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

The Making of Schindler’s List: Behind the Scenes of an Epic Film, by Franciszek Palowski. 1998. Birch Lane Press Book, New Jersey

Really Shameless Goodbye Jews! The Dark Side of Schindler’s List

The Polish author of this book has a rather naïve view of the movie, Schindler’s List. However, he makes some thought-provoking points, and these are what I focus on.

THE SHAMELESS GOODBYE JEWS! LIE: ELUCIDATING THE OBVIOUS

Here is the venomously anti-Polish scene in Schindler’s List, a cheap-shot propaganda seen by literally hundreds of millions of people:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRbqAJdRMjs

Palowski commented on this mendacious scene of Poles cheering the impending deaths of the Jews, and even throwing mud at them. He wrote, “My answer is that if the Polish people figure prominently only in the scene we just witnessed, then Schindler’s List destroys one stereotype–a good German is a dead German–as it reinforces another–the anti-Semitic Pole. Destroying one stereotype by replacing it with another is not the best way to achieve the truth.” (p. 82).

Yes. Common sense. But this is in short supply amongst the Holocaust establishment. Then again, it was intentional.

CONTEXTUALIZING THE SHAMELESS GOODBYE JEWS! LIE

Author Palowski attempts to provide some context for this mud-throwing scene. He sees this as a local and temporary reaction to the advantages given the local Jews by the German occupation authorities. He writes, “There is a reason for the negative attitude on the part of some Polish people toward the Jews moving to the ghetto. The Germans created the ghetto by displacing all the Polish people who lived in the part of town chosen for the ghetto, so the process of resettling the Jews to ghettos brought about resettling problems for many Polish families as well. The displaced Poles resented it bitterly…” (p. 77).

But no matter. Even if Palowski is correct, most viewers will not notice the context so, as intended, the scene does in fact score anti-Polish propaganda points. Surely Spielberg knew that: He may be devious, but he is not stupid.

A LAME EXCUSE FOR THE SHAMELESS GOODBYE JEWS! LIE

Palowski dances around the Polonophobic implications of Schindler’s List. He makes the following statements, “Some critics formulated the thesis that the book was anti-Polish. On the other hand, I agree with those who do not consider the absence of Polish people anti-Polish–and the scenes of throwing mud at the Jews? Could it have happened? Who can say with a clear conscience that it did not?” (p. 78).

Excuse me! The burden of proof is on the accuser, not the defendant. Spielberg has no right to make unsupported statements about Poles. Nor does Spielberg even have this right even if it were true. We are told that movies are not supposed to reinforce stereotypes. That is, for example, why we would never have a movie that portrays African-Americans as criminals, even though some African-Americans are indeed criminal.

Interestingly, a number of critics have pointed to the inaccuracies in Schindler’s List. They were concerned that the errors may diminish the credibility of the Holocaust in the public mind. However, they showed no concern for the Goodbye Jews! Lie. See:

https://www.jewsandpolesdatabase.org/2023/03/31/schindlers-list-inaccuracies-confronted-but-not-its-anti-polish-lies-ushmm-actively-pushes-holocaust-supremacy-shenker/

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MULTIPLE GERMAN-WHITEWASHING PROPERTIES OF SCHINDLER’S LIST

Palowski interviews Stanislaw Dobrowolski, a onetime leader of the Krakow division of Zegota, the Underground Polish Jew-rescue organization. Dobrowolski considers the motives behind Schindler’s List, such as the need for a “good German” for propaganda purposes. (p. 93). In addition, “…Dobrowolski suspected that perhaps something much more serious was at play, namely, ‘an attempt to discredit in world opinion the legitimacy and maybe even the legality of the Nuremberg trials, especially against the criminal bureaucrats.'” (p. 93).

Against those who dismiss such considerations, we need to press the issue as to why there never has been a movie, comparable to Schindler’s List, about Polish Jew-rescuers, notably Irena Sendler and Aleksander Lados.

For more on the intentional German-whitewashing properties of Schindler’s List, see:

https://www.jewsandpolesdatabase.org/2023/11/04/schindler-sanitized-schindlers-list-makes-the-germans-look-good-and-omits-unfavorable-facts-jewish-ghetto-police-a-nazi-collaborating-jew-was-not-driven-by-fear-of-death-brown/

WHY DID THE ABWEHR (GERMAN INTELLIGENCE AGENCY) EXIST?

The author actually states that it is an “undocumented claim” that Schindler was spying on the Poles for Nazi Germany. (p. 93). Just what kind of “smoking gun” evidence does Palowski need? Perhaps a signed affidavit certifying the fact that he spied for Nazi Germany? And why was Schindler in the Abwehr in the first place? Was it to pick flowers?