Poland and Israel. An awful conflict, and Israel is simply wrong

This is a post I have been putting off for weeks. In a way I guess, its proof that you can be critical of Israel and not be an antisemite, even though it remains true that in the staggering majority of cases it does mean exactly that.

A little while ago, the Polish government passed a very bad law for very good reasons.

In essence, it says that you cannot refer to any part of the Holocaust as being “Polish” or Auschwitz as a Polish death camp, because it was in reality, historically, and in fact a German death camp on occupied Polish territory by the Nazi government of the day.

The Poles, quite rightfully, do not wish to bear the burden of a historical atrocity for which they do not bear a responsibility.

The Israeli Government has come out strongly against this bill, and not at all for the reasons anyone should. The basic right of freedom of speech, especially political. But for another reason concerning its content.

Official statement by Polish Prime Minister:

I think it would be banal to talk about the Holocaust and its nature in this context. The fact is there are antisemites all over the world, and the Polish government explaining in very clear terms that they viewed their Jewish population as being Poles and that this was an affront and an atrocity against Polish people, is a perfectly respectable way to view this situation.

Concern should be at the enormous percentage of Islamic migrants to Europe who have been quoted very very often as saying “we love the Germans because of what they did to the Jews”.

This perception of the Poles means that they clearly see the Holocaust as an atrocity. An enormous one. And wanting to distance themselves from it is the right attitude, even if it is a spin of sorts.

And although I am not a scholar of this history to this level of detail, it is true that there are more Poles awarded the Righteous Among the Nations for people who hid, at the risk of their own lives and their families. Poland was the ONLY country in Nazi occupied Europe, where there was a death penalty for assisting Jewish people.

This can be seen clearly in Israel at the forest for the Righteous among nations at Yadvashem.

Poland: 6,706 honoured for their assistance to Jews.

Second is the Netherlands, with 5,595 and they did not have the death penalty for assisting Jewish people.

Remember, for Poland, this was at the cost of their lives if caught. Imagine yourself in this position. Refusing to help Jews under these conditions would not necessarily be antisemitism. It would just be a wise health decision.

Given this, the Poles have earned a right to distance themselves from Nazi atrocities and socialist ‘human-perfecting’ programs.

About Eeyore

Canadian artist and counter-jihad and freedom of speech activist as well as devout Schrödinger's catholic

21 Replies to “Poland and Israel. An awful conflict, and Israel is simply wrong”

  1. don’t agree, Poland had a huge proportion of collaborators, probably second only to Germany, infact they still are very anti-semitic, comparing their righteous (they had many agreed) to Holland, compared to how many jews were destroyed should give some context http://www.annefrankguide.net/en-US/bronnenbank.asp?oid=20747
    Finland and Romania deserve special mention along with Holland for their great and often heroic support protecting Jews. My Grandma never returned once to her country of birth (the whole soviet take over would mostly account for that), she said they couldn’t turn in their jewish neighbours fast enough, mostly for financial reward.

      • Spot on! The peasant mentality was rife in Poland as it was in similar states and added to the RC church’s views on Jews did tend to make anti-Semitism more common there. Together these combined to make failure the help Jews very likely especially considering the risk. Add to this the unexpected benefit of taking over the now abandoned homes and businesses, show me a conquered western nation people that would not do the same. There are ALWAYS people who will take advantage of the misfortune of others and the reason matters little. It is a human fault inhere to a minority but very persistent. Tell me who among you would leave a successful business empty because its Jewish owners had left? Those who informed upon Jews were no different to the French etc. who did likewise and it was NOT a Polish trait by any means.

      • Government? Restitution? Why don’t Jews get restitution from German people? They destroyed your businesses, not the Poles.

    • Poles are anti-Semitic?
      Perhaps you should look at West European countries, where Jews now can not wear their kippahs, where they are attacked and some even had to move to Israel. In Holland now many Jews are afraid,perhaps you will tell me why?

      . In Holland, Finland or in Romania Germans did not have policy to kill the person who helped the Jews and to kill that person family.
      In Poland they killed the person who helped Jew, and killed his or her family. You know, they killed this person wife, his daughters, his sons.
      .Still some Poles helped Jews.
      The Poles who, as you claim, hated Jews.
      I wonder, would this courageous people of Netherlands help Jews if they knew that they will be killed for their help?
      I wonder, would you help a person, when the possible “reward” for helping other person would be death to yourself and your family?

