From
page 104 of "Bieganski:
The Brute Polak Stereotype."
"In addition to what did appear in the press and in public discourse, the discussion on anti-Semitism in Poland was fashioned by what did not appear in the press and what was not said in public discourse. A July 27, 2001 LexisNexis search of the previous year's news stories found one hundred sixty four articles covering Gross' Neighbors. Sampled texts emphasized a diagnostically and uniquely Polish racial essence that was typified by violent anti-Semitism. A July 27, 2001, LexisNexis search of the previous year's news stories found only two articles addressing Irena Sendler. One of those articles was a mere hundred words long, and in a local paper. The other article included lengthy mention of Gross' Neighbors and described Poles as "viciously anti-Jewish" (Komarow).
Irena Sendler was a Polish woman who is credited with saving 2,500 Jewish children during the Holocaust. She rescued Jewish children although, unlike the German Nazi Oskar Schindler, as a Pole and a target for eventual genocide or enslavement by the occupying Nazis, Sendler faced death for herself and her family if caught aiding Jews in any way. Nazis tortured Sendler. On May 31, 2001, Sendler, 91, met with Kansas schoolchildren who had uncovered her forgotten story. Only two newspapers covered this event, according to a LexisNexis search, and one felt it necessary to give lengthy space in its coverage to Gross' book. No articles focusing on Gross' book, according to a LexisNexis search, made any mention of Irena Sendler at all. Anti-polonists had done such a good job of communicating that Poles are essential haters that the idea of a Polish rescuer was so unbelievable that Sendler is accorded a page at Snopes.com, a website devoted to exposing urban legends."
End of quote from "Bieganski."
Today a facebook friend, a lovely, caring, and sincere person, posted a message recommending that Irene Sendler receive the Nobel Peace Prize. Irene Sendler, this lovely facebook friend wrote, was German.
I asked her why she said that.
She sent me the text below, which she had received via facebook. It says that Sendler "being German" knew about the Holocaust. The phrase is ambiguous, and can be taken at least two ways. In any case, many will interpret it as identifying Sendler as German.
This will make sense to many people for whom Bieganski, the Brute Polak stereotype, distorts history.
Polonia, I hope you wake up at some point. Buy "Bieganski." Read it. Study it. Act on it.
Here is the facebook post that appears to identify Sendler as German:
"REMEMBER THIS LADY!!!
Look at this lady - Let us never forget!
The world hasn't just become wicked...it's always been wicked.
The prize doesn't always go to the most deserving.
Irena Sendler
Died 12 May 2008 (aged 98)
Warsaw, Poland
During WWII, Irena, got permission to work in the Warsaw ghetto, as a plumbing/sewer specialist.
She had an 'ulterior motive'.
She KNEW what the Nazi's plans were for the Jews (being German).
Irena smuggled infants out in the bottom of the tool box she carried and she carried in the back of her truck a burlap sack, (for larger kids).
She also had a dog in the back that she trained to bark when the Nazi soldiers let her in and out of the ghetto.
The soldiers of course wanted nothing to do with the dog and the barking covered the kids/infants noises.
During her time of doing this, she managed to smuggle out and save 2500 kids/infants.
She was caught, and the Nazi's broke both her legs, arms and beat her severely.
Irena kept a record of the names of all the kids she smuggled out and kept them in a glass jar, buried under a tree in her back yard.
After the war, she tried to locate any parents that may have survived it and reunited the family.
Most had been gassed. Those kids she helped got placed into foster family homes or adopted.
Last year Irena was up for the Nobel Peace Prize.
She was not selected.
President Obama won one year before becoming President for his work as a community organizer for ACORN
and
Al Gore won also --- for a slide show on Global Warming.
In MEMORIAM - 63 YEARS LATER
I'm doing my small part by forwarding this message.
I hope you'll consider doing the same...
It is now more than 60 years after the Second World War in Europe ended.
This is being posted as a memorial chain, in memory of the six million Jews, 20 million Russians, 10 million Christians and 1,900 Catholic priests who were murdered, massacred, raped, burned, starved and humiliated by the Nazis.
Now, more than ever, with Iran, and others, claiming the HOLOCAUST to be 'a myth'. It's imperative to make sure the world never forgets, because there are others who would like to do it again, and this time, it may be your religious, ethnic, sexual preference or 'whatever' group."
"In addition to what did appear in the press and in public discourse, the discussion on anti-Semitism in Poland was fashioned by what did not appear in the press and what was not said in public discourse. A July 27, 2001 LexisNexis search of the previous year's news stories found one hundred sixty four articles covering Gross' Neighbors. Sampled texts emphasized a diagnostically and uniquely Polish racial essence that was typified by violent anti-Semitism. A July 27, 2001, LexisNexis search of the previous year's news stories found only two articles addressing Irena Sendler. One of those articles was a mere hundred words long, and in a local paper. The other article included lengthy mention of Gross' Neighbors and described Poles as "viciously anti-Jewish" (Komarow).
