Poland is soon to unveil plans to make it illegal to refer to “Polish Death Camps”.
Many of the Nazis’ most brutal death camps – including Auschwitz-Birkenau, Treblinka and Sobibor – were located in Poland. But according to Zbigniew Ziobro, Poland’s Justice Minister, calling them Polish death camps “blasphemes” Poles.
His government’s new bill “will be a project that meets the expectations of many Poles, who are routinely blasphemed in the world, in Europe, even in Germany, saying that they are the perpetrators of the Holocaust and that in Poland were Polish concentration camps, Polish gas chambers. Enough with this lie, there must be accountability,” Minister Ziobro told Polish radio on Saturday, February 13, 2016.
There is evidence of both Polish heroism and Polish complicity for the Holocaust.
At issue is more than semantics. Poles are rightly very sensitive to depictions of their country; its wartime history is complex. Poland suffered greatly during World War II, and there were many heroic instances of individual Poles risking their lives to save Jews. But making it a crime to imply any Polish culpability for Nazi crimes denies the historical record – and sets a dangerous precedent for denying the full scope of the Holocaust.
A number of historians in recent years have unearthed new evidence both of Polish complicity in the Holocaust and of Polish heroism.
Righteous Poles
Yad Vashem, Israel’s Holocaust Memorial in Jerusalem, has documented 6,620 Polish “Righteous Gentiles” – Poles who saved Jewish lives during the Holocaust – the most of any nation. Yad Vashem estimates that 1% of Poland’s pre-War Jewish population of 3.3 million Jews was saved by Polish friends and neighbors.
In his book The Righteous: Unsung Heroes of the Holocaust, the late Oxford historian Martin Gilbert documented some of these individual cases and the grave dangers Poles faced in aiding Jews. He quotes a Jewish resident of the Warsaw Ghetto, Emanuel Ringelblum, who wrote in his diary that on November 18, 1940 – the day the Jews were confined to the ghetto – “many Christians brought bread for the Jewish acquaintances and friends”. These actions carried huge risk. One Christian Pole was observed “throwing a sack of bread over the wall” – and was promptly murdered by the Nazis for aiding Jews.
An inscription in the Memorial Book for Polish town of Skierniewice sums up Poland’s wartime atmosphere: “Sometimes a mere gesture of sympathy shown to those (Jews) persecuted could easily cost a life.” Tragically, historians have documented many instances of Poles being murdered for helping, or even betraying empathy with, Jews. The events of April 1942, in the Polish town of Mlawa, are typical: fifty of the town’s Jews were forced into a square to be executed by Nazi forces, and the town’s residents forced to watch. One bystander started shouting “Down with Hitler! Innocent blood is being shed!” – and was killed immediately for his words.
Polish Antisemitism
Yet historians have also documented many troubling instances of Polish antisemitism during the Holocaust as well. Even as he documented inspiring instances of Polish resistance and heroism, Martin Gilbert acknowledged that “many Poles looked with satisfaction at the Jews being moved into the (Warsaw) ghetto, even gloating….”
The United States Holocaust Museum has documented that "As German forces implemented the killing, they drew upon some Polish agencies, such as Polish police forces and railroad personnel, in the guarding of ghettos and the deportation of Jews to the killing centers. Individual Poles often helped in the identification, denunciation, and hunting down of Jews in hiding, often profiting from the associated blackmail, and actively participated in the plunder of Jewish property."
Professor Peter Kenez of the University of California, Santa Cruz, has investigated the substantial German ethnic population in Poland during World War II who “welcomed the (Nazi) conquerors with enthusiasm” in his book The Coming of the Holocaust: From Antisemitism to Genocide (Cambridge University Press 2013).
Historian Ronald Modras, a professor at St. Louis University, has researched the role of the Catholic Church in fomenting profound Jew hatred in Poland and concluded, “The Catholic clergy (in Poland)... were not innocent bystanders or passive observers in the wave of antisemitism that encompassed Poland in the latter half of the 1930s… Even when nationalistic youth translated anti-Semitic attitudes into violence... instead of subjecting the violence to unambiguous criticism, church leaders rather gave explanations for antisemitism that ultimately served to justify it.” (The Catholic Church and Antisemitism: Poland 1933-1939. Routledge 2000). Former Harvard History Professor Daniel Jonah Goldhagen similarly documented widespread anti-Jewish feeling in Poland’s religious leadership in his book A Moral Reckoning: The Role of the Catholic Church in the Holocaust and its Unfulfilled Duty of Repair (Alfred A. Knopf 2002).
