Amerykanski Senator Voinovich powinien przeprosic Polske i Polakow w kraju i na obczyznie.

Amerykanski Senator Voinovich powinien przeprosic Polske i Polakow w kraju i na obczyznie.
List amerykańskiego senatora do polskiego ambasadora: Nowy rząd musi "zainteresować się Radiem Maryja"


Senator George Voinovich zwrócił się 5 listopada br. do ambasadorów Polski i Ukrainy w Stanach Zjednoczonych, wzywając do ustosunkowania się, wyjaśnienia i przedsięwzięcia kroków wobec "atmosfery i aktów antysemityzmu" w ich krajach.

Voinovich, republikanin ze stanu Ohio, pyta się w liście do ambasadora Polski, czy aby w świetle wyników wyborów w dniu 21 października br., Radio Maryja mogło dalej rozpowszechniać antysemickie treści i czy nowa koalicja rządowa zamierza zainteresować się tą działalnością.

W liście do ambasadora Ukrainy, Voinovich wymienia siedem antyżydowskich incydentów, które miały miejsce od czerwca br. "Jest rzeczą niezwykle ważną, aby rząd Ukraiy zaświadczył o swoim zdecydowaniu w ochronie środowisk żydowskich, poprzez przedsięwzięcie konkretnych kroków celem ukarania sprawców i monitorowania z wielką uwagą wszystkich takich przypadków w przyszłości." - pisze Voinovich.



KOMENTARZ BIBUŁY:

Na szczególną uwagę zasługuje fakt, iż w sprawie tzw. antysemityzmu w Polsce zaczynają zabierać głos nie tyle Żydzi amerykańscy, ale właśnie katolicy. Senator Voinovich, który uważa się za katolika, może posłużyć jako klasyczny przypadek działania proxy - poprzez kogoś innego, czyimiś rękami - czyli tak ulubionego przez środowiska żydowskie sposobu działania w trudnych operacjach. Voinovich, któremu nie można przecież zarzucić etnicznego czy religijnego uprzedzenia - wszak jest katolikiem - może posłużyć jako wygodne narzędzie nacisków na tuskowy rząd polski. Tylko czekać jak uformuje się "zatroskana grupa katolików" spośród proaborcyjnych gwiazd Senatu USA, jak np. pani Barbara Mikulski, prosyjonistyczna i pro-aborcyjna działaczka, co tydzień zresztą przystępująca do Komunii św., którzy zaczną coraz głośniej "wyrażać dezaprobatę" wobec "brutalnego antysemityzmu" Radia Maryja.

Radio Maryja jeśli wkrótce polegnie, to zostanie zasztyletowane właśnie rękami [nominalnych] katolików. W tym tych na najwyższych szczeblach, usłużnej pewnym siłom administracji świeckiej, jak i biurokracji kościelnej.

Letter from Lech Bajan Polish American to Senator George Voinovich USA.
RE: U.S. Sen. George Voinovich (R-Ohio) wrote to the Polish ambassador about anti-Semitism in Poland.

Senator Voinovich,

Please stay away from any of the kinds of statement which may cause damage to your Polish American votes. Why?



I believe the American and European media owe an apology to the Polish people for printing articles in which the authors refer to them as being anti-Semitic. Such publications and articles contribute even more to the ever-present anti-Polonism in the American and European media. Did any of those so-called American historians ever investigate any attacks on the non-Jewish population?

As far as Jedwabne massacre is concerned, Poles were the victims of such cruel acts on an almost daily basis during the WWII. This fact is kept from American and European readers. Instead, the massacre in Jedwabne, which was widely known in Poland and whose files were not hidden but open for everyone to investigate, had to be "discovered" by a fame-seeking author.