    • and again zou aere completelz wrong.zou seriouslz need to take a history lesson or 321 of them.why did 70% of all jews in the world live in poland at the time?because they were antisemites?and you seriously want to make a country responsible for things done while under occupation?like in the 18th and 19th and 20th century?you can make poland responsible for their policy in the last 30 years and between 1920-1939.and learn a bit about the fact that the polish army issued death sentences to ppl who collaborated or even turned jews in.polish ppl were neither guards at camps nor did they assist germans in hunting jews.they were the only contry besides great britain to fight from start to finish on all fronts in the world war.they never signed any agreement with germany and no organization even collaborated with germany authority.so are we gonna judge this country that was actually the only positive exception to the rule for having bad ppl in their sociaty that killed or sold out their neighbors for various reasons?was there antisemitism?of course there was.over 10% of the polish population were of jewish faith so duh.and now we are allowing to twist basic facts for personal or political gains?isnt it very amoral to do so?i ask you.

  2. “Holocaust Museum reacts to Polish vote to regulate Holocaust speech”
    AP Archive – Published on February 6, 2018

      • “And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying: Know the Lord: for all shall know me from the least of them even to the greatest, saith the Lord: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” [Jeremias (Jeremiah) 31:34]

        “Gorecki Symphony No. 3 “Sorrowful Songs” – Lento e Largo”
        Soprano: Isabel Bayrakdaraian, Sinfonietta Cracovia, conducted by John Axelrod. Taken from “HOLOCAUST – A Music Memorial Film from Auschwitz”. For the first time since its liberation, permission was granted for music to be heard in Auschwitz and a number of leading musicians were brought there to perform music for the film.

    • Kapos were selected for their ruthlessness and their willingness to obey orders no matter what. If they were Jewish they had to be much more severe to survive and believe me they were extremely handicapped from the start. THAT is human nature in such an environment (and I own and have read some 40+ books on such as well as talked with SS and KL survivors so I do have a clue). To even ask “why?” shows an abysmal ignorance of life there while cute trash such as Schindler’s list(It was ONLY a work camp) and virtually all other movies on the KLs(boy in the striped pyjamas was also reality rubbish) only skim the clean surface( e.g.,KL inmates were only allowed a limited time to empty their bowels so most could not and just did it while working. Despite the odour they found that the faeces adhered to their clothing and gave them slightly better insulation to the cold…one of many examples) It was a world where invoking Dante’s Inferno was NOT an unfair comparison. Once you begin to treat fellow humans as animals you become far worse than any animal.

  3. OK. Don’t call it a crime of Polish betrayal, but name each betrayer. Here is the betrayer Jadwiga Glos.
    This quote from the memoirs of the physician Edward Reicher (who hid himself as a laborer) prompts an interesting discussion on criminality amongst Poles during the War because it asks the question – at what point do the circumstances drive the criminal rather than the criminal drive the circumstances?http://www.ww2f.com/threads/how-did-nazis-determine-if-whether-or-not-someone-was-jewish-or-gay.57913/page-5
    One day or night, a drunk Sergiusz told Konarzewska about his Jews. She repeated everything to Jadwiga, who immediately saw a gold mine. Under pressure from Jadwiga, Konarzewska demanded money from Sergiusz. He was hiding Jews, and they could give him what they had.
    ————–
    A bit of reading on Polish history with regard to its Jewish citizens, turns up a chapter of time in 1968, during which they lost their citizenship, at the hands of the Communists. http://beatroot.blogspot.com/2008/03/polish-68-ers.html

  4. OK – during WW2, there were many Polish collaborators.

    We know this. Nobody disputes this.

    BUT – and this is a very important but….

    ….these were actions of individual Poles, many of whom were trying to protect their families from the invaders. Because Poland WAS invaded – by the Germans in the West and by the Soviets in the East.

    At the time the concentration camps were set up, Poland did NOT have a ‘Polish government’ – in any way, shape or form. So, whatever cowardly acts were committed by individual Poles, no blame can be placed at any Polish government or governmental institution.

    That is ALL that the Polish government of today is trying to gt across: and, any way you slice it, this is indeed historically accurate.

    • Ae Holocaust was German made, the camps were Nazi-German death camps. They were not Polish death camps, they were Nazi death camps they were German death camps..
      Poles did not have a government at that time. Poles were invaded, so how can anybody say that the death camps were Polish.
      As for collaborators, some Poles collaborated with Germans, some Jews collaborated with Germans.
      BTW.
      if,because of Polish collaborators some people say “Polish death camps” [Poland did not have government, was under occupation i.e. did not exist at that time] alternatively ,because of Jewish collaborators, kapos, some people can say “Israeli/Jewish death camps” [Israel did not have government, did not exist at that time]
      See, how illogical that is??

  5. What seems to be happening is that some people (Including Israel) are trying to apply collective guilt to Poland for what happened after the Germans took over half of Poland. This is as wrong as the Germans (and other Europeans many of whom aren’t religious) using the Hebrew Priests killing of Christ as an excuse to attack and murder every Jew they can find. When I was a child the idea of collective guilt was ridiculed and we were taught it is evil. Now the left is reviving collective guilt in their attacks on the west.