Rethinking Poles and Jews: Troubled Past, Brighter Future Review

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(More customer reviews)Given this book's title, there is surprisingly little "rethinking" and "brighter future," and surprisingly much "troubled past."
One essay stands out for its freshness and courage. Jewish-American journalist Carolyn Slutsky unabashedly exposes almost unbelievable hostility to Poles nurtured by March of the Living: youngsters were told not to "leave any good Jewish money in Poland" (190); marchers were encouraged to view Poles living near camps as participants in genocide, though those Poles witnessed Polish non-Jews' internment, torture, and murder. In MOL ideology, Poland has been the "evil country" Slutsky says (190). Participants who had positive experiences with Poles, or assessments of Poland, were steered away from those experiences by MOL leaders (192). After her MOL experience, Slutsky went on to live in Poland, and soon met Poles whose family members had been victimized by the Nazis. Ewa, a Polish girl, reported that her grandfather had been killed in Majdanek. Slutsky says her head spun - she finally realized the other side of the story (195). Slutsky ends with an exhortation that MOL try harder to find truth (195).
Mieczyslaw Biskupski carefully outlines the cinematic version of the Holocaust in theatrical films, documentaries, and television miniseries including "Schindler's List," "Holocaust," "Uprising," "Sophie's Choice," "Shoah," and "Shtetl," and compares that depiction with historical fact. Verdict? Poles are now the perpetrators of the Holocaust. In scene after scene, historical fact is distorted to divert guilt from German Nazis and place it on the shoulders of Poles, especially Polish, Catholic, peasants. Please note: all these films are shown in high schools and colleges as Holocaust educational material.
Robert Cherry demonstrates, through surveys, that Holocaust education teachers in the US tend to have anti-Polish biases.
Father John T. Pawlikowski is a Polish American priest and scholar who has been active in Polish-Jewish dialogue for decades. His essay offers a first-person account of his frontline experience, including at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Pawlikowski is frank in recording obstacles he met from both Poles and Jews. Elie Wiesel was wary of him because of his ethnicity. At the same time, Poles demanded why he should represent Polonia (112). Polish Americans often complain about their depiction in scholarship, journalism, and media. Rightly so. But Polish Americans have not done the hard work to correct the stereotypical depictions of Poles, or to educate the public about Poland's history and culture, or even to begin to honor that history and culture (114). Poles must not blame Jews or anyone else, Father Pawlikowski insists; rather, they must look to Poles' own organizing, Poles' own support of scholarship and cultural products. Bravo, Father Pawlikowski.
Lawrence Baron offers an interesting account of how Roman Polanski's "The Pianist," based on the life of Holocaust survivor Wladyslaw Szpilman, and Andrzej Wajda's "Korczak," based on the heroic doctor and child advocate Janusz Korczak, were received in world media. Bottom line: politics and prejudice, rather than aesthetic merit, played a role in the acceptance or rejection of these works of art.
Michael Shudrich, Poland's chief rabbi, speaks as a very visible Jew in today's Poland. He talks about young people in Poland who discover, or begin to invest in, their previously hidden or ignored Jewish roots, and he salutes non-Jews who commit themselves to preserving Poland's Jewish heritage. Shudrich cites Pope John Paul II and his philo-semitism as having a positive impact on Polish-Jewish relations.
There are a few contributions that cling to past hates, and do not offer a road, as the book's subtitle suggests, to a "brighter future." Shana Penn says that print media do not misrepresent Poles (56). Her evidence of this? She used to preside over very tall file cabinets full of clippings (49). Penn is simply wrong in her assertion; print media certainly do misrepresent Poles and Poland. One need only mention the frequently repeated phrase "Polish concentration camps" and absence of mention of Polish suffering under the Nazis, for example in a 12/23/2009 NYT article about the theft of the Auschwitz sign that failed to mention that Poles were interned at Auschwitz, while being sure to list other victims.
Joanna Michlic continues to attribute anti-Semitism to Polish, Catholic, peasant, folk, pre-modern, and patriotic identities. She adduces no evidence to support this assertion. Much evidence could be adduced to call Michlic's conclusion into doubt: the Holocaust, the worst expression of anti-Semitism in history, was inspired and facilitated by modern, scientific, atheistic, Pagan, Western, advanced, ideology and persons. Many Catholic, peasant, folk, pre-modern and patriotic Poles rescued Jews. Michlic needs to jettison her prejudices and go back to actual data.
Eli Zborowski's foreword is very much a throwback to the past, and not part of any movement toward a "brighter future." In his brief piece, Zborowski emphasizes that his family was victimized by Nazis and by Poles. Zborowski's family was helped by Poles; that help is not his focus. Zborowski does not mention, and the book does not emphasize, that Poles suffered during the Holocaust, and that that suffering must be understood in any Polish-Jewish dialogue. Zborowski's victimizatioin is tragic and wrong and his story needs to be attended to and sympathy and restitution must be extended. At the same time, the central placement, in the foreward, of Zborowski's victimization at the hands of evil Poles during the Holocaust is very much not part of any steps toward a brighter future; it skews the entire text and undermines its stated purpose. Steps toward a "brighter future" for Poles and Jews will include mention of Polish suffering under the Nazis, and fearless probing of the complex shared history that preceded the 1939-45 era.

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Rethinking Poles and Jews focuses on the role of Holocaust-related material in perpetuating anti-Polish images and describes organizational efforts to combat them. Without minimizing contemporary Polish anti-Semitism, it also presents more positive material on contemporary Polish-American organizations and Jewish life in Poland.

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