Poland and the Jews
stephan.gross
In a recent posting, we have the following:
>2. He failed to mention that Poland was only place in Europe where
> person caught by Germans on hiding the Jew was shot on the spot
> together with his family. Yet Poles constitute the largest group
This is not true. This was standard German practice and took place
in every occupied country.
>It is about time that people recognize that after the jewish nation
>Poles have clear second place when it comes to suffering during WW2.
>They were being killed both by Germans AND Soviets. And after the
>war they were sold by happy Western Allies into the Soviet Empire,
>where they remained for next 45 years...
2 quick points:
1) This is classic "blame the West" mentality. The Germans and
the Russians make a secret agreement to divide Poland among them
and it's the fault of the "happy Western Allies". Give me a break!
I would remind you that Britain and France immediately went to war
with Germany to honor their agreements with Poland.
2) Evidently the great suffering of the Polish people did not
prevent them from carrying out pogroms against the hapless few
remaining Jews that managed to return to Poland AFTER the war ended.
--
Steve Gross (...att!homxc!sg)
stephan.gross
In a recent article:
>The territory of the Commonwealth of Poland and Lithuania was for
>centuries the best place the Jews had known from the destruction
>of Jerusalem to the creation of Israel. For that reason it is hard
>to find a Jew whose ancestors had not lived there for some time.
>The whole Hassidic culture was created there. The Yiddish language
>flourished. There were whole towns exclusively Jewish where pogroms
>were unknown. I have yet to hear a good word for the hospitality
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>and tolerance that the Jews encountered in the Commonwealth
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>(Rzeczpospolita). Later there were problems, especially in the last
>
> Jerzy
Oh? Since when do citizens of a country need to be shown "hospitality"
and "tolerance"? These things can be extended from a host to a guest,
or from a patron to his client, but not from equal citizens to one
another.
Unfortunately, this is yet another example of the mentality that was
behind the poor treatment of Jews in Poland, before, during and after
World War II.
--
Steve Gross (...att!homxc!sg)
MIK...@ohstpy.mps.ohio-state.edu
> In a recent posting, we have the following:
>
>>2. He failed to mention that Poland was only place in Europe where
>> person caught by Germans on hiding the Jew was shot on the spot
>> together with his family. Yet Poles constitute the largest group
>
> This is not true. This was standard German practice and took place
> in every occupied country.
Are you saying that german occupation of Poland was the same as
german occupation of France? Or Belgium?
>>It is about time that people recognize that after the jewish nation
>>Poles have clear second place when it comes to suffering during WW2.
>>They were being killed both by Germans AND Soviets. And after the
>>war they were sold by happy Western Allies into the Soviet Empire,
>>where they remained for next 45 years...
>
> 2 quick points:
> 1) This is classic "blame the West" mentality. The Germans and
> the Russians make a secret agreement to divide Poland among them
> and it's the fault of the "happy Western Allies". Give me a break!
> I would remind you that Britain and France immediately went to war
> with Germany to honor their agreements with Poland.
O, yes, indeed. Later this part of the war was called "sitzkrieg".
Soviets were waiting two weeks for the british and french move.
When they realized that polish allies don't want to "die for Danzig" they
joined Germans on Sept.17. I know that speculations "what if" are rather
pointless but there was a good chance to defeat Germany when most
of their forces were tied up in Poland. Now add to this Munich etc.
I don't blame them. They really thought they are preserving peace.
Mikolaj