Irena Sendler was a Polish woman who is credited with saving 2,500 Jewish children during the Holocaust. She rescued Jewish children although, unlike the German Nazi Oskar Schindler, as a Pole and a target for eventual genocide or enslavement by the occupying Nazis, Sendler faced death for herself and her family if caught aiding Jews in any way. Nazis tortured Sendler. On May 31, 2001, Sendler, 91, met with Kansas schoolchildren who had uncovered her forgotten story. Only two newspapers covered this event, according to a LexisNexis search, and one felt it necessary to give lengthy space in its coverage to Gross' book. No articles focusing on Gross' book, according to a LexisNexis search, made any mention of Irena Sendler at all. Anti-polonists had done such a good job of communicating that Poles are essential haters that the idea of a Polish rescuer was so unbelievable that Sendler is accorded a page at Snopes.com, a website devoted to exposing urban legends."
End of quote from "Bieganski."
Today a facebook friend, a lovely, caring, and sincere person, posted a message recommending that Irene Sendler receive the Nobel Peace Prize. Irene Sendler, this lovely facebook friend wrote, was German.
I asked her why she said that.
She sent me the text below, which she had received via facebook. It says that Sendler "being German" knew about the Holocaust. The phrase is ambiguous, and can be taken at least two ways. In any case, many will interpret it as identifying Sendler as German.
This will make sense to many people for whom Bieganski, the Brute Polak stereotype, distorts history.
Polonia, I hope you wake up at some point. Buy "Bieganski." Read it. Study it. Act on it.
Here is the facebook post that appears to identify Sendler as German:
"REMEMBER THIS LADY!!!
Look at this lady - Let us never forget!
The world hasn't just become wicked...it's always been wicked.
The prize doesn't always go to the most deserving.
Irena Sendler
Died 12 May 2008 (aged 98)
Warsaw, Poland
During WWII, Irena, got permission to work in the Warsaw ghetto, as a plumbing/sewer specialist.
She had an 'ulterior motive'.
She KNEW what the Nazi's plans were for the Jews (being German).
Irena smuggled infants out in the bottom of the tool box she carried and she carried in the back of her truck a burlap sack, (for larger kids).
She also had a dog in the back that she trained to bark when the Nazi soldiers let her in and out of the ghetto.
The soldiers of course wanted nothing to do with the dog and the barking covered the kids/infants noises.
During her time of doing this, she managed to smuggle out and save 2500 kids/infants.
She was caught, and the Nazi's broke both her legs, arms and beat her severely.
Irena kept a record of the names of all the kids she smuggled out and kept them in a glass jar, buried under a tree in her back yard.
After the war, she tried to locate any parents that may have survived it and reunited the family.
Most had been gassed. Those kids she helped got placed into foster family homes or adopted.
Last year Irena was up for the Nobel Peace Prize.
She was not selected.
President Obama won one year before becoming President for his work as a community organizer for ACORN
and
Al Gore won also --- for a slide show on Global Warming.
In MEMORIAM - 63 YEARS LATER
I'm doing my small part by forwarding this message.
I hope you'll consider doing the same...
It is now more than 60 years after the Second World War in Europe ended.
This is being posted as a memorial chain, in memory of the six million Jews, 20 million Russians, 10 million Christians and 1,900 Catholic priests who were murdered, massacred, raped, burned, starved and humiliated by the Nazis.
Now, more than ever, with Iran, and others, claiming the HOLOCAUST to be 'a myth'. It's imperative to make sure the world never forgets, because there are others who would like to do it again, and this time, it may be your religious, ethnic, sexual preference or 'whatever' group."
I dedicate this blog post to those Polonian leaders who have repeatedly refused to take scholarly discussion of stereotyping seriously, and who repeatedly offer only this simple-minded suggestion: "Let's talk about heroic Poles. That will eliminate the Brute Polak stereotype."
ReplyDeleteTheir suggestion that talking about heroic Poles will eliminate the Brute Polak stereotype, and that Polonians dedicated to this cause need not study stereotyping, is worthless.
Polonian leadership: Polish government, Polish diplomats, Kosciuszko Foundation, etc: Your plan to eliminate the Brute Polak stereotype by talking about heroic Poles is a failure.
Time to take scholarship on stereotyping seriously.
Please.
Dear Danusha, I am so pleased, in my teeny tiny way today, to have exposed the misrepresentation when I read the original public post, inferring she was German & believing same. So happy you caught it & have posted this cover-up & silence of recognizing this hero of a woman...Polish & a saint, risking her life for injustice. I pray this blog of yours gets swarms of outcries to correct the sacred legacy of Irene Sendler.....giving her world recognition, rightfully so, bless her courageous heart. To think of the extreme efforts she went to to save fellow human beings. Respectfully, Judith Taylor PS: A movie should be made about Irene Sendler, no question.
DeleteNo surprise there then. How long before Osama Bin Laden turns out to have been Polish? Once again a good warning about the lying and spinning connected to all things war and politics.
