New Book Addresses Ukrainian Massacres of Poles

Maksymilian Rigamonti

"Recovering the Memories of a 1943 Massacre in Eastern Europe

Maksymilian and Magdalena Rigamonti provide an overdue memorial for those who perished in the Volhynia massacre during World War II" in the New York Times here. 

An Excellent Experience with a Great Audience

This past weekend, Saturday, May 18 and Sunday, May 19, at a church in Massachusetts, I had one of my very best experiences ever as a writer.

Saturday night I spoke about Bieganski. Sunday morning I spoke about God through Binoculars.

The audience was beautiful. Very intelligent, thoughtful, curious, feeling, aware, and gracious.

Both Bieganski and God through Binoculars are potentially controversial books. One is about Polish-Jewish relations, ethnic strife, and stereotyping. One is about despair and "the dark night of the soul."

The audiences at both events listened carefully and asked questions that showed that they were engaged. I brought some copies of two of my books and sold out both.

At both events delicious homemade food was served, including smoked kielbasa and pierogis at the Bieganski event.

I met many of the audience members and they were some of the nicest people I've talked to in a while. I received very kind and supportive feedback for my work.

Most of my talks about Bieganski have been to academic audiences, and all too many members of academic audiences don't hear anything I say. As soon as question time comes, they just beat their own favorite drum.

This event was a healing balm. People really listened, and they said encouraging things. This rarely happens.

I cannot thank enough the gracious church members of Massachusetts who allowed me to talk about my work.

If you want to support the work that I do, please invite me to speak.

Bahlsen Cookie Heiress: "We Treated Forced Laborers Well." Under Nazi Occupation

Verena Bahlsen says that her family used forced labourers under Nazi occupation and "We treated them well." She has been criticized for this and has apologized. See here

Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib Gets a "Calming Feeling" from Thinking about the Holocaust; Washington Post Defends Her

Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib, who has made clear that she is a Muslim Arab and that she represents Muslim Arabs, though she ostensibly serves in the US Congress, stated publicly that thinking about the Holocaust gives her a "calming feeling." You can hear the audio here. 

The Washington Post, which recently, in the person of German-born Rick Noack, blamed Poles, Poland, and the Catholic Church for the Holocaust (see here) ran defense for Tlaib, see here.

Map from Rashida Tlaib's office. Tlaib celebrating her victory draped in an Arab, Muslim flag.
Evidence of a double standard as to who gets criticized and why. 

Jews Feel Safer in Eastern Europe than Western Europe: Commentary Magazine, November 2018

Jews Feel Safer in Europe’s Conservative East Than Its Liberal West
A pervasive false impression.
NOVEMBER 26, 2018 BY EVELYN GORDON

The Joint Distribution Committee’s International Center for Community Development surveyed 893 Jewish leaders and professionals from throughout Europe and found that in general, Jews felt safe everywhere. Nevertheless, there was a stark difference between Eastern and Western Europe.

In the east, a whopping 96 percent of respondents felt safe, while only four percent felt unsafe. In the West, 76 percent felt safe, and 24 percent felt unsafe. Respondents from places like Poland, Hungary, and Romania—countries routinely accused of having anti-Semitic, borderline fascist governments—felt safer than Jews in liberal countries like France and Germany by a 20-point margin.

Moreover, “Western European respondents were more likely to consider antisemitism as a threat than were Eastern Europeans, and to report deterioration in the situation from earlier surveys,” the JDC’s report said. Nor is this mere subjective perception: Other studies have found that Jews are much more likely to experience physical violence in Western Europe than in Eastern Europe. In 2017, for instance, Hungary’s 100,000 Jews didn’t report a single physical attack, while Britain’s 250,000 Jews reported 145.

Read full article here

Thanks to Lukasz for this

New Documentary about Sex Abuse in Catholic Church in Poland

There are English subtitles 

Edward Mosberg, Holocaust Survivor, Blames Germans

Edward Mosberg, Holocaust survivor, blames Germans. See here