Sunday, January 28, 2018

New Polish Holocaust Law Criminalizes Free Speech / Protects Poland's Reputation / Two Views

Andrej Krauze source

On Friday, January 26 2018, the day before Holocaust Remembrance Day, the lower house of the Polish Parliament passed a law criminalizing speech about the Holocaust. Violators would face three years in prison or a fine, reports Radio Poland. "The new law would apply to both Polish citizens and foreigners 'regardless of the rules in force in the location where the act was committed,' according to the official wording."

Reuters' Marcin Goettig wrote that the bill criminalizes "statements suggesting Poland bears responsibility for crimes against humanity committed by Nazi Germany. The bill will also make it illegal to deny the murder of about 100,000 Poles by units in the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) during World War Two, a move likely to increase tensions with neighboring Ukraine…

"PiS is currently battling accusations from the opposition that the party’s nationalist-minded, eurosceptic focus was helping to reinvigorate the far right. The head of the Ukrainian national remembrance institute said on social media on Thursday that passing of the bill was likely to halt cooperation between Ukrainian and Polish historians, the PAP agency reported."


"Israel's President Reuven Rivlin said in a statement about the legislation that there were Polish people who aided the Nazis and those who fought against them. 'Only 73 years have passed since the gates of hell were flung open. Living Holocaust survivors are disappearing from the world and we still have to fight for the memory of the Holocaust as it was,' Rivlin said.

'The Jewish people, the State of Israel, and the entire world must ensure that the Holocaust is recognized for its horrors and atrocities. Also among the Polish people there were those who aided the Nazis in their crimes. Every crime, every offense, must be condemned. They must be examined and revealed. There were also others among them who fought and were recognized as Righteous Among the Nations,' Rivlin said.

Yad Vashem, Israel's Holocaust memorial, said in a statement issued Saturday night that it opposes the new legislation, saying it is 'liable to blur the historical truths regarding the assistance the Germans received from the Polish population during the Holocaust.'"

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This law is a disaster. It will do nothing to improve Poland's reputation and only worsen Poland's reputation. This law, if passed, will place a mask of anti-free-speech fascism on Poland's face internationally. It will convince many that Poland must be guilty of the Holocaust; else why would Poland feel it necessary to pass a law to jail anyone who says that Poland is guilty?

Yes, Poland has been falsely accused of Holocaust crimes. That is the point of my book Bieganski: The Brute Polak Stereotype. The answer to the problem of Poland's bad reputation is not to throw people in jail for their speech. The answer to speech one does not like is not less speech, but more speech.

Poles must learn to do as other stigmatized groups have done. Poles must learn to put aside their backstabbing and infighting, to unite, organize, and act strategically. For more on that, see this blog post, "The Crisis in Polonian Leadership, Organization and Vision." This blog post offers a plan of action.

***

For a different point of view on this new law, please see guest blog post, below, by Arno Lowi. Arno is of Polish-Jewish descent. We met in Poland years ago when we were both studying Polish-Jewish matters through the Kosciuszko Foundation at the Jagiellonian University.

***

Israeli officials including their Prime Minister Netanyahu are in the news due to their efforts to force the Polish government to rescind a draft Polish law which makes it illegal to implicate Poland in the Holocaust, or to refer to the Nazi death camps in Poland as "Polish death camps."

The Polish draft law squares with history; anyone who knows WW2 history knows that the Holocaust was a Nazi-German project, knows that Poles were arch enemies of the Nazis, and that the Nazis began WW2 with an invasion of Poland.

The Nazis built death camps in several countries. Since Poland had the largest concentration of Jews and Poles, and the Nazis had a notorious plan to exterminate Jews and to wipe Poland, and Polish culture off the face of the earth, building death camps in Poland was a mere *practical decision* to reduce the cost of transporting Jews and Poles to their deaths.

While Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu cautions Poland against *holocaust denial* it is the Israeli Prime Minister who is in denial; Poles knew the holocaust before anyone else did, as many millions of Catholic Poles perished in Nazi death camps on Polish soil. To quote The Holocaust Encyclopedia, "non-Jewish Poles constituted the majority of inmates in Poland-based Nazi concentration camps until March 1942".

The real news story here is Israeli anti-Polish-ism, and Israel interfering in Polish affairs. Israel has nothing to teach Poles about the Holocaust. Perhaps it is time Israel learned from the Poles.

The following is from the Holocaust Encyclopedia article "Polish Victims."

"The German occupation of Poland was exceptionally brutal. The Nazis considered Poles to be racially inferior. Following the military defeat of Poland by Germany in September 1939, the Germans launched a campaign of terror. German police units shot thousands of Polish civilians and required all Polish males to perform forced labor. The Nazis sought to destroy Polish culture by eliminating the Polish political, religious, and intellectual leadership. This was done in part because of German contempt for Polish culture and in part to prevent resistance against the occupation.

