"Bieganski" in Poland in Polish. New Date.

Back in November, 2014 I mentioned that Jacek Tokarski of Wydawnictwo Wysoki Zamek planned to publish "Bieganski" in Poland in Polish in March of 2015. You can read that post here.

Mr. Tokarski has written to inform me that he will not make that date, but that he hopes that "Bieganski" will be published in Poland in Polish later this year. 

Lena Dunham Compares Her Jewish Boyfriend to Her Dog: Anti-Semitic? Funny?

Before you complain,
please realize that this is a relatively discrete photo,
compared to what else is out there. 

In the March 30, 2015 issue of The New Yorker, actress and writer Lena Dunham compares her Jewish boyfriend to a dog in a meant-to-be humorous quiz.

Lena Dunham is famous for appearing naked on TV, and for doing so in spite of weighing more than most TV stars do.

Her New Yorker quiz is a list of 35 items. Each item is meant to be funny because it could be about a dog or a Jew. Samples:

"He comes from a culture in which mothers focus every ounce of their attention on their offspring and don't acknowledge their own need for independence as women. They are sucked dry by their children, who ultimately leave them as soon as they find suitable mates.

He expects to be waited on hand and foot by the women in his life, and anything less than that makes him whiny and distant.

He doesn't tip.

He's really more of an ass man.

He has a sensitive stomach and has to take two Dramamine before entering any moving vehicle.

Every week it's some new health issue: urine crystals, sprained foot, beef allergy.

He has hair all over his body, like most males who share his background.

He once vomited on his seatmate in United business class, then ran up and down the aisle in a panic."

What is immediately apparent is that the whole thing, like Lena Dunham herself, is embarrassingly, painfully, weird, narcissistic, and unfunny. You keep waiting for it to be over but keep reading out of perverse fascination.

But is it anti-Semitic?

I'm not sure. Our culture gives people the right to mock and stereotype their own. Chris Rock on African Americans, Joan Rivers on women, David Chase on Italians.

Various blogs say yes it is anti-Semitic, including Kveller linked here.

Read Lena Dunham compare her Jewish boyfriend to a dog in The New Yorker here.

A controversial matter

An email correspondent has sent in a couple of potentially controversial observations. I don't know if he wants to be named so I won't name him, but if he wants to name himself in the comments section that's fine with me. 

He says that he has found a couple of references to Jewish Poles welcoming invading German Nazis during WW II, or at least not appearing to be as aware as they should have been of how thoroughly and irredeemably evil the Nazis were. 

One such reference is here.

Another is here.

Of course many people thought that a civilized people like the Germans could never commit any crime so horrible as genocide, but It seems to me that by the time the Nazis invaded Poland their anti-Semitism was abundantly clear. 

Of course there would have been isolated individuals who were naive or otherwise unwise when it came to assessing the Nazi threat. 

I'm not sure of any larger meaning to these anecdotes. 

Thank You for Bieganski's New Cover

"Bieganski" has a new cover. 

Thank  you again to James Conroyd Martin, author of "Push Not the River," Karen Wyle, author of "Twin Bred," Pani F, who chooses to remain anonymous, and Eugene Sokolowski. Your donations made the new cover possible. 

Thank you! 

Yes, In the Age of Hamas & Charlie Hebdo, Poland Remains the Gold Standard in Anti-Semitism. Please Read "Bieganski." Educate Yourself. And Resist.

The Atlantic chose to illustrate its article about genocidal hatred of Jews among Muslims with an image of anti-Semitic graffiti in Poland. Of course. Their caption: "Workers wash anti-Semitic graffiti from the Holocaust memorial at the former Kraków-Płaszów concentration camp in Poland, March 13, 2010. (Associated Press)"

People who haven't got a clue, often quite well meaning, insist to me that my work on the Brute Polak stereotype is unnecessary. With time, as humanity evolves, as Poles become more modern and adopt white-collar employment, they insist, the brute Polak stereotype will disappear. No one will ever again associate anti-Semitic brutes with Poles. 

These folks, as well meaning as they are, have no idea what they are talking about. 

