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

Warsaw Testament, by Rokhl Auerbach. 2024. Yiddish Book Center, Massachusetts

Ringelblum Betrayal Carelessness, Unclear Motives. If Polish Betrayal, Then Not Necessarily Anti-Semitism

Jan Grabowski and other Polonophobes have widely publicized the alleged Polish betrayal of hidden Jewish historian Emmanuel Ringelblum, all in the standard Judeocentric contextual vacuum. This accusation ignores material facts, including the Ringelbum betrayal carelessness.

Author Rachel Auerbach was a Holocaust survivor who had firsthand familiarity with Emmanuel Ringelblum in hiding. She commented on his betrayal, “It was also a CARELESS MISTAKE to put a person of Ringelblum’s importance in a hideout where, besides him and his family, there were more than thirty others. By and large they were not the kind of people he would normally have associated with. There were too many of them, and THEY WERE NEITHER DISCREET NOR PRUDENT. Just sending in enough food for a large number attracted unwanted attention from the neighbors. The Polish landlord had suddenly become very rich, and conflicts broke out with his relatives. Complicating matters was his wife’s suspicion that he had a lover on the side. As the days wore on the situation became steadily worse.” (p. 157. Emphasis added).

Ringelbum betrayal carelessness: In so-called Holocaust scholarship, the carelessness of some Jews in hiding is never mentioned, let alone considered. As always, only Poles are blamed. The carelessness of certain Jews in hiding should seriously be investigated as a factor in the low survivorship of hidden Jews. The carelessness of Jews in hiding also makes it more likely that the Germans, who were always on the lookout for signs of Jews in hiding, themselves uncovered Ringelblum’s bunker without the involvement of any Poles. But of course we never hear this.

In those cases where Poles are validly blamed for betraying Jews, antisemitism is always assumed to be the motive. Not so. There are two versions of the inferred Polish betrayal of Ringelblum. According to one version, as supported by Auerbach above, an involved Pole broke up with his girlfriend, and she retaliated by exposing Ringelblum’s bunker to the Germans. If so, it was an act of spite, not an act of antisemitism.

PAID POLISH RESCUERS WERE FULLY JUSTIFIED TO TAKE MONEY

On another subject, Auerbach sagely commented, “As I got carried away with my description of the coming ‘messianic age,’ I even told him that people would make no distinction between those who rescued Jews for money and those who did so for purely altruistic and humanitarian reasons. After all, whatever their motives happened to be, ALL RESCUERS LIVED IN MORTAL FEAR AND RISKED NOT ONLY THEIR LIVES BUT ALSO THE LIVES OF THEIR CHILDREN AS WELL.” (p. 311. Emphasis added).

So, Auerbach, who actually went through the Holocaust, appreciates the deadly situation facing Polish rescuers, including paid Polish rescuers. She should tell off Jan Gross and Jan Grabowski, who have been slandering paid Polish rescuers for being “greedy” and (what else?) anti-Semitic. Better yet, she should tell off Yad Vashem, which refuses to recognize paid Polish rescuers as “righteous gentiles” but hypocritically allows paid Danish rescuers to be thus honored.

For more on the themes raised by Rachel Auerbach, see:

https://www.jewsandpolesdatabase.org/2019/11/04/inconistent-restitution-claims-levin/

https://www.jewsandpolesdatabase.org/2019/11/04/antisemitism-silenced-polish-rescuers-a-myth-bartoszewski/