Re: conscription in Poland?

X-No-archive: yes
Miriam Bulwar David-Hay wrote

According to his official birth certificate, my great-uncle was born in
Lodz, Poland, in 1921. However, he claims that this should actually be
1925 and that the Polish clerks regularly "made boys look older than they
really were so they could draft them into the army". The birth certificate
not only says he was born in 1921, but the document itself is dated 1921,
and I am wondering whether a clerk could have forged the registration date
as well as the birth date. Clearly, whether he was born in 1921 or in
1925, my great-uncle is no spring chicken, but is there anything in what
he said about making boys seem older in order to draft them? Also, can
anyone tell me if Poland had compulsory military service in the
1920's/30's? If so, what were the conditions? (Were Jews drafted? For how
long? From what age? etc.)


Military service in the interwar Poland was compulsory for the all male
citizens at age 18.

Service lasted 18 months, and only exemptions were granted for the medical
reasons, and for the youngsters completing high school (they would be
drafted a year later) or entering universities, where military training was
also conducted on a limited basis.

Clerk could not make recruits look younger or older.

Conscription committee extracted young people eligible for the military
service from the citizens evidence registry.

If your great uncle was registered as born in 1921, he would be called in
1939 to show up in front of the recruiting commitee for the medical
examinations to establish his eligibility for the service.

If he was born, as he claimed in 1925, he would not be called up till age
18, and no clerk could forge his birth cerificate.

Alexander Sharon
Calgary, AB
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