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

Poland in the Face of the Holocaust, by Jan Zaryn. 2019. Polska Fundacja Narodowa

Jan Zaryn on How Poles Resisted the German-Made Holocaust in German-Occupied Poland

This encyclopedic book covers a lot of ground regarding the Holocaust. It focuses on Polish Jew-rescue efforts, notably those of Zegota, Irena Sendler, and Aleksander Lados.  Did you know that 350 Jewish prisoners were freed from the Gesiowka concentration camp during the Poles’ Warsaw Uprising? (p. 114).

I have read about all these things, discussed in this book, over many decades, and am sad to realize that very little of this material has penetrated the Western imagination. Jewish ingratitude is on display, as I elaborate later.

Part of the book features extensive testimonies of rescued Jews. These are rather detailed.

I now briefly focus on some seldom-mentioned facts:

FAMOUS JEWISH WRITER ISAAC BASHEVIS SINGER CONFIRMS JEWISH SEPARATISM AND THE JEWISH ALOOFNESS FROM ALL THINGS POLISH

Author Jan Zaryn reproduces the following eye-opening quote from Singer, a leading Polish Jew, “It was rare in Poland that a Jew felt the need to learn the Polish language; rarely was a Jew interested in the history of Poland or Polish political affairs […] Even in the last recent years it was rare for a Jew to speak Polish well. Among 3 million Jews living at the time in Poland, 2.5 million were unable to write even the simplest letter in Polish and pronounced Polish words very poorly.” (p. 30).

And yet, nowadays, Poles are blamed for not recognizing Polish Jews as fellow Poles. How could they? So much for the Orwellian fiction of “Jewish Poles” and “non-Jewish Poles”.

YES, THE POLISH UNDERGROUND PUNISHED POLISH BETRAYERS OF JEWS

Some Jews have insinuated that the Polish Underground only cared about traitors that betrayed military secrets and did not punish Poles for betraying Jews. This is an egregious falsehood. Jan Zaryn reproduces a poster, published by the Polish Underground in September 1943, of Poles executed by the Underground for treason. One of the names was Boguslaw Jan Pilnik, who robbed fugitive Jews and betrayed them to the Germans. (p. 95).

THE GERMAN AUTHORITIES REALIZED THAT POLISH AID TO JEWS WAS VERY SUBSTANTIVE

Unlike “Holocaust scholars” Jan Grabowski and Barbara Engelking, who would have us believe that Polish aid to Jews was minimal and greatly exaggerated, the Nazi German killers, who certainly knew what they were talking about, most certainly did not. Jan Zaryn quotes Standartenfuhrer Herbert Bottcher, Head of the SS and police in the Radom district (September 21, 1942), “‘Experience from recent weeks has shown that Jews, in order to forestall evacuation, indeed flee small Jewish residential areas in districts. These Jews have surely been taken in by Poles…Accomplices also include those Poles who, while not providing shelter to escaping Jews, nevertheless provide or sell them food. In all cases such Poles face the death penalty.'” (p. 187).

THE NAZI GERMAN AUTHORITIES SOUGHT TO DIVIDE POLES AND JEWS

The author quotes Hauptsturmfuhrer SS Richard Turk, who said on April 10, 1941, “‘Everything must be done, with all means of propaganda, to sow discord between Poles and Jews.'” (p. 186).

This explains a lot of things, such as Germans taking advantage of the Poles’ German-caused poverty by auctioning the belongings of the German-murdered Jews. And now Poles are called “greedy” and (what else?) anti-Semitic, for buying such property.

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ANTISEMITISM IS NOT THE SAME AS DISINCLINATION TO HELP JEWS, OR TO BE “COMPLICIT IN THE HOLOCAUST”

The never-ending Jewish talking point about “eternal” Polish antisemitism completely misses the mark. Jan S. Jankowski, a government delegate at the Polish Government in Exile in London, put the Jewish accusers in their place. Zaryn quotes him, “‘It must be stated that the country does not like Jews, even though it helps them, shows compassion and considers the crime committed against Jews to be one of the greatest in human history.'” (p. 167).

IS JAN ZARYN MISTAKING JEWISH IGNORANCE FOR JEWISH MALICE?

The facts on Jews and Poles in the Holocaust, as described in this book, are very different from the Western conception of the same. The author appraises the situation as follows, “The history of the Polish state and Poles rescuing Jews, fellow citizens, during World War II is unknown in Western Europe and the entire world. A presumption and false image prevails instead of facts with regard to conditions of the German occupation of Polish lands. Instead of knowledge of the scale of aid to Jews extended in extremely dangerous conditions, there is ignorance and an unjust accusation of Poles taking part in the Holocaust. The truth is completely different.” (p. 175).

There is no doubt which group has the main access to the media and to academia. I believe that Jan Zaryn is being much too charitable. It is not a question of Jewish ignorance: It is a willful Jewish refusal to face facts, and for Jews to prefer their prejudices about Poland to the truth.