Wednesday, June 1, 2016

Most Poles were Anti-Semites

Alan Dershowitz wrote an excellent article titled 'A Visit to the Old and New Hells of Europe Provides a Reminder of Israel's Importance' in the Gatestone Institute.

You can read it here.

One of the comments coming from a man with a Polish name Wiktor Janowycz, seemed to object profusely about Alan's claim that Poland was an old hell of Europe. He mentions that Poland was a paradise to the Jews during the 14th century. Further that is was thanks to Germany (not Poland) that the Jews suffered during the Holocaust. He correctly asserts that most righteous Gentiles were Poles who risked their lives to save Jews. (That makes sense since Poland had by far more Jews than any other country in the world). 

I felt that my response was worthy of writing in my blog. It's obvious that Wiktor was clearly offended. I have met many other Poles like Wiktor. I think it's time (it's always time) to set the record straight on Poland.

Have you seen the movie 'Two Barns' ? You can read about it here: https://cjhsla.org/2015/01/25/two-barns-english-version/
I urge you to watch it. It elaborates on my point. That  tens of thousands of Jews were murdered by Poles and other eastern Europeans before the nazis decreed 'The Final Solution'.
The documentary is about how hundreds of Jews lived together in peace and friendship with their Polish neighbours for hundreds of years in a small rural town. But one day decided to round up all the Jews and lock them into a barn and burn them alive! The story is even worse than that but I'll let you watch the movie yourself to learn more.



My response to the Wiktor's of the world:

We all know that Germany invaded Poland. We also are well aware of the many righteous Gentile Poles who risked their lives in order to help save poor Jewish souls. But what some of us might not know or prefer to forget were that far too many Poles welcomed the Nazis with open arms. Why? Because they shared their murderous, irrational hatred of Jews. Among the hundreds of nightmarish stories that my late mother and Holocaust survivor told me of the war, the one that stood out the most was as follows:
My mother was a Jewish Pole. She was born in beautiful Zakopane in the 'Polish Alps'. She was about 17 when the war ended. She decided to head back to her home town to look for survivors by train. Lucky for her she was blond haired and blue eyed and did 'not look' Jewish. On the train she heard a group of Poles talk about Hitler's failure. He failed to kill all of the Jews. Although she was trembling like crazy inside - she tried her best to be still and look unfazed. She knew then that her life depended on it. Had she 'looked Jewish' she would have been raped and killed on the spot - after the war by Poles. Does that mean that all Poles were bad? Of course not. But statistically many in fact most were.
Years later in Canada when she was asked where she was from by a stranger she'd answer 'I'm Jewish'. As a young child I asked her why she responded with her religion when asked where she was born. She replied: I'm a Jew who just happened to be born in the most anti-semitic country in the world.
With all due respect, I choose to listen to my mother!

Footnote: I'm not advocating hating the Poles today for what they did yesterday. But I am advocating telling the truth as it was and not sweeping the facts under the carpet because they were so disturbing.