Jedwabne Pogrom
In 2001, Princeton History Professor Jan T. Gross, who was born in Poland to a Polish mother and Jewish father, published Neighbors, a groundbreaking book that documented that some atrocities long blamed on Nazi officials were in fact carried out by local Polish civilians.
The barn was then set alight and the Jews inside burned to death.
One was the massacre of the Jews of Jedwabne in July 1941. The Polish town of Jedwabne was home to about 2,000 Jews on the eve of the Holocaust, about 60-70% of the total population. On July 10 – less than three weeks after Nazi forces gained control of that area – the town’s Polish mayor, Marian Karolak and local Nazi officials gave orders to round up the town’s Jews – both long-term residents as well as Jews who were sheltering there. Some Jews were hunted down and killed by the town’s residents with clubs, axes and knives. Most were herded into a barn that had been emptied out for this purpose. The barn was then set alight and the Jews inside burned to death.
Neighbors sparked a huge amount of soul-searching in Poland – and a recognition that some persecution of Poland’s Jews was carried out by ordinary Poles, not only by their Nazi occupiers. According to Gross, “‘Regular’ members of the community took part in them, not miscreants or ‘marginal people.’ In fact, the participation by the local elites and by upstanding members of the community, who remained in good standing after the events, bestowed upon these crimes a kind of official imprimatur. These were quasi-normal events, and even remained a subject of conversation for years to come at local gatherings. The plunder was a widespread social practice, sanctioned by norms.”
Today, political considerations are once again tempting some inside Poland – particularly the right-wing governing Law and Justice Party – to rewrite history.
After awarding Princeton Professor Jan Gross the Order of Merit in 1996 for his service as a dissident in communist Poland and his contributions to historical research, Poland’s President Andrzej Duda has recently hinted he might strip Gross of his medal, a decision that has caused outrage amongst historians.
Cover Up
It has been difficult in Poland to speak about the War because so many events were shrouded in secrecy, the truth rewritten and distorted. In Jedwabne, for instance, an official monument declared “Place of martyrdom of the Jewish people. Hitler's Gestapo and gendarmerie burned 1,600 people alive, July 10, 1941.” No mention was made of the large role ordinary Poles played in the massacre.
Poles are also sensitive to any attempt to minimize their suffering during World War II. Three million Poles were killed during the war and Polish resistance was widespread. As Polish historian Adam Michnik explains, “Poles fought alongside the anti-Nazi forces from the first day until the last. And inside Poland armed resistance to the German occupation was widespread…. All of these truths contribute to Poland's image of itself as an innocent and noble victim of foreign violence and intrigue. After the war, while the West was able to reflect on what had happened, Stalinist terror stymied public discussion in Poland about the war, the Holocaust and anti-Semitism.”
Yet to erase Polish culpability for any part of the Holocaust distorts history. While many Poles fought the Nazis, others – including local officials and ordinary citizens – often collaborated willingly in the destruction of Poland's Jews.
The Kielce massacre occurred after the Holocaust.
In fact, one of the most infamous massacres of Jews on Polish soil cannot be blamed on Nazi occupiers; it occurred after the Holocaust.
Before World War II, the Polish town of Kielce was home to about 18,000 Jews. This number swelled during the War, as German officials established a Ghetto in the town, and forced Jews from other towns and countries to live there. By the time the Ghetto was “liquidated” in August 1944, all but a few hundred Jews who were kept alive as slave workers had been murdered – both in the Ghetto itself, and in death camps throughout Poland.