The fact that Mr. Gross left Poland in 1968 tells me that a touch of revenge may be the motive for his search. In the past, Kosinski's alleged autobiographical books were eventually proven to be hoaxes.
The thorough investigation into the case will only be in Poland's favor. There are files of the documents that Mr. Gross somehow ignored in his research, rather concentrating on the testimony of one witness. To understand the base of that attack, we must know the history of Poland and, in my opinion based on the observation of an average American person, we know nothing.

It is too difficult to understand the situation without being provided with wider information and truthful publications by OTHER than American and Jewish historians. Unfortunately, when a country is attacked - as in Poland's case - by two great powers, chaos occurs.

The double standards are evident by calling an event, such as the one in Jedwabne, an act of anti-Semitism, while in the United States, burning a synagogue in Worcester, Mass was called "an act of vandalism", a shooting in the Jewish Children Center in California -"an act of a mad man". If such acts took place in Poland, they would have been called anti-Semitic. American patriotism applied to Poles transfers into nationalism.

For 1000 years, Poland was the spiritual and religious center of Jewish Diaspora and produced one of the greatest world centers of Talmudic studies. 300 papers in Hebrew were published in Warsaw alone. Jews, unlike Blacks in America, were not forced to settle in Poland; they came here on their own will, prospered, attended colleges and universities, owned factories, etc.

As early as in 1264, King Boleslav of Poland granted a charter inviting the Jews there. The charter was an amazing document, granting Jews unprecedented rights and privileges. For example, it stated that:

"The testimony of the Christian alone may not be admitted in a matter which concerns the money or property of a Jew. In every such incidence there must be the testimony of both a Christian and a Jew. If a Christian injures a Jew in any which way, the accused shall pay a fine to the royal treasury."

"If a Christian desecrates or defiles a Jewish cemetery in any which way, it is our wish that he be punished severely as demanded by law."

"If a Christian should attack a Jew, the Christian shall be punished as required by the laws of this land. We absolutely forbid anyone to accuse the Jews in our domain of using the blood of human beings."

"We affirm that if any Jew cry out in the night as a result of violence done to him, and if his Christian neighbors fail to respond to his cries and do not bring the necessary help, they shall be fined."

"We also affirm that Jews are free to buy and sell all manner of things just as Christians, and if anyone hampers them, he shall pay a fine."

Polish King Kazimierz was favorably disposed towards Jews. On October 9, 1334, he confirmed the privileges granted to Jewish Poles in 1264 by Boleslaus V. Under penalty of death, he prohibited the kidnapping of Jewish children for the purpose of enforced Christian baptism. He inflicted heavy punishment for the desecration of Jewish cemeteries. Although Jews had lived in Poland since before the reign of King Kazimierz, he allowed them to settle in Poland in great numbers and protected them as people of the king.

Another Polish king, Sigismund II Augustus, issued another invitation. Here is an excerpt from his edict, granting the Jews permission to open a yeshiva at Lublin, dated August 23, 1567:
"As a result of the efforts of our advisors and in keeping with the request of the Jews of Lublin we do hereby grant permission to erect a yeshiva and to outfit said yeshiva with all that is required to advance learning. All the learned men and rabbis of Lublin shall come together for among their number they shall choose one to serve as the head of the yeshiva. Let their choice be a man who will magnify Torah and bring it glory."

GOLDEN AGE OF POLISH JEWRY

In Poland, the Jews were allowed to have their own governing body called the Va'ad Arba Artzot, which was composed of various rabbis who oversaw the affairs of the Jews in eastern Europe. The Poles did not interfere with Jewish life and scholarship flourished.

Some important personalities of this period, which a student of Jewish history should remember, were:

Rabbi Moshe Isserles (1525-1572), from Krakow, also known as the Rema. After the Sephardi rabbi Joseph Karo wrote the Shulchan Aruch, the code of Jewish Law, Rabbi Isserles annotated it to fill in the rabbinic decisions from Eastern Europe. His commentary was, and continues to be, critically important in daily Jewish life.