DeleteThe German attempt to "steal" Irena Sendler and to make her out to be a German is nothing new. For a long time, the Germans have also tried to make Copernicus out to be a German. Throughout the ages, Germans have commonly tried to depreciate Polish culture by saying that it is nothing more than copied German culture. And so on...
ReplyDeleteThere are a number of books and movies about Irena Sendler, and I have reviewed them. To see a list of this items, along with other Polish rescuers of Jews, please click on my name in this specific posting.
Jan, I politely disagree. Germans didn't do this -- Americans did.
DeleteWhy?
Because of the Brute Polak stereotype. The image of Poles is so firmly entrenched in American minds that a hero can't be Polish.
There is no such opprobrium attached to German ethnicity.
This facebook post reveals so much. If only Polonia would listen.
I think that is a very important point Danusha, "There is no such opprobrium attached to German ethnicity". Nor is there to Russian ethnicity despite the Nazi-Soviet pact, nor to the ethnicity of any of the other Axis Powers. Nor to Japanese ethnicity because of Japanese war crimes in WW2, etc etc. I am not saying that i want there to be, of course not. But, once again, it shows an agenda that has nothing to do with anything Poland has done, or not done.
DeleteThough I think I understand what you mean Jan. When i was in Saudi I emailed someone on a site that was then blocked off, so I can't remember its name, or anything about it, except that I read a diatribe against Poles and Poland on it, written by someone who claimed to be German.
I wrote to the proprietor of the site (politely and calmly) pointing out to him that under the rules of the article he had published on his site we could not win. Every time Poland did something wrong or lost a battle, it was because we were Polish, and therefore "unter" - but every time Poland did something right or won a battle is was because there is no such thing as Poles or Poland, we are really Germans.
He did reply and acknowledged that I had a point. I don't think he had picked up on that aspect.
But, as Danusha says, in this instance, it seems to be America that is doing this, and as she says it is probably because the campaign of vilification has been so effective. But that, I assume, was the intention. This didn't just happen.
But what next? That is what i am wondering.
Hi Danusha- You are right on this one, but in a different way Jan is not entirely wrong.
DeleteLately, the horrible defamatory (and in general, historically and with regards to the script,the characters,just plainly bad) movie Poklosie (Aftermath) was made-in Poland, by left-wing extremists who like to use the "anti-Semitism" club to fight their enemies, the right wingers (these horrible people are demanding f.e Norymberga dla komuny! (Nurnberg for the communists)-many left-wing politicians made their career and wealth while being still communists-so their fear is understandable).
They do not care if this is harming Polands reputation abroad-that would require s.th like understanding international politics and stuff or common sense.
Also, they believe themselves to be "Europeans" or what not.Anything, just to be not a Pole.
Be that as it may-it received 10 thumbs up in German newspapers-who are "applauding" that Poland is "at least" taking on the difficult subject of "Polish anti-Semitism" and, hold Your breath! "collaboration with the nazis".
Given the fact, that German foundations linked to political parties are quite active in Poland, and are willing to give money for "research" "demythifying" Polish history and "taking on difficult subjects" (like anti-Semitism)I have come to the conclusion that those in charge in Germany are leading a very deliberate campaign to smear Poland- because if you smear s.o else, you are effectively diverting attention from yourself.
This is helped by the fact that Poland is a post-colonial society and does not posess true elites-they will appear eventually, but it might be to late than to save our reputation.
BTW, been to the synagogue lately-again, I had to show my ID, was hooked of a guest list and when I left policemen sitting in their police-car parked right in front of the synagogue were surveilling me visually.
I had been deliberating to become a sponsor of the liberal synagogue-than I was told that would still not entitle me to take part in the Sabbath celebrations-just to be invited 4 times a year to it.
Also,I have met a German girl who was planning to convert (she was even already able to sing in Hebrew,more or less) and she had been told that right now they are not doing any conversions, she might come back in 1-1,5 years. (the orthodox congregation told her to write back in 8 months-guess they will repeat that 3 times...)
This all is bull.
Guess with all that "Jews" the have (=Russian atheists with some Jewish ancestry being taken in en masse by Germany as "Jews" and "rejudaised" by the orthodox congregations-which is why Russian has become a predominant language in German synagogues-s.th Jewish Germans just love) why should they care about f.e Germans wanting to convert?
In Poland, it would be quite easy, the rabbi there even offered me a meeting if I was seriously interested in a conversion. They are not only open (literarily) but also very friendly.
Perhaps its just the Polish culture? I dont know- but Jewish life in Germany is kind of...how to put it? Behind walls, policemen and security services.
Not very inviting at all.
This has all reached a new level of complex irony. Sorry, I totally strained form the point- but I really needed to get that of my chest.
Here's a link to a blog criticizing this piece on Irene Sendler not for the anti-Polish material but for taking cheap shots at Gore and Obama. The writer suggests the piece is cheap propaganda.
ReplyDeletehttp://dailymull.com/1605/Irena-Sendler-and-Al-Gore-the-Propaganda-Machine-Is-at-it-Again