Following the war, about 200 Jewish survivors returned to Kielce. Slowly, they began to rebuild their lives, establishing a synagogue a kibbutz, and an orphanage. On July 4, 1946, a blood libel began to spread through the town, falsely accusing the Jews of kidnapping a Christian child. A mob of Kielce’s residents descended on the Jewish area. Police and soldiers stood by and watched as the mob attacked Jews, murdering 42 Jewish Holocaust survivors and injuring scores more. Following the Kielce massacre, the remaining Jews in the town fled. The pogrom spurred a mass emigration of Jewish survivors from Poland.
Covering up history and criminalizing discussion isn't the way to come to terms with the past. What historians and ordinary citizens need in Poland and beyond is more research, more willingness to look into the past and understand the horrors of the Holocaust – not less.
(27) Jacek, February 16, 2019 9:49 AM
contradictions
It is definitely true that there was not much love from Polish citizens towards the Jewish citizens. The backgrounds were different, some similar to other countries some local. It must be true that some Polish citizens committed crimes against the Jewish people during the WW II and possibly after (Kielce). Now playing with the words is dangerous. If someone says Polish Citizens participated in murders with Nazis - yes it is true as there were some Polish Citizens participating. On the other hand one can say The Polish Citizens were saving saving Jews from Germans - it is true as there were Poles saving the Jews. If some says that Jews killed other Jews, betrayed them, sold them, collaborated with Germans - it is true as there were some Jews (Jugenrat) and other betrayers that were doing it. So saying that the Jews killed other Jews is true as it neither says some nor all. One should be careful with words and the meaning. No one should play with words to obtain political goals and unfortunatelly it does happen every time someone wants to become popular living up hatred towards other nations.
(26) Bobby5000, February 21, 2018 12:53 AM
treatment of slaves
Many have discussed the horrible treatment of slaves in the U.S. South. Slaves were beaten and brutally assaulted and woman slaves worse. None of the acts committed by brutal slaveowners were mandated by law, no law required rape or beatings, so is it sufficient to say forget about the evils of slavery, because they were not required by the applicable law.
(25) Anonymous, February 2, 2018 9:11 PM
Thats sad
Thats sad how both Poles and Jews see it all in white and black
(24) Anonymous, February 2, 2018 4:10 AM
Contradictions
I realize the Polish history re the Jews in WWII is contradictory. But I feel like recent accounts are emphasizing their complicity not the heroism of many Poles who attempted to rescue Jews. To understand the experience of the Poles during the war is complex and requires a deep empathy for the sufferings of all Poles during the war and how people react under those conditions.
(23) Anonymous, May 22, 2016 9:48 AM
What makes propaganda in the service of self-intrerests so effective when it comes to the Jews?
Bizarre the focus on the Shoah while dismissing the fact the majority of the death camps were built in Poland. That Jews were cattle carred from every corner of Europe, Mediterranean countries - an extermination plan set up North African muslim States from where 2000 (?) Jews were sent to their deaths.Also, the unwillingness of Poland to compensate Jewish survivors for their property expropriated by Poland another fact most people are unaware of - propaganda campaigns replicating methodologies learned from the Communists have had their obvious effect. Jews embracing mythologies on board with false narratives I find disheartening when and why Jews.can so easily be taken in, minoritizing the truth.
(22) Elia meghnagi, February 28, 2016 11:39 AM
We Jews have a strange way of responding to murderers of our people:we pay them back handsomely by organising worldwide group visits to for example Poland, filling their hotels and greatly improving their economy. There is a lesson there for the antisemites
Anonymous, May 22, 2016 10:59 AM
Ella, Succintly said and correct.
#1 Economic industry in Poland is tourism.
The tourists are the Jews!
White Washing is a response to excuse and excise the truth!
A policy directive such as teaching in Polish schools that Poles were the victims in WWII - and the Jews because they were Poles. The contrast between Poles largely pictures, and tiny ones of Jews I find obviating the campaign. There is an expanse of government initiated and produced literature, booklets, pamphlets, and contests for students in which rewards of scholarships and cars go to the winner. Shoah survivors are called and asked if they can provide 'souvenirs' to students to be used to support the Polish narrative aimed at white washing the truth. I received such a call from Poland, not quite understanding at first it was a ploy. The word to send any 'souvenirs' i had in my possession. The only testiment are the dead, the families their beautiful children whose progency was never to be. Jews, spend your money on the living in Israel defending our people to proudly assure our existence connected to the Torah, HaShem and not so much poland in whose soil are the ashes of our people - who else can speak for them , if not the rebirth of Israel, our own! Our future does ot lie with poland. Been there, done that. It didn't turn out so well. Need we, really, to be giving for those who are all about taking? "Souvenirs" indeed.