Bieganski, the brute, anti-Semitic Polak, is here to stay. 

The solution is for Poles to educate themselves, and to resist the stereotype. A good first step is buying and reading the book, here.

A good second step is to contemplate the current sorry state of Polonian organizing, as described here. 

I'm posting all this right now because I just stumbled across yet another iteration of Bieganski, this time in The Atlantic, an influential and respected publication. 

A little over a hundred years ago, The Atlantic published respected and influential articles that depicted Poles as near animals who should not be allowed as immigrants in the United States. You can read about a couple of those articles in "Bieganski." 

In its April, 2015 issue, The Atlantic covers genocidal Muslim hatred of Jews in Europe, hatred so fierce The Atlantic asks, "Is It Time for the Jews to Leave Europe?"

Poland is mentioned twice. 

First mention:

"When the survivors of the Shoah emerged from the camps, and from hiding places in cities and forests across Europe, they were met on occasion by pogroms. (In Poland, for instance, some Christians were unhappy to see their former Jewish neighbors return home, and so arranged their deaths.)"

Second mention:

"Workers wash anti-Semitic graffiti from the Holocaust memorial at the former Kraków-Płaszów concentration camp in Poland, March 13, 2010. (Associated Press)"

Because of course an article about genocidal Muslim hatred of Jews is illustrated with an image of anti-Semitic graffiti on a Holocaust memorial in Poland. 

Get used to it, Polonia. You are the gold standard in anti-Semitism, and indeed in all hate. 

Read "Bieganski." Organize. Resist. 

The Atlantic article is here

The Color of Courage: A Boy at War

The Color of Courage Finalist in Prestigious Benjamin Franklin Awards

WWII Diary of Boy Soldier Recognized in 2 Categories

Los Angeles, California, March 18, 2015 — The Color of Courage—A Boy at War: The World War II Diary of Julian Kulski (Aquila Polonica Publishing, Nov. 2014) has just been named as a finalist for the 2015 Benjamin Franklin Award in two different categories: Autobiography/Memoirs, and Interior Design (1-2 Color).

The winner will be announced in a ceremony held in Austin, Texas, the evening of April 10, 2015. Now in its 27th year, the Benjamin Franklin Award, sponsored by the Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA), is the premier awards competition in independent publishing, recognizing excellence in independent publishing. There were nearly 1,400 entries this year.

In his Foreword to this remarkable diary of a boy soldier during World War II, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Lech Walesa calls The Color of Courage “a superb lesson of humanity.” The Chief Rabbi of Poland, Rabbi Michael Schudrich, writing the Introduction to the book, praises The Color of Courage as “an inspiring read.” Dr. Zbigniew Brzezinski, Center for Strategic & International Studies, says: “Compelling, readable, and very moving.”

“We’re excited to learn that The Color of Courage is a finalist in two categories for the 2015 Ben Franklin Awards,” said Aquila Polonica president Terry Tegnazian. “This is a rare look at World War II through the eyes of a young boy soldier that stays with you long after you close the book.” To learn more: www.polww2.com/AboutCourage

Julian Kulski was a 10-year-old Boy Scout living in Warsaw when the Germans invaded Poland in 1939. His diary follows his wartime experience from ages 10 to 16. He quickly begins his own personal war against the Germans with small acts of sabotage but soon, at age 12, is recruited into the Underground Army by his Scoutmaster, where he is trained in weapons handling and military tactics. Kulski undertakes a secret mission into the Warsaw Ghetto, is captured by the Gestapo, sentenced to Auschwitz, beaten, rescued, fights in a Commando unit during the vicious street fighting of the 1944 Warsaw Uprising, and ends as a 16-year-old German POW...finally risking a dash for freedom onto an American truck instead of waiting for “liberation” by the Soviets. Watch the book trailer: www.polww2.com/CourageTrailer

Kulski’s diary is enriched by more than 150 photos and illustrations, 13 maps, and 11 “Digital Extras,” which are short videos created by Aquila Polonica from historical film and audio material that bring Kulski’s story to life in an unprecedented way. Watch sample Digital Extras: www.polww2.com/SampleDigitalExtras

