Sunday, March 11, 2018
22 comments:
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.
These themes include the false and damaging stereotype of Poles as brutes who are uniquely hateful and responsible for atrocity, and this stereotype's use in distorting WW II history and all accounts of atrocity.
This blog welcomes comments from readers that address those themes. Off-topic and anti-Semitic posts are likely to be deleted.
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Hello,
ReplyDeleteIt's a fake news. Onet is German owned (Ringier Axel Springer consortium) and it spreads such stories. Over 80% of mass media in Poland is foreign owned. Mostly by Germans.
It's the worst flood of German propaganda since 1939. One day we will be forced to nationalise that "free press". All of it.
Excellent idea, Lukasz.
DeleteNow more than ever:
Poland for the Poles!
Including Jewish Poles.
DeleteThere is no such thing as a Jewish Pole.
DeleteChris Helinsky
Chris Helinsky real life disagrees with you. See Tuwim, IB Singer, Antony Polonsky, etc
DeleteA Jew is a Jew and a Pole is a Pole. The battle lines may have been drawn by others, but they exist none the less.
DeleteChris Helinsky
"A Jew is a Jew and a Pole is a Pole."
DeleteSez you. Plenty of us feel differently.
Poles and Jews are mutually exclusive and hostile toward each other.
DeleteChris Helinsky
Sez you. Many of us disagree.
DeleteThe question, of whether or not a Polonized Jew is a genuine Pole, does not reduce to a simple either-or dialectic.
DeleteWincenty Lutoslawski was an ardent, activist Polish patriot of Jewish background.
Julian Tuwim, on the other hand, frequently wrote decidedly-unfriendly writings about Poland. Later, he showed his true colors by openly supporting the Soviet-imposed Communist puppet government that had enslaved Poland (1944-on).
"[A Jew's]political identity is defined by what he or she isn't rather than by who he or she is. United as a group, they aren't Germans, they aren't British, they aren't Aryans, they aren't Muslims, they aren't just ordinary proletarians or even boring peace-lovers, they aren't just common, working class people. They are Jews because they aren't anything else." (Gilad Atzmon, "The Wandering Who? A study of Jewish Identity Politics", pp. 62).
DeleteSome sad news from England. And the saddest thing is that most of British press won't write about it. Imagine if that happened to some other minority.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5488007/Sick-thugs-smash-graves-Poles-Polish-soldiers.html
The damage is the result of tree(s) that fell. This time it wasn't bigotry.
DeleteChris Helinsky
Hello Mr. Helinsky,
DeleteApparently it was another fake news. I stand corrected. Thank you for informing me.
I feel embarrassed that I've fallen for it.
As for Jewish Poles...
I'm aware that Poland had a large, unassimilated Jewish population.
But this is not the case today.
Tempora mutantur et nos mutamur in illis.
So let's call them for what they are - Jewish Poles.
Poles and Jews have been declared enemies. Either stand tall with your dignity intact or prostrate yourself before the enemy.
DeleteChris Helinsky
Baloney.
DeleteThe majority of Poles and Jews would disagree with you.
DeleteChris Helinsky
Support your assertion with facts.
DeleteDeclared enemies by whom? You, the antisemitic "theorists" of the past and that "patriot" Jacek Medliar? Is this enmity in their DNA (to use a cliche) or a matter of socialisation?
DeletePoles and Jews themselves. Reconciliation was always going to fail and the bigotry would remain untouched. Neither side wishes to declare the other as anything other than an enemy. Poles and Jews need someone to hate, so why not each other. The antisemitism will stay regardless of any effort to get rid of it. ditto, the anti-polonism. Hatred is the animating emotion.
DeleteMr. Rechniewski, you are in the minority and will always be in the minority. Poles and Jews are humans and that is the problem. To be human is to hate, to be greedy, to be callous, to be arrogant, to be violent. There are no saints here, only sinners. Anyone claiming their actions are righteous is lying and needs to be pilloried.
Chris Helinsky
I'm not a liar and I don't need to be pilloried.
DeleteWhat you wrote is alt right BS. Most Poles and most Jews are normal people. Normal people get along with their neighbors.
Mr. Rechniewski,
ReplyDeleteDoes attaching a label--e.g., "anti-Semitic"--to an argument or its author make the argument/author right or wrong? It does not. And it is intellectually irresponsible. It is also unproductive--especially if the label is used to silence critics and dissenters. Please try to offer counterarguments based on relevant facts.
Chris Helinsky’s argument that “Poles and Jews need someone to hate…” should be taken more seriously. Collective identities are frequently constructed around “common enemies”. People who are otherwise divided or have little in common (yes, we share our humanity, but we rarely think about it) can be united if they “discover” a common enemy (or an enemy is discovered for them: e.g., “terrorists”). Regrettably, “hate” and “supremacy” often lie at the heart of collective identities. Therefore, I interpreted Chris Helinsky’s assertion as a challenge or an invitation to a more critical investigation of the roots of both anti-Semitism and anti-Polonism. Anti-Semitism isn’t inexplicable, completely irrational and it wasn’t encoded into our DNA. Neither is/was anti-Polonism. I just finished reading Gilad Atzmon’s “The Wandering Who? A Study of Jewish Identity Politics”. He seems to agree with Chris Helinsky, “[…The] secular Jewish interpretation [of Chosen-ness] has been reduced to a crude, ethno-centric, blood-oriented chauvinism. It encourages those ‘lucky’ enough to have a Jewish mother to love themselves blindly. […] In many cases, it leads to animosity and even hatred, whether latent or manifest” (he’s referring to Israeli Jews) (pp. 101).