(21) Patrick Dempsey, February 26, 2016 12:45 AM
Poland and The Holocaust
You rightly mention Kielce. But we know too of Jedwabne and lest we Forget, I enjoined this and wrote my Books based on what happened to Tovah 'Tokele' Olshak at Sokoly. Always to Remember, Never to Forget.
(20) Laura, February 25, 2016 7:45 PM
semantics
The fact that some Poles helped Jews risking their lives and lives of their families, and some collaborated with Nazi , does not make German Nazi concentration camps Polish concentration camps. What were those villagers living near concentration camps supposed to do? Poland had the most extensive underground resistance movement during the WWII among all occupied countries. Jewish people also could not do too much when Jewish Police in Warsaw ghetto were getting people out of their homes packed them into wagons...
(19) Laine Frajberg, February 24, 2016 2:46 AM
The (German) Death Camps were in occupied Poland
The German Death Camps were in occupied Poland and,in that sense only are they "Polish'.Same way one refers to the murder of American POWS (in the Philipines) as the "Bataan Death March" or the murder of American POWS (in Belgium) as the "Malmedy Massacre".Even though neither Filiponos nor Belgians had anything to do with those atrocities-and were themselves massacred by ther Japanese and Germans.
(18) Jacques, February 23, 2016 7:26 AM
Polish camps vs french camp
It appears that there were no poles guarding camps (I recall here that poles represented 97% of prisonners sent with the first historical convoy to Auscwhitz in june, 14 1940), no poles administrating any camps on polish soil during the war, and there were no poles who established any ghetto.
These are facts.
For the rest presented in the article, I agree.
Knowing that it is not correct to speak of polish camps.
The right denomitation should be: nazi camps established in the former polish territories annexed to the general government (third reich).
The example of the official denomination of the KL-Natzweiler concentration camp, France
How the camp is presented in the Struffhof official website:
http://www.struthof.fr/.../introduction-to-the-history.../
"The central camp, the only concentration camp in France, was located in the then annexed Alsace département."
Knowing that french (french state and some french population) collaborated, established confinment and transit camps guarded by french police, arrested and sent from their own initiative approx. 60 000 jews to the east, why we do not speak of "french concentration camp" ?
We do not speak of "french camp" because it is not french people who established and guarded this specific concentration camp, regardless what they do during the war.
This is the same for poles, regardless what they do during the war.
Jacek, February 16, 2019 10:00 AM
disagree
Should be called German death camps as they were Germans first and Nazis second. Why - very simple in a few years from now the youth will not know who were Nazis. Should never be called Nazis alone.
(17) Howard Sanshuck, February 23, 2016 4:39 AM
Freedom of Speech
I have no objection to the Polish Government trying to keep from receiving blame for something they did not cause, but support world wide freedom of speech so oppose a law limiting free speech. From the article and the comments it seems that individual Poles and the Nazi controlled occupation government did commit atrocities against Jewish people. The article pointed out that many Poles assisted Jew in different ways. Other than an interesting article this potential law is not really worth devoting any great time thinking about it. If the Polish nation is responsible for the Holocaust, than the Jewish nation is responsible for the assassination of the Tsar's family after the Bolshevik revolution because the man who ordered their assassination was Jewish, Leon Trotsky and the murderer who took his orders from Trotsky was Jewish. If its wrong to blame Jews for that, than its wrong to blame Poles for the Holocaust and the death camps. Individuals do bad deeds and even if many Poles were anti-semitic the article points out that some Poles were not. When Abraham spoke to God to try to save the city of Sodom and Gemorah he asked God to save it even if only a few righteous people lived there. So even if there were many Poles who hated and killed Jews, still a few righteous gentiles were there.
Stan, February 25, 2016 11:59 PM
Freedom of speech?