Interior design, typesetting and cover art are the work of talented Los Angeles designer Ewa Wojciak, Senior Lecturer of Fine Arts at the USC Roski School of Art and Design. Although this is her first book for Aquila Polonica, Wojciak has an extensive background as a designer and creative director primarily for the entertainment industry, with a client list that includes Disney, CBS, HBO, Sony, Universal Pictures and Fox, as well as in advertising agencies and print media. In The Color of Courage, Wojciak brings a fresh, contemporary look to this historical memoir, with pull quotes that draw the reader through the text, and an innovative use of thumbnail images and QR codes augmented by URLs to incorporate the multimedia Digital Extras into the print book.

Aquila Polonica is an award-winning independent publisher based in Los Angeles, specializing in publishing, in English, the World War II experience of Poland—the first of the Allies to fight Hitler. See more at: www.AquilaPolonica.com

James Pula Reviews "Bieganski"

James Pula has reviewed "Bieganski" in H-Net. Link here.

You can order "Bieganski" on Amazon here.

The Big Lie about Nazism and Christianity

"The Big Lie" is a phrase we get from the Nazis and their use of propaganda.

There is a Big Lie out there now. This Big Lie is told by *some* capital A Atheists and others who have a problem with Christianity in general and the Catholic Church in particular. This Big Lie is that, in some way, shape, or form, Nazism = Christianity. The equivalence is rarely stated that starkly. This Big Lie is expressed in various ways.

One way to express this Big Lie is to say that the Nazis were inspired by Christianity. Another way to express this Big Lie is to say that the Nazis owe their success to Christianity. Another way to express this Big Lie is that Christianity is responsible for those killed by the Nazis.

This Big Lie is spoken in lectures delivered by college professors. This Big Lie is typed on internet discussion boards. This Big Lie appears in well-received books written by Atheist superstars.

The Nazis were a great evil. It behooves us to understand them, and to tell the truth about them. They didn't spring up overnight. They had their roots in Western Civilization. We make the world a better place by understanding Nazism, and telling the truth about it.

Nazism's intellectual foundations and inspirations were atheism, scientism, Darwinism, nationalism, and neo-Paganism. All of these movements left explicit documents stating exactly what they believed, and the implications of those beliefs. Before Hitler, authors and movements as diverse as Herder, the Grimms, Wagner, the HAKATA, Kulturkampf, scientific racism, eugenics, Lothrop Stoddard, and Madison Grant left their documentary trail. The Nazis themselves stated what inspired them, what justified their actions, and what their future plans were. You can read more about that here.

The Nazis' goal was to eliminate Christianity. You can read more about that here.

Recently, I had written to Steven Pinker, author of "The Better Angels of Our Nature," about his book's treatment of Friedrich Spee, a heroic Catholic priest who helped to end the unjust persecution of alleged witches in early modern Europe. You can read more about that email here.

Dr. Pinker wrote back promptly and politely. He mentioned that in his book "Better Angels," he talked about Nazism and Christianity.

In "Better Angels," Dr. Pinker wrote "many of the Nazi elite melded Nazism with German Christianity in a syncretic faith…Many Christian clerics and their flocks were all too happy to sign up, finding common cause with the Nazis."

I find this statement to be very misleading, to the point of revisionism. I do appreciate Dr. Pinker's always responding to me with courtesy and promptness. I do totally disagree with what he has written here.

I mentioned my frustrations on Facebook.

Linda, a Facebook friend who is a college professor and an atheist, mentioned a new book, "God's Bankers: A History of Money and Power at the Vatican" by Gerald Posner.

Here's a quote from the most popular review of "God's Bankers" on Amazon: "The narrative is skillfully knotted with loads of scenes of the times, from little Jewish boys kidnapped by popes, into the shadows of the Vatican alliance with the Third Reich, to Jews loaded onto boxcars under clergy noses…Most of us know the German Concordant allied the Vatican with Nazi Germany."

