24) walter, January 31, 2021 10:06 PM
What a nonsense
Mix of sensational nonsense and outright lies. I happen to live nearby Isle of Bute. There was never a "concentration camp" there. It was a semi internment camp for Sikorskiys political enemies but also compromised Polish military figures. They were stuck there with no charges and trials. Worse enemy was stigma, boredom and alcoholism. Author calling Soviet "Pravda" as a source of information is laughable.
Yvette Alt Miller, February 1, 2021 1:56 PM
Thank you for your comment.
Walter, thanks for your comment. It is very surprising that a Polish Government in Exile network of prisons operated in Scotland during World War II. As you mention in your comment, one of these - the first established, as it happens - was located on the Isle of Bute. For further information on this subject I'd recommend reading Simon Webb's 2016 book "British Concentration Camps". In Britain, it sparked articles on the subject in The Scotsman and The Jewish Chronicle: you can read these pieces online if you don't have access to Webb's book.
(23) Anonymous, January 31, 2021 9:09 PM
Thank you Dr Miller
This topic warrants further investigation and direction to sources that the reader might consult to investigate on his/her own. Historically, survivors testimony would prove most valuable or testimony I could be corroborated by a family member of a survivor.
Obliged for your journalism; may you or enterprise thrive.
(22) Feigoe Teichman, January 31, 2021 9:05 PM
Not concentration camps
Concentration camps were camps designated by the SS to concentrate Jews in one area for the purpose of eventual death, either thru fake work to feath, deportation to extermination camp, or mass executions or selection and extermination at the same camp. Harsh prisoner camps whether in Hanoi or in Isis caliphate or in Scotland can be tsrged to Jews and it is shocking to civilized people sho are not aware of extent of antisemitism that it occurred in western civilization. But it diminishes the real meaning of the teem concentration camp.and it offends not only me but any survivor who was in one. Please let the aufhor know and revise the title. Thank you
(21) Eric Feinstein, January 31, 2021 8:21 PM
Edward Jakubowski is buried in a Christian Cemetery
This information is from the website of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
Bombardier Edward Jakubowski
Polish Army 1.Dyon.Art.Mot.
Died 29 October 1940
Age 28 years old
Buried at St. John's Kirk Old Churchyard, Covington, Lanarkshire. Scotland
(20) Michael Isaac Lerman, January 31, 2021 7:56 PM
12 million Jews murdered in WWII
12 million JEWS MURDERED BY GERMANS and their helpers all around the globe. Only the noble citizen of Albania,Bulgaria, and Spain saved their Jewish population
Anonymous, February 1, 2021 9:10 PM
And Denmark
Denmark also defied the NAZIS to protect their Jews.
(19) Ruth Broch, January 31, 2021 6:47 PM
Never knew!!
I am 77 and I thought, well-read. WHY have I never heard about these concentration camps until now??
(18) Rabbi Y Y Rubinstein, January 31, 2021 6:36 PM
A badly misleading headline
The Headline, although accurate, in conjunction with the photograph gives the impression that this vile episode was somehow a Scottish creation. In fact, as the piece makes clear, the offenses happened as a result of the Polish and British Governments. There is no reference in the piece to any Scottish involvement in this whatsoever.
(17) Carl, January 31, 2021 6:16 PM
NOT SURPRISING
One should not be surprised. Throughout history the Poles, British and French have been the most anti semitic people in the world. I'm surprised there were none in Australia
(16) Nigel Grizzard, January 31, 2021 5:50 PM
What really happened in WW2 in the Polish Army in Scotland
My late father-in-law was a Jewish soldier from Warsaw in the Polish Army in Scotland. As he along with nearly all his fellow soldiers are no longer with us, we cannot ask them what life was like for Jewish soldiers. This is a topic that needs further investigation, going through Army records that may be in unopened archives held in the UK.
(15) Clifton, January 31, 2021 5:25 PM
Thank you
Thank you Dr Miller. I had heard of this before but never thought to research it. Not that I doubted for a moment it wasn’t true. Yet one more benefit of subscribing to AISH!
(14) RABBI GARY ZWEIG, January 31, 2021 5:07 PM
UNBELIEVABLE
EACH DAY more news surfaces about atrocities..Keep reporting this ..so others can never repeat it!
(13) Anonymous, January 31, 2021 5:06 PM
Disappointed but not surprised
Never Again. Take out Iran's nukes and kick the mullahs in their behinds. Enough is enough.
(12) Avraham Sonenthal, January 31, 2021 4:52 PM
Thanks for letting us know
You have done a great service in exposing this little known part of history which I had no idea of. My wife and I were just discussing whether the Scots were as anti semitic as the Irish. Question answered!
Michael, January 31, 2021 11:05 PM
the Irish?
How were the Irish anti-semitic?