Defending freedom of speech means you also have to allow Holocaust deniers to promote their beliefs too. I can't say that is something I would like to see happen. Therefore if journalists and so called historians are going to try and make Poles and Poland jointly complicit with the Holocaust then that needs fighting every bit as vigorously as Holocaust denial.
(16) KingaB, February 23, 2016 1:28 AM
Dear Dr. Yvette Alt Miller
During ww2, many people of different nationalities collaborated with Nazis and sometimes even were commiting horrible crimes. Poles were no strangers to that and there is no reason to whitewash Polish ethnic group. However, there is a HUGE difference between Poland (Polish) complicity and Poles complicity. By suggesting that Poland was somewhat complicit in what German Nazis did on its occupied land is insulting not only to these millions of Poles who fought in the resistance and on the ww2 fronts against Nazis, but also to Polish Jews. Especially the ones like Samuel Willenberg who felt himself both Pole and a Jew (he reclaimed Polish citizenship after Poland became free state again ) and always proudly wore Polish Army uniform. Please don't forget that and don't insult the memory of the heroes.
(15) Judy Rosner, February 22, 2016 7:07 PM
Poles were involved
The author did not mention the poles living near the camps who smelled the smoke and saw the particles from them but did nothing. Not all Polish people were involved, but many were - cannot whitewash the entire population.
Stan, February 23, 2016 12:46 PM
Stop trying to distort history Judy.
From the History & Overview of Auschwitz-Birkenau on the Jewish Virtual Library site:
"In April 1940, Rudolph Höss, who become the first commandant of Auschwitz, identified the Silesian town of Oswiecim in Poland as a possible site for a concentration camp. The function of the camp initially was planned as an intimidation to Poles to prevent resistance their to German rule and serve as a prison for those who did resist. It was also perceived as a cornerstone of the policy to re-colonize Upper Silesia, which had once been a German region, with "pure Aryans." When the plans for the camp were approved, the Nazi's changed the name of the area to Auschwitz.
On April 27th, 1940, Heinrich Himmler ordered construction of the camp.
In May 1940, Poles were evicted from the vicinity of the barracks (most of them were executed), and a work crew comprising concentration camp prisoners was sent from Sachsenhausen. 300 Jews from the large Jewish community of Oswiecim were also pressed into service."
"The Germans isolated all the camps and sub-camps from the outside world and surrounded them with barbed wire fencing. All contact with the outside world was forbidden. However, the area administered by the commandant and patrolled by the SS camp garrison went beyond the grounds enclosed by barbed wire. It included an additional area of approximately 40 square kilometers (the so-called "Interessengebiet" - the interest zone), which lay around the Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II-Birkenau camps."
Julianna, February 23, 2016 6:15 PM
Poles who smelled the smoke
Yes, Poles knew of the camps and it was Poles who reported the Holocaust to the world. It's not their fault that the US and UK did not take action. Roosevelt was more concerned about the fate of thoroughbred horses in Poland -- that is a fact. Justice Felix Frankfurter, the most prominent Jew in the Roosevelt administration, completely discounted the reports of the Polish underground. As for people near the camps, I suppose you think they should have stormed the heavily armed camps with axes and pitchforks. You should be blaming American Jewry for their lack of response, not the Poles who were under a brutal occupation.
Howard Sanshuck, February 23, 2016 6:50 PM
What Would You Have Done?
If you were Polish and lived near a death camp would you have done something to save people? Would you have gone to the commandant and ordered him to cease and desist immediately? What would you do? The same question goes for Palestinians who live in the same places where their governments are located such as Gaza. Do Jews expect them to go around and promote trade relations with the Israelis? Not peace but simply trade and commerce.
Anonymous, February 16, 2019 10:07 AM
Judenrat?
What about Judenrat - Jews knowing and sending their brothers sisters and kids to conentration camps, what about US doing nothing on accounts that mass murders were taking place. How does that sound?
(14) Susan, February 22, 2016 3:40 PM
About Poland
Poland. It's a two way. Yes there was rightes one but not that many. Lot of bystanders and lot who just wanted to loot theJewish property. I know many true story when some Jews went back when the Holocaust was over Poles was killing Jews.A few died after they the Holocaust when the Russians already give the freedom from the Nacis . Poland was antisemitic even before . Well right now is not . But U never know.