Peter Sean Bradley, an attorney, blogger, Facebook friend, and prolific Amazon reviewer, joined in the Facebook conversation. Peter mentioned an interesting phenomenon about the Big Lie that Nazism = some version of Christianity. Many people have noticed this same phenomenon.

If you read contemporary documents from the WW II era, you read about Christians, especially Catholics, being persecuted by Nazis, denouncing Nazis, and resisting Nazis.

If you read documents from recent years, suddenly Christianity becomes Nazism's best friend. Peter put it this way, "the understanding of National Socialism has shifted, essentially obliterating the lived experience of people at the time."

Peter also mentioned Kulturkampf, a German, nineteenth century, anti-Catholic movement. In other words, Germany had a history of significant anti-Catholicism. Peter pointed out that that history should be mentioned in histories of the Holocaust.

A brief summary of the impact of Kulturkampf from Wikipedia, "Priests and bishops who resisted the Kulturkampf were arrested or removed from their positions. By the height of anti-Catholic legislation, half of the Prussian bishops were in prison or in exile, a quarter of the parishes had no priest, half the monks and nuns had left Prussia, a third of the monasteries and convents were closed, 1800 parish priests were imprisoned or exiled, and thousands of laypeople were imprisoned for helping the priests."

Of course Poles are and were majority Catholic. Poles were a special target of the Kulturkampf. They were also a special target of the Nazis. This history is often ignored.

This looks like historical revisionism.

One could argue that new material has come to light since the war proving the friendly relationship between Nazism and Christianity. That doesn't seem to be the case, though. Rather, this revisionism appears to be ideologically motivated.

Don't like Christianity? Don't want to debate it on its own terms? Then equate Christianity with the worst monsters you can – Nazis.

Peter and I posted several screen shots of news reports contemporary with the Nazi era. In these news reports, one reads of Nazis persecuting Christians, one reads of Christian leaders denouncing Nazism, and one reads of observers noting the hostility Nazism expressed for Christianity.

Some of these documents are below.

I also mentioned the Jehovah's Witness, AKA Watch Tower Society, letter of June 25, 1933, written by Watch Tower president Joseph F. Rutherford. In this "Declaration of Facts," Rutherford identified Jews and Catholics as the primary critics of Nazi Germany.

The Declaration of Facts is noteworthy for this reason. The Jehovah's Witnesses were not Catholic and they identified Catholics as Nazi Germany's major critics, alongside Jews.

Neither Peter nor I are professionals historians. We haven't dedicated our lives to righting the Big Lie about Nazism and Christianity. The clips below are merely some clips we found during a Facebook discussion.

I can't cause truth to triumph. I can chip away, in however small a manner that I can, at the Big Lie.

Read more about Father Piotr Sosnowski here

A Nazi propaganda poster depicting Nazism eradicating the black international -- Catholicism -- and the red international -- communism. 

taken from longer article, below

I have just stumbled across a bibliography on the web that purports to list thousands of such articles. I have not read this entire page. Please examine it for yourself. You can find it under the title "Thus Spoke Pius XII" here.

Further, Peter dipped into the Posner book. Peter posted excerpts with commentary on what Posner got wrong or misrepresented. For example, Peter wrote,

"This is from the Posner book:

'Heir’s charge kicked off a frenzy of reporting about the long-forgotten alliance between the church and the Nazi-puppet government in Croatia. Some commentators used it to reevaluate Pope John Paul’s controversial decision the previous year to be the first Pontiff to pray at the tomb of Alojzije Stepinac, Zagreb’s wartime cardinal. Stepinac had led the Croatian church during the war and was later convicted of war crimes.'

This is a major reveal. [Peter is speaking sarcastically here.]

Stepinac has been slandered for years without justification. I've posted the NYT article where Stepinac condemned anti-semitism. Stepinac also condemned force conversions. He was convicted by Tito in what everyone knows was a travesty of justice as part of Tito's efforts to destroy Catholicism in Yugoslavia. What kind of judgment is demonstrated by someone who would so casually pass off a conviction by totalitarian Communists as if it represented a just and truthful decision?"