In May 1940, the German occupation authorities launched AB-Aktion, a plan to eliminate the Polish intelligentsia and leadership class. The aim was to kill Polish leaders with great speed, thus instilling fear in the general population and discouraging resistance. The Germans shot thousands of teachers, priests, and other intellectuals in mass killings in and around Warsaw, especially in the city's Pawiak prison. The Nazis sent thousands more to the newly built Auschwitz concentration camp, to Stutthof, and to other concentration camps in Germany where non-Jewish Poles constituted the majority of inmates until March 1942.

The Nazis conducted indiscriminate retaliatory measures against populations in areas where resistance was encountered. These policies included mass expulsions. In November 1942, the Germans expelled over 100,000 people from the Zamosc region; many were deported to the Auschwitz and Majdanek camps. Approximately 50,000 Polish children were taken from their families, transferred to the Reich, and subjected to "Germanization" policies.

Following the annexation of western Poland to Germany, Hitler ordered the "Germanization" of Polish territory. Nazi governors (such as Arthur Greiser in the Warthegau and Albert Forster in Danzig-West Prussia) expelled hundreds of thousands of Poles from their homes in the Generalgouvernement. More than 500,000 ethnic Germans were then settled in these areas.

A Polish government-in-exile, led by Wladyslaw Sikorski, was established in London. It was represented on Polish soil by the underground "Delegatura," whose primary function was to coordinate the activities of the Polish Home Army (Armia Krajowa). The Polish resistance staged a violent mass uprising against the Germans in Warsaw in August 1944. The rebellion lasted two months but was eventually crushed by the Germans. More than 200,000 Poles were killed in the uprising.

Between 1939 and 1945, at least 1.5 million Polish citizens were deported to German territory for forced labor. Hundreds of thousands were also imprisoned in Nazi concentration camps.

It is estimated that the Germans killed at least 1.9 million non-Jewish Polish civilians during World War II. In addition, the Germans murdered at least 3 million Jewish citizens of Poland."

 - Arno Lowi 

18 comments:

  1. Thanks for the two-views approach to this question. I am glad that Poles are--however decades belatedly--finally standing up for their interests.

    Israeli President Reuven Rivlin, quoted above, said:

    "Every crime, every offense, must be condemned. They must be examined and revealed."

    Absolutely true! If I were in a position of authority, I would call Israeli President Rivlin's bluff by changing the new law to require that Jewish crimes against Poles be freely discussed whenever Polish crimes against Jews are brought up.

    So:

    Jedwabne yes, then Koniuchy yes

    or

    Koniuchy no, then Jedwabne no

    One of the two. It's that simple.

    That would cool the Polonophobic tongues of accusers pretty quickly--and do so without any appearance of censorship.

    Problem solved.

    ReplyDelete
  2. There is no free speach in continental Europe like it exists in the U.S.A. David Irving was imprisoned.
    I believe that the government of Poland should support research, youth exchange, translation of papers and books into English. Unfortunately they prefer to make a law and to forget the subject.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. An interesting perspective. The Holocaust establishment had long criminalized the questioning of Holocaust orthodoxies. Now the Polish government apparently has played the same game in return.

      And so the Holocaust establishment has been hoisted on its own petard. Serves them right.

      Delete
    2. As far Israels dictates the rules and US supports it, so your joy isn't based on facts.

      Delete
  3. UPDATE:

    Israel has launched a massive smear-and-stink campaign on the new Polish law. For details, see:

    https://stopacthr1226.org/israel-has-launched-an-official-brainwashing-campaign-to-humiliate-poland/

    (Deja vu. Note, almost exactly 100 years ago, the massive propaganda campaign in the press about 30,000 Jews murdered by Poles in massive pogroms).

    The more things change, the more they remain the same.

    ReplyDelete
  4. UPDATE Poland launched a massive smear campaign *against itself* with an idiotic and unnecessary law. Poland shot Poland in the foot.

    And no I am not an antisemite and no I do not think that Jews are responsible for Poland's problems. Poland did this to Poland. Poland can change this.

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    Replies
    1. The law has been consulted with Israeli embassy. According to my Israeli source the reason of Israeli comments are elections and Mr. Netanyahu's problems with Israeli law.

      Delete
  5. UPDATE I will no longer post messages that contain links to neo Nazi sites that blame Jews for Poland's problems.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. OK.

      No offense, but I am amazed to hear that the site is a neo-Nazi one. I would never give credence to a site that was actually neo-Nazi.

      Delete
    2. I am not familiar with the site, only with the headline your posted, "Israel has launched a disinformation campaign to humiliate Poland"

      That headline is irrational and hateful. it is right out of the Goebbels playbook.

      Delete
    3. Any country uses nationalism and protectionism in internal politics. It's very dangerous. I hope that all politicians know they manipulate their voters, that the accusations aren't serious. Kaczynski pretends he demands reparations from Germany.

      Delete
  6. Poles must learn to do as other stigmatized groups have done.