Iwona, February 23, 2016 12:09 AM
"Lots of bystanders"
Please see Julianna's comment above. Poland was under a brutal occupation and people were trying to stay alive. I suppose they should have grabbed their pitchforks or kitchen knives against the Germans. But apparently you would have risked your life and the lives of your family to help someone. In fact, many Poles did, but most were killed for doing so. As for looted property, Jews looted from Polish Christians during the 1939-41 Soviet occupation after denouncing their neighbors and assisting the Soviets in deporting them to Siberia. You are in no position to throw stones.
(13) Anonymous, February 22, 2016 1:50 PM
Polands complicity in War crimes in World War II
It is clear that throughout Poland; whether reading over the Yiskor books by survivors from different cities throughout old boundry Poland that the Poles were complicit in murder. In Eastern Poland in cities like Slonim. Grodno, Baranovich, and Gomel (now Belarus) or in The Southern Part of Poland in Lublin,Zamosc,Krakow,; Polish citizens helped the Nazi killing machine. It is documented and admitted by Poles themselves who were eyewitnesses. The Polish government must give up and admit this fact. They wanted the Jews out of Poland and helped the German's achieve their goal and destroy the Yiddish civilization in Poland and Europe.
Anonymous, February 23, 2016 12:19 AM
Poles couldn't save themsselves, either
Ethnic (non-Jewish) Poles were the first prisoners at the German death camps. By war's end, their number was exceeded only by Jews. Three million Polish Christians were murdered by the Germans (i.e. as many as Polish Jews), millions more exploited as slave labor, hundreds of thousands of Polish children of "Aryan" appearance kidnapped and sent to Germany to be brought up as Germans. Poles could not save three million Christians, nor those children, most of whom were never returned to their parents. And yet Poles are pilloried by the media for not saving more Jews. In fact, Poland was the only country where Christians died for Jews. How many Poles were saved by Jews during the Soviet occupation? Rhetorical question.
(12) Maxine K Winston, February 22, 2016 11:05 AM
I am the daughter of a Mother who was born in Poland, My Mother and her siblings were able to get out of Poland prior to World War II and came to America. From the stories they told me, treatment in Poland was horrible before and after World War II. Jews were terribly both before and during World War II. Yes, some Poles did help Jews; but many did not and many of the Death Camps were located in Poland and many Jews were killed there. It's time for Poland to admit to their history and their poor treatment of Jews before and during World War II. In all honesty, I now would be afraid to go to Poland and help their economy now.
(11) Jong, February 22, 2016 12:36 AM
Another Anti-Polish article in Aish
Poland was invaded by German and before the war it was the country with the biggest number of Jewish population. Why the majority of Jews were living in Poland not in Germany not in Britain??? The holocaust was not only about Jews, but about Poles: a lot of Polish Catholics were murdered in Nazi concentration camp including Father Kolbe. If there had not been a war, it is certain that Poland will still be the country with biggest number of Jews. I wonder what were the American Jews doing when their fellow Jews were being murdered in Poland and other Polish Catholics were risking their lives to save Jews. They knew very well that the tragedy was happening but did not move a finger. Poland is a country who suffered most during the WWII. If it happened in other country, something similar could have happened. No more accusation against Poland and Polish people who did most to save Jews. How ungrateful it is for Aish to keep producing these biased articles.
(10) Adam Trender, February 21, 2016 11:05 PM
Poland was controlled and abused by Nazi Germany and USSR in 1939-1989
Unfortunately, I do not have time to get into too much detail but in general the author makes two major logical and historical mistakes that discredit your claims about the polish responsibility:
1. You treat individuals as representatives of the whole nation and you do not make any distinction between the state and its citizens. It is obvious that some Poles had anti-Semitic attitudes but they were in minority and their attitude was at least mild. NO ONE WANTED TO KILL JEWS OR EVEN EXPEL THEM FROM FREE POLAND IN 1918-1939! Only after the war the pogroms started. This and the huge Jewish population in Poland clearly proves that Poland was one of the most Jewish-friendly countries at that time. Not like current Israel of course but please be reasonable. Poland as a state never participated in the pogroms or executions of Jews. A threatened mayor of a village or a small town of an occupied country is not a representative of a state. This cannot be compared in any way with the state sponsored mass killings of Jews in death camps run by Nazi Germany!
