Polish-Jewish Relations: 1,300 Keyword-Phrase-Indexed Book Reviews (by Jan Peczkis)

History and Jewish Historians, by Salo Wittmayer Baron. 1964

Rarity of Pogroms in Poland. Beyond the Cult of the Perpetual Jewish Victim: Jewish-Christian Relations Usually Harmonious

Jewish historian Salo Baron has much to say about such things as the definitions of a Jew, the Bible, medieval Judaism, Jewish-Muslim relations, Jewish-Christian relations, and the leading Jewish personages throughout history.

JEWISH PASSIVITY–A VALID QUESTION

The issue of “Jewish passivity” in the face of Nazi persecution has at times been viewed as an anti-Semitic construct. Baron, in contrast, sees this as a legitimate matter: “Knowing well enough that their end had come, why did they not kill in the process some of their barbarian assailants? These questions are so universally repeated and so basically underlie much of the literature relating to the Jewish tragedy of the Nazi era that all sorts of explanations have been offered for this passive submission.” (p. 96).

EARLY VERSIONS OF HOLOCAUST SUPREMACY REPUDIATED. DEBUNKED POLISH POGROMS DRAW “KILL THE MESSENGER” JEWISH IRE (JEWISH VICTIM NARRATIVES)[[JEWISH PEER PRESSURE]

When Baron discusses the Nazis’ extermination of the Jews, he never uses the terms Holocaust or Shoah, and never treats this event as a defining moment in either world history or Jewish history. In fact, he frowns upon what may be called the cult of Jews-as-victims whose perpetual-victim status existed even before the Nazi era. It’s gotten to the point that pogroms have become dogmas. Referring to himself, he writes: “Time and time again he has also had the perhaps tragic-comic experience of finding the Jewish public sort of enamored with the tales of ancient and modern persecutions. Denying, for example, that any large-scale pogroms had taken place in the territories of ethnographic Poland before 1936 evoked an instantaneous storm of protests not against the alleged perpetrators of such massacres, but against himself for venturing to deny them. Quite evidently, this lachrymose view of Jewish history has served as an eminent means of social control from the days of the ancient rabbis, and its repudiation might help further to weaken the authority of Jewish communal leadership.” (p. 88).

RECIPROCAL JEWISH-CHRISTIAN RELIGIOUS ANTAGONISMS: CHRISTIANS WERE IDOLATERS

Much has been said about how Christians viewed Jews as the “wrong” religion, whose members might contaminate the faithful, and whose only merit was their potential for conversion. Baron points out that Jews thought exactly the same of Christians, as exemplified by the statements of Maimonides: “On account of their Trinitarian doctrine the Christians are legally in the category of heathens with whom one must not have any dealings on Sunday or, in Palestine, even during the preceding three days. Evidently, living in a Muslim environment, Maimuni could only indulge in the luxury of prohibiting commercial intercourse with the Christian minority during one to four days a week. On the other hand, in view of their qualified approval of the Jewish Scripture, they may be given instruction in its Jewish interpretation, in the hope that they may realize their error and join the ranks for full-fledged Jews.” (p. 142).