William Szuszkewicz, February 1, 2021 11:14 AM
Ask Scots Jewish Communities Directly
Aye Avraham, it would be wise for you and your wife to contact Glasgow’s thriving and vibrant Jewish communities directly to enquire about ant anti Semitic behaviours they experience. I am afraid Dr Miller has not a clue about Scotland and her people. We have a few bigots who hate everything and everybody but they do not represent the nation.All people’s are welcome here and that is well proven thanks.
(11) Hubert, January 31, 2021 4:49 PM
Problems with proper nomenclature
What concentration camps? Where are the fences? Sentinel towers? Contemporary problems with proper nomenclature and runngng for sensations. The "Sikorshchyk" (men of gen. Sikorski) sent the dissenting supporters of Sanation (Sanacja) to a summer resort in Scotland - giving them starvation money and no prospect of a chance to fight for Poland, occupied by national socjalistyczna Germans.
Frustration, suicides - the dark side of General Sikorski and his aide fen. Izydor Modelski - they hated their political foes.
(10) joseph benjamin, January 31, 2021 4:28 PM
Not true
Sure, lots of poles hate jews but the polish soldiers in the UK were came from France in 1940 or from the USSR with Anders.None of these men fought in a Nazi Army or used the swastika.Sorry,but you are one of the millions of people that were not taught history.The Polish Home Army were largely slaughtered by the Germans and the Ukrainians or ended up in Stalin's gulag.Shame,shame.
(9) Dorothy attwood, January 31, 2021 3:54 PM
THank you for bringing to notice the brutal way in which Jews were treated in Scotland. I know many Scottish People who have no idea, I Will make known what happened. They should not be forgotten. Much prayer is needed still into such wickedness that happened and still happening to the Jews.,I LIVE in England, and have Jewish friends. ThAnkyou, Dorothy,
(8) Michael Perks, January 31, 2021 3:25 PM
News to me!
Thankyou for publishing this article! Even as a history 'nut', I knew absolutely nothing about this sordid chapter of Polish and British history! I was aware of the level of Polish Jew Hate. Polish Jews were not safe in the Free Polish Army, Polish Underground nor Polish Partisan groups. But these camps were totally unknown to me!!!
(7) William Szuszkewicz, January 31, 2021 3:16 PM
As a Scot living here in Scotland this is all news to me today.
This article is very interesting an eye opener and It contains content I find shocking.Concentration camps in Scotland is a very hard thing to absorb , police having no jurisdiction around them whatsoever, the use of the term Holocaust victims relating to the camps here is Scotland is equally sensational and painful to contemplate. However the use of the Swastika on our traditional highland attire, the sporran with the background of Eilean Donna castle Is entirely unacceptable .Eternal shame on you for disrespecting us. I am sure you don’t know but as well as an anti polish vibe in the article there is a very strong anti Scottish and anti UK vibe also.Hatred of others is not good,stop it.
(6) john riggs, January 31, 2021 2:38 PM
Fake news.
As a sin of omission remains a sin, so is news not reported fake news.
(5) Robert, January 31, 2021 2:30 PM
Misleading title
The title misleadingly suggests concentration camps run by Scotts, not Poles. And the story itself does not reflect historical indifference, at best, of Britain to the plight of the Jews, or what might be described as a historically accurate summary of anti-Semitism among many Brits. It’s heartening to see that Corbyn has been recognized and punished for his anti-Semitism, but still worrisome is the British government’s (and population’s) growing lack of respect for orthodox Jewish practice and and teaching. Today OFSTED requirement to teach “alternative lifestyles” as acceptable and within the range of “normative” is contentious at best. Banning shechita won’t be far behind, now that Belgium has normalized it.
(4) Isaac geld, January 31, 2021 2:22 PM
There is so much unknown
Thank you for shedding light on this unknown chapter.
(3) Nicole Allio, January 31, 2021 2:19 PM
Never heard of Polish concentration camps in Scotland
This article has triggered my curiosity. Being a trained docent at the Montreal Holocaust Museum, I never heard of this story. I will do some research on this topic.
David Cohen, January 31, 2021 4:58 PM
Please inform us of your findings
I find this difficult to believe. I always like to hear corroborating evidence when I read about events that seem outrageous and improbable. Sometimes I find out they were true and other times I find a lack of corroboration or an unreliable source.
(2) maria, January 31, 2021 2:10 PM
The worst antisemites the Poles
At least 90% of the Poles had always been as antisemitic as the Nazis.
Nowadays they do everything to destroy the Jews who still live in Poland.
The Polish government is the most antisemitic in the Vishegrad group.
I
(1) David T. G., January 31, 2021 1:35 PM
Disgusted
This is shocking and I am enraged. Polish anti-semitism and British tendencies to “look away” are well known, but I had no idea that Poles targeted Jews in concentration camps in the UK. The world must know. Schools must teach about this, governments must apologize and recognize...