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Waking a Polish Demon
The article originally appeared in German in the Frankfurter Rundschau on
January 18, 2008.
http://www.signandsight.com/features/1642.html
21 January 2008
Jan Tomasz Gross has taken on the difficult task of removing blind spots
in Polish history. His new book "Fear" has sparked an emotional debate in
the country of his birth, where anti-Semitism is not a popular subject.
By Jakub Kloc-Konkolowicz
In recent days a new chapter in the emotional debate over Polish
anti-Semitism has opened in Poland. The occasion is the Polish edition of
a new book by the Princeton historian of Polish origin Jan Tomasz Gross.
The book with the punchy title "Fear. Anti-Semitism in Poland after
Auschwitz" (New York 2006) revolves around a central question: "How was
Polish anti-Semitism possible after Auschwitz?" According to the reports
by Holocaust survivors cited by the author, rather than being welcomed
with open arms, Polish Holocaust survivors were met in their hometowns by
the cynical question "Are you still alive?!"
The Holocaust victims were confronted with more or less open hostility on
the part of the Polish population, which ultimately ended in pogroms.
Gross' book examines three of these in detail, in Rzeszow (1945), Krakow
(1945) and the most notorious pogrom in Kielce (1946) in which 37 Jews
were murdered.
For Gross, neither the allegedly widespread participation of Polish Jews
in the slowly consolidating Communist regime nor the horror stories
circulating about the ritual murder of Christian children were the real
reasons for these occurrences. Ultimately, economic interests were behind
the events. Many Poles had taken possession of Jewish property after the
German occupiers fled, and the Holocaust survivors' return was perceived
as a real threat. Regardless of the pretexts for the pogroms, Gross
writes, their real purpose was to get rid of the inconvenient victims.
Although many Poles had heroically come to the aid of their fellow Jewish
citizens by providing them with shelter at their own peril, most had
looked on with indifference - sometimes even approval - at the crimes
committed by the German occupiers on the Jews. Pangs of conscience can be
very effective, destructive even, especially when they veil a clear
interest.
Gross is particularly critical of the Polish Catholic Church, maintaining
that with the exception of the Bishop of Czestochowa, clerics not only
did nothing to protect Jewish survivors from assaults after the war, but
even sought explicitly to justify these attacks to a greater or lesser
extent. Nevertheless, one must add, Gross' controversial book was printed
in Poland by a respectable Catholic publisher.
This is not the first time that a book by Gross has created a stir in
Poland. The publication in 2001 of his "Neighbors" had already kindled an
emotional debate about the Polish population's involvement in the
Holocaust. That book dealt with the murder of the Jewish residents of
Jedwabne (a small town in Eastern Poland) in 1941. For decades under the
Communist regime this crime was attributed to the German troops. It was
only with Gross' assertion that Polish neighbours had carried out the
crime that an investigation initiated by the Polish Institute for
National Remembrance (IPN) confirmed direct Polish participation (leaving
the role of the German occupiers open).
Even before the report was published, Alexander Kwasniewski, then Polish
president, officially apologised for the Jedwabne murders "in the name of
those Poles whose consciences are troubled by this crime."
Many people never forgave Kwasniewski for this apology. Most Yad Vashem
trees (dedicated to the "Righteous Among the Nations" who risked their
lives to save threatened Jews during WWII) bear Polish names. Poland was
the sole occupied country where helping Jewish citizens was punishable by
death. Under the occupation, the Polish underground Armia Krajowa
initiated a structure unique in Europe (called Zegota) which offered
aid - including military support - to the Jews.
Since the Poles staunchly resisted the Nazi aggression and were
themselves victims of Hitler's policy of genocide, many saw - and
continue to see - themselves exclusively in the role of war victims. For
that reason they consider any allegation that casts Poles in the role of
perpetrators a brazen effrontery, if not a direct attack on the Polish
people. Accordingly, even events that took place after World War II, in
particular the pogrom in Kielce, are seen by many historians as a
provocation by the (Polish or even Soviet) secret service, which sought
to damage Poland's image in Western Europe and secure its adhesion to the
Russian sphere of influence.
was predictable that his new book would set off a new wave of outrage
even before it came out in Polish. Already after the original version was
published in the US, some Polish senators alerted the Polish public
prosecutor's office that the book could insult the Polish people and
incite hatred, charges which the office is currently reviewing.
The radical Catholic League of Polish Families has officially demanded
that the Polish Foreign Ministry deny Gross entry into Poland. Many
commentators believe Gross' book reveals no previously unknown facts,
brings nothing new into the debate and is more an essay "with a
presupposed thesis" than a genuine historical study. Janusz Kurtyka,
director of the Institute of National Remembrance, has accused Gross of
historical incompetence and highly one-sided use of his sources.
But critical voices are also being heard among moderates, for example
Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, the secretary to Pope John Paul II, as well
as the legendary Solidarnosc leader Lech Walesa, who maintained Gross'
book would awaken dangerous demons and divide where it should reconcile.
The Polish-Jewish dialogue must be carried out with a view to the future,
not the past, Walesa argued. Very few people have come to the defence of
this author, who has taken on the difficult task of making uncomfortable
facts known to a wider audience and removing blind spots in Polish
history. His supporters include Konstanty Gebert, chief editor of Midrasz
a Jewish-interest magazine.
However the widespread Polish indignation is also explained by the fact
that many feel the book paints an outdated portrait of Poland. Many
believe the old mantra of Polish anti-Semitism no longer rings true,
because much has changed since the 1990s. The policy of reconciliation
and dialogue between Poles and Jews begun by President Walesa and carried
through by his successor Kwasniewski - as well as current President Lech
Kaczynski - has been highly successful. Jewish life in Poland has
reawakened, and interest in Jewish culture, history and religion has
grown enormously, especially among young Poles. Many Jewish festivals
have been established and exhibitions and theatre performances focussing
on Jewish issues are on the rise. Just a few weeks ago, the postal
workers' union spontaneously and successfully refused to distribute
anti-Semitic brochures put out by an extreme right-wing politician.
Jan Tomasz Gross by no means denies these tremendous changes in Polish
society. He simply believes that uncomfortable topics of the past must be
discussed openly. Controversy over a book is always welcomed by its
author, people say. The only thing Gross would find scandalous would be
if this debate had to be continued in the courtroom.
You only need to look at the development of the democratic public sphere
in Poland since the 1990s, however, to see that this debate, emotional as
it is, is far more likely to be carried out in a more appropriate forum.
And in all probability it will lead Poles to regard their history with
more critical distance. Regardless of people's fears, it is unlikely that
the book and the discussion around it could harm Jewish-Polish dialogue.
Jakub Kloc-Konkolowicz teaches philosophy at the University of Warsaw.
He is currently holder of a Humboldt Foundation research grant at Johann
Wolfgang Goethe University in Frankfurt am Main.
Translation: lp
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