2. Poland was invaded by the Nazi Germany in 1939 and after the war it was a Soviet puppet state until 1989. There was no democracy and freedom in Poland during this period. SHORTLY SPEAKING, POLES WERE NOT RULING THEIR OWN COUNTRY IN 1939-1989 MY DEAR AUTHOR. The Communists from USSR were controlling all armed forces (including police of course) and could easily instigate different sort of incidents if this would help them politically. The Kielce pogrom very probably was planned and incited by Soviet intelligence services.
All in all, Poland as a state cannot be blamed at all for what has happened on its territory IN 1939-1989 BECAUSE THERE WAS NO FREE POLAND AND EXTERNAL FORCES (NAZI AND SOVIET) WERE DRIVING MOST OF THE MAJOR EVENTS IN POLAND.
This is what the current polish government is fighting for. For historical accuracy. The author completely misunderstands this.
(9) Anonymous, February 21, 2016 10:09 PM
The new law is about "polish concentration camps", not about guilt overall
While all murderers should be prosecuted (included Poles of course), the law is about using phrase "polish concentration camps", not about denying that there were Poles involved. The camps were not "polish", just like no one right in their mind would call "Japanese atomic bomb" (because it was dropped in Japan) or even "Jewish concentration camps" (because Jews were there).
(8) Paul Rein, February 21, 2016 7:35 PM
Numbers killed
No country had a higher rate of killing Jews during the Holocaust. At least 3,000,000 were killed. Get real it could not have been done without the help of the Polish people. 90-95% of the Jewish population in that country. No other country as bad. So when the Poles say we really tried to help..... That would be no you didn't. 1% doesn't equal WE.
laura, February 26, 2016 7:10 PM
no other country as bad?
Mr. Rein, I advise you go to yad vashem and count those Polish trees and trees of the other countries. How did 3 million Jews happen to live in Poland and not in other so good and friendly countries? And imagine the situation was reverse - do you really think many Jewish mothers would risk lives of their children to save goyim? Poland was the only country where Germans shot people including the whole family for helping the Jews.
(7) Linda carmi, February 21, 2016 7:26 PM
Agree
I agree with the author.
(6) Pessi, February 21, 2016 5:59 PM
Polish anti semitism is a fact of life
Elsewhere on this website I wrote about my brother who in the `1960's, when he was 10 or 11, went over to a policeman to ask him where he bought a specific type of earmuff that he was wearing. Then my brother came to my mother asking her to buy it for him. I will never forget what she said, " Can you imagine, a Jewish boy goes over to a policeman and doesn't get beaten to death?" In Poland a Jewish boy would never DARE to go anywhere near a Polish policeman, let alone ask him something. He knew it was a death sentence. That's what life was like for the Jews in Poland before the war. Did they suddenly become saints when the Germans arrived?
Anna, February 21, 2016 11:37 PM
They must have. Well, we all know that nobody in Germany hated Jews and that they had no idea that the Holocaust was going on-they didn't see the Jews being rounded up and shipped off and nobody heard Kristallnacht. So maybe the Poles were the same.
The camps were in Poland-there were Poles working in them-Poland was known for having a number of anti-Semites.
It's hair-splitiing to not call them Polish camps. They were camps, they were in Poland-what else would you call them ? I bet that if a great art gallery was set up in Poland by Sweden, they'd call it a Polish art gallery !
