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

The Politics of Trauma and Memory Activism: Polish-Jewish Relations Today, by Janine Holc. 2017

Confronting Injustice? Same-Old Song: Everything Blamed on Poles and Catholics. Judeocentric anti-PiS Politics

The same small circle of lewak (leftist) authors is behind books of this nature. Thus, for example, author Janine Holc has especial thanks for Brian Porter-Szucs, whose views are at least borderline cultural Marxist [check out my reviews of his books, and especially his blog, as I did]. There also are uncritically-cited “winners” such as Robert Blobaum, Barbara Engelking, Konstanty Gebert, Bozena Szaynok, Feliks Tych, Joanna Tokarska-Bakir, and of course the biggest hero of them all–Jan T. Gross.

INTRODUCTION TO THE “CONFRONTING INJUSTICE” NEWSPEAK

Series editors Maria Guadalupe Arenillas and Jonathan Allen make these revealing statements, “The last two decades of the twentieth century witnessed the rise of a novel idea the belief that an explicit confrontation with past injustices forms an essential component of commitment to constitutional democracy and the rule of law. This has had a widespread impact in transitional contexts across regions. It has also assumed a variety of political and cultural forms.” (inside first page).

Let us look at this closely.

JUST WHOSE INJUSTICES DO WE CONFRONT??

Catholicism is excoriated. Needless to say, Jews never have to confront the racism that is part of the Jewish religion. And–surprise–everything negative in past Polish-Jewish relations is always the fault of the Poles, never the Jews.

Jedwabne is–surprise–once again used as a club to hit Poles (pp. 4-on), and the same old patronizing talk is once again raised about Poles desperately wanting to cling to their “innocence.” How about finally appreciating the ambiguous role of the Germans in the massacre? How about finally seeing-through the Jedwabne charade and realizing its real purposes: German-guilt dilution for the Holocaust, and the Holocaust Industry filling its pockets at Poland’s expense? How about Jews finally abandoning their “innocence” admitting their complicity in the massacre of Poles at places such as Koniuchy, and the murder of millions at the hands of the Zydokomuna (Judeo-Bolshevism)?

In other words, this whole “confronting injustice” trope is a farce from beginning to end. Nothing is said about the British and Americans “confronting injustice” in the Teheran-Yalta Churchill-Roosevelt sellout of Poland to Stalin, and the decades of Communist slavery through which Poles had to suffer.

Enough said.

THE POLIN MUSEUM IN WARSAW: PROMOTING JEWISH, NOT POLISH, INTERESTS. PUSHED BY EUROPEAN UNION

Janine Holc complains that, “The idea of a museum of Jewish history was constantly met with competing ‘memory claims,’ such as adding more museums about the non-Jewish, Polish experience.” (p. 68). What an understatement! Taxpayer funding has generally been unavailable for the construction of museums that deal with Polish suffering. The hostility to the latter is evident in the recent brouhaha about the Museum in Gdansk abandoning a “universalist” perspective in favor of a (horror of horrors) “nationalist” perspective.

So now we have the POLIN Museum. Polish taxpayers had to fund it, which is so much the better. Meanwhile, Polish victimhood continues to be marginalized, even in Poland. The POLIN museum had initially been promoted by (surprise) the European Union. (p. 68). Moreover, the PiS government has conspicuously been reluctant to confront Jewish falsehoods directed against Poland. Is it any wonder that some Poles think that Jews are the real rulers of Poland?

THINLY-VEILED LEFT-WING POLITICS

Finally, author Janine Holc repeats all the cultural Marxist talking points against the PiS government. (p. 70). Her agenda is crystal-clear.

Nothing more needs to be said.