Rabbi Ya'akov Pollack (1455-1530), from Krakow. He opened the first yeshivah in Poland and was later named the chief rabbi of Poland. He developed a method of learning Talmud called pilpul, meaning "fine distinctions." This was a type of dialectical reasoning that became very popular, whereby contradictory facts or ideas were systematically weighed with a view to the resolution of their real or apparent contradictions.

Rabbi Yehudah Loewe, (1526-1609), not from Poland but important to Eastern European Jewry. He was known as the Maharal of Prague and was one of the great mystical scholars of his time. He has been credited with having created the golem, a Frankenstein figure, a living being without soul.

Along with the growth in Torah scholarship came population growth. In 1500 there were about 50,000 Jews living in Poland. By 1650 there were 500,000 Jews. This means that by the mid 17th century about majority of the Jewish population of the world was living in Poland!

Where did these Jews settle within Poland?

Jews were generally urban people as they were historically not allowed to own land in most of the places they lived. However, they also created their own farm communities called shtetls. Although we tend to think of the shtetl today as a poor farming village (like in Fiddler on the Roof), during the Golden Age of Polish Jewry, many of these communities were actually quite prosperous. And there were thousands of them.
The Jews in these independent communities spoke their own language called Yiddish. Original Yiddish was written in Hebrew letters and was a mixture of Hebrew, Slavic, and German. (Note that Yiddish underwent constant development and "modern" Yiddish is not like the "old" Yiddish which first appeared in the 13th century, nor "middle" Yiddish of this period of time.) All in all, the Jews did well, but working alongside Polish and Ukrainian Christians.


How many African Americans till the 20th century were able to do so?

Jews came to Poland on their own will, to the country of great opportunity, found shelter from the hostilities of Western Europe, stayed and prospered, had representatives in the Polish parliament, and had the freedom of expressing their religion and customs. In some towns of Eastern Poland, Jews accounted for more than 50% of the occupants. They were respected citizens, how could this be possible if the country was, as it is widely presented on the Jan Tomasz Gross book as anti-Semitic?
Polish Jews enjoyed equal rights and full protection of the law under the Polish government. The laws changed under the rule of Prussia, Russia, and Austria.

Keep in mind that it also affected Poles as well. Their situation improved after WWI when the Polish government was reestablished.

Why, between wars, was the Jewish population growing 6 times faster than Christian population, if the alleged anti-Semitism took place?

The only prejudice that you can accuse Polish people of is to be anti-Communist.
Marek Edelman, the last leader of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, who still lives in Poland, said: "It is not a Jew who is the enemy, it is an enemy who is Jewish." I'm sorry to destroy the beautiful image of the peaceful and innocent Jewish people but at the time of the massacre it was well known that there were "informers," "observers," "advisors," or in plain English "Soviet collaborators" among Jews then and through the war and post.

Those did not see the wrong they were doing, the comfort came from accepting a different way of thinking. They considered themselves Poles or Polish Jews before the war, now comfortably became only Jews, so there were no ties of loyalty to Poland or to the Polish people. Collaborators gave out Poles and Jews as well (Jakub Berman as an example).

But this would be too difficult to understand for us who for decades were fed on anti-Polish propaganda. The same propaganda that Nazis used and later Soviets and now is being repeated with a nauseating consistency by the American press.

The public does not know that Poland and Israel have a very good relationship.

It is the backwardness of American Jews to prefer the stereotype. I was hoping that with the raising of the Iron Curtain, the flow of information about Poland would be available to the average American reader and TV viewer.
That did not happen, rather we prefer to publish such articles. Also by hiding from public Polish accomplishments, only adds to the image of the Poles as some primitive tribe.
The fact that Poland's economy is the one of fastest growing in Europe is a thorn in the eye for some. The anti-Polish sentiment spreads to minimize their success. We already forgot who first faced the Soviet power and fought Communism.

