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

Holocaust Scholarship, by Christopher R. Browning et al. (eds.) 2015. Palgrave MacMillan, Hampshire, New York

German Whitewash Soundly Rejected. Holocaust Supremacy Rules. War Criminals Double Standard

This book raises some eye-opening information. I focus on these.

DEGERMANIZED NAZIS: HOW THIS EXCULPATORY NOTION ORIGINATED

Robert P. Ericksen discusses the aftermath of the Nuremberg Trials. He comments, “In that atmosphere, the international condemnation of Nazi Germany became intense and many or most Germans quickly joined in the condemnation; however, they regularly did so by blaming the atrocities on a tiny group of Nazi criminals at the top.” (p. 125).

This went several ways. Ericksen writes, “The exoneration of most former Nazis set the stage for a quite benign post-war assessment of Nazi Germany, both within and outside of Germany. This assessment differentiated between a few Nazi criminals and the rest of the German public, leading to the common linguistic carelessness of using the words ‘Nazi’ and ‘German’ as if they represented two different categories. Peter Fritzche writes: “It should be stated clearly that Germans became Nazis because they wanted to become Nazis and because the Nazis spoke so well to their interests and inclinations.'” (p. 127. Emphasis added).

Is the contrived distinction between Nazis and Germans really “linguistic carelessness”? Or is it Orwellian?

CONFRONTING THE GERMAN GUILT DILUTION AND DIFFUSION IN ACTION

Ericksen sees right through all the German attempts to whitewash themselves. He makes these pithy comments, “I have learned to be skeptical of Germans who claim to have been opponents of Nazism, no matter what the documentary record might indicate. I have read far too many disingenuous denazification files and have seen far too many transparent attempts to manipulate and misrepresent the story.” (p. 140).

SO THE NAZIS CAME FROM ANOTHER PLANET

Karl A. Schleunes makes these penetrating comments, “At the other end of the spectrum are those who maintained that Nazism and the Holocaust were aberrations in German history, phenomena without roots in the country’s past. Thus, the Holocaust is left to stand outside of German history, an un-German phenomenon, likened perhaps to an industrial accident. I am reminded of a cartoon that appeared in the early 1960s in the German student magazine Konkret. It showed a German grandfather bouncing his grandson on his knee and answering the question the boy had obviously asked. The caption read, ‘Well, it was this way,’ the grandfather explains. ‘In 1933, these brown creatures suddenly dropped from the heavens and for the next twelve years raised havoc all over Germany, and then–in 1945–just as suddenly, they disappeared.'” (p. 169).

Humor aside, notice the extent of the German “contrition”. It is only about Jews and the Holocaust. There is no even pretended contrition for the massive German crimes against Poles. Then again, this is part of Holocaust supremacism, which I discuss next.

HOLOCAUST SUPREMACY RULES OVER ALL EUROPEAN HISTORY

Top Holocaust scholar Christopher R. Browning makes this revealing comment, “On the contrary, henceforth, the centrality of the Holocaust to understanding the historical significance of not just National Socialism but also twentieth-century European history was unquestioned.” (p. 58). He adds that, “I suspect that my status both created curiosity and was welcomed as confirmation that the Holocaust was a key event of modern European history that transcended both German and Jewish history.” (p. 66).

The message is clear: The Holocaust rules the roost, which can only mean that no other genocide can be a key event. The non-Jewish victims of Nazi Germany are not as important as the Jews and their Holocaust, and neither are the non-Holocaust events of all twentieth-century European history. All other genocides are commonplace, local events, as only the memory of the Jews’ Holocaust transcends the perpetrators and victims. If this is not Holocaust supremacism, then what is? And, yes, we should finally start questioning this standard narrative.

GERMAN CHURCHES ENDORSED THE NAZI GERMAN TERROR AGAINST POLES AS WELL AS AGAINST JEWS

Robert P. Ericksen, taking the customary Holocaust-related swipe at Christianity, elaborates on the anti-Semitism in the German churches. However, in doing so, he at least acknowledges that many German Christians were German imperialists first and Christians second.

The author mentions the public prayers said for a Nazi German victory over Poland in 1939, and the ensuing German orgy after this victory. This was no small spectacle. Ericksen comments, “After success in Poland, both Protestant and Catholic churches rang their bells for an entire week in celebration.” (p. 137).

BRINGING ALL CRIMINALS TO JUSTICE? OR JEWS GETTING BACK AT THOSE THAT PURPORTEDLY HARMED THEM?

David Cesarani, whose mother was Jewish, repeats familiar complaints about early postwar England not paying enough attention to the Holocaust, and for letting “too many” eastern Europeans (that, according to his prejudices, may have been Nazi collaborators) into England. (p. 77).

He discusses the War Crimes Bill, which was said to be intended to punish such criminals. Cesarani then levels this complaint, “The opponents of the Bill routinely depicted it as a Jewish measure inspired by vengeance. They referred to Jews as a ruthless, selfish and clannish group that was not properly English, with international connections, determined to impose alien values on a Christian country that put forgiveness above unrelenting justice.” (p. 78).

This kind of polemic raises uncomfortable questions. Was the War Crimes Bill really about punishing all Nazi crimes, or was it primarily intended to punish Nazi crimes against Jews? And, if bringing old criminals to justice is so important and so morally urgent, then why has not a single Communist criminal been prosecuted? In particular, why was Jewish Communist murderer Helena Wolinska vel Brus-Ochsmann given haven in Britain, and refused to be sent back to Poland to face long-delayed justice? See:

https://www.jewsandpolesdatabase.org/2019/11/04/zydokomuna-no-justice-done-pluzanski/