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(More customer reviews)This book mixes historical facts and stereotyped generalizations. Owing to space limitations, only a few of the latter can be reviewed. The prewar economic boycotts and numerus clausus at universities are mentioned, but not the fact that Polish Jews, at 10% of the Polish population, owned over 40% of Poland's wealth, and were over-represented at universities. These anti-Jewish policies were, using modern parlance, a form of affirmative action designed to get more Polish gentiles into Jewish-dominated institutions.
Although Poland was only one of two German-occupied nations in which the death penalty was imposed for aiding Jews, certain writers (cited by Zimmerman) have attempted to minimize its significance by disingenuously arguing that it didn't decisively constrain Polish behavior. But concealing an inanimate object (e. g., a gun) is far less risky than hiding a human being! We keep hearing that Poles did not "do enough" to save Jews. But who is to be the judge of this, and on what basis is the judgment to be made? As for Poles having failed a moral test, this additionally implies the uniqueness of Jewish suffering, a view that did not develop until long after WWII. How was the average Pole, trying to survive under the lash of the Germans, realize that his conduct would be subject to an ex post facto moralization? No convincing evidence is presented to support reflexive claims that Poles were disinclined to help Jews owing to prewar attitudes (and church teachings). In fact, the acknowledged anti-Semitic beliefs of many rescuers of Jews argue for the opposite.
Polish inaction towards the Jews is simplistically generalized as indifference. Polish help to Jews, Zegota aside, is characterized as "only individual and unorganized". Yet discussion of Zegota (Pawlikowski) makes it clear that the Germans would only have more easily penetrated a larger underground rescue network. Furthermore, substantially more Polish assistance to Jews would have triggered a correspondingly greater German terror against the Polish population with little net additional saving of Jewish lives. Complaints about the AK (Polish Home Army) lacking a systematic program for aiding fugitive Jews are misunderstandings. It was a clandestine guerrilla organization, devoted to military objectives and, exceptions aside, unable to save individual Jewish (or Polish) lives. Poles outside of the AK wanting to fight procured arms themselves, never waiting for outside assistance or "moral support" [for instance, the Peasant Battalions combating draconian German colonization, and rural Poles of Volhynia thwarting genocidal attacks by the UPA (so-called Ukrainian Insurgent Army)]. The AK did not become involved until later.
The usual inaction of Poles and occasional betrayal of Jews is portrayed as a violation that provoked a degree of Jewish pain and anger incapable of being assuaged by the actions of those Poles who did assist Jews. But could not the same be said about Polish reactions to earlier long-term comparable Jewish behaviors? Bearing in mind that loyalty is the expected conduct, the sacrifices of patriotic Polish Jews could not counterbalance the actions of a large fraction of Polish Jews who acted indifferently to Poland's centuries-long struggle for independence, and even supported Poland's enemies. While this book touches on the latter (Lwow 1918, disproportionate Jewish involvement in Communism 1939-1947) it fails to inform the reader about the significant pro-Russian orientation of Polish Jews going far back into the 19th century.
Recurrent charges of Poles turning in or killing fugitive Jews neglect a number of factors, one of which is the latter's significant involvement in the plunder (and sometimes murder) of Polish villagers. Contrary to Krakowski's claims, Jewish (and, for that matter, also gentile) banditry was very real, and subject to Polish counter-action.
The Jedwabne massacre is presented uncritically, along with the citation of some Polish authors who lament "the loss of Polish victimhood and innocence". But are Poland's centuries of tragic history so easily disposed of? And how many tens of Jedwabnes would be needed to rival the number of Jews killed by Horthy's Hungary or Petain's France? Pinchuk objects, on the basis of the fact that Jews were killed indiscriminately, to the notion of Jedwabne being Polish revenge for the recent Jewish-Soviet collaboration. But the Poles sent earlier to horrible slavery and death in Siberia, largely facilitated by Jewish denunciations, were hardly limited to those Poles guilty in Jewish eyes, and included numerous children. Finally, the evidence does not support Gross' storytelling. There were 200-400 Jewish victims, not 1,600. Very likely, the Germans orchestrated this atrocity, with the Poles relegated to a compelled subsidiary role (perhaps 40 Poles, certainly not "half the town"). Who actually torched the barn is unclear.
Perhaps the weakest part of this book is the rather superficial treatment of continued mutual Jewish-Polish prejudices (Gitelman), with no factoring of its extreme asymmetry. When a Pole makes negative comments about Jews, his audience is relatively small and almost always Polish. In contrast, a vast, diverse audience was exposed to the Polonophobic remarks of such prominent Jews as Carole Burnett, Alan Dershowitz, Yitzhak Shamir, Eppie Lederer (Ann Landers), etc. The Polack joke syndrome is mentioned, but not its origin from Jewish comedians. No mention is made of the usual anti-Polish slant of Holocaust-related films. (The Pianist is the exception that proves the rule. Free of Pole-bashing, it was widely criticized by Jewish commentators for this reason). The widely acclaimed educational cartoon Maus has pigs representing Poles, an inexcusable choice, while comparatively innocuous animals (cats, mice, etc.) represent all other nationalities. British scholar Norman Davies was denied tenure at Stanford University, as a result of Jewish pressure, all because of the opinion that he was "too pro-Polish".
The persistence of Polish anti-Semitism is simplistically attributed to the continued presence of negative characterizations of Jews in the Polish language, even though such characterizations, unfortunately, are virtually universal (e. g., the phrase "To Jew someone down" in the English language). Clearly, this book leaves much to be desired.
Click Here to see more reviews about: Contested Memories: Poles and Jews during the Holocaust and Its Aftermath
Few issues have divided Poles and Jews more deeply thanthe Nazi occupation of Poland during the Second World War and thesubsequent slaughter of almost ninety percent of Polish Jewry. ManyJewish historians have argued that, during the occupation, Poles atbest displayed indifference to the fate of the Jews and at worst werewilling accomplices of the Nazis. Many Polish scholars, however, denyany connection between the prewar culture of antisemitism and thewartime situation. They emphasized that Poles were also victims of theNazis and, for the most part, tried their best to protect the Jews.This collection of essays, representing three generations of Polish and Jewish scholars, is the first attempt since the fall of Communism to reassess the existing historiography of Polish-Jewish relations just before, during, and after the Second World War.In the spirit of detached scholarly inquiry, these essays fearlessly challenge commonly held views on both sides of the debates. The authors are committed to analyzing issues fairly and to reaching a mutual understanding.
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