[WestVirginiaRebel]

If Hitler had been less paranoid and kept his word to the Russians, we might well have been fighting both of them in the war. What I don't get is why they thought that the Nazis would treat them any better.

[lizol]

They were captured as POW's in 1939 and kept by Soviets since then. So they probably didn't know about Nazi atrocities.
And you know - they thaught probably, that Germans, as an old cilvilised, European nation, would be better than Soviet barbarians.

And in fact - as far as officer POW's are concerned - they were right, because Polish soldiers and officers kept in German Oflags and Stalags were treated relatively well. Most of them survived the war.

[Alter Kaker]

What I don't get is why they thought that the Nazis would treat them any better.

Because the immediate threat is always worse than the deferred threat. Yes, the Nazis might have executed the officers as well, but unlike with the Russians, there was a chance that they wouldn't. In the end, the Germans did not institute a wholesale slaughter of Polish officers (they were too busy killing other peoples) so the families were right to have gone to them for help.

[Tarkin]

What I don't get is why they thought that the Nazis would treat them any better.

That's easy. Soviets were considered to be "barbarians" and "savages" whereas the Germans were "civilized people". It was simply unimaginable at that time, that the Germans could commit such crimes. On the other hand many Polish officers had experience with the Soviets from the 1919-1921 war and knew what to expect.