The difference between Holocaust victims in the USA and Poland is that in Poland Jews and Christians believe that there is no price on human despair; I guess American Jews found the price tag and the Holocaust became a good business. Some are even lining up to collect money. Poles never asked to be recompensated for their losses and they did not receive any help from the Marshall Plan either.

Besides, we must not forget that Poland was not only a victim during WWII but only recently freed herself from under Soviet occupation. We should remember that Communism in Poland was FORCED upon its people, that Soviets placed Jews on high positions, which triggered atrocities. There is no perfect nation, there are honorable citizens and there is scum in all of them. But it seems that we only find the bad in Poles and all the good in Jews. For a well-balanced story, the authors should mention what Soviet Jews did to Poles (Koniuchy massacre) and the fact that, from 34 countries, the Poles are those who have the biggest number of trees at Yad Vashem.

In WWII, Poland lost almost 20% of its population; 6 million Poles were killed. It was the only country in all of Nazi-occupied Europe with the death penalty for sheltering Jews. Germans knew how sympathetic Poles were to Polish Jews and that way, they could get rid of them both. Entire families, sometimes whole towns were murdered for sheltering Jews. 75% spoke only Yiddish, which later became a problem for those who wanted to be saved and pass as Poles. I guess American Jews don't rush to reveal some other information to the American public like: what were the Judenrat and the Jewish Police doing in the ghettos? Who took over the houses of Polish officers and their families when they were taken to Siberia?

In the American consciousness the Holocaust has become synonymous with Jewish history. Historical literature of the Holocaust has focused on the six million Jewish victims with the exclusion of the sixteen to twenty million Gentile victims.

Do we inform that Poland's government was the only one in Nazi-occupied Europe to sponsor the organization to help Jews escaping the ghettos?

What did American Jews do to help their dying brothers?

We allow speculation on almost every aspect of Polish-Jewish relationship never asking: "Why don't we speculate how many Jews would save Poles if the roles were reversed?"

For me to have a different opinion is to risk being called an anti-Semite. An intelligent but objective Jewish person is called a "self-hating Jew". A "bystander" is someone who chose not to give his and his family's life for a strange, Jewish person.

Good things are happening in Poland .But noone rushes to tell the Americans about the annual Jewish Festival in Krakow or about the opening of yet another Jewish school in Warsaw. Or even about the commemorating of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. We don't rush to tell about the "Fiddler on the Roof" in Yiddish at the Jewish Theatre in Warsaw. Instead we publish misleading stories about a music concert in Auschwitz (!?) and killings in Jedwabne. Why is that? American historians should stop wasting their ink only writing about alleged Polish anti-Semitism. Any atrocities toward Jews either occurred during Nazi or Soviet occupation or were triggered by revenge and greed not to be mistaken with anti-Semitism. Also to suggest that all Polish Jews are long gone is wrong; many survived and became famous: actors (Holoubek, Zapasiewicz, Himilsbach, Rudzki), movie critics (Waldorf), writers (Tuwim), philosophers and editors (Michnik), politicians (Mazowiecki, Suchocka), musicians (Szpilman, Zimmerman), heart surgeons (Marek Edelman), athletes (Kirszenstein a.k.a. Szewinska), singers (Szmeterling a.k.a. Jantar). Some Polish Jews just recently became interested in their religion; Jewish schools are reopening, while the synagogues, museums, and Jewish cultural institutes were always present in Poland's cultural life. Positive Jewish characters are in every Polish classic, there are streets named after Jewish heroes; monuments accommodate their heroism and their tragedy. All this does not seem like an anti-Semitic country, does it? But it will stay so in the American media, as long as we allow it to.


Alex Lech Bajan
Polish American
CEO
RAQport Inc.
2004 North Monroe Street
Arlington Virginia 22207
Washington DC Area
USA
TEL: 703-528-0114
TEL2: 703-652-0993
FAX: 703-940-8300
EMAIL: alex@raqport.com
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