AnnaD, February 23, 2016 1:39 AM
There was no Poland during ww2
Please inform yourself prior posting comments on the issue you obviously have very faint idea about. Poland was annihilated in 1939 and its territory served as Hitler's bloodlands. The Auschwitz Museum is on the territory of today's Poland, reinstated after 1945
(5) G*dlove, February 21, 2016 4:56 PM
forgive....do not forget, do not blame
There were others that died in the Holocaust. What about the Christians Like Maximilian Kolbe, Edith Stein, good Catholics who gave their lives up for their Jewish brothers and sisters ( since the Christian is an adopted son of G*d) others that were Christian that stood against Hitler and His Nazi Regime? Are they to be forgotten by the Jewish People. Many were saved, what about what Pope Pius XII who worked to save Jews, should he not be remembered. Remember those who stood up for the JEWISH PEOPLE and forget those who did not, as there was retribution for them. Many did not turn a blind eye to what was happening to the Jews. My own ancestry died...the Hungarian Jew...as they are of my blood.....Poland was taken over by the Germans, and they the GER*ANS are responsible for the Camps....even my own patron saint fought the Nazi's JP II as he is celebrated on my birthday..God says to the Jewish people, let the past lie, do not forget, but do not point fingers at those who were innocent....look at today, turn back to your Faith, turn back to me, and forget the world's ways of sin and do not participate in it...I am the Lord your God and I will not have other "gods" before me....For I am truth, for I am your help which you reject by accepting world thought and ways RETURN oh Israel to your one GOD
(4) Sol Bleiweis, February 21, 2016 4:52 PM
Histoty can not be erased by legislation
Pres-WW 2 Poland had over 3 Million Jews. It was a vibrant community. Of course the death camps were built on Polish soil by the Nazis because it gave them an opportunity to murder the greatest number of Jews.in a short time. Having said that lets not forget the great antisemitism that prevailed in Pre-War Poland. With government sanctioned boycotts, restrictions, etc. In those days the purveyors of Jew hating were the clegy. Facts are not deniable. .
Anonymous, February 23, 2016 12:22 AM
Antisemitism
show me one country in 1930s in Europe free from antisemitism
Anonymous, February 23, 2016 6:21 PM
Clergy: the purveyors of Jew hating?
Clergy were among the first group targeted by the Germans after they occupied Poland. Polish priests comprised one of the largest groups of prisoners at Dachau. Priests and nuns risked their lives to shelter Jews, especially children. There is no record or even anecdote of any rabbi who helped a Catholic in Poland during the Soviet occupation when Poles were being deported to Siberia.
(3) Fred, February 21, 2016 4:51 PM
Polish Jewish refugees fleeing to Nazi Germany
My late wife who grew up as part of the Jewish community of Breslau told me that her family had given shelter to a Polish Jewish family called Neumann in 1938 or1939 as refugees from Poland. It seems they preferred what they regarded as a legal framework for persecution to unregulated attacks,
Anonymous, February 26, 2016 6:30 AM
Germans - failed Jew saviors
Yes, and Germans invaded Poland in 1939 to rescue Jews from Polish antisemitism. For better protection they placed them in ghettoes and camps. Unfortunately some Polish antisemites placed Zyklon B in the showers, so the German rescue plan failed.
(2) Peggy Walt, February 21, 2016 4:18 PM
Excellent article
Shared this article to my Fb wall. My husband lived in Poland and the family left to Israel in the 1960's due to lingering anti-semitism. They had a lot of unpleasant incidents, and this after all but his parents and grandmother were murdered in the Holocaust. I hope the new Museum of Poland's Jews will help to show the full picture, and that the country can come to terms with the complete past, that included many good people, but many also who were only too willing to help the Nazis, or do the awful things themselves. We need to speak about this as it's history, and, an important part in understanding how racism and genocide can spread.
Anonymous, February 23, 2016 12:44 AM
Understanding racism
Many of the commenters on this site are blind to their own hatred, stereotyping and racism. Apparently, history's recurring scapegoats have found a scapegoat of their own.
(1) Anonymous, February 21, 2016 4:09 PM
Armia Kraiova the resistance polish group did not go out of their way to help jews or to provide them with weapons. Some Poles helped the Nazis for money. In Holland the selling of the Jews to the Nazis was a very lucrative "profession". In Norway there war no inclination for restitution to the Jews who survived.
Anonymous, February 23, 2016 12:42 AM
Weapons?
The AK was severely under-equipped. On a per-capita basis, the Jewish insurgents of the Ghetto Uprising had more arms than the AK during the Warsaw Uprising. As for helping "for money," you obviously think that consumer goods were free and readily available when, if fact, the Germans requisitioned most food for their own use and subjected Poles to starvation rations.