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

Holocaust, by Gerald Green.1978. Bantam Books, New York

Gerald Green’s Largest Whopper: The Impactful 1978 Holocaust Series and Its Rank Polonophobia

I first review the book by Gerald Green, and then the movie by the same title. This has enduring significance, as the movie, along with its anti-Polish messages, has been seen by a huge audience (120 million Americans). See:

https://www.jewsandpolesdatabase.org/2019/11/04/holocaust-supremacism-overt-lipstadt/

To put Gerald Green’s HOLOCAUST series in the broader context of Holocaust films, see:

https://www.jewsandpolesdatabase.org/2025/08/18/sensational-stuck-up-holocaust-oscars-biased/

In addition, the Polonophobic tropes found in Holocaust are repeated to this day. I examine some of them.

GERALD GREEN’S LARGEST WHOPPER AND ITS ANTI-POLONISM

The book itself is replete with false information. He says that Poland in 1939 folded in 20 days (p. 163) when she actually held out against two powerful attackers for 35 days. Notice that such “mistakes” always happen in the same direction–in giving Poles less credit than they deserve. Never do these “mistakes” give Poland more credit than she deserves.

Green delivers the predictable whine about Polish antisemitism (p. 76), without ever hinting at the Jewish conduct that caused it. Furthermore, Green insinuates that the Germans realized that they would have “no problem” from the Eastern Europeans in killing Jews. (p. 225). In fact, he lies about the fact that Poles cheered that the Nazis were killing the Jews. (p. 97).

Gerald Green repeats the old hoary fairy tale of Poles cheering as the Jews burned in the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. (p. 364). He also repeats the mendacious tale of Poles being unwilling to give substantial arms to the Jewish Ghetto insurgents. (p. 269, 342). Green grotesquely falsifies history when he asserts that the “Polish bandits” mentioned in the Stroop Report did not exist, and that all the Ghetto fighters were Jews. (p. 361).

Not done yet, Green repeats the falsehood of the Polish Underground saying nothing about the persecution of the Jews. (p. 305). His mythical “Polish fascists” killed Jews that had escaped from Sobibor. (p. 385).

GERALD GREEN’S LARGEST WHOPPER–THE MOVIE VERSION

The following is a summary and analysis of a NEW YORK TIMES article (September 23, 1979, Section CN, p. 1, by Diane Henry). The article is appropriately titled, “Holocaust on TB Stirs Poles’ Anger”. As well it should.

The Polish analysts realize that Poles have been unfairly cast as Nazi collaborators. The entire movie is Judeocentric–making the Jews out to be the only victims of Nazi Germany. In other words, “…while the program showed Poles helping the Nazis, there was little credit given the Poles who fought the Germans and helped save the lives of many Jews”. Sound familiar?

The Poles objected to specific segments of the program showing men wearing Polish Army uniforms helping German soldiers execute Jews. Similar protests were made to the British Broadcasting Corporation and the BBC eventually cut a few scenes from the broadcast, citing inaccuracies in uniforms used in the program. The NYT article quotes Stanislaus A. Blejwas, an associate history professor at Central Connecticut State College, who said the scenes were “historically inaccurate because wearing of a Polish uniform was strictly forbidden” by the Germans.

Besides demonizing the Poles, movies like Holocaust spread inaccurate information that American viewers are unable to discern. This includes the thinking the Jews were the only victims of Auschwitz. Edwarda Powidzka, an Auschwitz survivor, said, “When strangers saw the tattooed number on her arm, she said, “Many would say, ‘Are you Jewish?’ and I would say ‘No.’ Incredulous, they would ask, ‘What were you doing there?'”

The Jews brushed off the Polish criticisms, saying that “anybody can be offended”. Anybody? No one would ever make a movie casting African Americans in a negative light. If certain Jews are offended by the Holocaust series, they should take it up with their fellow Jews, and not use this as an excuse to tell lies about the Poles.

According to Jewish defenders of Holocaust-related Polonophobia, facts do not matter. To Jews they do: Jews always complain about “Holocaust denial” and “Holocaust distortion”. If facts do not matter, then one lie is just as good as another lie, and so we should teach Holocaust denial in the American classroom.

For more on the fallacies in Gerald Green’s Largest Whopper: the Holocaust series, see:

https://www.jewsandpolesdatabase.org/2019/12/28/leading-polonophiles-and-polonophobes-a-whos-who-nowak/