    Dear Danusha, In general I agree BUT there is a major problem.
    Allow me to lay it out a little bit. Unfortunately Poles do not have what it takes to be considered a "stigmatized group":They are white, mostly heterosexual and connected to a religion considered to be primitive voodoo by the "enlightened" left occupying the moral high ground (for now). Poland is Catholic,white, European, patriotic ect. Everything they hate on around 300 000 sqm. Unfortunately you can not change your skin color or turn gay. That leaves us with religion. I think a good way would be the collective conversion of the Polish nation to radical Islam. Please bear with me, as absurd as it may sound. Muslims are a pseudo-stigmatized group- they have the benefit of "mimimi we are poor victims of rampant islamophobia" as well as everyone fearing them. Killer combo.

    In Europe Jews totally dont mind Stars of David being burned right next to the Holocaust Memorial in Berlin (believe me, the German government does virtually nothing to combat Muslim Jewhatred and 50% of the populations thinks Israel is somewhat an illegal state...), on the contrary, organized Jewry viciously attacks political parties extending their hands to them because they are "islamophobic" "right-wing" and "populist". This is even shocking to Jews who are members of such parties like the AfD, the Front National, FPÖ ect. Yes, there are Jewish people who think islamic jewhatred should be combated before it will be to late. With regards to Jewish public figureheads: I guess it is because they fear Muslim backlash or something, especially in the future and want to show that they can be allies than. Im going out on a limb here, but this behavious is really insane:Sympathy towards those that hate you, hatred towards those that would be willing to support you. Sounds a little bit like collective Stockholm Syndrom. Also, They do not fear Polish backlash. Its a little bit like with slavery- Arabs, who were major players in the Slavery business, are not attacked at all. White nations are. Because they are peaceful, willing to listen, self-critical and emphatic (a.e "nice").

    In conclusion: Changing our religion so a religion well-liked by the leftist mainstream we could probably shift their support to us, the stigmatized group and also gain a lot of new allies within our new religious community.

    Please do not feel attacked by my sneaky comment, but I really fail to see how to pull this off. We are victims of a new form of racism:

    http://www.spiked-online.com/newsite/article/12520#.WnCsQq7iYps

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Please remeber that a number of Poles has converted to Islam (Jozef Bem). Before the war dome Polish Tatars were respected officers, eg. Achmatowicz family.

      Delete
  7. Jan Peczkis I just read your last two posts that you submitted for this blog.

    In one, you applaud a Holocaust joke that makes Jews the butt of the joke.

    In another, you claim, falsely, that Jews identify Slavs as untermenschen.

    I did post your post approving of Holocaust humor made at the expense of Jews.

    The post where you falsely claim that Jews regard Slavs as untermenschen I cannot post.

    I do believe in free speech. You have free speech. Your material is widely available on the web.

    From now on, I'm going to be much more cautious about posting your comments on this blog. I won't be offering any explanations as to why this or that post was not posted. I just don't have the time or energy to do that.

    ReplyDelete
  8. There is something else.
    You probably remember the Rwandan genocide,right? Now, Israel agreed to back Rwandas efforts to have it renamed as The Genocide against the Tutsis in the UN. For the small fee of taking in all illegal migrants Israel wants to have deported as they endanger the Jewish character of Israel. Rwanda is well organized, but poor and overpopulated (470 people/squarekilometer)

    =We back your claim if you take our burden. I dont even know what so say about this. Seriously, this is an instrumentalization the likes of which I have never seen before...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. There is an academic paper comparing Polish peasants to Hutu. Recently the same author has published a book in French on the same subject. The author doesn't have any idea about Poland, he doesn't read Polish, he summarizes a number of Polish books translated into English and French.
      He quotes eg. Barbara Engelikng "The Polish peasants killed with passion, feverishly, with haste and cruelty. They killed in the village, in the fields, in the woods, on the roads.’ The phrase is true in the context of let say Siemiatycze, but not when repeated by an ignorant in Paris.

      Delete
  9. This law is a destraction from the danger Europe and Poland is facing today. The islamic colonization of Europe is occurring on Poland's western border and people are getting all worked up about something that happened 73 years ago. It's called devide and conquer.

    Poland needs to support Israel and follow president trumps lead and move the embassy tof Jerusalem. Also Poland needs to examine what makes IsraelI society have the highest birth rate of the developed world. Poland'so birthrate is below replacement level. It is dying and the young Islamic males will soon, destroy another childless, sterile European country.

    If Poland would examine the bible and see that when Israel was oppressed in Egypt. The book of Exodus says, the more they were oppressed the more they increased. Once again Poland need to look to Israel. A young strong growing population can protect its culture.

    Lastly if people in Poland still loves the late pope John Paul, examine his writings he was very kind and sympothetic to the Jews and Israel.

    Poland this is 2018 not 1940, let's deal with today's reality.

    ReplyDelete

Bieganski the Blog exists to further explore the themes of the book Bieganski the Brute Polak Stereotype, Its Role in Polish-Jewish Relations and American Popular Culture.
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