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| Child survivors of Auschwitz |
Menachem Begin once famously said that antisemitism
is in the mother’s milk of Europeans. I think that’s true – even today. I also believe
that the country he had most in mind when he said that is Poland. Which I believe
is the poster-child of European antisemitism.
Poland is not one of my favorite countries. To say
the least. The history of Polish antisemitism is well documented. It existed
long before Nazi Germany did. In fact prior to the rise of Hitler Germany was
one of the friendliest countries to the Jewish people in Europe. Jews thrived
in Germany archieving high status and prominence with nearly complete
assimilation. Jews were all over the place in pre Nazi Germany: the arts, the sciences,
academia, the military, the business world, and the professions.
One might compare the life of a Jew in Germany then to the life of a Jew in today’s America. The only difference being that Germans
harbored some residual antisemitism deeply rooted in the teachings of
Martin Luther. The official religion of Germany is Lutheran. That prejudice
surfaced with a vengeance when Hitler came to power.
The Jewish people never experienced such tolerance
in Poland - except at the very beginning of their migration there. Because of
their reputation as good businessman - Jews were invited to help improve the
Polish economy. Which they did. But that tolerance was very short lived. The vast majority of Poles were and still are
very religious Roman Catholics who viewed
Jews as Christ killers. Pogroms were common both before and after the Holocaust.
My father experienced it. After surviving the
Holocaust he tried to rebuild his life in Poland and started a business there.
But after experiencing a pogrom he quickly applied to immigrate to the US. (Thank
God!) He realized that the antisemitism
was still alive and well… and acted upon! My father had always told me that the
Poles were far worse than even the Germans when it came to antisemitism. I tend to agree
despite the fact that Nazism was founded in Germany.
I also recall my mother telling me stories how the
local Catholic priest urged his parishioners not to patronize my grandmother’s
business because she was Jewish –haranguing his flock about the ‘Jewish Christ
killers’ in their midst. (That priest eventually croaked very suddenly and was replaced by a
kinder priest who actually encouraged those same parishioners to patronize her
business. There were some decent people there even then. But way too few.)
Claude Lantzmann’s monumental 6 hour documentary, Shoah (Hebrew for
Holocaust), had a scene where he interviewed an elderly Pole who was a righteous gentile. He actually
risked his life to hide Jews during the Holocaust. And yet, this righteous gentile
dressed up in his Sunday finest to watch Nazi occupiers marching Jews to the death
camps. He felt a religious obligation to witness the fact that Jews were being
punished for their sin of killing Christ! That’s how deep seated the antisemtism was among the Poles. Even the righteous among them! The fact is that most Poles (who were not so righteous gentiles) were more than happy
to fully cooperate in rounding up their once Jewish neighbors for their Nazi
occupiers.
(I hasten to add that ever since Vatican II Church
doctrine no longer teaches that today’s Jews are guilty of killing their god and
that now we are to be considered a legitimate brother religion and the father
of Christianity.)
Which brings me to the reason for this post. A
recent decision by the Polish government to make any use of the phrase ‘Polish
death camps’ a criminal offense. That has brought condemnation by a number of
prominent people, including the Prime Minister of Israel.
Some people are trying to defend Poland in this regard.
It is true that the most infamous Nazi concentration camp of all is Auschwitz. Which is in Poland. But it is also true that this
camp as well as every other concentration and death camp was built and
operated by the Nazis. Not Poles. So it is technically correct that they were
not ‘Polish’ death camps.
But they may as well have been. Except for the righteous
gentiles among them, the Poles were perhaps the most eager participants of
all nationalities in helping Nazis send Jews to the death camps of any other
country. Just about every Polish Jew who survived the Holocaust - that I have ever spoken to - has made this claim. They spoke from experience. I have no reason to doubt
them.
I understand that Poland doesn’t want to be identified
with those death camps. What sane country would?! So of course they want to set
the record straight. It was Nazi Germany that was actually responsible for those death camps. Not Poland. It may also be true that Poland was the country
that most actively resisted the Nazi occupation and did not collaborate with them. The
Nazis didn’t think too much of the Poles either. Which might explain their level of resistance. But Polish resistance to
Nazis had little if anything to do with their policy towards the Jews. With that,
their citizens could not be more fully aligned.
So if Poland wants to set the record straight they should
do so fully. They may not have built and operated those death camps. But they contributed
mightily to the death and suffering of countless numbers of Jews interred
there. That is a truth they cannot deny!
